How to Play

Caverna: The Cave Farmers

1-7 players 30-210 min 7.9 Board Game Geek Rating

In this worker-placement game, you lead a dwarf family expanding their mountain cave homestead. Each family member provides one action per turn to farm fields, mine ore and rubies, or furnish cave rooms. Mine ore to craft weapons for expeditions that yield bonus resources. Victory goes to whoever most efficiently develops their cave and farm combination.

Published 2013

Caverna: The Cave Farmers

Get Ready

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

1
Distribute player boards
Each player receives one farm board with forest on the left and mountain on the right
2
Select player colors
Each player chooses a color and takes 3 stables and 5 dwarf discs of that color
3
Place starting dwarves
Put 2 of your 5 dwarves in the "Entry-level dwelling" on your board
4
Store remaining pieces
Place the other 3 dwarves and 3 stables beside your board as personal supply
5
Distribute reference cards
Each player receives one of each type of reminder card
6
Determine first player
Randomly select who starts and give them the starting player token
7
Distribute starting food
First and second players get 1 food each, third player gets 2 food, fourth through seventh players get 3 food each
8
Arrange action boards
Place the two single-sided base boards (rounds 1-3 and 4-12) side by side
9
Place harvest tokens
Shuffle 7 harvest tokens and place them face-down (grey rune up) on round spaces 6-12
10
Add two-player adjustment
For 2-player games, remove one green leaf harvest token and distribute remaining 6 tokens on rounds 6-12, skipping round 9
11
Select correct action board side
Place the third base board with correct side up based on player count (1-3 players on one side, 4-7 on other)
12
Add supplemental boards
For 5-7 players add the large supplemental board; for 3 or 7 players add the small supplemental board
13
Arrange furnishing boards
Place the four furnishing boards near action boards
14
Select furnishing tiles
Use trial game side for learning or full game side for experienced play
15
Place furnishing tiles
Arrange furnishing tiles on corresponding spaces of furnishing boards
16
Prepare action cards
Shuffle the 12 action cards face-down and sort by stage number (1-4), placing stage 4 on bottom, then 3, then 2, then round 4 card, then stage 1 on top
17
Remove cards for 2-player game
Remove the "Exploration" card with level 4 expedition from the game
18
Sort terrain tiles
Separate terrain tiles by type into separate stacks (3 types of single and double tiles)
19
Organize resources and animals
Sort all remaining components into separate piles near the action boards
20
Prepare weapon tokens
Place all 52 weapon tokens (strength 1-14) in accessible supply

