Tabletop Game / Unstable Unicorns

Unstable Unicorns is a card game where the players compete in creating an army of Unicorns (speak: seven unicorns) in their stable while at the same time trying to stop each other from completing the army.

There are three types of unicorns:

• Baby unicorns do nothing, but they cannot be destroyed or sacrificed or even be returned to the hand of the player, instead they go back into the nursery when one of those things would happen.
• Basic unicorns also don't have special effects, but Flavor Text instead
• Magic unicorns do have individual effects that affect the player and their enemies.

Other card types include:

• Upgrades: Positive effects that affect the stable they are played in.
• Downgrades: Negative effects that affect the stable they are played in.
• Magic: Cards that affect one or more players and are discarded after using
• Instants: The only cards that can be played outside the player's turn to stop other players from playing a card.

This card game provides examples of:

• Alien Abduction: The Unicorn Abduction downgrade card. Due to unicorns being ungulates, it also looks a bit like Aliens Steal Cattle.
• All Girls Like Ponies: This trope is the reason the game includes so much saccharine, especially the Rainbow Sprinkles Pack, but it's subverted in that it's not a game for small children.

• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The unicorns and other creatures come in many colors, not all of them natural. RainbowMotif is especially common.

• Animal Facial Hair: The Classy Narwhal, the Mighty Narwhal and one of the Basic Unicorns have beards.
• Animals Lack Attributes: Lampshaded with the Naked Narwhal, who takes off the Alluring Narwhal's starfish bikini only to expose... nothing. Tan Lines show, where the starfish were.
• Anti-Hoarding: At the end of each player's turn, the player has to discard cards until he has no more than seven hand cards.

• Appropriate Animal Attire: Discussed in this comic.
• Art-Style Dissonance: The artstyle is cutesy throughout the game, but the contents range from saccharine to Nightmare Fuel and Vulgar Humor.
• Asian Fox Spirit: The Nine-tailed Foxicorn is one of the Ultimate Unicorn cards.

• Baby Morph Episode: The Unicorn Shrinkray turns all of a players unicorns into Baby Unicorns.
• Badass Adorable: All of the unicorns are extremely cute, but many of them are also pretty badass.

• Black Comedy Cannibalism: The Ginormous Unicorn in this strip.
• Black Knight: The Black Knight unicorn. It's a rare good example, since its effect lets the Dark Knight Unicorn take a bullet for another unicorn.

• Blank White Eyes: One of the pandas on the Pandamonium cards, most likely out of shock of being turned into a panda.

• Brain Freeze: The Brain Freeze downgrade card shows a unicorn with an ice cream cone over their horn.

• Clam Trap: The Alluring Narwhal lies in a clam seductively, implying this trope.

• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The card types:
  • Baby Unicorns are light blue.
  • Basic Unicorns are dark blue.
  • Magical Unicorns are purple.
  • Magic cards are green.
  • Upgrades are orange.
  • Downgrades are yellow.
  • Instants are red.
• Cool Horse: All of the unicorns, except for the ones that are narwhals or just another animal with a unicorn horn on it.

• Crapsaccharine World: Most of the unicorns look pretty cute and the game has an overall colorful theme, but then there are serial killers (the Chainsaw Unicorn and Stabby the Unicorn) and the whole Rainbow Apocalpyse.

• Dark Is Not Evil: The Black Knight Unicorn looks intimidating, but it is willing to take a bullet for another unicorn.

• Deep South: The shotgun Baby Unicorn from the NSFW expansion looks like a stereotypical redneck.

• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Extremely Fertile Unicorn has a larger horn than most other unicorns.
• Dog Food Diet: The unicorn on the Blatant Thievery steals a pug's food.

