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Looney Labs

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Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Looney Labs, Inc. is a small game company based in College Park, Maryland, United States. It is named after its founders, Andrew Looney and Kristin Looney, and is best known for creating the Fluxx line of card games. The company has three U.S. patents and eight Origins Awards.<ref name=gms/><ref name=icv8/><ref name=icv9/><ref name=icv10/><ref name=icv2>Template:Cite news</ref>

The company's games are distributed by ACD Distribution, Alliance Game Distributors and GTS for the US hobby game market, Lion Rampant for Canada and Publisher Services, Inc. for U.S. mass market and book trade and the international market.<ref name=icv3/><ref name=icv6/>

Icehouse Games: predecessor companyEdit

Andrew and Kristin Looney previously entered game design and manufacturing with Icehouse Games which was started to manufacture pieces for the formerly fictional IceHouse game in 1989. In 1996, Looney shut down Icehouse Games, Inc. as the cost to create Icehouse pyramid molds would cost $12,000 and to focus on designing a card game.<ref name=gz0>Template:Cite news</ref>

HistoryEdit

Home basedEdit

Andrew Looney soon designed the Fluxx card game. Looney Laboratories was launched in 1996 as a part-time home based design company<ref name=wt>Template:Cite news</ref> soon adding a nearby storage unit as a warehouse.<ref name=ll>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Fluxx was licensed out to Iron Crown Enterprises to publish.<ref name=gz>Template:Cite news</ref> At the 1998 Origins International Game Expo and Fair in Columbus, Ohio, Looney launched its Aquarius card game.<ref name=wt/> Proton and Q-Turn were design in 1998–1999.<ref name=ll/> Alison Frane started working at Looney Labs with Fluxx using her artistic abilities. The company's November 1999 weekly web zine officially launched its Mad Lab Rabbit fan demo program.<ref name=gms>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Iron Crown went into bankruptcy thus the Looney triggered the license provision allowing the rights to revert to the company. Lab then decided to publish Fluxx in house instead of finding another publisher. Kristin Looney by 2000 quit her job to work full-time.<ref name=gz/> By 2000, the company re-released Icehouse as Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set,<ref name=pyd>Template:Cite news</ref> released Chrononauts<ref name=gms/> and a new printing of Fluxx (version 2.1).<ref name=ll/> Icehouse sold poorly in stores while selling briskly on the company's website.<ref name=gms/>

In summer 2001, ACMS, later renamed Print Mail Communications (PMC), took over from the storage unit as warehousing and distribution company.<ref name=ll/> In 2001, IceHouse and Chrononauts both won Origins Awards 2000<ref name=pyd/> while Looney Labs published Cosmic Coasters, Fluxx Blanxx, and Chrononauts: Lost Identities.<ref name=ll/> Icehouse pieces were released as monochrome stash tubes in 2001.<ref name=wl/>

Andrew Looney became full-time by 2002.<ref name=gz/> Labs released in 2002 Nanofictionary, Are You a Werewolf? and a new Fluxx primary version.<ref name=ll/> In 2003, the company expanded the Fluxx line with its first themed variant and a licensed German language version.<ref name=ll />

Looney Labs found in 2004 that an unaware Covenant Communications had published a rip-off of their game, Aquarius, as Search, Ponder, and Play! in 2003, for which Labs reached a licensing deal with Covenant.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2004, the Zendo icehouse set won Best Abstract Board Game of 2003.<ref name=icv1>Template:Cite news</ref> while in 2005 the set won the Mensa Select Game Award.<ref name=abg>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Apartment basedEdit

Company offices moved to Janet's Attic, an attic apartment in their friends' house several blocks away in early 2005.<ref name=ll /> By October 2005, EcoFluxx was in play testing while Just Desserts was in prototype, or beta stage.<ref name=gms/>

Robin Vinopal joined the company in early 2006 becoming Chief Operating Officer, Treasurer, and member of the Board of Directors.<ref name=ll /> In 2006, Lab revamped their Icehouse sets to the Treehouse main set<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> plus two color schemes and also released Martian Coasters.<ref name=ll /> With the 2007 publishing of Zombie Fluxx the first new type of card, Creeper, is introduced.<ref name=ll /> Also in 2007, the Mad Rabbits fan/demo program was shut down.<ref name=ll0>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

