/pic5598833.jpg)
Collection Status
Your Rating
Description
Following along the same lines as its predecessor (Agricola), Caverna: The Cave Farmers is a worker-placement game at heart, with a focus on farming. In the game, you are the bearded leader of a small dwarf family that lives in a little cave in the mountains. You begin the game with a farmer and his spouse, and each member of the farming family represents an action that the player can take each turn. Together, you cultivate the forest in front of your cave and dig deeper into the mountain. You furnish the caves as dwellings for your offspring as well as working spaces for small enterprises.
It's up to you how much ore you want to mine. You will need it to forge weapons that allow you to go on expeditions to gain bonus items and actions. While digging through the mountain, you may come across water sources and find ore and ruby mines that help you increase your wealth. Right in front of your cave, you can increase your wealth even further with agriculture: You can cut down the forest to sow fields and fence in pastures to hold your animals. You can also expand your family while running your ever-growing farm. In the end, the player with the most efficiently developed home board wins.
You can also play the solo variant of this game to familiarize yourself with the 48 different furnishing tiles for your cave.
Caverna: The Cave Farmers, which has a playing time of roughly 30 minutes per player, is a complete redesign of Agricola that substitutes the card decks from the former game with a set of buildings while adding the ability to purchase weapons and send your farmers on quests to gain further resources. Designer Uwe Rosenberg says that the game includes parts of Agricola, but also has new ideas, especially the cave part of your game board, where you can build mines and search for rubies. The game also includes two new animals: dogs and donkeys.
Year Published
2013
Featured Videos
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 14
This page: 14
Sentiment:
pos 12 ·
mix 2 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–14 of 14
Video UbkuShLRZto
Allies or Enemies top_100_list at 24:39 sentiment: positive
video_pk 61124 · mention_pk 153624
Click to watch at 24:39 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Deep, strategic decisions with thematic depth
- Adds a cavern layer to the classic farming tableau
- Expansions add variety and replayability
Cons
- High complexity and learning curve
- Can be long and heavy for new players
Thematic elements
- Farming dwarves, cave exploration, animal husbandry
- Dwarven farmers living in a cave world, mining and caverns
- Abstract Euro with rich thematic flavor and light silliness
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — Manage food, resources, and animals to advance your economy.
- Resource management / animal husbandry — Manage food, resources, and animals to advance your economy.
- tile placement — Place and expand caverns and rooms to unlock abilities.
- Tile placement / cave-building — Place and expand caverns and rooms to unlock abilities.
- worker placement — Assign dwarves to gather resources, mine, farm, and craft.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's so streamlined to like perfection where you can explain the rules in like 15 seconds
- this is the peanut butter and chocolate that we can like totally agree on
- parade is a classic feeling card game that could have been invented in the 1960s
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ztXBDic9-0k
Allies or Enemies top_100_list at 26:33 sentiment: positive
video_pk 61157 · mention_pk 153706
Click to watch at 26:33 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- rich thematic flavor with clever engine interactions
- great for fans of Uwe Rosenberg’s design language
Cons
- heavy and complex for casual players
Thematic elements
- farming, mining, and dwarf adventures
- fantasy dwarf caverns with outdoor and indoor rooms
- Agricola-inspired with whimsical touches (animals, rooms)
Comparison games
- Viticulture
- Hadrian's Wall
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- asymmetry_and_theme — rooms and cave layouts create varied experiences
- multi_path_strategy — many routes to victory via caves, rooms, and animals
- worker placement — send dwarves to collect resources and perform actions
- worker_placement — send dwarves to collect resources and perform actions
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Clank is a great deck builder that you're going down into the caverns and you're trying to gather as much stuff and then come back up before you get killed by a dragon basically
- the story lines work really well on this but even without that part and sometimes we'll just play with just the cards that have no story
- it's a heads down euro-y experience and I love how the systems interact so tightly
- it's immediately fun and interesting and it's got this really cool mechanic where you're putting down dudes and the more dudes on a thing the more of whatever that resource trees or rocks whatever you get
- eight totally different maps that all use the same system so it all uses the same deck of cards and then kind of three different sets come out and simultaneously you have to pick which one you're going to use
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video u3xlj1Od6n0
