Club of Cthulhu (Saturday Review)

As the green candlelight flickered lower and lower, a group of tireless paranormal researchers who had gathered around a reconstructed ritual circle were casting ancient manuscripts into the flames. Whispers rose with the smoke, and strange omens shimmered where the veil between reality and the land of the Ancient Ones had thinned. They knew the risks. They knew they were slowly losing their minds. Yet, they pressed on, drawn to the truths that lurked beyond comprehension. They were prepared to pay the ultimate price to join the exclusive Club of Cthulhu by Shi Chen from Play With Us Design with art by Keching Chang.

Welcome to another ominous game from the wonderful Taiwanese publishing team that is Play With Us Design. After Soulaween, their latest release, Club of Cthulhu, is also set in maybe a slightly darker work. While the former was about Deathschool, the latter deals with the dark world of mythical beings and magical incantations that will eventually make people lose their minds.

But fear not. Technically speaking, both are abstract strategy games. In Club of Cthulhu, you’re trying to collect sets of cards that come in five different colours by discarding cards from your tableau and drafting new ones from five different decks. So, no, there isn’t really anything scary here. You’re not actually devoting time to the Ancient Ones. You don’t risk losing your mind… and then again, maybe you do.

Everything Comes in Fives

The way Club of Cthulhu has managed to intricately weave themes from H. P. Lovecraft‘s famous mythos into its mechanisms means that the game is hard to imagine with a different setting.

First of all, everything comes in fives.

The cards come in five colours, which represent five Ancient Ones. Green is for Cthulhu himself, a deep-sea creature that, according to the rulebook, loves cooking and executes their commands with pinpoint precision. Red is for Shub-Niggurath, aka Meow Meow, a cosmic foodie who devours everything from grass to cake, as the rulebook puts it. Yellow is for the King in Yellow, who relies on inspiration and poses an extra risk to your sanity. Blue is Nyarlathotep, or CoLa in the game, a mind-wandering messenger with a dual personality. Finally, purple represents Idehaila, who is known as Lala in the game and who is an evil god who is always ready to take selfies, even using the altar as a photo studio, apparently.

Then there is the summoning circle with its five points. In the game, it is printed on a lovely, delicate black cloth that you place in the middle of the table between all players. On it, you place the cards separated into five decks. The cards themselves have a candle printed on their backs, making it look like there are five candles at each corner of the pentagon.

Not only that, during the game, you place one of your cards on one of the decks at the end of one of the central star’s points, then draw the top card of the two decks that are at the other end of the point. Already, Club of Cthulhu has cleverly integrated the pentagon as a drafting mechanism.

Set Collection Cthulhu Style

Another way the game incorporates Lovecraftian themes is through push-your-luck. Every time you return a card to the summoning circle, you draw two new cards that you initially keep to one side. After you have decided which of the two cards’ power, which is based on its colour, to use, you now have to decide if you want to discard another card from your tableau and draw two more from the decks.

The problem is, as you draw more cards, you risk losing a part of your mind. If three or more of the drawn cards are the same colour, the relevant Ancient One blesses you, which means you no longer score that colour at the end of the game. It also means your turn is over.

On the other hand, being blessed by a god means its respective colour’s power is now enhanced for you. Pushing for more cards also means you stand to get more points. Yet, as soon as you have been blessed five times, the game is over and you won’t score anything. You have to decide if the risk warrants the reward.

There is one more important twist in Club of Cthulhu. The cards you return to the pentagon are placed on top of one of the decks face-up. So you or another player will know what they will draw. They can see the options open to them. That means you’re not drawing completely without any idea of what you’ll get. It’s not all down to luck.

The way that works reminds me very much of Sea Salt & Paper, but while there are only two discard decks in that game, in Club of Cthulhu, you have five.

Join the Club

There is one more thing. How the colours score at the end is decided by a scoring table. There are five different sets that come with the game, so you can change it up. The scores on these tables seem a bit weird. For example, it is possible that a single yellow card would give you -10 points, two yellows zero points, three convert to -5 points, four to +5 and so on. So sometimes you might intentionally want to be blessed by Cthulhu, the yellow god, so that you don’t score negative points at the end.

That’s where Club of Cthulhu suddenly switches back into more of an abstract card-drafting set collection game again. As you play, you need to keep an eye on what cards other players have. You also need to keep an eye on the scoring table to work out if it’s worth you discarding a certain colour and end up with a higher score or whether you should just keep collecting more of that colour. After all, if the other players notice that you’re dumping a certain colour, they might decide to collect that colour instead to earn more points.

Club of Cthulhu is a game for people who enjoy Sea Salt & Paper. It’s also for people who love the Cthulhu mythos, of course. The components are really wonderful, and the art keeps everything light and family-friendly. The game plays pretty quickly, making it an ideal game for when you don’t have much time. It doesn’t take up too much space either, neither on the table nor when packed away, as it comes in a relatively small box. It also looks wonderful on the table, especially with the lights turned down.

So, why don’t you try to summon the Ancient Ones?

Useful Links

• Club of Cthulhu: https://pwud.ga/product/club-of-cthulhu/
• Rulebook: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/299980/club-of-cthulhu-english-rules
• Play With Us Design: https://pwud.ga/
• BGG listing: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/445785/club-of-cthulhu
• Soulaween review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/10/29/soulaween-saturday-review/
• Sea Salt & Paper review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/07/08/sea-salt-paper-saturday-review/

Videos

Transparency Facts

I feel that this review reflects my own, independent and honest opinion, but the facts below allow you to decide whether you think that I was influenced in any way. Please also read my Ethics Statement for more information.

• I was given a free review copy of this game by the publisher.
• The publisher sent me some of their Club of Cthulhu merchandise for free, including five keyrings and a small tote handbag.
• At the time of writing, I have not received financial support from the publisher or anyone working on their behalf.

Audio Version

Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/)

Sound Effects: ZapSplat
Link: https://www.zapsplat.com/

Music: Lost Place Atmospheres 001 by Sascha Ende
Link: https://ende.app/en/song/7664-lost-place-atmospheres-001

Music: Cinematic Suspense Series Episode 004 by Sascha Ende
Link: https://ende.app/en/song/5798-cinematic-suspense-series-episode-004

Playlist

These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review: