v2.0.3 / 2026-02-23
Overview
The Caves Of Casadh is a game where players take on the role of spelunkers searching a cave system for hidden
treasure and getting back out alive. Spelunkers will collect items and treasures throughout the game, and the surviving
spelunker with the greatest total value of treasures by the end of the game wins.
Components
- Die
 |
This is rolled for various things as explained in the apropriate sections. |
- Pawns and HP Tokens
 |
Pawns represent the spelunkers' locations as they move through the map as the game progresses. Health
tokens represent the spelunkers' Health Points (HP); if a spelunker is ever reduced to 0HP, they are dead,
and their player loses. |
- Bag Of Fate
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This is the bag that holds the treasure tokens. |
- Treasure Tokens
 |
Treasures are gold discs numbered from 0-9, and these represent victory points in the game. There are 10 of each
in the game, numbered 0-9. They are kept in, and drawn from, the Bag Of Fate. |
- Hexes
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These make up the board, which itself is built as the game progresses. Each Hex has passageways on
all six sides (which connect to adjacent hexes once they're placed), and many contain other features. Many
hexes have multiple passageways, and a spelunker can only be located in one of these. Some passageways
are dead-ends, while others go over, under, or intersect with other passageways on the Hex. |
|
- Level
 |
This is the depth of the Hex. The special Base Camp Hex is Level 0, and there are Level 1
and Level 2 Hexes. Levels are indicated by a pink circled number. |
- Slopes
 |
These are represented by green arrows. A spelunker may move from one passageway to another in the same
Hex in the direction of the green arrow, but not against it. |
- Hazards
 |
These are represented by brown Hazard symbols. When one of these appears on a newly-explored Hex, the
corresponding value on the Hazard Track is increased, and the player then rolls the die to see whether
that Hazard affects the entire map. These effects are detailed in the Explore section later. |
- Water
 |
Represented by blue concentric blobs. Any spelunker in the correct passageway on a Hex with with
water immediately removes any Thirst Misfortunes they may have. |
- Entrance
 |
Some Hexes have a star on one of their six sides. If present, then this side must be aligned to the Hex
which the exploring spelunker came from (exploring is explained later). If a Hex has more than one
star, the player choses which of them to align. |
- Location Marker
 |
The location on the hex where any Treasures or Items are located. |
- Base Camp
 |
This is the game's starting Hex. Any spelunker ending their turn here removes all Misfortunes they may
have. Also, they may leave the caves as explained later. |
- Cave Paintings
 |
When this Hex is revealed, the Level 2 Hexes are shuffled into the Hex draw deck. |
- Collapsed
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These are kept in reserve, and are used to replace other Hexes which have collapsed. |
|
- Cards
 |
Cards are drawn whenever a spelunker explores a new Hex. Each Card reveals the Move Cost, a number of
Items and Treasures to be placed on the Hex, and may contain a Misfortune. These are explained later. |
|
- Move
 |
The number of these icons is the MP cost applied to the spelunker for having explored the new Hex. |
- Items
 |
For each of these icons, randomly draw an Item and place it face-up in the new Hex. |
- Treasure
 |
For each of these icons, randomly draw a number of Treasure Tokens from the Bag Of Fate equal to
the number of spelunkers still in the caves. The current spelunker looks at them all, keeps one,
and places the rest face-down in the new Hex. |
- Misfortune
 |
If this icon is present, the current spelunker suffers the effects listed by the text on the
Card. Misfortunes are either "Discard", which effect the spelunker and are then discarded;
or "Keep", which means they are placed in front of the player and continue to affect the
spelunker until removed. Spelunkers may be affected by any number of "Keep" Misfortunes at the
same time. |
|
Item Tokens
 |
These represent gear which a spelunker carries. Carrying an Item confers its benefits as listed. A spelunker
can carry any number of different Items, but never more than one of any specific item. They have blue
icons. |
|
- Rope
 |
The spelunker can go up slopes on Hexes, against the direction of the green arrow. |
- Canteen
 |
The spelunker is immune from the Thirst Misfortune (and discards any Thirst Misfortunes they may have). |
- Gas Mask
 |
The spelunker is immune from the Methane Hazard. |
