Welcome to the world of Gloom, a place where the sky is permanently gray, the tea is always cold, and tragedy is the only thing that happens consistently. But don't worry, because here the logic is flipped: the more miserable your characters' lives are, the greater their reward in the afterlife. In Gloom, you control a family of misfits and misanthropes, and your goal is simple (though cruel): make them suffer as much as possible before they pass on to their eternal rest.

The game plays as a card game with a brilliant twist. You want to lower your characters' 'Self-Worth' by playing terrible misfortunes on them — think of things like being pursued by poodles or mocked by midgets. At the same time, you must try to 'help' your opponents' characters by playing happy marriages or other joyful events to inflate their scores. The player who ends the game with the lowest total family value is the winner.

The standout feature here is Keith Baker's innovative design. The cards are printed on transparent plastic. This means that when you stack modifiers on top of a character, you don't need to do tedious math; you just look through the cards to see which values are still visible and which have been obscured. It is a visual and narrative experience, where every card played adds a new chapter to the suffering (or unwanted happiness) of your family. If you enjoy dark humor, direct interaction, and watching the misfortune of others (or your own) in a comedic way, Gloom is the perfect choice. Get ready to laugh at misery while trying to ensure your family is the most miserable at the table!