Do you know the Gloomies? Gloomies are small creatures from space who love to decorate this space with colorful, galactic flowers. Your goal is to grow these radiant flowers in the first half of the game and harvest them in the second half. Don’t be gloomy. Play Gloomies.
Background
A few years ago, Ravensburger released the game Mycelia, a colorful deckbuilder with a cute theme that is perfect for families. The game serves as a kind of entry-level deckbuilder. Justin Chan illustrated the cute little mushrooms that play the main role in Mycelia, and he is back for Gloomies, with the same distinctive style. Although the game author is different, the game is again aimed at families.
Setup and gameplay
I appreciate it when the game box is part of the game. In Gloomies, the box is used as the game board with multiple layers where players will place flowers during the game. Players shuffle the cards, prepare the draw piles, and lay out cards in a “market.” There are cards with flowers and cards with tasks. Each player receives a double-sided player board and, depending on the turn order, a number of cards and tokens.
The game has two chapters. In the first chapter, players plant flowers on the central board and place cards in front of them to earn points. In the second chapter, players pick the planted flowers for – you guessed it – points. The player with the most points wins.
The two chapters are different in nature but play largely in a similar way. In chapter one, players take turns playing cards to plant flowers of the same color in a single row. Players must play cards that correspond to the colors on the board. Flowers must be planted in the correct order. Players place the played cards in front of them. At the end of the chapter, players score based on the played cards. The cards played in chapter one form the player’s personal draw pile in chapter two. Picking flowers works similarly to planting. Players can assign the picked flowers to tasks for extra points, but they must complete the tasks.
Verdict
Gloomies is a fairly simple game with a surprising twist and two different chapters, which means players must think carefully about the second phase of the game during the first phase. Like Mycelia, it is suitable for younger avid gamers and families