- Hiking Boots
 |
The spelunker is immune from the Tremors Hazard. |
- Helmet
 |
The spelunker is immune from the Bats Hazard. |
- Brass Lantern
 |
The spelunker is immune from Grues and the Flashlight Out Misfortune. |
- Medkit
 |
The spelunker may discard this on their turn to heal to full HP. |
- Battery
 |
The spelunker is immune to the Flashlight Out Misfortune (and discards any Flashlight Out Misfortunes they may have). |
- Dynamite
 |
On their turn, a spelunker may deploy the Dynamite, returning the blue Item Token to the supply and placing
a red Dynamite Hazard Token on their Hex. At the beginning of that spelunker's next turn, the dynamite
goes off; the Hex is replaced by a Collapsed Hex, and any spelunkers there die instantly. |
|
Hazard Tokens and Hazard Track
 |
Hazard Tokens are placed on Hexes (depending on the outcome of rolling against the
Hazard Track, as explained in the Explore section later); these represent what will happen to
spelunkers who travel there. Additionally, one of each type is placed on the Hazard Track (starting
at position 0 at the beginning of the game), representing the total number of each Hazard Tokens
(by type) on the overall map. These have red icons. |
|
- Methane
 |
Any spelunker in or entering the affected Hex not wearing a Gas Mask takes 1HP damage. |
- Bats
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Any spelunker in or entering the affected Hex not wearing a Helmet takes 1HP damage. |
- Tremors
 |
Any spelunker in or entering the affected Hex not wearing Hiking Boots takes 1HP damage. |
- Grues
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No spelunker without a Brass Lantern can enter the affected Hex. Any spelunker on a Hex without a Brass
Lantern must immediately Flee, as described later in the rules. |
- Dynamite
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Another spelunker has dropped a stick of Dynamite in the affected Hex. A spelunker may attempt to defuse the dynamite by rolling the die;
if the die roll is less than or equal to their current HP, then the Hazard Token is removed back to the supply, and the defusing spelunker
gains a Dynamite Item Token (if they already have one, then this is skipped). If the die roll is greater than the spelunker's current HP,
then the dynamite goes off immediately as explained above. |
|
Setup
- Find the Base Camp Hex, and place it more or less in the middle of the play area. Place the Collapsed Hexes to
the side. Shuffle the Level 1 Hexes together, and place them face-down to create the Hex Draw Pile. Place the
Level 2 Hexes nearby.
- Place the Hazard Track and Surface Hex to the side of the main play area, out of the way but visible to all.
- Place all Treasure Tokens in the Bag Of Fate, and give them a good shake. Draw and place a number of Treasure
Tokens equal to twice the number of players, and place these face-up on the Surface Hex.
- Each player takes a Pawn in their chosen color, and places it on the Base Camp Hex. Each player also takes 4
HP tokens.
- Shuffle all the Cards together, and place them face-down to create the Card Draw Pile.
- Randomize the Item Tokens and arrange them into face-down stacks to be drawn from.
- Put a Hazard Token on each "0" spot on the Hazard Track.
- Randomly determine the first player.
Play continues in turn until all spelunkers have either exited the cave or died, as explained below. Once the caves
contain no living spelunkers, the game ends.
Player Turns
Spelunkers begin their turn with a number of Move Points (MP) equal to their current HP, minus any effects
due to Thirst or other effects; minimum of 1MP. MP are spent during the turn to take various actions. Once a spelunker
has expended all of their MP for that turn, play passes to the next spelunker.
If at any point during their turn, a speluker without a Brass Lantern in the same Hex with a Grue
must Flee as explained later in the rules.
Move (1MP)
The spelunker moves to an adjacent Hex, obeying any passage restrictons. If there are any Hazards
are present (which the spelunker isn't immune from) in the hex being entered, the spelunker suffers the effects.
If the spelunker is in possession of a Brass Lantern, and enters a hex with a Grue in it, they move
the Grue to another unoccupied Hex with a Grue Hazard symbol on it. If no such Hex
exists, the Grue is removed from the map, and the Grue counter on the Hazard Track is increased
by 1 (the Grues desiring vengeance for one of their fallen).
If the spelunker ends their turn on the Base Camp Hex, they remove all Misfortunes they may have.
Explore (card)
The spelunker is exploring a new area of the caves, and must have at least 1MP available to take this action.
