What it is
Doomlings is a light, tongue-in-cheek card game about the end of the world. Everyone leads a species of little creatures and evolves it card by card, trying to make it the best at the table before the apocalypse hits.
The cards are your species’ traits, and there are more than a hundred of them, each one different. Every trait is worth points, and almost all of them also have an effect, which can help you or hit the others, by stealing, swapping or making them discard their traits. Your hand size isn’t fixed either: some traits and catastrophes make it bigger or smaller, and with more cards in hand you have more choice.
Meanwhile time passes in ages, and every age changes something. Hidden among the ages are three catastrophes, one in each third of the game, and you never know when they’ll come. At the third one the world ends. You add up the points of your traits, plus the end-of-game bonuses, and the species with the most wins.
How it plays
The cards grab you straight away, with polished art and bright colours, and each one does something different. That’s exactly why it’s not enough to just slap them down one after another: your hand needs looking after, discarding when needed and filling it back up at the right moment.
At the table there’s also a lot to follow, your own traits, each with its effect, and your opponents’ too, because sooner or later the turn comes when it pays to steal one or make it disappear. It’s light, but it makes you think more than plenty of end-of-the-night card games.
The nugget
Doomlings was born at Christmas 2019, during a family holiday in Germany. Brothers Justus and Andrew Meyer were joking about the ideal game, one that both their mum and their friends would enjoy, and then they actually tried to make it. Justus, who also did the illustrations, taught himself to draw while working on it, and for the third edition every card was redrawn from scratch.
At our table
Doomlings’ cards are each prettier than the last: colourful, all different, each with its own ability.
How long does Doomlings take?
The box says 20–45 minutes. At our table: 20 minutes at two.
The box
What’s the card game that looks light but makes you think?
The kind you explain in five minutes and then keeps you mulling over every card.
Also on the table
Thanks to Doomlings for sending us Doomlings.