Gloom (card game)

Last updated
Gloom
Designers Keith Baker
Publishers Atlas Games
Players2-4 (basic deck)
Playing time30 minutes
Skills Storytelling

Gloom is a tabletop card game created by designer Keith Baker and published by Atlas Games in 2004. It won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game in 2005. [1] Four expansion packs have been created since the release of the original game called, Unhappy Homes, Unwelcome Guests, Unquiet Dead and Unfortunate Expeditions. [2] Additionally, In August 2011, Cthulhu Gloom, which serves as either a standalone game or a fifth expansion pack, was released, [3] and one Cthulhu expansion pack has been released, called Unpleasant Dreams.

Contents

Gameplay

The game is for two to four players who each are given control of an eccentric family. The object of the game is to lower the self-worth points of the player's own family with cards that cause negative events, eventually killing them. At the same time, positive points are played on opponent's family members. After one family is completely killed off, the player with the lowest Family Value (the total points of all dead family members) is the winner of the game. [2]

Other Versions

Expansion packs are available for the game, which each (except Unquiet Dead) add an additional family and allow for more than 4 players in the game. The packs also include new modifiers and Untimely Deaths. In 2013 a limited number of the TableTop Gloom Promo Expansion was released. Including in the deck are two unwanted guests (TableTop host Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day) that can wander from family to family. [4]

There are also several spin-offs of the game, which are played separately from the original Gloom:

Critical reception

An element of the game that was appreciated by game designer Greg Costikyan was the optional aspect of storytelling involved when playing an event card, where a player can choose to explain the events that happen in the course of the character's life. Costikyan stated that this added "a unique aspect to game play and [made] the game play particularly enjoyable". [7]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Jackson Games</span> American game publishing company

Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fluxx</span> Looney Labs card game

Fluxx is a card game, played with a specially designed deck published by Looney Labs. It is different from most other card games, in that the rules and the conditions for winning are altered throughout the game, via cards played by the players.

Chrononauts is a family of card games that simulates popular fictional ideas about how time travellers might alter history, drawing on sources like Back to the Future and the short stories collection Travels Through Time. The game was designed by Andrew Looney and is published by Looney Labs. The original game and a variant each won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game.

<i>Munchkin</i> (card game) Card game spoofing table-top RPG play

Munchkin is a dedicated deck card game by Steve Jackson Games, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic. It is a humorous take on role-playing games, based on the concept of munchkins.

<i>Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game</i>

Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game is an out-of-print card game produced and marketed by Fantasy Flight Games. It is based on Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and other Cthulhu Mythos fiction. In 2008, Fantasy Flight moved the game over to its Living Card Game (LCG) format, which retains the deck-building aspect of collectible card games, but without the random distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citadels (card game)</span> Card game

Citadels is a German-style card game, designed by Bruno Faidutti, originally published in French as Citadelles by MultiSim in 2000, illustrated by Julien Delval, Florence Magnin, Jean-Louis Mourier and Cyrille Daujean as graphic designer for the first edition. Sometime later, Citadels was published in German as Ohne Furcht und Adel, which means "Without Fear or Nobility".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chez Geek</span>

Chez Geek is a card game that parodies geek culture and cohabitation. It was created by Jon Darbro and developed by Alain H. Dawson, with additional development by Steve Jackson and Russell Godwin. The cards and rules were illustrated by John Kovalic. Upon its release, the game won the Origins Award.

<i>Arkham Horror</i> American adventure board game, first published 1987

Arkham Horror is a cooperative adventure board game designed by Richard Launius, originally published in 1987 by Chaosium. The game is based on Chaosium's roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu, which is set in the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft and other horror writers. The game's second edition was released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2005, with a third edition in 2018.

<i>Mythos</i> (card game) Collectible card game

Mythos is an out-of-print collectible card game published by Chaosium. It is based on the Cthulhu Mythos stories of the horror author H. P. Lovecraft, as well as on Chaosium's own Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

<i>Sim City: The Card Game</i>

Sim City: The Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the video game SimCity by Maxis. The goal of the game is to build a city from the ground up. Players take turns playing cards representing city blocks and collect profit.

