Gloom Card Game

1. Gloom Card Game Black Water
2. Gloom Card Game - Video Results
3. Gloom Card Game Expansions

If you’re looking for a great card game to accompany your Halloween celebrations this month, then pick up a copy of Gloom.

Gloom is a deliciously dark series of games where sorrow and suffering scores points. Transparent plastic cards give the games a unique look and make point calculations fast and easy. The evocative, gloomy art is reminiscent of Edward Gorey and Lemony Snicket.

• One of the really unique aspects about Gloom is how the players are encouraged to expand the storytelling element of the gloomy events that take place during a game. So if you play a card where one.
• Gloom is both the best and worst name for this superb little card game. On the one hand, the objective really is to spread gloom among the quirky family you adopt when you play.
• Be forewarned; Gloom is a card game which features no visible violence or nudity. However the core mechanic of the game is to make your characters as miserable as possible. This means that a large number of cards will feature text describing terrible scenes or events that characters will/have experienced that may be upsetting to some.

Gloom is a card game with somewhat of a macabre theme – you’re trying to make your family as gloomy as possible before they die. The more miserable they are when they pass on, the better chance you have of winning.

Just hearing the theme though, we can see how you might be turned off.
Don’t be.

Gloom Card Game Black Water

It’s a light-hearted game with silly situations that’s a lot of fun to play and laugh along the way.

But we haven’t even mentioned one of the best parts of the game.
The thing that makes this creative card game so cool are the cards themselves!

The cards in Gloom are translucent!
They’re see-through cards and a ton of fun to play with!

How to play Gloom

As mentioned previously, the objective in Gloom is to have the most miserable dead family members at the end of the game. Players achieve this by stacking modifier cards on top of their character cards that add misery upon misery before playing an Untimely Death card on top of them.

And that’s where the see-through cards completely make the game!

Every player in Gloom starts with 5 members in their family played face-up in front of them. And each family member card has flavor text on the card that creates a fun/creative back story for the character.

Players are also given a hand of 5 cards to start with (mix of modifier, event, and death cards). The modifier cards are used to stack misery or happiness onto the character cards on the table. And every card has a funny story with it. So when you play a card on a character, be sure to read it out loud to weave the story of that character.

Here are some examples of modifiers (bad and good):

• Was cursed by the queen
• Starved in a storm
• Was wounded by wasps
• Was mauled by a manatee
• Was written out of the will
• Was popular in parliament
• Landed a legacy
• Was delighted by ducklings

And some examples of untimely death cards:

• Died without cares
• Fell from on high
• Was badly burned
• Was choked by a tie
• Drank too much rye

On their turn, players can make 2 plays – each play choosing to play a card, discard a card, or pass.

Players can place modifier cards on any living character card they’d like – usually placing cards with happy things on their opponents and miserable things on their own characters. The modifier cards have point values on them (positive or negative) that show how happy or miserable a character is.

The points show up in 3 different spots on the cards and when cards are stacked on each other may cover up previous points. Only the points that are visible are counted. So if a character has -20 points in one spot and an opponent plays a happy situation card on it, the happy +10 points may cover up the -20 and now the character is happy as can be with that 30-point swing.

And as long as a character has positive/happy points, they can’t die. And in the end, only dead characters score points.

But just because you have a miserably dead character, don’t think your job is done because there are also some Event cards that can bring them back to life or mix things up in unexpected ways. Just when you think you’ll get a lot of great negative points, an opponent will play the Second Chance card – reviving your family member and adding some happy card on top.

Once one player’s family members are all deceased, the game ends. Players count up their points and the lowest (most miserable) family wins.

What’s so fun about Gloom?

Gloom Card Game - Video Results

We always have a fun time when we play Gloom. The stories that add up as you heap misfortune and other cards on yours or other’s characters is a hoot. And the swing of fortune as others mess with your characters and you mess with there’s keeps everyone watching and tallying points all the time.

There can be plenty of swings throughout the game.

And those cards!
Cards that are see-through are just so cool!

How does Gloom score on the “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Gloom is a great game to play in October for sure. But even if it’s not Halloween season, Gloom is a fun game to play.

The length of game play however isn’t one that gets players calling for a rematch immediately after one game ends. We all have a fun time for sure. But we’ll pack it up and laugh about the wacky time we just had and look forward to the next time.

There is also a number of expansion Gloom decks – adding more families/characters, new misfortunes, and more twists and turns. Plenty of fun, gloomy play to be had!

What board games and card games do you recommend for Halloween?
With the latest craze in zombies, vampires, werewolves, and other scary stuff, there are plenty of board games with creepy themes that go well with Halloween. What games do you love to play this time of year?

Here’s another few board games and card games to check out for Halloween:

Gloom at a Glance

• In Gloom you make your family miserable while heaping happiness on your opponents.
• Featured on Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, with more than 300,000 games in print.
• Its dark Victorian flavor is a fan favorite, while transparent plastic cards make point calculations easy.
  
• Available expansions include Unhappy Homes, Unfortunate Expeditions, Unwelcome Guests, and Unquiet Dead.

I hope you have a morbid sense of humor, because we are about to play an award-winning card game named Gloom.
— Wil Wheaton, TableTop

Misery Loves Company: The World of Gloom

When your family is made up of serial killers, crazed circus folk, and demonically possessed sociopaths, misery comes easy. InGloom, players control these misanthropic misfits. The goal? To make your characters as miserable as possible before allowing them the sweet respite of death. Along the way you'll make other players' characters horribly happy. Players narrate their characters' misfortunes and mishaps, creating unique stories of suffering in each game. May the most miserable soul win!

A Sad State of Affairs: Gameplay Basics

In Gloom, each player places negative Modifier cards on their family members to make them delightfully depressed, and positive ones other players' cards to keep them horribly happy. Untimely Deaths lock in points for good or ill.

The award-winning gameplay uses unique transparent cards that stack on top of each other to conceal and reveal the Self-Worth scores from the cards below. The easy scoring and evocative, gloomy art are guaranteed to endlessly entertain players. The game ends when one entire family has shuffled off this mortal coil. The winner is the player with the lowest score, whose family was the most miserable in life!

Awards

• 2012 Featured on TableTop with Wil Wheaton.
• 2010 Family Games: The 100 Best.
• 2006 Origins Award Winner – Traditional Card Game of the Year.
• 2006 GAMES Magazine’s Games 100 List – Family Card Game category.
  
• 2005 InQuest Gamer Fan Award Nominee – Best Card Game.
  
• 2004 OgreCave's Christmas Gift Guide.

Vital Stats

Gloom Card Game Expansions