Board Gaming Doctor playthrough at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 42224 · mention_pk 128103
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Blueprint-based approach borrowed from the Perfect Solo game
- Use of efficient buildings (State Parlor, Breakfast Room, Office Room) for scoring and food
- Flexible ruby economy enabling resource acceleration
- Donkey/pasture strategy offering endgame scoring opportunities
Cons
- Occasional suboptimal timing (urgent wish for children flip) leading to wasted turns
- Limited early access to key buildings (ruby supplier) affecting flexibility
- Endgame decisions sacrificed potential for extra cattle due to space constraints
Thematic elements
- settlement-building, resource management, farming and animal husbandry
- Dwarven cave-farming world; caverns and surface dwellings
- solo strategy walkthrough; blueprint-based optimization
Comparison games
- The Perfect Solo Game (blueprint)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- animal husbandry — acquire and breed cattle, sheep, pigs; manage pasture space
- Building and dwelling placement — construct dwellings to increase population and unlock actions
- Donkeys and meadows — open meadow/donkeys for endgame points and density
- end game bonuses — score based on population, resources, buildings, and cattle
- End-game scoring — score based on population, resources, buildings, and cattle
- Excavation and overhang — dig cavern tiles and create overhangs to enable double cavern spaces and future builds
- expeditions — expedition phase to gain resources and score
- Food and resource economy — manage food, veggies, grain, and meat to feed dwarves and enable actions
- Parlor and buildings synergy — offsets such as State Parlor, Breakfast Room, Office Room; provide bonuses and food/points
- Resource management — manage food, veggies, grain, and meat to feed dwarves and enable actions
- Rubies economy — rubies used to buy resources (wood, grain, cattle) and trigger actions
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm patterning the setup here as I would in the perfect game to build a small pasture up on top and allow for the open meadow and my dogs to hold my sheep.
- I ended up with six cattle in total, seven I believe with the breeding.
- using rubies essentially to feed myself.
- this was a major deviation for me according to that pattern.
- but we're all learning here and that is what this is for.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video MzQvLwsin4s
board gaming doctor top_10_list at 12:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 38858 · mention_pk 117108
Click to watch at 12:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- gives a rich, variable experience with expansions
- strong thematic cohesion with familiar Gricola-inspired foundations
Cons
- heavier than some other entries on the list
Thematic elements
- caverns, farming, and crafting
- medieval dwarven life
- strategy-focused euro with scoring flexibility
Comparison games
- Gricola
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bag building — acquire buildings to add to your tableau from revealed options
- building purchasing — acquire buildings to add to your tableau from revealed options
- Compound Scoring — scoring mechanics resemble a chess-like depth with scoring flexibility
- exploration/excavation — dig and reveal rooms to unlock new buildings
- flexible scoring — scoring mechanics resemble a chess-like depth with scoring flexibility
- room/cavern construction — excavate to reveal rooms then purchase buildings
- worker placement — place dwarves to mine, farm, and develop the cavern/farm combo
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- "This is a Rosenberg in which you are drafting tiles and building your own tableau of them."
- "Plus the uh the message that it it's trying to send is really nice too for environmentalism in Africa."
- "So that is my number 10, Click Tree."
- "My number two is Clans of Caledonia. This game is a kind of similar approach in the style of game as Terrammystica, Gaia Project, etc."
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video mSP84PrujHI
Board Gaming Doctor playthrough at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 37641 · mention_pk 113074
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Engaging blend of agriculture, mining, and cavern expansion in a dwarven setting
- Strong visual UI/visuals in the digital version with 2D/3D toggle
- App promises smoother online play and potential for future expansions
Cons
- Initial UI learning curve and some fiddly mechanics around animal placement and resource exchange
- Current beta only supports AI opponents, limiting human multiplayer testing
Thematic elements
- Dwarves building a complex underground settlement with resource management and exploration
- Dwarven caverns with farming, mining, and mining-related expansion
- sandbox/resource-management with modular cavern expansion
Comparison games
- Agricola
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Adventure/expedition choices — Adventuring actions that offer powerful but limited opportunities (e.g., rubies, stones) to unlock later options.
- animal husbandry — Breeding pigs, sheep, cattle for food, breeding, and scoring opportunities.
- Exploration/mining — Exploration and mining to obtain ore, advancing capabilities and score.
