''Freeloader'' is a game published by

Cheapass Games Cheapass Games is a game company founded and run by game designer James Ernest, based in Seattle, Washington. Cheapass Games operates on the philosophy that most game owners have plenty of dice, counters, play money, and other common board game ...

. The object of the game is to mooch as much free stuff as possible off of your friends and neighbours.

Gameplay

''Freeloader'' comes with a set of 6 cardboard board pieces which are arranged in a circle. Each card is a house around the neighborhood. The houses belong to a doctor, a gambler, a

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

, an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

, a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...

, and a waitress. Players move around the neighborhood by rolling

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing ...

. On any turn they can also choose to do a favor for someone - this is noted by them placing one of their tokens on that person's house. They can also choose at any time to draw a card instead of moving. The cards in their hand represent the things which they have their eye on. On their turn a player may also choose to

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exch ...

in some of their favors for an item in their hand, playing it down onto the table into their "stuff". Each item costs a certain number of favors, and there are discounts depending on the house they borrow from and if they are the best friend of its owner. For example, the

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

tie costs less if you are the lawyers best friend, while the leftover pork costs less if you are at the waitresses house. The game ends when the last card is drawn. At this time only those players who have mooched food, clothing, and shelter can win. Amongst those the player with the most points win (each item is worth a certain number of points). This can lead to cutthroat

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

. For example, your opponent may have 20 more points than you, but if you can take away his only shelter item he does not qualify to win. Each card in the deck is illustrated, and most contain humorous diary entries about them. The game itself is published under the

philosophy of not including unnecessary pieces. This means you will need to provide your own playing pieces, tokens and dice (which can usually be borrowed from other games). A typical game of ''Freeloader'' takes 1 to 1.5 hours to play.

Reviews

*''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

'' *''

Games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...

'' # 189 (Vol 27, #3) 2003 April

References

External links

* Board games introduced in 2002 Cheapass Games games {{board-game-stub