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After your dwarf clan found gold, you suddenly felt an earthquake and the mine is now collapsing. Time to escape! But the dark cave is full of dangers, such as spider webs, monsters, and of course the saboteurs who make your life miserable. Whose dwarf team can escape the cave with the most gold?
Saboteur: The Dark Cave is a standalone game that recreates the feel of Saboteur. At the start of the game, each player assigned to a clan, although possibly they will be a saboteur for the other clan. Starting from the mine card in the center of play, you take turns laying down tunnel cards to build outward from the mine toward the four corner cards, only one of which is the exit. In addition to building new tunnels, you'll play cards to give yourself equipment, place monsters in front of others, discover who's actually on your clan, and reveal the exit before trudging all the way there. As soon as you leave the mine, you reveal your true identity, with any gold you have going toward your clan's total. As soon as all members of a clan have left, the game ends, and whichever clan has the most gold wins.
How to play Saboteur: the Dark Cave
- New game in a known series
- Limited information available ('all that's all I know').
- Dwarves mining for gold, with saboteurs
- Mine exploration
- Saboteur
- Clank!
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Hidden Roles — Explicitly stated as a 'hidden role game'.
- tile laying — Mentioned as a core mechanic for building the mine.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- welcome everybody. welcome to all six of you good to see you
- omelet is going to be moderating for us for this very special this very special stream
- i don't know so if i missed something please let me know and chat if people subscribe or if things happen i'm not going to get notified
- we have the very best people
- i don't wanna miss any of these i don't wanna miss any and you might see my jammies don't don't be shocked don't be shocked to learn that i don't wear pants on stream or uh practically ever in my entire life
References (from this video)
- Supports a wide player range (2-8 players)
- Secret roles add intrigue and deduction
- Cooperative cave building with a competitive twist
- Potential for players to be removed from meaningful play due to card loss or paralysis
- Complexity in determining team affiliation and game end conditions
- dwarfs trying to escape a cave system with loot, with potential saboteurs within the team.
- a cave system
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Points — Players have a set number of movement points to move their dwarf through the cave.
- Hand Management — Players play cards from their hand, discard cards, and draw back up to their hand limit.
- Hidden role — Players are secretly assigned roles as loyal dwarfs or saboteurs for the opposing team.
- Modular Board — Players build out the cave system by playing path cards.
- Player Elimination (partial) — Players can be paralyzed, lose turns, or have their hand size reduced, effectively hindering their ability to play.
- Set Collection — The goal is to collect gold and reach the exit tile.
- Take That — Action cards allow players to directly hinder opponents, such as by placing spider webs or playing creature cards.
- Variable player powers — Saboteurs have different objectives than loyal dwarfs.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Did you just watch that whole thing?