Fans of card games who enjoy a simple, straightforward, and often darkly humorous experience are well served by plenty of titles these days. Games such as Exploding Kittens, Unstable Unicorns, Bears vs Babies and countless others have carved themselves a unique niche in the gaming space; titles that are easy to pick up and play, don’t overstay their welcome and have players laughing at the illustrations on (and often, even the titles of) the cards along the way. Doomlings is a game that definitely fits the chaotic, humorous, party card game experience. Is it a game that’ll last until the end of the world? Let’s find out!
Getting Started With Doomlings
All you need to get going with Doomlings is the base game set; there’s no extra counters or components beyond the cards that you have in the box. Speaking of the box, even this by itself is really nicely designed, with the interior storage even including an extra tray, with a cardboard spacer marked “Future Doomlings” that you can use to keep an expansion or two safely stored with the main game. It’s a thoughtful touch; as you’ll likely realize, if you do pick Doomlings up for yourself, there are a lot of expansions. It’s pretty bewildering and somewhat overwhelming, in fact, such is the sheer volume of different expansions available.
However, all you’ll need to get started is the base game. Once you have it, and some opponents (or just one, as Doomlings can also be played by just two players), you’ll be ready to go. Though setup is slightly convoluted, and might take more casual players aback, for those of us seasoned card gamers used to much more complex rulesets, it’s no problem at all. In your box, you’ll find the following cards: Traits, Ages, Gene Pool, The Birth of Life, and reference cards. You’ll first need to find the 15 Catastrophe cards in the Ages deck, separate them and then shuffle the Ages.
Then it’s just a case of dealing three Ages into three different piles, then adding a Catastrophe card onto the top of each pile of Ages cards.
These three piles of four cards are then stacked on top of each other to form the Ages deck, and The Birth of Life card is then placed on top of that, to create the game’s random Ages deck.
Each player chooses a Gene Pool card. Though these are in a variety of colors, the only rule here is that you should just choose your favorite of the Gene Pool cards that are available – functionally, they’re all the same. This is placed with the five at the top, and shows that each player begins with a hand of five cards; the Gene Pool for each player can change over the course of the game, but will always show the number of cards a player draws back up to in the relevant step.
The Traits deck is shuffled, five cards are dealt to each player, The Birth of Life card is revealed, and the first player (to the left of the dealer) begins the game. Each player can take a reference card to remind them of the turn order as well as clarifications and reminders of card icons and keywords. Simple, right?
How to Play Doomlings
The gameplay in Doomlings, much like the aforementioned Exploding Kittens and Unstable Unicorns, essentially boils down to playing one Traits card from your hand, following its effects (if applicable), and then drawing back up to hand size (or “Stabilizing”), as denoted on the gene pool card.
There are a few wrinkles to add to this, of course, otherwise it wouldn’t be a very interesting game at all! Once all players have taken a turn, the next Ages card is revealed, and each player must follow its effect before any further turns are taken. Play then continues until a Catastrophe is drawn; this will affect all Gene Pools, then its effect is followed. There’s a World’s End effect too, but this only applies if the card is drawn as the third Catastrophe.
Over the course of the game, each player will try to give their Doomlings the most successful set of Traits, with each Traits card having a different point value in its bottom left. Once the World’s End has been drawn, no more cards are taken and the game’s climax kicks in; the Gene Pool and Catastrophic effect applies as normal. Then any World’s End symbols on a player’s Traits will be resolved, and finally the World’s End effect is followed by all players.
Scoring then begins; players add up all the point values of the Traits in their play area, taking any bonuses, penalties, or other modifiers into account. The player with the highest point total at the end of the game is the most successful of the Doomlings (presumably they still perish with the world-ending catastrophe though!).
Is Doomlings Fun to Play?
First impressions of Doomlings are fantastic; the box and cards are all beautifully designed, vibrantly colorful, and charmingly illustrated. There’s some nice quips on the Traits that add a bit of flavor to each one also.
It’s a fairly basic game, and incredibly reliant on luck. It’s one of those games where you may at first think there’s going to be at least some strategy, but it really is minimal; there’ll be a lot of times where any plans you had for your cards go completely awry, thanks to the effect of a Catastrophe card (such as passing your hand to another player, for example).
It’s a very good game for younger players, and families who aren’t fussed about learning intricate rulesets or getting too strategically involved with a game; the reliance on luck in the game means that even the youngest or most inexperienced players can still hold their own against more seasoned gamers. It’s also a light, and brief, enough game that it can be a great palate cleanser between, or after, a heavier game session, though it does occasionally outstay its welcome in terms of the game’s length.
However, if your players do find the chaotic gameplay of games such as Exploding Kittens, or even, say, Munchkin, to be a bit of a frustrating and pointless experience, Doomlings won’t be a game they’ll enjoy. I have to say that its over-reliance on chaos and luck wasn’t really something I was particularly enamored with, though in fairness, I’m not a fan of those other games mentioned either. With the right group, not taking the experience seriously while trash talking each other, or laughing at each others’ misfortune, Doomlings will almost certainly be a hit.
The Card Gamer Verdict
There’s a lot to like in Doomlings at first, with eye-catching packaging and an adorable, colorful aesthetic. Its gameplay is easy enough for even the youngest or most inexperienced of gamers to pick up easily, with only minor strategic considerations coming into play on any given turn.
That, however, is a double-edged sword, and the chaotic, luck-driven mechanics may well be an acquired taste. It’s a good game for families and game groups looking for an ever-so-slightly meatier experience than, say, Uno, but more strategically minded players, looking for something weightier, aren’t likely to be swayed, even by the charming visual design and witty card text that’s found throughout Doomlings.
Though I do appreciate its incredibly appealing, overall aesthetic, the game’s over-reliance on luck and chaotic card play wasn’t hugely enjoyable for me personally. That said, it’s clear that Doomlings has found a willing, eager, and enthusiastic audience who are more than happy to keep on bringing about the apocalypse, in a way that makes everything seem quite adorable and family friendly. It’s the end of the world as we know it, but the Doomlings feel fine.
Click here to pick up your copy of Doomlings. Or to check out another family friendly game, check out our review of Flip 7.
