Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom
Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
52 Cards:
- 48 Crazy Creature cards (in 4 colours), numbered 1 to 6 (twice in each colour).
- 4 Machine cards (in 4 colours), with on each side a different symbol ("+" or "–").
Objective
All players try to get rid of their cards. Cards in the hand of a player score penalty points at the end of a round. The player with the least penalty points at the end of the game wins the game and becomes the new apprentice of Doctor Doom.
Set Up
Place the Machine cards in a row with the "+" symbol on all cards face up.
Shuffle the Creature cards.
In a 4 player game: deal each player 10 cards. In a 2 or 3 player game: deal each player 12 cards. All players take their cards in their hand without showing them to the other players.
Place 8 cards in a face down reserve deck next to the Machine cards. All remaining cards aren't used in this round. Place these cards, without looking at them, aside.
Choose a start player.
Game Sequence
The game is played over a number of rounds equal to the number of players.
The players take turns in clockwise order. The start player begins.
Each turn a player plays a card from his hand beside a machine.
If he can't play a card, he must pass for this turn. He can try to play a card in his next turn.
Playing Cards
Creature cards must be placed face up in a pile beside the Machine card with the same colour.
If the machine shows a "+" symbol a Creature card with the same number or higher than the creature on top of the pile beside the machine has to be played.
Example: On top of the pile beside the red machine, showing a "+" symbol is a "3". You can only play a red Creature card with "3", "4", "5" or "6".
If the machine shows a "–" symbol a Creature card with the same number or lower than the creature on the top of the pile beside the machine has to be played.
Example: On top of the pile beside the blue machine, showing a "–" symbol is a "3". You can only play a blue Creature card with "3", "2" or "1".
Note: At the start of each round there aren't any creatures beside the machines. You can play a creature with any number of the machine's colour as the first card of that pile.
A card with a "genetic mutation"-symbol can always be played on a card with that same symbol and colour. Ignore in this case the "+" or "–" symbol on the machine.
Example: On top of the pile beside the green machine lays a "1". You may play a green "1" or "6" on top of it.
Playing cards with the same number
If a player plays a creature card with the same number as the previous one on a pile, he must choose to:
- Flip a Machine card of his choice, or
- Force a player of his choice to draw one card from the reserve deck.
Note: If there are no cards left in the reserve deck, the player must flip a machine card of his choice.
Scoring
If a player plays the last card of his hand, all other players take their last turn. Then the round ends.
A round also ends if all players have passed because they couldn't play a card.
For each Creature card a player has left in his hand, he'll score 0-2 penalty points. Penalty points are displayed on top of the cards (0 points for creatures with "1" and "6", 1 point for creatures with "2" and "5" and 2 points for creatures with "3" and "4").
If a player has no Creature cards left in his hand, he subtracts 3 points from his score (When a player has less than 3 points he looses all his penalty points.).
After writing down the scores a new round starts with the player left to the player who started the last round.
Shuffle all 48 Creature cards and deal the same number of cards to each player and prepare the reserve deck as in the first round. Flip all Machine cards to the side with a "+" symbol.
End of the Game
After playing a number of rounds equal to the number of players the game ends.
The player with the least penalty points wins the game.
Creature Cage
Creature Serial Number 1: low security level 6: high security level
Diagram labels: Opening machinery; door hinge; Bulkhead door including inspection window; Visual display unit (VDU) for special information; security lock; Air ventilation.
Creature Notes
Flavour text from the printed rules' creature sidebars.
- The Amphibug: Something between a frog and, well, a cockroach... it doesn't look that dangerous, but beware of the sticky tongue and electric bolts!
- The Beenoceros: The maximum of strength, a narrow little mind and a vicious poisoned stench that makes a mad doctor happy...
- Trolliphant: You don't believe in Trolls? Dr. Doom doesn't either, but he likes fairy tales. So he created his own version, made of elephant DNA.
- Hellcat: The devil's pet if he ever had one. A cute puppy when it is young but the grown ups tend to throw fireballs when angry.
- Minimalizer: Are you a little scared of what you have created? No problem, just shrink it down to a cute size, til your nerves are calmed down...
- Growing Machine: The day of world domination is near for doctor doom. Let's raise his monsters to their proper size!
Transcription note: the Beenoceros sidebar is partly obscured by the page fold in the scan; the legible wording is reproduced above.