- Resource management — Management of food, wood, stone, ore, and other resources to sustain and grow the caverns.
- Tile/room building — Players furnish and extend their caverns by building rooms and buildings to improve production.
- worker placement — Dwarves are dispatched to action spaces to harvest resources, expand caverns, and develop infrastructure.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I love the 2D versus 3D feature it looks really pretty and I’m really happy with this.
- This is the round to do it.
- I think having this app out is a great way for for the opportunity for uh forgotten folk to be developed at some point.
- I’m really happy with this so I’m happy with the UI and how it handles the AI.
- I love the 2D versus 3D feature; it looks really pretty and I’m really happy with this.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 7hFNV8mMylc
Board Game Garden rules teach at 20:56 sentiment: positive
video_pk 29371 · mention_pk 86289
Click to watch at 20:56 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- deep strategic engine with dwarven theme
- very replayable with multiple expansion paths
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Miner/settler life with dwarven families
- Dwarven caverns and homesteading in a fantasy cavern
- Rustic, fantasy dwarf settlement building
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — gather sheep, wood, stone, and other resources to expand the dwelling and progress
- worker placement — dwarves are placed on action spots to train more babies, harvest resources, and build rooms
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I absolutely love just the journey you go on
- this is such a fantastic work replacement game
- you are tourists going on a little adventure
- remember you're somebody's reason to smile
- I promise I won't bug you too much we just upload every Wednesday and Saturday
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ZI2SyRQzzcc
Broken Meeple game_review at 0:42 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 13515 · mention_pk 39522
Click to watch at 0:42 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- deep, flexible farming/mining engine
- rich thematic experience
- varied strategies and build options
Cons
- complex rules and heavy setup
- steep learning curve for new players
Thematic elements
- dwarven settlement building, farming, mining
- medieval dwarven farming and cave-dwelling
- sandbox, open-ended
Comparison games
- Agricola
- Gricola
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- resource_management — players manage food, wood, stone, ore, and other resources to fuel actions.
- set_collection — victory points come from accumulating bonuses on tiles and rooms.
- tile_room_building — players place rooms and buildings to expand their cavern and farm capabilities.
- worker_placement — players assign dwarves to actions to mine, farm, and build.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this expansion tightens the game
- completely random element that could have been handled better
- three out of ten bad
- it's standalone expansion because base game to play but it's not compatible with the first expansion
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video U-8Jx2nQ3Tg
Cardboard Herald general_discussion at 7:05 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 13032 · mention_pk 38100
Click to watch at 7:05 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- rich thematic core and deep resource systems
- expansion (Forgotten Folk) adds meaningful variability
Cons
- base game can feel repetitive without expansion
- setup and complexity can be high
Thematic elements
- resource management and cavern construction
- fantasy dwarven caverns with farming and cavern dwelling
Comparison games
- Forgotten Folk
- Descent
- Ark Nova
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — players build mines, farms, and dwellings to advance
- Resource management and building — players build mines, farms, and dwellings to advance
- worker placement — dwarves are assigned to gather resources and cultivate caverns
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the three new solo games that I have played this last period since I have played these since this is coming out somewhat irregularly
- this is a fantastic solo game and the fact that the Box unrolls in order to become the board through which you have the camp and that's your fire
- it's a cooperative game and one of the things that would frustrate me as a higher multiplayer count game is that the solo and the multiplayer are exactly the same— you just divide up the components among other people
- there are a lot of really good games out there with just okay solo modes
- lean into those solo efficiency muscles and feel great about it
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video GZUo9wXFAe8
Before You Play playthrough at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 10852 · mention_pk 32033
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Rich sandbox with multiple viable strategies
- Strong integration of farming, mining, and furnishing systems
- Ruby mines and furnishings add breadth and choice
Cons
- High complexity and rule overhead for new players
- Breeding and pasture management can be intricate
- Longer playtime, especially for two players
Thematic elements
- dual economy of farming and mining with dwarves, animals, and furnishings
- Dwarven farmers and miners building a homestead in a mountainous cavern system
- playthrough commentary with rule explanations and experiential discussion
Comparison games
- Agricola
- La Havre
- Glass Road
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- animal husbandry — Animals are housed in pastures; breeding requires space and stable arrangements; dogs affect herd dynamics.
