Mechanics Review: The Cave
The Cave. Yet again another Essen release. From the Polish games company REBEL.pl and designed by the same chap who designed K2, this game is unique, clever and (spoiler alert) a bit fantastic.
Let's see how it works.
Board and tokens, tokens, tokens
When you open The Cave, the first thing you notice is - this thing has a lot of tokens. I'd put a conservative estimate of 150+ tokens. There are rope tokens, depth markers, water markers, photo markers, tight squeeze markers, victory point markers, food tokens, oxygen tokens and I'm really not done but you get the idea. But the funny thing is this:
The game's not complicated. At all. I think what we have is a case of first-edition-itis (not to be confused with Munchkin-itis, a very different condition). The rules, while ok, take a bit of deciphering, and, I confess, a short trip to BGG to confirm things. I think that REBEL.pl probably knew the rules weren't perfect, so to prevent confusion, added every conceivable visual token to make things clearer. Within 3 or 4 games, my group had thought of at least two ways of cutting down on the number of tokens.
But it doesn't matter - the game is great. The board is a series of tiles, randomly selected from a bigger pool so as to create a slightly new experience each time, and progressively gets more treacherous. An I, II, III and IV printed on the back of the tiles means that you use the easiest tiles first, progressing to the trickier tiles as the game progresses.
The board makes up a sprawling cave system, discovered tile by tile, that you, the adventurers, explore. Are there orcs, gremlins, giant worms, dwarfs and Descent-style frog-men in these caves? Nope. There is some nice scenery, some underground lakes and some tight squeezes, though. It's a relaxing trip, as long as you keep enough food to hand.
Competitive, but not really
It's an interesting little game for a few reasons. You don't really affect the other players in any way, but that's not to say it's a solitaire experience. What your opponents are doing does alter your plans - if they have already spent the ropes, for example, to descend to 100 feet, you can follow them down, only having to use one action point rather than... well lots, depending on the descent.
I suppose it feels vaguely like a real cave dive might feel. You are aware of what your competitors are doing, and you don't want them to find something cool and get all the glory. But the nearest thing to sabotage you are actually prepared to do is pounce on the opportunity to get a great shot when it turns out your esteemed colleague has forgotten their camera.
What this means in essence is that the game works well for non-combatitive game groups. All that being said, it's fun to see someone miscalculate their food situation and get caught out in the middle of the cave system, having to limp back at 1 action point a turn because they're starving. Which brings us nicely onto:
The Packing Simulator
I jokingly call The Cave "The Packing Simulator", although because it's literally true, it doesn't work that well as a joke. The main mechanic in The Cave is that your little meeple fella is holding a backpack. This backpack has room for 8 items, for example food, a raft, a scuba kit, myriad ropes and the all-important camera - all lovingly tokenified, of course.
Another item that can go in your backback is a tent which, interestingly and diametrically opposed to the laws of the universe, can hold 4 more items. In the tent is an egg-cup that can hold 5 more... I'm joking of course. But not about the tent.
So this tent can be packed and then, when in the titular cave, can be set up as a sort of "stuff repository", which is mainly useful so you can store all your crap while you pop back to base camp for more food. It's a good mechanic as the tent is a bit of a faff (American Translation: chore) in terms of action points, so you need to make a strategic decision when it is time to bring the tent into play.
The whole packing element works really well, as you decide to take calculated risks... I know I'll need at least two ropes, you say, but how much do a really need to go scuba diving? The answer is you always, always regret the things you don't bring, but you can't bring everything, or you'll only bring enough food to get you knee-deep underground. To re-pack with food you have to head back to base-camp, so pack too little and you'll soon be scurrying back.
Tokens, tokens and victory points
Once you have run out of tiles with which to further explore the cave system, it's time to head back and count your loot and 'experiences'. This is where things can a little complicated, because although the designers thought to provide you with all the tokens your cardboard heart could ever desire, they didn't think to print on the back of them how many victory points each are worth.
It's important to note here: It's not actually all that complicated to figure out the scoring system - it's just based on being well-rounded and having picked up a few of each type of token, while specialising in one or two to really pull in the points.
It's just way more complicated than it needs to be. The scoring is about as complex as Agricola, whereas the game is actually about 5 times less complicated than Agricola. It's just a weird inconsistency that I bet my top, bottom and middle dollar will be ironed out if this fine game ever gets a second edition.
Personal Opinion: I've really already made clear that I think it's a good game, with a few kinks in the rules and the design that can easily be solved. The game's elements fit together cleanly and, unusually for a boardgame, it actually has a lot of atmosphere.
Whether or not it's a deeply tactical game - I'm not 100% sure. There is definately strategy in organising your pack correctly, but as long as everyone playing is basically doing the right thing and not taking massive risks (no raft being a huge one) then it's probably going to be tough to pull a competitive advantage from great packing. I'll do a follow up after a few more play-throughs and let you know my opinion.