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Description
Long ago, your ancestors built great cities across the world. Now your tribe must explore forests, deserts, islands, mountains, and caverns to find these lost cities. Claim the ruins, build places of power, and restore the glory of a bygone age.
Unearth is a bend-your-luck game of dice placement and set collection. Designed by Jason Harner and Matthew Ransom, it plays in under an hour with 2-4 players. Each player leads a tribe of Delvers, represented by five dice (3 six-sided, 1 four-sided, and 1 eight-sided). Players take turns rolling and placing dice in an attempt to claim Ruins.
The game's elegant core mechanic is accessible to players of all skill levels. High rolls help players claim Ruins, while low rolls help players collect Stones. This opens two paths to victory: claiming sets of Ruins or using Stones to build Wonders. Delver cards help you affect your dice rolls or dice in play, and Wonders can grant abilities that impact the late game.
Year Published
2017
Featured Videos
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 5
This page: 5
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–5 of 5
Video W0qwsmS3t2Y
Ryan & Bethany Board Game Reviews game_review at 0:15 sentiment: positive
video_pk 62352 · mention_pk 154864
Click to watch at 0:15 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Engaging dice-placement decisions with polyhedral dice
- Clear balance of luck and strategic planning
- Varied scoring opportunities including color sets and wonders
- Smooth, flowing turns
- End-game trigger adds tension and a unique finale
- Delver cards add variety and strategic choices
Cons
- Card theft by higher dice can be frustrating
- Certain negative-point cards (e.g., City of Gold) can punish riskier plays
- End-game trigger randomness may affect pacing
Thematic elements
- Discovery, reconstruction, and resource optimization through dice
- Ancient ruins and lost world exploration; rebuilding ancient wonders
- Competitive, puzzle-like with Delver events and end-game triggers
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck manipulation — Drawing Delver cards that modify dice, grant rerolls, or alter rules to bend or extend the normal flow.
- Delver deck effects — Drawing Delver cards that modify dice, grant rerolls, or alter rules to bend or extend the normal flow.
- dice placement — Roll mixed polyhedral dice (d4, d6, d8) and place on ruin cards to claim them when the total meets or exceeds a card's requirement.
- End-game trigger deck — Ruins include end-game triggers; five trigger cards are shuffled and revealed to determine when the game ends.
- set collection — Acquire ruin cards to build complete sets and trigger scoring opportunities.
- Wonders and color tokens — Stone tokens are used to complete wonders with color-based or color-combination requirements, providing color bonuses and points.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the end game is really unique and fun
- there's decisions all littered through this game
- you can get one of each color... bonus
- it's a point setup game really but like on a really small point scale
- you just want all the things but you can't have all the things
- end-game trigger adds tension and a unique finale
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video -AUbxvzBr6g
Unknown Channel playthrough at 0:01 sentiment: positive
video_pk 60895 · mention_pk 153320
Click to watch at 0:01 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Easy to learn and quick to play
- Rich dice/board interaction with many tactical choices
- Solo variant accessible and fun
- Clear scoring path via colors and wonders
- Engaging with fan-made variant adds flavor
Cons
- Initial confusion with some rules (Lonely Delver vs Lost Tribe rules)
- Complexities of card effects and ruins can be confusing during live play
Thematic elements
- Array
- Ancient ruins exploration
- Solo narrative / playthrough
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card management — Delver cards and discovery cards used to modify dice and scoring
- Compound Scoring — Score for patterns and color sets; wonders provide points
- Dice rolling — Roll dice to determine actions and resolve ruins
- pattern-based scoring — Score for patterns and color sets; wonders provide points
- set collection — Collect colored stones to meet requirements for wonders and scoring
- tile placement — Place colored stones to form patterns around ruins and wonders
- tile/stone placement — Place colored stones to form patterns around ruins and wonders
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I really like this game it's very very easy to pick up
- there's a lot going on with the dice rolling
- I plan to do a play through with the official solo variant that comes in the Lost Tribe
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video iRB1-BbDSa0
analysis at 0:00 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 60683 · mention_pk 153095
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Vibrant art and clear visual language; readable, well-crafted components
- Strong environmental theming with educational flavor
- Engaging negotiation and UN-style politics that create interactive play
- Asymmetry adds variety and strategic flavor
- Good basic rulebook and a family-friendly standard mode
Cons
- Resolution deck and policies can feel clunky and complex for newcomers
- Game length can be long in advanced mode; two-player mode is a weaker experience
- Some components and diagrams could be improved; minor production issues
- Clunkiness of card access and deck management may slow play
- Replayability could depend on decks/expansion variety
Thematic elements
- environmental stewardship vs fossil fuel politics; diplomacy and policy-influenced outcomes
- Global politics and climate policy, Earth as a single nation-state context
- simulation with UN-style governance and negotiation
Comparison games
- Energy Tycoon
- Twilight Imperium (TI4)
- Colonizing Mars
- Root
- Tigers in Euphrates
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Asymmetry and leader abilities — Six leaders provide varied scoring incentives and strengths.