• Dramatic Thunder: The Dragon's Misfortune magic card shows a black dragon in a thunderstorm.
• Drinking Game: The NSFW expansion comes with optional drinking rules.
• Drinking the Kool-Aid: The Cult Leader Unicorn from the NSFW expansion holds a pitcher of Kool Aid formed like the Kool Aid man.
• Emoticon: One of the Basic Unicorns uses only emojis in her Flavor Text.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: Blatant Thievery, which allows you to steal another player's card, shows a unicorn stealing a pug's food.
• Erotic Asphyxiation: The Autoerotic Asphyxiation magic card from the NSFW expansion.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows:
  • Many cards have rainbow designs and some of them even have rainbow in their name.
  • This trope seems to be the only reason why life with a Magical Kittencorn is better than with a normal cat.

• Explosive Breeder: The Extremely Fertile Unicorn is able to create a Baby unicorn every turn. Its picture shows it covered in foals and having a very long horn.
• Extrinsic Go-First Rule: Whoever is wearing the most colors is obviously the unicorniest, so they go first!

• Forced Transformation:
  • The Pandamonium downgrade turns all unicorns in a player's stable into pandas, which makes them unable to win unless they get rid of the downgrade. The Catastrophe and Otter Devastation work the same, but with cats and otters, respectively.
  • The Unicorn Shrink Ray turns all unicorns of a player into Baby Unicorns.

• Four-Leaf Clover: The picture of Four-Leaf Clover shows such a clover on a unicorn's horn.

• Friendly Sniper: The Sniper Unicorn looks pretty friendly.

• Game Master: The Game Master Unicorn is one of the Ultimate Unicorns.
• Gay Option: The (female-looking) Seductive Unicorn is able to seduce any unicorn. It helps that the sex of the unicorns is never stated and can only be guessed from the picture in some cases.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: The Archangel Unicorn from Control has bird wings, while the Nightmare Unicorn from Chaos has bat wings. However, the Shadow Unicorn and the Valkyrie from Chaos have bird wings. May be a case of Dark Is Not Evil.
• Go Seduce My Archnemesis: It's implied that this is how the Seductive Unicorn, Horny Flying Unicorn and Alluring Narwhal work.
• The Grim Reaper: One of the Baby Unicorns has a skull face and is called Death.

• Have You Tried Rebooting?: The flavor text of the Tech Supporticorn:
  "Have you tried turning it off and then on again?"
• Hellish Horse: Several, including the Zombie Unicorn, the Extremely Destructive Unicorn, the Chainsaw Unicorn, the Black Knight Unicorn and even a death themed Baby Unicorn.
  • The Apocalypse expansion adds unicorns fashioned after the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
  • The NSFW expansion has it's own share of evil unicorns, but they are of a more realistic kind of evil like a Cult Leader Unicorn or a Free Candy Unicorn that kidnaps Baby Unicorns.
  • With Control and Chaos, there are the Nightmare Unicorn, the Baby Nightmare Unicorn, the Reaper Unicorn and the Demonic Baby Unicorn

• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: The Baby Unicorns of the NSFW expansion. One holds a shotgun, one holds a grenade, one is devoured by a snake and one sits in the trash.

• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Four Unicorns of the Apocalypse is a Magic-card from the Apocalypse Pack. There are also the four Unicorns of Death, Pestilence, War and Famine.
• Horse of a Different Color: The Majestic Flying Unicorn rides a bald eagle.
• Hotter and Sexier: Many cards in the NSFW expansion aim for this. Not that there is anything really "sexy" in there, but they deal with sexual themes.
• Human Sacrifice: The Sadistic Ritual downgrade forces you to sacrifice one of your unicorns each turn.

• Hypno Pendulum: The Hypnocorn uses a pocket watch as one.

• Improbable Infant Survival: If Baby Unicorns are destroyed or sacrificed, they go back to the nursery instead of the discard pile.

• Like Is, Like, a Comma: The lumberjack Basic Unicorn talks like this.
  Beards are like, so hot.