This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2008. For video games, see 2008 in video gaming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doomtrooper</span> Card game

Doomtrooper, also known as Doom Trooper, is an out-of-print collectible card game designed by Bryan Winter and was released in January 1995. It was originally published by Target Games and Heartbreaker Hobbies. It is based on concepts from the Mutant Chronicles franchise. Players use warriors to attack and gain either Promotion Points or Destiny Points. Promotion points can be used to win; Destiny Points are used to purchase more warriors and equipment. There are 13 different card types and over 1100 different cards available.

<i>Pandemic</i> (board game) Crisis-themed cooperative strategy board game

Pandemic is a cooperative board game designed by Matt Leacock and first published by Z-Man Games in the United States in 2008. Pandemic is based on the premise that four diseases have broken out in the world, each threatening to wipe out a region. The game accommodates two to four players, each playing one of seven possible roles: dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher, operations expert, contingency planner, or quarantine specialist. Through the combined effort of all the players, the goal is to discover all four cures before any of several game-losing conditions are reached.

<i>Dominion</i> (card game) Deck-building card game

Dominion is a card game created by Donald X. Vaccarino and published by Rio Grande Games. It was the first deck-building game, and inspired a genre of games building on its central mechanic. Each player begins with a small deck of cards, which they improve by purchasing cards from a common supply that varies from game to game. Cards can help the player's deck function, impede their opponents, or provide victory points. As of December 2022, fifteen expansions to the original Dominion have been released.

<i>King of Tokyo</i> Tabletop game

King of Tokyo is a tabletop game using custom dice, cards, and boards, designed by Richard Garfield and released in 2011. A New York City-based edition, King of New York, was published in 2014. The game was re-released in 2016, with all-new artwork and characters.

<i>Star Realms</i> Tabletop game

Star Realms is a card-based deck building science-fiction tabletop game, designed by Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle and published in 2014 by Wise Wizard Games. The game started out as a Kickstarter campaign in 2013. The goal of Star Realms is to destroy opponents by purchasing cards using "trade" points and using these cards to attack an opponent's "authority" using "combat" points. The game takes place in a distant future where different races compete to gain resources, trade and outmaneuver each other in a race to become ruler of the galaxy.

Castle Panic is a board game designed by Justin De Witt and published by Fireside Games in 2009 Castle Panic is a tower defense strategy game in which players work cooperatively to protect a castle from monsters. The game was a nominee for the 2010 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game.

<i>Arkham Horror: The Card Game</i> 2016 American deck-building card game

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative living card game produced by Fantasy Flight Games. It is set in the universe of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game which is itself based on the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft and other cosmic horror writers. The title refers to Lovecraft's fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts which is mentioned in many Mythos stories.

<i>Colt Express</i> 2014 board game

Colt Express is a railway-themed family board game designed by Christophe Raimbault, Illustrated by Ian Parovel and Jordi Valbuena, published in 2014 by Ludonaute and distributed by Asmodee.

Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game is a cooperative deck-building game for 1-5 players, released in 2012. It was designed by Devin Low and published by Upper Deck Entertainment, a division of Upper Deck Company.

References

  1. ↑ "Origins Winners of 2005". Originsgamefair.com. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Gloom: Gloom Products". Atlas Games. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Furino, Giaco. "Dangerous Games: Cthulhu Gloom Board Game Review". Fearnet. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Gloom: TableTop Promo Expansion". Board Game Geek. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  5. ↑ WORLD OF MUNCHKIN page on MUNCHKIN GLOOM
  6. ↑ Fairytale Gloom page on Atlus Games' website
  7. ↑ Costikyan, Greg (2 May 2008). "Gloom: The Game of Inauspicious Incidents and Grave Consequences". PlayThisThing.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  8. ↑ "Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: Gloom -- the Game of Inauspicious Incidents & Grave Consequences".
  9. ↑ Family games : The 100 best. 2010. ISBN   9781934547212.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.