The End of the World as we knew it may be coming faster than we thought but what about the real End of the World? If you don’t feel this is something that scares you or it really does, so you want to find a way to cope with it, maybe Doomlings is your game. Doomlings is a card game, created by Justus Meyer and Andrew Meyer and published in 2022 by Doomlings LLC. Since then it has been steadily growing with dozens expansions and accessories ,gaining funs all over the world.
The game can be played by 2 to 6 players, it lasts 20 to 45 mins and takes place in a distant planet beginning with the Birth of Life and progressing through ages till the End of The World but all done from a fun point of view. The goal of the game is to score as many points as you can before the End of the World by playing cards from your hand, called Traits. These are traits of your doomlings, some weird species that inhabit the planet. By playing these traits, your doomlings become more adaptable, resillient and even mischievous, but they can’t avoid the inevitable destruction of their planet. Beginning wtih the Birth of Life, Ages progress and in between, devastating Catastrophes hit the planet. When the 3rd Catastroph strikes, the game is over.
Ages cards
At the start of the game, the 28 Ages cards of the game are shuffled and so do the 15 Catastroph cards. 3 Piles of 3 random Age cards are prepared plus 1 Catastroph card in each pile. These piles are stacked on top of each other and the Birth of Life card is put on the top. This is the Age Pile. The traits cards are shuffled and 5 cards are dealt to each player. A Gene Pool card is also dealt to each player. The Gene Pool is a counter card representing each player’s hand size. Beginning with the number 5, it can increase or decrease during the game due to Traits cards or Catastrophs. Now the game is ready to begin. The first Age card is flipped and it has a certain effect to the current round of the game, which may be a one-time effect or a lasting effect for the round. Each player, on their turn must play a Trait card from their hand in front of them, then resolve any effects of this card, if any, and then stabilize which means draw or discard cards until they reach the Gene Pool number. Cards played byy each player form the player’s trait pile. Then the next player plays and so on until all players have played and the currect Age is over. Then the next Age card is flipped, having a new effect for the round. The new Age may bring a Catastrophe which is a special Age card that moves the 1st player position, has a Gene Pool effect, a Catastrophic effect and a World’s End effect. The game goes on until the 3rd Catastroph is drawn which means the End of the World has come. The World’s End effect on the card is resolved as well as World’s End effects on cards in each player’s trait pile and then we are ready to count the points on each player’s trait pile. Some cards don’t have a specific score value but have special rules for scoring based on other cards in the player’s trait pile.
Let’s see how the game scores in our usual categories:
Components
To start with, the gamebox of Doomlings makes a great impression for a small card game. It is colorful, very nicely illustrated and depicts some of those cutie little Doomlings in funny poses which is very inviting. They kind of say “Buy me” without spelling a word.
The box contains the cards and the rulebook but also has some extra space for expansions which is a clever way to promote expansions, like the extra space also speaks, saying “Please fill me in with more cards!!”.
Doomlings box & rulebook
Art on the cards highlights the fun aspect of the game. The various doomlings are depicted as small round creatures in poses that reflect their names. The art is simple but fun. The quality of the cards’ material is good but the cards definitely require sleeving due to heavy shuffling at the beginning of each game. The cards fit in 66x92mm size sleeves and you can use any sleeve of that size or the official Doomsleeves that can be found here. A scoring pad may be all that would be desired to make this a perfect bundle. It can only be downloaded and printed from the official website. 9/10
Gameplay
I usually don’t have many expectations and keep my hopes down when it comes to card games, because of their simplicity. Doomlings was a big surprise for me. Eventhough it’s definitely a light game, it requires enough thinking for it to be challenging while it maintains a quick pace and interesting mechanics. Elements that elevate gameplay are:
- the gene pool. It controls the number of cards you can have in your hand. The most cards you can have at hand the better so it’s nice that you can play traits with effects that increase your gene pool. Ages and catastrophes also affect the gene pool but these can’t be controlled and affect all players.
- traits have colors. Traits come in four different colors, each one with its minor specialty, for example blue traits are kind of defensive while green encourage growth. There are also colorless traits as well as dual color traits. Colors are important and several traits’ effects rely on having specific traits in your pile.
- player interaction. It’s just the right amount as we will analyze below
- great variety of traits. From simple traits without effects to traits with effects occuring after playing the card and others that can do something at the end of the game, or even on opponents’ turns there seems to be something here for everyone. There are dozens of different strategies and combinations of cards you can come up with in order to win. The more you play, the more you can improve your game.
- The two dominant species your are allowed to use in the game. They are stronger than usual trait cards and can’t be stolen, swapped or discarded. They provide a substancial benefit at the end of the game, so they must be chosen and played wisely.
Dominant traits
The game is equally fun with any number of players but the more players a little more it shines.
9/10
Replayability
There are dozens of different doomlings cards just in the base game, each one with its own character and abilities. Many more are available in expansion sets. There are also 15 different catastrophes and 28 unique ages, but only 3 catastrophes and 9 ages are used in each game,so it is guaranteed that a unique combination of ages will be used in each game, so no game will be the same. The game’s duration can be adjusted by removing or adding more age cards at the start of the game so according with the time you have available you can play shorter or longer games. Replayability is at its best here. 9/10
Theme
The theme of the game is a little abstract. Cute creatures from another planet, try to do their best to dominate the land until disaster comes. Personally, I don’t really care for deeper thoughts regarding a light, card game. The theme is enhanced by that little text in italics, in every trait card, that is a wise saying from a doomling bearing the specific trait. It’s a fun comment on the trait that makes you feel more connected with those round little thingies and maybe get a little in their shoes. Ages and Catastrophes contribute a lot to the theme, providing a natural progression of time and devastating events that are usually a part of every civilization. 6/10
Catastrophes
Learning Curve
Doolings is a game that can be taught in just a little minutes. All you really need to know is what the gene pool means, how time progresses through ages, what catastrophes mean and the little symbols on cards. The game is very simple and can be played by anyone from kids to elderly people without the need of prior board game experience. 9/10
Player Interaction
Thankfully there are a lot of ways to interact with fellow players in the game, through Doomlings’ traits. Some doomlings are mischievous enough to mess with opponents’ doomlings such as steal traits from them, swap traits, make opponents return traits to their hands and other equally cute actions. This way the game establishes a solid entertaining and fun character. 9/10
Final Thoughts
Combining all the above information, I must say that playing Doomlings was a very positive experience for me and for every other player I played it with. It felt fun, didn’t burn my brain and had just enough depth to feel challenging. The variability of cards ensures that no game will be like another, which boosts replayability. What more could one ask from a light card game? One of the best card games I tried out the last couple of years, the ideal filler game that will be loved by everyone.
Various Trait cards