- Expeditions and weapon forging — Forge weapons and send dwarves on expeditions to acquire unique items and upgrade weapons.
- Furnishings and caverns — Build caverns and dwellings with furnishings to gain dwarves and end-game points.
- Mining and tunnels — Excavation, drift mining, ore mines, and ruby mines use tunnels and cavern layouts for rewards.
- Resource management — Crops, animals, wood, stone, ore, and rubies must be acquired, stored, and converted for scoring.
- Ruby economy — Rubies act as a flexible currency for acquiring goods, buildings, or additional capabilities; they also score at game end.
- worker placement — Dwarves are assigned to action spaces to gain resources, build, and perform tasks.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's sandboxy with a lot of options
- rubies are great too and you can spend rubies for a one-to-one to get a board advantage
- Agricola-like skeleton but with a completely different feel
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video K8JGVDaPwcQ
Board Game Co general_discussion at 2:49 sentiment: positive
video_pk 10194 · mention_pk 30022
Click to watch at 2:49 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Deep tableau-building and exploration
- Cozy-cavern aesthetic and substantial depth
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- "Fantastic game. Not going anywhere."
- "Oracle of Deli? I do like Oracle of Deli. It is one that I probably should get rid of."
- "Viticulture still safe. Rouge never going anywhere. Love this game."
- "Convert the cave farmers. I probably should get rid of it. It's so good though. It's really, really good."
- "Feast for Odin"
- "Glass Road versus Black Forest where I said I'm going to keep both."
- "I think I'm going to keep Black Forest for the gameplay that that gives. This is a new choice. I'm making these choices up on the fly."
- "Dominion is amazing. I absolutely adore Dominion. I think it's one of the best deck builders out there."
- "Lord of the Rings, Fellowship. This is totally safe. I love the experience that this gives me."
- "Sentinels of the Multiverse. That's another one where I like it a lot. I don't play it as much as I'd like to. It's a really satisfying game."
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video RDqFdxUPxnE
OFPG Voices general_discussion at 4:33 sentiment: positive
video_pk 9426 · mention_pk 27847
Click to watch at 4:33 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Strong theme integration with mechanics
- Sandbox feel allows multiple strategies
- Emergent storytelling through cavern and farm building
Cons
- Complexity and long playtime
- Steep learning curve for new players
- Downtime due to heavy player interaction
Thematic elements
- Farming and cavern-building with dwarves
- Dwarven caverns with farms and dwellings in a fantasy setting
- sandboxed euro with emergent storytelling
Comparison games
- Agricola
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cavern development — Develop cavern spaces and dwellings that interact for synergies.
- end-game scoring variety — Points come from a variety of assets and board coverage; scoring is flexible.
- resource management and feeding — Feed your family and manage resources.
- set collection / tableau building — Acquiring animals, crops, and dwellings to score points.
- Work replacement / worker placement — Players assign family members to tasks to collect resources.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- our goal is to make this world a better place one board gamer at a time
- Caverna is a fantastic game it's one of my favorite games of all time
- The theme of the game is really about the Amsterdam Tulip Festival where people build colorful bouquets and give flowers to their friends
- Astro Knights will be up there as one of the best games
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video QlAHf3pAWns
Sokka Burner analysis at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 6089 · mention_pk 18076
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Expanded animal placement options and guardianship rules increase strategic variety compared to Agricola.
- Expeditions and weapon-based loot add a thematic, tool-driven progression that feels distinct from the original game.
- Food tension is reduced because food can be acquired through multiple avenues and cooking mechanics from Agricola are largely removed.
- High component count and box content feel like excellent value for money, with a strong sense of abundance.
- The cavern-room system provides a cohesive theme and yields meaningful decisions about how to shape your cave and your farm on the board.
- As a Rosenberg title, it retains the tactile charm of wood and components and accommodates a wide player count.
Cons
- Not an outright enhancement of Agricola; it is more of an alternative experience that shares DNA with the original game.
- Double-action spaces can make the game feel less intuitive and more complex, potentially increasing the learning curve for new players.
- The card/character interactions of Agricola are largely missing here, reducing some variability and replay variability that players enjoyed in the card-driven version.
- Artwork on the tiles and the board can give the impression of a spreadsheet rather than characterful game art, which some players miss.
