How to Play

Caverna: Cave vs Cave

1-2 players 20-40 min 7.1 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control two dwarves excavating mountain caves over eight rounds. Each turn, you alternate actions to expand your workforce, uncover building tiles, and construct rooms while mining precious metals. Actions increase from two to four per round as new possibilities emerge. Victory comes from accumulating the most points through constructed buildings and collected gold.

Published 2017

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Arrange action board

Select 2 action boards and place them in the center of the table

Place character pieces

Put action pieces with human figures on the 4 empty spaces of the action board

Prepare remaining pieces

Separate and shuffle the remaining action pieces face-down, placing them in corresponding positions

Set up player cave

Open your cave board and place it in front of you

Initialize resources

Place all resources (wood, stone, iron, hemp, food, gold) on the "1" position of the resource tracker

Resource limits

Each resource type except gold has a maximum of 9; gold maximum is 19; excess resources are discarded

Prepare light house tiles

Place 6 light gray house pieces face-up next to the action board

Distribute dark house tiles

Shuffle 18 dark gray house pieces face-down and distribute them to both players' caves; do not place pieces on red-marked spaces

Set aside remaining components

Place remaining pieces and the starting player marker to the side

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Reveal new action

At the beginning of each round, reveal one piece in turn order

Select main action

Starting from the start player, choose one revealed action from the action board

Activate action piece

Slide your chosen action piece up or down; this piece cannot be used again this round

Alternate turns

Players take turns performing actions

Determine action count

The number of actions per round depends on the human figure count shown below the last revealed piece's location:

Execute partial actions

Most house pieces offer multiple actions; you may execute all or some, but only once per turn

Choose between options

If actions are separated by a diagonal line, select only one to execute

Gather resources

Collect resources as indicated on pieces

Trade resources

Exchange resources according to trade rates

Mine stone

Perform stone mining action

Build walls

After completing wall construction, remember to collect the indicated resources

Expand cave

Flip one connected, face-down house piece in your cave face-up to become a shared house resource

Purchase house tiles

Pay the required cost shown on the piece to add it to your cave

Activate house abilities

Newly placed houses cannot use their abilities the same turn; to activate house abilities, first select pieces marked 1, 2, or 3

Replenish resources

Restore resources as indicated

Free actions

May be executed at any time during your turn

Winning

How to claim victory.

End game trigger

The game ends after the completion of round 8

Calculate piece points

Add up the numbers shown on all your collected pieces

Convert gold to points

Each 1 gold equals 1 point

Determine winner

The player with the highest total score wins

Break ties

If scores are tied, the player with more house pieces wins

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