A famous philosopher/gamer once said: “There is no ‘Family’ once you sit at the game table.” Okay, he wasn’t all that famous. Actually, he is a member of my gaming group, but his words ring true once you play “Gloom.”

First Impressions:
A game named “Gloom” brings thoughts of pain and agony. In this game, that is a good thing. The rules were fairly simple. It was one sheet back to back. The first side explained the background for the game and gave funny backgrounds of the characters. Not really needed, but fun to read just the same and added to the theme. The second side explained game play and the types of cards. It sounded like “The Family Business,” but instead of trying to kill off someone else’s mob family first, you try to kill off your own family and play good cards on other players. Oh, by the way, the one who kills off their own family first with the most NEGATIVE points or lowest score of the dead is the winner or looser if you want to stay with the theme. In short, it is kind of a screw you kind of game, but to be more accurate, it would be more of a...”was delighted by ducklings” for +10 points to nail other characters.

Game Play:
Everyone gets five cards. The person who had the worst day goes first. The cards are split between modifier Cards, event cards, and untimely death cards. Modifier cards give negative and positive points etc. Event cards mess with other players, and untimely death cards kill off people, yea! In depth rules are elsewhere on "The Geek."

Second Impression:
Okay, I only played it once and was hooked, but I had my doubts because some of my family still think we’re related once entering the game arena; not so for Gloom. My family is not real receptive to screw you type of games as much as I am, but to cause discomfort in this game is by actually having something nice befall upon them, such as: “was married magnificently,” or “had a picnic in the park.” My gentle random acts of kindness were quickly met with a mob mentality. During my first turn, I was able to kill off the Nefarious Nanny with a whooping -45 points. She never knew what hit her. I tried to give my neighbor’s dog a “picnic in the park” for positive points by raiding the food basket since my dog seems to enjoy the hunt for people food, but that didn’t go over so well either.
To make a long story short, I was confronted with a lot of, “Dad, why did you do that!?” kind of mentality. I even tried a little role play of the famous Dr. Frankenstein by bringing one character back to life while sacrificing one of my own to keep my poor helpless daughter at zero points. Don’t let her looks fool you. She'd gut you while you sleep. I was always taught to lay one’s life down for another, but my kind acts got my daughter hoppin like a hoola girl at a grass fire. She even went as far as to enforce her own form of Martial Law house rule and wouldn’t even let me save her first victim with an event card before I ended the game by killing my last family member. How fair is that?

In Summary:
Gloom is a game for the bi/polar that refuse to take their meds. It can be a fun emotional roller coaster if you let it. It goes against all good in all humanity. However, it would be a great gift for Lemoney Snicket. The game was painful for a variety of reason. Several of which were how objects, mild obscenities, and physical aggressions seem to have been directed at my person when I was trying to be a good citizen by helping those poor pathetic excuses for living beings to enjoy the simple comforts in life. After playing, I would also have to assign a negative value to the marriage card instead of a positive for my shoulder will never be able to deliver a fast ball for all the damage it took during the game. The game is somewhat light and the flavor text is fun. The cards are plastic and different from anything I’ve played. I was just kidding about the fastball. It was a curve ball.
Would I play this again? You bet, but there is something to be said about wearing the proper attire. How much does a suit of armor go for these days anyway?