- Move the spelunker to an adjacent empty space where a new Hex can be placed, obeying the same movement rules as
per Move above.
- Draw a Hex. The player places the Hex in the space, oriented however they choose - unless the Hex contains a
starred entrance marker, in which case, this marker must face the Hex the spelunker is moving from. The spelunker's pawn
is placed on the new Hex, obeying the movement rules.
- Draw a Card. The Card will indicate the MP cost of moving into the Hex. If this leaves the spelunker with a negative
amount of MP, then the spelunker simply ends up with 0MP. If the Card contains a Misfortune, then it befalls the spelunker
as explained above. For each Item icon on the Card (based on the Hex level), an item is chosen at random from the
supply and placed on the Hex. For each treasure icon on the card (also based on the Hex level), randomly choose a
number of Treasure Tokens from the Bag Of Fate equal to the number of spelunkers still in the caves. The spelunker
may look at all of them, keep one, and then places the rest face-down on the Hex.
- If the new Hex contains a Hazard icon, then the player rolls a die. If the value is less than the total number of
the same type of icon on the entire board, then Hazard tokens matching the icon are placed on all Hexes with that
same icon which don't already have them.
If the newly-drawn Hex is the Cave Painting Hex, shuffle the Level 2 Hexes into the Hex Draw Pile.
Collect Treasure (1MP)
If there are any Treasure Tokens on the spelunker's Hex, and the spelunker is in a passageway with the location
marker, the player may pick them up, examine them, keep one, and then return the rest face-down to the Hex.
Collect Items (*)
If the spelunker is in a passageway with the location marker, they may collect any and all items on their Hex (but
may never have more than one of the same type). The spelunker must have at least 1MP available to take this action,
but the action itself ends the spelunker's turn.
Leave (1MP)
If the spelunker is on the Base Camp Hex, they may leave the caves. Their pawn is moved to the Surface Hex for the
rest of the game; they collect the highest two remaining treasures there, and their turn ends.
Move Grue (free)
If a spelunker is out of the caves (ie, their pawn is on the Surface Hex), or the player's spelunker has
died, and there are Grues present in the caves, then the spelunker's player may try to move one of these
Grues. The process is as follows.
- First, the player rolls the die; if this roll is less than or equal to the number of players on the Surface
Hex, then the player chooses one Brass Lantern currently owned by another player; that Brass Lantern
is removed from that player and from the game.
- Next, the player rolls the die a second time; if this roll is less than or equal to the number of players on the
Surface Hex, then the player moves one of the Grues in the caves to any adjacent Hex
(irrespective of any movement restrictons) or to any Hex with a Grue Hazard icon on it. This
destination hex may not be the Base Camp Hex or a Hex with a spelunker in possession of a Brass Lantern.
All spelunkers in the destination hex take 1HP damage. Any spelunkers reduced to 0HP dies.
End Turn (free)
A spelunker can end their turn whenever they choose.
Hexes And Movement Examples
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Here is a typical Level 1 Hex. Orange can collect items and treasures, as well as take advantage of the
water to remove Thirst Misfortunes, while Blue cannot. Legal exits are shown for the spelunkers as well. |
 |
Were the Hex to contain a slope, Orange would be able to move as shown, though Blue's exits are still
limited (unless they had a Rope). |
 |
Some passages go over and under other passages on the same Hex which do not intersect one another. Exits
for Orange and Blue are shown. |
Fleeing
Fleeing is a special set of rules which apply to spelunkers (not in possession of a Brass Lantern)
attempting to avoid Grues. During their turn, a spelunker in a Hex with at least one Grue in it
must move to the shortest-pathed Hex without a Grue in it. These moves must be a series of legal moves
as described above, each hex costing MP, and the player is allowed to continue moving even with 0MP. In the event of
multiple, equally-shortest paths, the plater chooses which to take. The spelunker takes one point of damage for each
passed-through Hex (not counting the initial Hex); if this reduces the spelunker to 0HP, they die. If
no such destination hex exists, the spelunker dies.
Game End
Once all spelunkers have either died or left the caves, the game ends. Out of the players with surviving spelunkers,
the player with the largest total value of Treasure Tokens is the winner. If there is a tie, the player with
the higher HP wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the least amount of Item Tokens wins.