Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Back on the Air
Fliptoons is BACK! I was fortunate to experience the new iteration a few months early, and it was quite hard to keep the excitement under wraps until the reveal.
The first set of Fliptoons was a grand time, and mechanically, there wasn’t much that needed fixing. But Thunderworks Games has doubled down on a framework that’s ripe for expansion. A game built around goofy card effects, conditional scoring, and unpredictable tableau chaos is the perfect stage for a new batch of characters to join the cast. More toons mean more combos, more dramatic reveals, and more opportunities for rounds to go completely sideways.
Thunderworks Games returns to the studio with Fliptoons: Season 2, bringing a new cast of cards while keeping the same breezy energy that made the original such an easy table hit. This standalone expansion is as exciting as an anticipated season premiere: familiar structure, new faces, and plenty of room for the fame race to get wacky.
Previously on Fliptoons…
Fliptoons: Season 2 is still very much Fliptoons. Players are building a little cast of cartoon animals, flipping cards into a 3×2 grid, and trying to squeeze as much fame out of those cards as possible.
Like the original, players begin with a small deck of basic toons and flip cards one at a time into their grid. Each card has its own condition, trigger, or positional requirement, meaning the value of a toon often depends on when it appears, where it lands, and what else is happening around it.
Between rounds, players visit the market to hire new toons, trim weaker cards from their deck, and slowly shape their cast into something more reliable. The more fame players generate, the closer the table gets to triggering the endgame, where one final flip determines who walks away as the top toon.
Still a Flipping Good Time
At its core, the game remains unchanged, but the new cast of characters gives this expansion its own feel. One of my personal favorites is the Capybara. While there are only two in the whole deck, it adds +4 fame for having at least three cards remaining in your deck, which can give players some extra fame juice early on while others are still building their engines. Another charming critter is the Rat, which leans heavily into stacking but offers generous discounts for dismissals.
Season 2 also adds a new type of card: the mighty fish. These cards contain a fish symbol, and various cards interact with them in clever ways. Swordfish, for example, is a beefy +8 fame, but it flips previously played cards unless they have a fish symbol.
Another new mechanic is “return.” Toons such as the Zebra can return placed cards back into the deck, which can be either a beneficial mulligan or a cursed draw.
There are even cards, such as the Fox, that interact with cards from the first set. Spoiler: decks can be mixed. Stay tooned.
Another notable change is the entirely new starting deck. While the cards are still low value, their abilities are different from Season 1, giving the opening strategy a different shift. Fortunately, players can choose which set they start with, though they can’t mix and match starting sets.
The market phase has some tweaks as well. When playing with four or fewer players, the lowest- and highest-ranked cards automatically wipe between rounds, keeping the selection fresh. The other tweak is that if cards share a rank, they share the same buy spot, offering more buying options. These are changes I will play with even when just playing the original.
I mentioned in my last review that the game steers toward a “party game” experience but caps out at four players, stunting some of that genre potential. Thunderworks Games must have heard me, because the game now supports up to EIGHT players by combining both decks. Twice the chaos, twice the toons. Both decks are shuffled together; no parsing needed.
Overall, the new toons add refreshing mechanics and set up new combo opportunities that keep the party going. That some cards interact with the old set leads me to believe there are even more seasons coming to keep the already solid roster fresh and exciting.
However, if the first season of Fliptoons didn’t draw you in, it’s unlikely that Season 2 will either. The core gameplay loop doesn’t change, and this is very much a “more stuff” expansion. But fans of the first season will fall in love with the new cast of toons and the crazy combos they bring.
