Drug use, personal demons, wild adventures and more. Side Effects is a “take that” card game where players race to treat all the illnesses in their psyche with drugs and therapy.

Players start with four illness cards face up in front of them (their "psyche") and then four cards in a hidden hand. Players take turns drawing cards from the deck and trying to find the right medicine to treat their illnesses. A medicine card treats a disease, but also leaves the player open to receiving new diseases (from that medicine's list of side effects) from other players.

Each disease card has a unique penalty and delivery cards will activate these penalties. Play an Episode card on another player to hinder him or her or help yourself.

The game ends when a player treats all the diseases in his psyche.