Cavum

Players tunnel through a mountain to reach veins of precious stones, place stations in the mountain and in the city, and open routes between their stations to collect gems. Each round players draft contracts, bid for turn order, and take a shared set of tile-based actions to lay track, add veins, place stations, prospect for gems, or deploy dynamite. Gems have individual market tracks and are acquired by prospecting paths through veins; at round end players resolve dynamite explosions, score city stations, and sell gems via an auction-like market. Contracts and city presence score points while unfulfilled contracts deduct points; after three rounds the highest total of points wins.

Players: 2–4 best 3
Playing time: 120 min
Age: 12+
Complexity: 3.6 / 5

5.8 on LudoyaAction PointsTile PlacementNetwork and Route Building

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About the game

Design: Michael Kiesling
Wolfgang Kramer
Art: Mike Doyle (I)

Where to buy it

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Svet deskovych herCheck stock950 Kč

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya

21
Plays logged: 16
Players: 1h 25m
Average play: 9
In collections: 1
On wishlists

5.8/10

from 5 Ludoya reviews

Evan5.9
In this game, you play three rounds, digging routes, shipping gems along your routes and fighting for area control of the cities on the five sides of the play area. Between rounds, dynamite goes off clearing areas that once were filled, helping to mix the board state up. This was a very elegant game. In particular, the way your turn goes is you get minimum 1 maximum 4 actions depending on how fast you want to move. The round ends when each player has used all twelve of their actions but collecting gems (the point of the game) has to be done last. It's a fantastic little twist that adds this whole push your luck element to the game, where too slow and people will snatch your gems out from under you, and too fast and you miss out on the gem spots other players lay down. At the start of each turn you auction your points for turn order, and at the end you auction to get the lowest bid on selling each gem type. Knowing when to sell and when to hold to complete recipes is another crucial and fascinating element of the game. :star: Art, Iconography and components functional :star: Clever or interesting mechanisms :nostar: Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players :star: Multiple plays stay interesting :star: Low or mitigatable luck elements :star::star::star::nostar::nostar: Raw enjoyment
Brandon5.2
My wife really likes this game but I really struggle at it myself. It can be a real brain burner.