Above and Below

2015 · Fantasy

Above and Below

Players found and expand a frontier village on the surface while organizing expeditions into a vast cavern below. On a personal village board, players assign unique villagers to jobs such as constructing buildings, harvesting resources, training apprentices, or joining cave ventures. Explorations trigger passages from a storybook that present encounters and choices influenced by which villagers and items accompany the party. Resources and discoveries feed village growth; at game end the most developed village scores the win.

Players
2–4 best 3
Playing time
90 min
Age
13+
Complexity
2.5 / 5
6.6 on Ludoyafrom $29.10AdventureExplorationDice RollingSet CollectionNarrative Choice / Paragraph

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
308
Plays logged
324
Players
1h 9m
Average play
125
In collections
17
On wishlists
1
Pre-ordered

6.6/10

from 64 Ludoya reviews

  • Mestremuten6.0

    Rating: 3/5 Production value: 3/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 0/1

    First impressions · 1 play

  • Elfrikijugon8.5

    Zona lúdica

    First impressions · 2 plays

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Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

How many villagers do I need to send exploring, and how does the lantern total work?

You must send at least two ready villagers, then roll one die for each; each die showing 1–2 gives 1 lantern, and 3–6 gives 2. You may exert villagers after rolling, moving them to your injured area for 1 extra lantern each (pp. 6, 8).

If I succeed at an encounter, which reward do I get?

You get the reward for the highest explore number associated with your chosen option that your lantern total meets or exceeds—not necessarily the highest number in the whole encounter. If you fail to reach any number for your choice, you get no reward and return the cave card to the bottom of its deck (p. 8).

Can I take another turn after I pass, or still do free actions?

No. Once you pass, you cannot take any more actions or free actions that round; however, you may take free actions before passing. If you start your turn with no villagers in your ready area, you must pass (p. 10).

When can I do free actions, and can I do them after a regular action?

You can do as many free actions as you like before taking a normal action on your turn. After you take a normal action, you cannot take any more free actions that turn (p. 9).

How does the advancement track affect my income?

Place goods in the track from left to right without skipping spaces; goods of the same type must stack in the same slot, and placed goods cannot be removed. Each round, you collect the income shown above only the rightmost occupied slot, in addition to any income from buildings (pp. 10–12).

Official score sheet

Above and Below score sheet

Every scoring category, from the Ludoya kit. On your phone the totals add up by themselves.

Opens Ludoya's rules assistant, which reads this game's rulebook.

Score sheets and play helpers

  • Full Game Kit
  • EN ✶ Above and Below
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.