I’ve been cleaning. Or, as one astute friend called it, excavating. 30 years of accumulations are being sorted through, organized, preserved, or sold, or given away, or simply thrown out. They start to form geological strata by which I can study the progress of my life and analyze the anthropological significance of my existence with layers of dust and delicate stacks of things.

During this, I’ve found that I have a LOT of games. We’re not talking Monopoly or Life (though a Simpsons edition of Clue lingers around here). We’re talking about the WizKids Pirates trading model game, Heroclix, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Buttonmen, Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, Talisman, and hidden behind it all where prying eyes can’t see it, Xxxenophile.

As far as trading card games go, Xxxenophile was fairly collectible and remains so today – owing no small part to its incorporation of sexual and suggestive themes into its imagery. The card game was launched in 1996 and based loosely on Kaja and Phil Foglio’s X-rated comic book anthologies. All of this, while not explicitly filthy, was certainly highly suggestive, and unlike most material of a sensual nature, was definitely equal opportunity between the genders. The occasional ‘remove one article of clothing’ cards can be ignored, if you so choose.

See, in 1996 I was very much into Magic : The Gathering, so when many of these artists also contributed artwork to the Xxxenophile card game, I made it a point to pursue them across these boundaries. Remember that this is before the internet really was the vast bastion of scanned artwork and easily searchable information that it is today, so when I wanted to see what Quinton Hoover was creating for this new set of cards, I had to find a way to purchase them. Fortunately, the internet didn’t know how old I was for either Xxxenophile or my Sorayama books.

The most surprising aspect of the game was that it involved some truly fun mechanics, involving placing cards in a grid, turning them, matching symbols, and lots of other things that had nothing to do with sex at all. In fact, without cards titled ‘Erotic Potato Prints’, ‘Cornelia’s Double Bed’ and ‘Naked City’ (which are some of the few that I can actually type here), the game could genuinely be fun for all ages. Fortunately, Studio Foglio reworked the cards’ imagery to suit their all-ages comic, Girl Genius in 2001. With cards on the table that effected the gameplay conditions at every turn, and chain reactions that resulted in the accumulation and removal of many cards, the game is a very fun balancing act. You know, if you don’t mind all of the nipples.

One rarely encounters these cards on eBay, though with a set of 270 to obtain, there’s certainly a lot out there to look for, and while complete sets are almost impossible to come by, even back in 2001 there’s evidence of sets selling for over $100. If you can snag a handful of these collectible cards and don’t mind the blushing and weirdness, it’s an excellent game.

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