Quirks (board game)

Quirks is a 1980 board game published by Eon Products.

The game components are a 108 cards printed on thin cardstock representing characteristics of animals and plants, and a game board, also printed on thin cardstock.^[1] The object of the game is to build three viable organisms called "quirks" from two or three of the cards.^[2]

In the February 1981 edition of The Space Gamer (No. 36), Forrest Johnson liked Quirks, saying, "This is a good family game."^[2]

Ian Livingston reviewed Quirks for White Dwarf #24, giving it an overall rating of 9 out of 10, and stated that "All in all it is totally absurd but great fun and Eon Products must be congratulated for coming up with another ace."^[3]

In the May 1981 edition of Ares (Issue 8), Eric Goldberg found the most serious flaw in the game was an ever-diminishing replay value as players either consciously or subconsciously memorized the card values. "Quirks.. is fun only for a limited number of times. The game is quite good until that point of diminishing returns is reached."^[1]

Games magazine included Quirks in their "Top 100 Games of 1981", praising it as a "lighthearted game" involving "weird creatures and plants".^[4]

In the December 1993 edition of Dragon (Issue 200), Allen Varney gave a thumbs down to the game. "One big flaw, I think, is that [the game] never identifies players with the animals they're evolving. Instead they're unspecified creature-makers who look down on these beasts and foliage from above. Quirks would involve me a lot more by evolving me — making me the creature who needs to emerge victorious in a niche. Deciding whether to eat plants or animals, or if I should ditch my wings in favor of an electric sting — that sounds like fun."^[5]

• Jeux & Stratégie #17^[6]