Chez Geek

Chez Geek

Players invite people, buy things and do activities in order to be the roommate with the most Slack.
Players	2-5 (more with expansions)
Age range	18+
Setup time	5 minutes
Playing time	45 minutes
Random chance	High
Skill(s) required	Dice rolling, Communication
Earlier editions required you supply a six-sided die and a way of recording Slack totals, as they were not included. Later "Large Box" editions include a die and cardboard "Slack Counters".

Chez Geek is a card game that parodies geek culture and cohabitation. It was created by Jon Darbro and developed by Alain H. Dawson, with additional development by Steve Jackson and Russell Godwin. The cards and rules were illustrated by John Kovalic.

In 2000 Chez Geek won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 1999 and in 2003 the spinoff Chez Greek won Best Graphic Representation of a Card Game Product 2002.

Players play the role of roommates living together in a single multi-room apartment or other dwelling. At the start of the game, each player is dealt a Job card which lists free time, income, a special ability and a Slack goal. Players are also dealt five Life cards. The space in front of a player is their Room, where various cards are played during the game. Slack can be represented using any available chit or counter, but each player begins with a Slack total of zero.

Players take turns as follows:

Additionally, some Life cards are orange Whenever cards which can be played at any time.

Activity cards and Thing cards typically list a Slack value which is added to the player's Slack total, though some have random Slack totals and some have Slack totals which vary during the game. TV Activity cards and some Whenever cards can be used to cancel cards as they are being played, and some cause previously-played cards to be discarded. Some cards add or subtract Slack from every player's total, while others cause a player to change their Job card (and hence Slack goal). Many cards alter the effects of other cards.

The first player whose Slack total equals or exceeds their Slack goal is the winner.

In addition to the original 112 card set, the following are available:

Each set includes a small number of blank-faced Life and Job cards, allowing players to create their own cards to add to the game.

In 2010, all three sets were combined into the re-released Chez Geek--House Party Edition, which featured a larger box, cards with reworked art backgrounds, a six-sided die and cardboard "Slack Tokens" for use in the game. As before, a small number of blank-faced cards are included. The set also includes four "Guest Cards"--two each from Chez Goth and Chez Cthulhu--with Chez Geek backs.