- The game can feel less dynamic in terms of player interaction beyond action-space blocking; direct interaction is more limited than in some other Euro games.
- There is a known discussion around potential infinite loop scoring interactions on tiles, which can require rule tweaks or house rules to mitigate.
Thematic elements
- Cavern development, dwarven family life, resource diversification (wood, stone, ore), animal husbandry, and cavern habitation as a core activity.
- A subterranean dwarven world centered on carving out caves, expanding caverns with rooms, and managing the shared surface farm and mountain region.
- engine-building with theming that emphasizes cavern expansion, animal management, and weapons/ expeditions as tools for progress.
Comparison games
- Agricola
- Farmers of the Moor
- The Gates of Liu Yang
- Lahav
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- animal_husbandry_and_guardianship — Players place animals (sheep, cows, pigs, donkeys) and use dogs to guard them, enabling more flexible pasture placement and scoring variety.
- cavern_rooms_and_furnishing — A room-building and furnishing mechanic where players construct cavern rooms and pay resources (wood, stone, ore, etc.) to gain points and access new abilities.
- expeditions_and_loot — Dwarves with weapons go on expeditions to collect loot. Loot availability scales with weapon strength, creating a hierarchy of expedition options.
- resource_production_and_conversion — Resources (food, wood, stone, ore, etc.) are produced and can be converted or spent to expand caverns, acquire rooms, and feed or sustain dwarves.
- tiles_and_scoring_board_interactions — A dense board of tiles with various point-scoring interactions. Some combinations can create strong point accelerations if optimized.
- weapon_and_tool_progression — Weapons on dwarves act as a progression mechanic. Upgrading weapons via expedition choices unlocks better loot and expedition capabilities.
- worker_placement — Players assign dwarves to spaces to gather resources, build rooms, furnish caverns, and trigger a variety of actions that advance their board state.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- "this is a very similar game to Agricola, it's essentially the same game"
- "it's not an enhancement of Agricola; it is an alternative"
- "this is a really good game"
- "the tension in the game is significantly reduced as a result"
- "it's an expensive game but packed full of stuff"
- "if you like Agricola, maybe this will fix some of the problems for you"
- "there's no cooking anymore... you can have food whenever you like"
- "the cards we no longer have minor improvements and occupations"
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video l4w7UwOtPx4
Three Minute Board Games top_100_list at 2:23 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4879 · mention_pk 14506
Click to watch at 2:23 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- deep, tight worker-placement loop
- solid with expansions
- thematic humor
Cons
- older art and some pacing issues at scale
Thematic elements
- Resource management and colonization in a subterranean setting
- Dwarven caverns with mining and farming activities
- humorous, competitive, sandbox-ish
Comparison games
- Agricola
- Dwarven-themed Euro games
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource drafting / engine-building — Balance mining, farming, and cavern expansion for points
- tile placement — Construct rooms in your cavern and unlock production chains
- Tile placement / area development — Construct rooms in your cavern and unlock production chains
- worker placement — Send workers to take actions and harvest resources
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This top 100 is my top 100 and it doesn't really matter what your opinion is you can't really change what I think.
- We don't do paid content we don't do ads we don't do Kickstarter promos and stuff.
- it's one of the most original and Innovative games I've ever played.
- it's aliens and I'm a sucker for anything connected to that franchise.
- Spirit Island is the number one game on my list for the third year running.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video XsFIzHduxWM
Unknown Channel top_10_list at 9:50 sentiment: positive
video_pk 282 · mention_pk 861
Click to watch at 9:50 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- deep engagement with planning and provisioning
- strong thematic cohesion with farming-cavern hybrid
Cons
- can be heavy and lengthy
- theme and mechanics can be dense for newcomers
Thematic elements
- cozy but strategic family farming with cavern features
- fantasy/fantastical farming inside cave dwellings
- eurogame with robust strategic depth
Comparison games
- Agricola
- Gloomhaven (comparative complexity)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- furnishing caverns / room-building — constructing rooms and structures to enable new actions
- worker placement — placing workers on action spaces to develop lands and caverns
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- i haven't gone back and looked at all the video i watched about five seconds of it and then i was sick in my mouth because it was that bad
- if your top 10 worker placement game ain't on this list that's because a [__] or b probably ain't played it
- bollocks
- there is literally no luck in this game
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–14 of 14