From designers Emily and Matthew and Escovar at OtterLabs LLC, as well as publisher Breaking Games, Pluck Off! is a new card game that combines elements of Go Fish with Bullshit (or whatever you call it) along with truly humorous writing for a mature experience that satirizes urban living.

A parody of city life, pigeons replace the humans who are fixated on egregious costs-of-living and the need for social interaction. We’re not talking about roomies and flatmates. We’re talking about nestmates because… the rent is too plucking high.

This is a very easy game to learn, which makes sense given the foundational influences that comprise the core rules. There is some small amount of strategy, though, in discovering when to make your move. And other mechanics, like special ability cards, interfere with perfect card counting and ordinary play associated with Go Fish and Bullshit.

Pluck Off! is a social game that brings people together to laugh about the absurdities of life in the Big Apple—or whatever metropolis you want to envision—and to commiserate with friends on all of the things that can pluck you over.

STORY

A flock of pigeons just moved to the big city and need your help! They’re looking for a place to live and need nestmates because the rent is too plucking high. Help the pigeons find nestmates and a Nest, but watch your tail feathers because there are Urban Vermin who are out to pluck up their big-city dreams.

That’s the story, and the birds are sticking to it.

But there’s more to this silly game because every one of the 41 unique Pigeon cards has a limerick that describes the life and struggle of one particular feathered male or female.

If you don’t write poems, then just appreciate that writing 41 limericks is a lot. And they’re all pretty funny. Honestly, the group reading these out whenever a Nest was completed turned out to be one of the best parts of the game.

GAMEPLAY

Just like Go Fish, the goal in Pluck Off! is to complete sets of cards, gathering enough pigeons to fill up a Nest. Then at the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins.

But the Nests have varying point totals. Six different Nests only have two Pigeons, worth two total points once complete. Four Nests consist of three Pigeons, three Nests have four Pigeons, and one Nest has only one Pigeon—for point totals of three, four, and five depending on the Nest.

Players take turns drawing cards and asking one of the other players for Pigeons from a particular Nest. It’s when a player confronts another that the Bullshit mechanic of the game takes place. A player can either hand over the requested cards, if they have them, or they can say “Pluck Off!”, whether they have them or not. The active player will have to determine if they believe their opponent. If any player at the table doesn’t believe the opponent who said “Pluck Off!” they can declare “Pigeon Poop”. Then the player who claimed they didn’t have the cards must reveal the truth, either handing over the cards anyway and taking a detrimental Pigeon Poop card or triumphantly forcing the accusing player to take the card.

So Go Fish and Bullshit had a Cards Against Humanity baby.

There are a few other permutations, however, that give Pluck Off! additional flavor. Urban Vermin cards can be played at any time and generally involve stealing cards from or switching cards with other players. Used at the right time, these can interrupt a player from completing a Nest or interrupt someone’s ability to know precisely what another player has in their hand.

It complicates the game a little bit and is an appreciated mechanic for giving Pluck Off! some unique gameplay moments.

Three other features alter gameplay somewhat. Poop Shield and Pooper Scooper cards help to mitigate the loss from Pigeon Poop cards—or prevent them altogether. Also, Egg-nition and Egg-celerator cards mix up the game a little bit at the beginning, as well as speeding up the endgame.

While not introducing transformative gameplay experiences, these are welcome additions to Pluck Off!

This is an easy game to learn. An easy game to play. It’s very light. Doesn’t take too long. And it will make you laugh when reading through the limericks.

The question is its longevity.

VISUALS

I’m not aware of the artist behind the visuals in Pluck Off!. The work is attributed to anyone on the box or on the Breaking Games website.

Regardless, it’s amusing and fits the light-hearted aesthetic of the game. Whether it’s the puking Cross Fit enthusiast pigeon or the disaffected bartender pigeon who’s been cast out of the industry, each character in the card game is wholly unique.

The cards are distinct, the limericks are lovely, the colors pop off the table and are easily distinguishable. It’s all well done for a small box that won’t take up much room on the shelf.

REPLAYABILITY

Here’s the real problem with Pluck Off! It’s marketed as an adult game for players age 17 and above. That becomes an issue when you consider that the main mechanics of the experience stem from card games like Go Fish and Bullshit, both rather juvenile tabletop games.

Tabletop games are getting better and better every year. The last two decades have really introduced a lot of innovative products that raise the bar for what consumers expect. And the boardgame literacy of the average adult has risen quite a bit. So to expect adults to return frequently to a game like Pluck Off! is a stretch.

The limericks—my favorite part of the game—are novel at first, but I’m not going to read them every time I play if I keep the game. The return on the humor diminishes every play.

I just don’t think gaming groups will bring this to the table a lot. The lack of complexity means that adults will likely tire of it and the mature focus of the content means it wasn’t designed with kids in mind—who are the audience that wouldn’t be bored of its gameplay as quickly.

WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

The added mechanics just don’t do enough to vary the gameplay. One of the biggest potential design choices—the Egg-nition and Egg-celerator cards—failed to capitalize on what could have been.

Instead of affecting the entire run of gameplay, by introducing rule tweaks that players must follow the entire time, Egg-nition cards just require one small game mutation at the beginning. It’s a missed opportunity. And Egg-celerators don’t really change the game. They just speed up the end.

More thought should have gone into how to affect gameplay on a macro level, not a micro one.

To really strengthen the impact and staying power of Pluck Off!, more needed to be done to distance it from low complexity card games. Either that or better design choices that help to vary the gameplay each time.

It’s just not deep enough to satisfy most gamers.

VERDICT

There are appealing elements in Pluck Off!—like comical limericks and clever iterations on classic card games—but, ultimately, it can’t create enough momentum to become anything more than an occasional laugh when taken off the shelf to play with some unsuspecting friends.

Good, but not great, which is a hard place to be when board games and card games are getting better and better every year.