Gloom is a tabletop card game

Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...

 created by designer Keith Baker and published by Atlas Games

Atlas Games

Atlas Games is a company which publishes role-playing games, board games and card games. Its current president is John Nephew.Games published include:...

 in 2004. It won the Origins Award

Origins Award

The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...

 for Best Traditional Card Game in 2005

2005 Origins Award winners

The following are the winners of the 32nd annual Origins Award, held in 2006:-Hall of Fame inductees:* Aaron Allston* Jolly R. Blackburn* Rodger MacGowan* Dennis Mize * Mike Pondsmith* James Ernest-External links:* *...

. Three expansion packs have been created since the release of the original game called, Unhappy Homes, Unwelcome Guests and Unfortunate Expeditions. Additionally, In August 2011, Cthulhu Gloom, which serves as either a standalone game or a fourth expansion pack, was released.

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, and attempt to raise the points of the opponent's family with cards that cause positive events, such as marriage. The player with the lowest Family Value is the winner of the game.

Critical reception

An element of the game that was appreciated by game designer Greg Costikyan

Greg Costikyan

Greg Costikyan, 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 games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile...

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".

External links

• Gloom product line information from the publisher