Caverns & Crystals is a worker placement board game where you control a tribe of stone Imps trying to gather resources from their home asteroid.
The first thing that gets my attention is that it is a game for 1 to 4 players. So you can play it alone or with 3 more people. The game’s dynamic change with the amount of people you play. Adding to that, you can also play in two teams, but just one player will be able to win.
Caverns & Crystals is a game that was thought since the components to the final rules. So expect to find a vacuum molded box with high-quality tokens to be used as minions and minerals, a hexagonal shaped board with 7 positions and some great artwork in the cards that easily fit the board. It’s also worth to mention that the rulebook also contains the history about the minions and the space squid that keeps messing with their plans.
The game is played in turns where each player places their minions to work and gather one of the minerals – stone, metal, and crystal. When crystals are gathered, players can then spawn more minions and start building their tower, which is completed in 3 steps.
Not all cards are available at the beginning of the game, so you will not always know where you are stepping before it is too late.
Every turn, new resources are added to the board and a card is turned.
You can win a game by having a full tribe – 6 minions, 1 King, and a tower – or, when not having more cards to turn, having the highest number of minerals. But there’s a catch. In Caverns & Crystals, you have the King cards that have a hidden role mechanic. You select one of then at the beginning of each turn and you can reveal it when you place your Imp King. These cards twist all the rules and help you manipulate the board to your advantage. You can even make the Squid work for you.
In the solo mode, you have to build your tribe while fighting a horde of zombie Imps. There is no more information about this mode, but what’s more important than zombies, right?
Playing with teams, when you want to build something or use any resources, you must ask permission to your partner. If he doesn’t allow you to do what you want, you can shout “betrayal” and break your team apart. As just one player can win the game, you can also use a betrayal to help with your strategy and win the game.
In general, Caverns & Crystals is a very well made game and promise to provide a lot of fun for all the players.
Caverns & Crystals – Kickstarter Details
If resource control is the kind of game you like, jump to the Kickstarter page and do your pledge to grab a copy of the game for about US$ 25.00.
The goal is to fund £10,000.00 and they have just over £2,000.00. It’s said on the page that they have stretch goals, but I couldn’t find what they are
The Kickstarter will run until 29th of July 2016 and is estimated to begin shipping around November 2016.
Tell me in the comments bellow what you most like in this kind of board games and what are your thoughts about Caverns & Crystals.
8 Comments
This sounds like a very interesting board game. It seems most games today are video-oriented. Is the game enjoyable in solo mode?
Also what is the average length of game play? Thanks for providing board games as an option to video games.
Tim
Hi Tim,
The game is not yet available to general public as it is on Kickstarter.
There’s not much information about the solo mode, but it looks promising.
Wow, this game looks interesting! I looks like playing some computer games that you build your own tribes and fight until yours win. And it’s completely a new idea to me too when I can play alone. Thanks for sharing this kind of game!
Hi Jassi,
It is relly very interesting and very promising.
You may also like Smallworld, where you can grow a civilization and take over the others.
I have not played a board game in quite sometime. This game looks interesting. I was wondering how playing solo would work and there is a brief explanation. this post has piqued my interest in worker placement board games.
Hi Tony,
It looks very interesting indeed.
At the moment, there’s not much information about the solo gameplay, but I sent the creator a question about it.
You should definitely take a look at the Kickstarter and do your pledge. 😉
Sounds like an interesting game that my kids would enjoy. I’ll jump over to their Kickstarter page and check it out. Thank you for your article.
All the best, Kevin
That’s great Kevin. Hope you guys have lots of fun.