Cardboard Corner: Review of The Cave

There are moments that I perceive my wife to be in some kind of unwritten, unadvertised competition with herself as the only competitor—who is the best at packing for a trip, for example. The demons of necessity and forgetfulness pursuing her, there is high tension ensuring every possible, needed thing is not only packed away, but packed efficiently such that no tiny space in our luggage is wasted. In Adam Kałuża’s The Cave (2012), she finally has a chance against real competitors—the possibility for a few hours of virtual underground exploration the icing on the cake.

A game for 2-5, The Cave sees players exploring a modular cave, trying to collect the most points in the process. Resource and action management key to winning, players must use the limited items they bring with them over a finite number of actions to: take photos of beautiful rock formations, explore underwater pools, squeeze through tight spaces, set up camp, and traverse the lowest depths possible—each activity having its own variety of inherent points. Being modular, each game evolves in its own directions, the final board state looking different than any previous game. Thus if players find the rule set engaging, the possibilities for exploration are endless.

In terms of delivering the atmosphere in the game description, The Cave does a good job making the player feel as though they are exploring an underground cave structure. Resource and action scarcity the prime driver of this atmosphere, the player always feels against the wall (no pun intended) having to supply themselves while risking going a little deeper to get the points they need to win. Though partially push your luck, resource and action management remain the drivers of success.

One potential drawback to The Cave, in fact, might be an over-dependence on luck. Some might call this thematic, i.e. you never know what you’re going to find when you start exploring the deep dark. If this is you, “luck” will instead be “realism”. For others, there is the potential feeling that final scoring is too dependent on what each player encounters while exploring. Certain types of tiles worth more than others, if one players strikes it rich, there is potential for a boon of points. To be fair, all the games we’ve played ended up balancing themselves out, the final tabulation tight. Regardless, the randomness of exploration can benefit some more than others.

While there are certainly more complex games on the market, The Cave is still something of a slightly fiddly experience in terms of points. There is a (small) token for EVERYTHING, meaning there are many, many moments players need to fish through small piles or bowls to find the one they need. The action points also not straight-forward, the description on the players’ boards is a constant reference. Ahh, putting down my tent is two action points, but picking it up is one… One action for entering the water tile, one to explore, one to… These are the words spoken aloud or in the mind throughout the first few games.

In the end, The Cave is something of a luck-based Euro. It delivers the feeling of being underground and exploring the unknown, but bases itself on a “victory points”. The game’s aesthetics and components are good, but will not wow players on the table. The designer clearly leaned toward realism rather than a cartoony feel, which aligns with the game's leanings toward serious rather than humorous. Therefore, if you like spelunking or the idea of semi-realist caving in boardgame form, checkout The Cave. There is a bit of fiddliness and luck, but it delivers on what it wants to be, and is at a minimum fun for it.