Make Your Family Unhappy!: A Review of Gloom
Game Name: Gloom
Designer: Keith Baker
Publisher: Atlas Games
Year: 2004
Players: 2-4
Ages: 8+
Playing time: 60 Minutes
Retail: $24.95
Contents:
•20 Character cards
•58 Modifier cards
•12 Event cards
•20 Untimely death cards
•Rules
From Atlas Games:
The world of Gloom is a sad and benighted place. The sky is gray, the tea is cold, and a new tragedy lies around every corner. Debt, disease, heartache, and packs of rabid flesh-eating mice — just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, they do. But some say that one’s reward in the afterlife is based on the misery endured in life. If so, there may yet be hope — if not in this world, then in the peace that lies beyond.
In the Gloom card game, you assume control of the fate of an eccentric family of misfits and misanthropes. The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death. You’ll play horrible mishaps like Pursued by Poodles or Mocked by Midgets on your own characters to lower their Self-Worth scores, while trying to cheer your opponents’ characters with marriages and other happy occasions that pile on positive points. The player with the lowest total Family Value wins.
Printed on transparent plastic cards, Gloom features an innovative design by noted RPG author Keith Baker. Multiple modifier cards can be played on top of the same character card; since the cards are transparent, elements from previously played modifier cards either show through or are obscured by those played above them. You’ll immediately and easily know the worth of every character, no matter how many modifiers they have. You’ve got to see (through) this game to believe it!
See-Through Cards!
As the description above indicates, this game is printed on transparent plastic cards. So you can see through them, Cool. It is unique and pretty neat. The entire game consists of 110 of these cards. Each player is given a family which consists of five family members. The entire goal of the game is to make your family members as miserable as possible, then kill them off one by one when they are unhappiest. The player whose happiness score has the lowest total after adding up the scores of his family members wins.
The game is fairly easy to learn. Lay out your family members on the table, draw to five cards, play or discard up to 2 cards(including killing off someone with an Untimely Death card, either in your family or another one, but only on your first play of the turn). Then draw back up to the five card limit. The cards can be played on your own family members or on another player’s family members. You want to make others happy while making your own family miserable. When one player runs out of living family members, the game is over. Add up the visible points on each of your family members and the one with the lowest score wins!
If you want to have a good (bad?) time, the rules suggest that you make up stories for each of the family members as you play cards on them. For example, If you play the Was Plagued by the Pox card on Uncle Mortimer, you could say that Uncle Mortimer was walking along when he slipped and fell into the sewer, where rats gnawed at him before he managed to escape. Then someone plays “Was Married Magnificently” card on him and describes how a nurse in the hospital took pity upon him as he was healing and fell in love with him. It does add some fun if you are playing with a group that enjoys that kind of stuff.
There is a lot of screw your neighbor action in the game, actually that is half the fun. Make somebody less unhappy, then kill them off. Hee!
The artwork on the cards is great, very Edward Gorey inspired. The families are remeniscent of the Addams Family, and the whole game is black humored gloomy fun. Unfortunately, the box doesn’t hold the cards very well. You’ll probably want to get your own card box. Additionally, these cards can get scratched, since they are see-through plastic. The fonts are small, so this game isn’t for those who have trouble reading cards. I have not had any problems with the ink flaking off the cards, as I have heard mentioned elsewhere. I believe that particular problem might have been solved in the current printing, but I have no way of knowing.
"Unhappy Homes" expansion
There are several expansions to the game. I have not played any, but the main concern I hear is that the new cards have no markings on them to distinguish them from the original cards. So unless you use a card list to separate the expansions back out after using them, you’ll be keeping them all in one big deck. The expansions do add the option to have more players, up to seven now.
Pros: The artwork is great and the black humor flavor text is funny. A great hit with teens. The game is easy to learn and the see-through cards are a cool mechanic. It is fun as an occasional or filler game, don’t go looking for huge strategy sessions with it.
Cons: The cards get scratched with a lot of use (you cant ruin them by spilling stuff on them though, they are made of plastic) The font is small and can be difficult to read. You are forced to do bad things to other players, so avoid playing with those who could take offense.
Score: 6.5 (out of 10) Better for families with teens.
You can pick up Gloom at Funagain Games for 20% off!
About the Author
I'm a little confused. It seems that you liked the game quite a bit by the review yet you gave it a 6.5 (still a solid buy with our bell curve grading) which sounds like it wasn't quite as good as the review led me to believe. Care to share a little more on why it got the rating it did? Is it the components and the packaging that brought it down?
BTW… The art strikes me as a bit Charles Addams too.
It was ok. I had a good time playing it, but I dont consider it a regular on the gaming table. It is more fun with the kids, and if you are in the right mood it can be a blast. Other than those times it is ok, not great, but ok. Not because of any particular problem, it's just how I feel. Maybe the expansions beef it up, I dont know. So I gave it a 6.5. I described the game, said the good things and bad things, gave my overall rating, and expect people to make up their own mind. You're always harshing my mellow man. LOL
Harshing your Mellow Man? Sorry, I'm not familiar with that. Is that something you young hep-cats are tossing around these days? And just who's this Mellow Man character? Is he sort of like Stay Puft?
Doh!
I wasn't being a wiseguy. Since we aren't covering Gloom on the next show, I was honestly curious as to what led you to your final grade. Having not played the game I don't have a point of reference or debate so I thought I'd ask. Maybe I just read more into it than what was actually presented.