• Mix-and-Match Critters: The Puppycorn, the Magical Kittencorn, the Rhinocorn (sort of), the Llamacorn, the Unicorn Phoenix, the Shark With a Horn, and the Mermaid Unicorn.
  • In the Dragon expansion, there are several Dragoncorns added to the game. Those are just dragons with unicorn horns.
  • Chaos/Control adds the Red Pandacorn, the Slothicorn (and Baby Slothicorn), the Baby Penguincorn, the Excited Sealicorn, the Sacrifical Lambicorn, the Golden Retrievercorn, the Weenicorn, the Foxicorn and the Corn on the Cob, which are all just normal animals (or plants in the last case) with a unicorn horn added.
  • Also there is the Elusive Oceloticorn from Control, which is not only an ocelot with a unicorn horn, but also has wings.
  • Chaos has the Manticore Unicorn, which has the typical mix and match of a manticore (lion's body and head, bat wings, scorpion tail) combined with a unicorn horn.
• Monochromatic Eyes: The Zombie Unicorn and the Shark with a Horn have blank white eyes. Also one of the pandas on the Pandamonium card, though here they might be Blank White Eyes.
• Most Writers Are Human: Probably the reason why one of the Basic Unicorns uses human emojis in her Flavor Text.

• Mundane Utility: The Ginormous Unicorn finds one for the Unicorn Phoenix's fire in roasting marshmallows.

• My Little Phony: While there is no direct Shout-Out to My Little Pony yet, the game clearly uses this trope with its colorful unicorns and other Sugar Bowl tropes.

• Nonstandard Character Design: Most unicorns are normal, equine unicorns, but then there are some narwhals, one Shark with a Horn, a kitten with a horn (Magical Kittencorn), a rhinoceros with a horn (Rhinocorn) and a puppy with a horn (Puppycorn).
  • In the case of the Baby Unicorns, who all look and play the same aside from different colors, the Baby Narwhal is especially notable with a different design and different name.
  • The Dragons expansion pack adds the Dragoncorns, which are basically dragons with a unicorn horn
  • The Sugar Sprinkles expansion pack adds two nonstandard Basic Unicorns which are actually a horse with an ice cream cone on its head and a bunny with a carrot on its head.
  • It also adds the Magical Pugicorn which is just a pug with a horn taped on.
  • The NSFW expansion adds some nonstandard Baby Unicorns which are not just different colors but have some background to their pictures or hold items. One has an upside down face.
  • Control and Chaos bring more nonstandard Baby unicorns, for example the Baby Penguincorn, Baby Bearicorn or the Baby Belugacorn

• Not the Intended Use: While the Pandamonium is annoying since you cannot win while you have it in your stable, it also protects your unicorns from most other effects since they are no longer unicorns.

• Obligatory Swearing: The Instants from the NSFW expansion. While "Neigh Motherfucker" at least has an additional effect, "Neigh Bitch" and "Hell Neigh" are identical to the standard Neigh from the base set.

• One Man's Trash Is Another's Treasure: The flavor text of the Racoonicorn states that "one Unicorn's trash is another Raccoonicorn's hat".

• Order Versus Chaos: The kickstarter exclusive base sets are called Control and Chaos.
• Our Angels Are Different:
  • The Angelic Unicorn is a Winged Unicorn but doesn't count as Flying Unicorn. It's able to sacrifice itself to revive a dead unicorn.
  • In the Control deck, there is the Archangel Unicorn, which counts as Ultimate Unicorn, the Angelic Baby Unicorn and the Baby Archangel Unicorn

• Our Dragons Are Different: The Dragons expansion includes, besides fairly typical Western dragons, some dragoncorns, which are basically dragons with a single horn like a unicorn.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: The Unicorn Phoenix looks like an orange hippogriff with a horn.
• Our Manticores Are Spinier: The Manticore Unicorn is a typical winged manticore with scorpion's tail, but also has a unicorn horn.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: The Mermaid Unicorn is a unicorn with a fish tail. The Alluring Narwhal plays with the Sirens Are Mermaids trope.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The Zombie Unicorn is able to discard a Unicorn card from your hand and revive another uncorn from the discard pile instead.

• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • The Innocent Bunnicorn and the Magical Pugicorn wear horns that are obviously just taped on.
  • The "Imitation" instant card shows a unicorn wearing fake wings made out of cardboard and a Brown Bag Mask.