- Card deck management — Climate policies, technology cards, and UN resolutions drive actions and scoring.
- end game bonuses — End occurs via prosperity or global emissions threshold; scoring via cards and resolutions.
- end-game timing and scoring — End occurs via prosperity or global emissions threshold; scoring via cards and resolutions.
- negotiation — Players can trade money and manipulate others to affect card availability and outcomes.
- Negotiation and deals — Players can trade money and manipulate others to affect card availability and outcomes.
- Resource management — Prosperity as income and emissions as a shared global resource that can trigger Earth destruction.
- resource/income management — Prosperity as income and emissions as a shared global resource that can trigger Earth destruction.
- tableau building — Players permanently improve their nation by acquiring projects to increase Prosperity.
- tableau-building — Players permanently improve their nation by acquiring projects to increase Prosperity.
- UN resolutions and sanctions — End-of-round votes affect all players with potential sanctions that cap income.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the Earth blows up
- you can trade money freely during a turn so you can make tons of deals
- it's basically a United Nations simulator where money is constantly changing hands and promises and blackmail is being spewed left and right
- the negotiation is really sensitive in a game like this
- one Earth really feels like mini TI4 where you're picking and voting on agendas that can affect the rest of the game
- the resolution deck ends up being clunky in practice
- one Earth has some incredible player interaction definitely the most I've had from a tableau Builder
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video KQtKvJBMF3A
Atia top_10_list at 1:10
video_pk 59706 · mention_pk 152235
Click to watch at 1:10 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Array
- Array
- Array
- Array
- Array
- Array
- positive
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- "stickiness of the tongues and or tentacles is Perfect 10 out of 10"
- "the stickiness of the tongues and or tentacles is Perfect 10 out of 10 and you can wash them and they become re-sticky all over again"
- "this game has such a beautiful presentation and the area control dynamics don't feel as mean-spirited as in your typical area control game"
- "I love board gaming I play games very frequently however I do not often play the same game multiple times"
- "every time people come over no matter how many times I've dragged them to the table to play Masters of the Renaissance I'm like okay so... let's play masters of Loretto fold"
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ceV4INHcAVw
Meel Mountain game_review at 0:31 sentiment: positive
video_pk 35774 · mention_pk 106987
Click to watch at 0:31 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Striking isometric artwork
- Balanced mix of luck and control with dice
- Highly replayable with many named wonders and end-of-age cards
- Easy to teach for a light to medium-weight game
- Delver cards provide mitigation and strategic depth
Cons
- Some players may prefer a lower-luck game; dice randomness can influence early outcomes
- Complexity of 15 named wonders may be daunting for newcomers
Thematic elements
- Rebuilding roots, resource management, and wonder construction
- Post-collapse civilization; a tribe rebuilding and reclaiming lost ruins
- Light narrative focus driven by strategy and theme rather than story
Comparison games
- Boss Monster
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Delver cards — Delver cards mitigate dice randomness and modify dice outcomes or placements.
- dice drafting — Choose from a pool of polyhedral dice (D4, D6, D8, etc.) to assign to ruin cards.
- dice placement — Place dice on ruin cards to attempt reclamation based on numeric thresholds.
- Dice placement on ruin cards — Place dice on ruin cards to attempt reclamation based on numeric thresholds.
- Endgame / exploration cycle — End the game when all ruin cards are reclaimed, then tally points.
- set collection — Collect stones from reclaimed ruins to build Wonders.
- Set collection / resource accumulation — Collect stones from reclaimed ruins to build Wonders.
- Wonders construction — Build Lesser and Greater Wonders providing abilities and scoring.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Unearth really stood out to me for a few different reasons
- isometric artwork
- the game gives you just enough control to feel like you're still making important decisions
- if you're looking for a light to mediumweight game that's easy to teach and quick to learn this is definitely one I recommend checking out
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–5 of 5