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. In Gloom, 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!
The Gloom 2E core game cards are made from post-consumer recycled PET as of the 2024 reprint. In addition to recycled plastic cards, we continue to use recycled paper content, and maintain our general policy of avoiding disposable plastic wrap, substituting a paper band around the decks, and sticker tabs to seal the box.
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