• Petite Pride: The Naked Narwhal doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that she has literally nothing in the way of breasts.

• The Pied Piper of Hamelin: The Pied Pipercorn, which allows you to steal Baby Unicorns from other players when they summon them.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: The grenade Baby Unicorn from the NSFW expansion uses the pin of its grenade as pacifier.

• Pirate Parrot: The Dread Pirate Unicorn owns one which also has a horn.

• Precision F-Strike: The "Neigh, Motherfucker!" instant card from the NSFW expansion.
• Prestigious Player Title: The rules call you a stickler, rule-breaker or baby unicorn depending on what you choose to do when you run out of cards.
• Punny Name: The Unicorn on the Cob.

• Rhino Rampage: The Rhinocorn is able to destroy one unicorn and then immediately ending the player's turn.

• Rule of Seven: You have to have seven unicorns to win if there are less than six players. Also, your hand is limited to seven cards.

• Seashell Bra: The Alluring Narwhal wears a starfish bra. The Naked Narwhal from the NSFW expansion takes the starfishes off.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Chainsaw Unicorn is one to Slasher Movies, with its hockey mask and chainsaw horn.
  • The Dragon expansion's version of the Neigh, called "Neigh, Foul Beast", shows a wizard looking very similar to Gandalf.
  • The Unicorn With a Dragon Tattoo from the Dragons expansion is a Shout-Out to Millennium Series.
  • The Million Dollar Baby Unicorn is a Shout-Out to the film of the same name

• Sirens Are Mermaids: The Alluring Narwhal is reminiscent of a mermaid, complete with starfish bra, and seems to seduce upgrade cards.
• Snakes Are Sinister: One of the Baby Unicorns from the NSFW expansion gets eaten by a snake in its picture.
• Something Else Also Rises: The Dirty Mind magic card from the NSFW expansion shows a unicorn with peculiar Facial Markings making its horn look like a penis.
• Spy Cam: The Nanny Cam Downgrade is a plush unicorn with a Spy Cam for a horn.

• Strip Poker: The NSFW expansion comes with optional stripping rules.
• Sugar Apocalypse: The theme of the Rainbow Apocalypse Expansion Pack which includes Sugar Bowl themed cards and really dark Apocalypse themed cards.
• Summoning Ritual: One of the upgrade cards is called Summoning Ritual. It lets you sacrifice a unicorn in order to search the deck for another one.
• Superhero: The Super Neigh card from Chaos/Control shows a typical Flying Brick superhero unicorn.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: The magic card with a Totem Pole Trench picture is called "Totally not two unicorns".

• Tan Lines: Star-shaped tan lines are the only thing that shows that the Naked Narwhal has worn a starfish bikini before instead of just being a naked cartoon animal lacking attributes.

• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: The "Neigh, Bitch!" instant card from the NSFW expansion.

• Undead Child: One of the Baby Unicorn cards has a skull face.
• Unrealistic Blackhole: The Black Hole downgrade makes you sacrifice one magical unicorn per turn and exchanges it for a basic unicorn.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The picture of the "Spring Cleaing" card shows a unicorn dusting off their house while a nuclear bomb explodes outside the window

• Visual Innuendo: The long horn of the Extremely Fertile Unicorn.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Pandamonium, Catastrophe and Otter Devastation cards could also be used on oneself, but the benefits are limited.
• Webcomics: The game has its own webcomic on its homepage.

• White Stallion: The Majestic Flying Unicorn is a white horse, but it inverts the trope in that the unicorn itself is the rider, not the mount.
• Winged Unicorn: All flying unicorns except for the Majestic Flying Unicorn. The Magical Flying Unicorn has butterfly wings.

• Wizarding School: The Apprentice Unicorn from the Dragons expansion seems to be a student of a Wizarding School or a sorcerer's apprentice.
• Would Hurt a Child: One of the NSFW expansion's Baby Unicorns is eaten by a snake, another is thrown in the trash, a third one is holding a hand grenade. Also, the Free Candy Unicorn from the same expansion doesn't seem too trustworthy, either.