''Gloom'' is a tabletop

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

created by designer Keith Baker and published by

Atlas Games Atlas Games is a company which publishes role-playing games, board games and card games. Its founder and current president is John Nephew. History When Atlas Games did not have the finances to publish '' On the Edge'' (1994), they partnered with J ...

in 2004. It won the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, t ...

for Best Traditional Card Game in 2005. Four

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

s have been created since the release of the original game called, ''Unhappy Homes'', ''Unwelcome Guests'', ''Unquiet Dead'' and ''Unfortunate Expeditions''. Additionally, In August 2011, ''Cthulhu Gloom'', which serves as either a standalone game or a fifth expansion pack, was released, and one Cthulhu expansion pack has been released, called ''Unpleasant Dreams''.

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.

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 Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film ''Stand by Me (film), Stand by Me'', ...

and

Felicia Day Kathryn Felicia Day (born June 28, 1979) is an American actress, singer, writer, and web series creator. She is the creator and star of the web series '' The Guild'' (2007–2013), a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also wrote and ...

) that can wander from family to family. There are also several spin-offs of the game, which are played separately from the original ''Gloom'': * ''

Cthulhu Cthulhu is a fictional cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was introduced in his short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published by the American pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' in 1928. Considered a Great Old One within the pantheon ...

Gloom'' uses a

Lovecraftian Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror, fantasy fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is na ...

theme for the game. A new element in that game are Story cards, which add special effects through the game, or extra points at the conclusion of the game. ''Cthulhu Gloom'' can be played with 5 players without an expansion pack. * ''

Munchkin A Munchkin is a native of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. Although a common fixture in Germanic fairy tales, they are introduced to modern audiences with the first appearance in the classic c ...

Gloom'' is based on the ''Munchkin'' series of card games from

Steve Jackson Games 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 (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

. It was released in the summer of 2015. * ''

Fairytale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful being ...

Gloom'' brings classic fairy tale characters and other elements to Gloom's unhappy setting. The game was released June 2015. * ''Gloom in Space'' uses science fiction tropes and characters, many of which are nods to sci-fi favorites like

Han Solo Han Solo () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', and later appeared in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''Star Wars: The F ...

The Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

. It was released in early 2017.

Critical reception

An element of the game that was appreciated by game designer

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959), sometimes known under the pseudonym Designer X, is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames, role-playing ...

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 adethe game play particularly enjoyable".

Reviews

*''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

'' *''Family Games: The 100 Best'' *'' Rue Morgue'' #45https://archive.org/details/Rue_Morgue_045_May_2005/page/n71/mode/2up

References

External links

''Gloom'' product line information
from the publisher *{{bgg title, 12692, Gloom Atlas Games games Card games introduced in 2004 Cthulhu Mythos card games Dedicated deck card games Origins Award winners