Doomlings Written Kickstarter Preview

Who in my opinion does not enjoy a good end of the world game, you have between 9 – 13 rounds to prepare our Doomling’s for the inevitable end of the world as it ends when the final catastrophe as you play a new age card each round.  The rules are simple, you start with a gene pool of 5 cards, you may play 1 trait, then you stabilize your hand. This simply means you draw or discard to the limit of your gene pool.

Traits come in various colors, and often have effects that will trigger on your turn, or through the game itself. Traits can be used to increase your gene pool, steal cards from your opponent, draw more cards, and be played for end of round scoring.  Each turn you will play at least one trait card into your trait pile if you can, however other traits and even the age you are in can modify that rule.  In fact rules are very fluid in this game, so expect no two rounds to be alike.

Catastrophes are events that in most cases are negative, usually resulting in decrease to your gene pool and some effect like discard cards at random, but not all catastrophes are bad for you.  They do tend to have a more negative effect than a normal age card, but there is no guarantee that an age card will help you either. Some ages, will restrict the cards you can play to a specific color, others may cause you to discard cards at random, you never know what fate is in store for your Doomlings as the game progresses to end.

The game plays out in turns, and at the end of the round after each player goes the first player moves to the left, triggers a new age follows the instructions and then plays another round of turns. This continues until the third and final catastrophe, where you add your points up in an easy four step process. Player with the most points wins the game, of course the world is destroyed the Doomlings are dead, but at least you were able to claim supremacy before being wiped off the face of the planet.  

Setup:

Quick easy and sets up in less than 5 minutes, with a small foot print on a table, a game you could easily take anywhere or pack on a trip to amuse the family in hotels and campsites.

Gameplay:

Game is fast and fun, each round is quick, as you plan for the of the world.

Theme and Mechanics:

The mechanics is a tableau building game, with ever changing rules, right up to the ultimate catastrophe. 

Artwork and Components:

While the artwork for the most part presents 2 color printing on the card, the finish of the cards was a good quality with a linen feel.  The box was solid, with great artwork on the box itself.

The Good:

• Easy to play
• Quick to set up
• Family Friendly
• Ever Changing rules, keeps the game fresh and interesting
• Quick to play
• Fun
• Cards have a great feel

The Other:

The game does have a higher strategy level that Dominos or other tile laying games, as you must not only match the corners (also optionally the center) of the larger scoring frames, you must also match your numbers within the frames.  So, you have to take care placing tiles in your frames or risk not being able to score them against the larger frames.

Final Thoughts:

Both my wife and I liked the game very much, and would play this with our friends and better yet my very overly competitive family.  I am looking forward to playing more of the game, and buying some of the expansions that will be offered with the Kickstarter Campaign

Players Who Like:

If you like this game, than you may also consider Fluxx and its many flavors as a game you may enjoy.