With Frane's purchase of a house, Pepperland, in 2008, the company moved into its basement apartment. Product wise that year, Labs released edition 4 Fluxx and<ref name=ll /> worked with Toy Vault to release Monty Python Fluxx.<ref name=mm>Template:Cite news</ref> The company began using a standard two-part box instead of to-fit tuck box for a consistent look and shelving ease.<ref name=ll />

In Template:Dts, Looney Labs published one new card game, Are You the Traitor?, another Fluxx variant, new editions of its two other card games and a few expansion sets while starting to use a postcard promo card for marketing.<ref name=ll /> The company on Template:Dts started distributing through Publisher Services, Inc. for international accounts, and to the book trade.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On Template:Dts, Labs launched its Full Baked Ideas imprint with a new edition of Stoner Fluxx and expectations for a drinking variant of Fluxx.<ref name=icv7>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Back to the Future: The Card Game was released in 2010 along with two Fluxx re-releases in the new box format. Two new Fluxx variants debuted in 2011 that saw the IceHouse pyramids re-released with a new lead game set, IceDice.<ref name=ll /> The company's fan/demo club was restarted in 2011.<ref name=ll0/>

The company on Template:Dts reduced the number of distribution companies that they ship through to ACD Distribution and Alliance Game Distributors for the US hobby game market, Lion Rampant for Canada and Publisher Services, Inc. for U.S. mass market and book trade and the international market. ACD and Alliance would also make their supporting material available via subscription.<ref name=icv3>Template:Cite news</ref>

On August 1, 2012, Looney Labs got a simplified less expensive general market version with redesigned packaging of Fluxx into Target stores.<ref name="gz0"/> On February 7, 2013, Labs released the 2.0 edition of Nanofictionary as a print on demand product.<ref name=dtc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Office basedEdit

In August 2013, the company moved from Pepperland basement to the top floor of The Sterling Building, an actual office complex.<ref name=wl0>Template:Cite news</ref> In May 2015, Labs changed its fulfillment company from PMC to Excel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lab added in mid-2015 GTS as another distributor.<ref name=icv6>Template:Cite news</ref>

Loonacy was released in March 2014<ref name=icv3/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and won the Parents' Choice FunStuff Award Spring 2014 Games.<ref name=pca/> While two other Loonacy versions were released in the next two following years.<ref name="icv4">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=icv5>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2017, Looney Labs had multiple releases with three Fully Baked Ideas summer releases of variants of existing games, a revived Nanofictionary version, a few variants of Fluxx including Chemistry Fluxx<ref name=icv13>Template:Cite news</ref> and Zendo. In December 2017, the company reissued Zendo game separate from the Looney pyramids line for the first time.<ref name=icv11>Template:Cite news</ref>

Graphic artist Mary Engelbreit was signed to a licensing deal in February 2018 with Looney Labs' for versions of Fluxx and Loonacy games to be released in the third quarter 2018. Two second quarter games were also scheduled, a new Fluxx set and Get the MacGuffin card game.<ref name=icv15>Template:Cite news</ref>

GamesEdit

File:Icehouse game.jpg
A completed game of Icehouse

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  • Fluxx (1996) designed by Andrew Looney,<ref name=gms/> whose rules and goals change as the result of its players' actions,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Mensa Select Game Award 1999<ref name=abg/>
    • Eco-Fluxx (Template:Dts)<ref name=gms/>
    • Oz Fluxx<ref name=gd>Template:Cite news</ref>
    • Zombie Fluxx (Template:Dts) 2008 Origins Award for Traditional Card Game of the Year<ref name=icv8>Template:Cite news</ref>
    • Fluxx: The Board Game (2013)<ref name=gd/> Parents' Choice Recommended Seal Fall 2013 Games<ref name=pca>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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Fully Baked IdeasEdit

Fully Baked Ideas is Looney Labs's mature publishing imprint.

  • Stoner Fluxx 2nd Edition (November 13, 2009) with 5% of proceeds going to end marijuana prohibition groups;<ref name=icv7/> 100 cards
  • Drinking Fluxx (Template:Dts)<ref name=icv12>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Adult Mad Libs: The Game (Template:Dts)<ref name=icv12/>
  • Stoner Loonacy (Template:Dts) uses images from Stoner Fluxx for this version of the company's matching game<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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