Do you ever wonder what happens to the dirty equipment of adventurers? Who washes the blood out of the bust-covering armor of a barbarian? Who wipes the mud and animal poop from a druid’s toga? Who makes the musty, tear-stained, and yellow-sweat-stained mask of a rogue smell nice again, like lilac and gooseberries? The deeds of some adventurers may not be spotless, but the kobolds of the Goblin Laundromat ensure that at least the equipment is spic and span.
Amsterdam Board Game Design season 2
Are you familiar with Amsterdam Board Game Design? Amsterdam Board Game Design (or shorter: ABGD) is a group of international game designers and authors who come together in Amsterdam (or other cities) to work on games, or to test each other’s creations and provide constructive feedback. If you put all those brilliant game authors together and organize so much playfully, a brilliant game concept will eventually emerge. Or multiple. Maybe spread over several seasons? Maybe even 2 seasons!
During season 1, Bable, TimeZoo, and Grachtenpand was released.
On Kickstarter, you will soon find three new games designed by three different game authors who are part of ABGD: L’Oaf, Goblin Laundromat, and Medievallons.
Gameplay
Players all take on the role of a cleaning kobold working for a fantastic laundromat. Each player gets a basket, a stain-removing potion, and 4 laundry program cards, of which they can turn over the first one. Players earn points during Goblin Laundromat by completing laundry programs, doing laundry, and thus preparing nice clean laundry for the adventurers.
Players will draw cards during the game until they reach the washing machine limit. Players earn points for their clean laundry during a round, but extra points if they manage to complete the current laundry program. When washing, players must consider their laundry program: 1. they cannot clean too many stains at once, 2. the higher the temperature, the faster they can theoretically wash (as they get their turn earlier), and 3. the number of items they need to wash to complete a program.
Each piece of dirty laundry has a category, potentially a number of stains, and a number of points. Players draw cards, and then a player may draw from their stack of collected cards. The active player draws an item, counts the number of stains – except for the stains indicated on the current program, as they do not count towards the load of the laundry program – and if they successfully wash that item (this card goes on a points pile), they may choose whether to continue washing or stop. If the player chooses to continue, they must draw a card again, etc. Does a player draw too many stains? Unfortunately, this player must stop and scores no points for the laundry…
If a player successfully stops, the items they have successfully washed are clean and earn points. If a player has completed the current program, they also score points for that card. By using a stain-removing potion, a player can ignore the stains on the next drawn card.
Verdict
Goblin Laundromat is a push-your-luck game similar to Quacks of Quedlinburg, but with cards and drafting. Through drafting, you can influence and annoy other players by forcing certain cards on them. Goblin Laundromat has a wonderfully funny theme with dry humor illustrations, and the fast gameplay makes it an ideal and imaginative filler game.