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Add new action
At round start, flip top action card face-up and place on the empty round space with the lowest number
2
Reveal harvest token
Starting round 6, also flip the harvest token on that round space face-up
3
Replenish accumulating spaces
Place goods from general supply onto action spaces marked with arrows (accumulating spaces)
4
Follow accumulation rules
Add the indicated goods each round even if goods remain from previous rounds
5
Apply special accumulation
For "3(1)" notation, place 3 goods if empty or 1 good if something already present
6
Work phase begins
Starting with first player and proceeding clockwise, each player places one dwarf per turn
7
Respect dwarf priority
Place unarmed dwarves first, then armed dwarves in order of increasing weapon strength
8
Execute action immediately
After placing a dwarf, immediately perform the action on that space
9
One dwarf per space
Each action space may only hold one dwarf per round
10
Collect resources to supply
Building materials, grain, vegetables, food, and rubies go to personal supply
11
Place animals immediately
Animals must be placed on farm board immediately or converted to food
12
Continue until all placed
Phase ends when all players have placed all their dwarves
13
Return home
Take all your dwarves from action boards and place them in dwelling spaces in your cave
14
Excavate tunnels
Take stone from accumulating space and optionally place a Cavern/Tunnel double tile on two adjacent mountain spaces connected to existing caverns/tunnels
15
Underground work
Same as excavation but choose which side of double tile faces up (Cavern/Cavern or Cavern/Tunnel)
16
Clear forest
Take indicated goods and optionally place a Meadow/Field double tile on two adjacent forest spaces connected to existing outdoor tiles
17
Sow fields
Spend 1 grain from supply, place on empty field, add 2 grain from general supply on top
18
Sow vegetables
Spend 1 vegetable from supply, place on empty field, add 1 vegetable from general supply on top
19
Sow limits
Per sowing action, sow maximum 2 fields with grain and 2 fields with vegetables
20
Furnish cavern
Choose furnishing tile, pay building cost shown, place on unoccupied cavern
21
Furnish dwelling
Choose dwelling tile, pay cost, place on unoccupied cavern to add living space for dwarves
22
Family growth
If dwelling space available, take dwarf disc from personal supply and place on parent dwarf's disc
23
Newborn restrictions
Newborn cannot act this round but moves to dwelling at end of round
24
Build ore mine
Place Ore mine/Deep tunnel double tile on two adjacent simple tunnels, immediately receive 3 ore
25
Build ruby mine
Place ruby mine tile on any unoccupied tunnel; if placed on deep tunnel, immediately receive 1 ruby
26
Build fences
Pay 2 wood to convert 1 meadow to small pasture (flip tile); pay 4 wood to convert 2 adjacent meadows to large pasture
27
Build stable
Pay 1 stone to build stable on forest, meadow, or pasture space
28
Forge weapon
Unarmed dwarf only; discard up to 8 ore and take weapon token equal to ore spent
29
Go on expedition
Armed dwarf receives 1-4 different loot items based on expedition level and weapon strength
30
Select loot carefully
Each loot type requires minimum weapon strength shown on reference card
31
Gain experience
After each expedition, weapon strength increases by 1 (maximum 14)
32
Become first player
Take starting player token, food from space, plus 2 ore (1-3 players) or 1 ruby (4-7 players)
33
Imitation action
Pay indicated food cost (0-4), then copy any action space occupied by opponent's dwarf except "Starting Player"
34
Exchange for goods
Trade 1 ruby for any animal, building material, vegetable, grain, or gold (1 ruby + 1 food for cow)
35
Buy single meadow
Spend 1 ruby, take single meadow tile, place adjacent to existing outdoor tiles
36
Buy single field
Spend 1 ruby, take single field tile, place adjacent to existing outdoor tiles
37
Buy single tunnel
Spend 1 ruby, take single tunnel tile, place connected to existing cavern/tunnel system
38
Buy single cavern
Spend 2 rubies, take single cavern tile, place connected to existing cavern/tunnel system
39
Override dwarf priority
Spend 1 ruby to place an armed dwarf out of priority order
40
Pasture capacity
Each pasture tile holds up to 2 animals of one type
41
Stable doubles capacity
Stable on pasture doubles animal capacity
42
Meadow with stable
Stable on meadow holds exactly 1 farm animal
43
Forest stable
Stable on uncovered forest space holds exactly 1 wild boar only
44
Entry-level dwelling
Holds 2 farm animals of one type
45
Dogs guard sheep
Each dog on meadow or pasture increases sheep capacity by 1 (replaces fence effect)
46
Dogs roam freely
Dogs may be placed on any space on farm board
47
Mine donkeys
Each ore mine or ruby mine may hold 1 donkey
48
Dining room cows
Dining room furnishing holds up to 3 cows
49
Check for harvest
Harvest occurs based on revealed harvest tokens (green leaf = full harvest, red question mark = conditional)
50
First question mark
No harvest this round
51
Second question mark
Feed each dwarf 1 food only (including newborns)
52
Third question mark
Choose to skip either field harvest OR animal breeding (feeding still required)
53
Field harvest
Move 1 grain or vegetable from each sown field to personal supply
54
Feed dwarves
Discard 2 food per dwarf in cave (1 food per newborn this round)
55
Take begging tokens
If insufficient food, take 1 begging token per missing food (worth -3 points)
56
Breed animals
If you have at least 2 farm animals of one type, gain 1 new animal of that type if space available
57
Breeding limits
Maximum 1 new animal per type per harvest; dogs do not breed
58
Convert anytime
Transform goods to food at any point during the game without restrictions
59
Sheep value
1 sheep = 1 food
60
Donkey value
1 donkey = 1 food, but 2 donkeys = 3 food
61
Wild boar value
1 wild boar = 2 food
62
Cow value
1 cow = 3 food
63
Grain value
1 grain = 1 food
64
Vegetable value
1 vegetable = 2 food
65
Gold to food
Pay gold equal to food needed plus 1 (e.g., 3 gold = 2 food)
66
Ruby conversion
Spend 1 ruby to buy 1 wild boar or vegetable, then convert to 2 food

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Game end trigger
Game ends after completing round 12 (round 11 for 2-player game)
2
Score farm animals
Gain 1 point per sheep, donkey, wild boar, and cow
3
Score dogs
Gain 1 point per dog
4
Penalize missing animals
Lose 2 points for each type of farm animal (sheep, donkey, boar, cow) not present
5
Score grain
Gain 1 point per 2 grain (round up), whether on fields or in supply
6
Score vegetables
Gain 1 point per vegetable, whether on fields or in supply
7
Score rubies
Gain 1 point per ruby remaining
8
Score dwarves
Gain 1 point per dwarf in cave
9
Penalize unused spaces
Lose 1 point per board space without tile or stable (starting caverns count as used)
10
Score pastures
Small pasture = 2 points; large pasture = 4 points
11
Score mines
Ore mine = 3 points; ruby mine = 4 points
12
Score furnishing tiles
Gain points shown in upper right corner of each furnishing tile
13
Score bonus rooms
Gain additional points from rooms with yellow title backgrounds based on their conditions
14
Score gold
Gain 1 point per gold value
15
Deduct begging tokens
Lose 3 points per begging token
16
Determine winner
Player with most victory points wins
17
Resolve ties
Multiple winners possible if tied for highest score
18
Target score
80 points is achievable; experienced players regularly exceed 100 points

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Caverna Anleitung

Caverna Anleitung

Instructional

Caverna: The Cave Farmers - rules blitz

Caverna: The Cave Farmers - rules blitz

Instructional

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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