Big Dig
Big Dig Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components + Setup
- 4 Player Boards – give one to each player. There are two sides to each board; choose one that everyone will use for this game.
- 4 Dry-erase Markers – give one to each player.
- 5 Digging Cards – place these in the center of the table, with random sides facing up.
- 10 Goal Cards – shuffle these, then deal 3 (at random) face up to one side of the table.
Gameplay Overview
Players will take turns selecting a single Digging card from the center of the table and marking off that pattern of squares on their player board. When all the cards have been selected, all the Digging cards are returned to the center of the table and flipped over. As soon as a player satisfies the conditions shown on all 3 Goal cards, that player is declared to be the winner!
Squares you can dig: beige dirt squares, including those depicting objects inside beige dirt (the emerald, amethyst, ancient coin, stone, water, oil and pipe squares).
Squares you can explode: beige dirt squares and grey rock squares.
Squares you can't dig or explode: the dark brown tablet and fossil artifact squares.
Gameplay in Detail
The player who most recently dug a hole will take the first turn, then play proceeds clockwise around the table. On your turn, perform the following actions, in this order:
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Take a Digging card from the center of the table and place it in front of you. (Do not flip it over.)
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"Dig" beige dirt squares matching the shape depicted on the card by crossing them out on your board with your Dry-erase marker. You may rotate the shape or mirror it, but do not flip the card over. At least one of the squares you dig this turn must be adjacent (orthogonally) to a square you crossed off on a previous turn, or to the top of board. When digging, you may not dig grey rock squares or dark brown artifact squares, but may dig squares that depict other objects inside beige dirt. You must accommodate all the squares shown on your card – you may not have the shape go "off the edge" of the board, and you may not only do part of the shape.
OR: "Explode" a single beige dirt square OR grey rock square by crossing it off on your board. The square must be adjacent (orthogonally) to either the the top of the board or a square that was crossed off on a previous turn. This is the only way that you can cross off grey rock squares.
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If there are no more Digging cards in the center of the table, all Digging cards are now returned to the center and flipped over to their other side.
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If you have met the requirements of all 3 face up Goal cards, the game ends and you have won the game! Otherwise, the turn is passed to the next player. Note: Do not remove Goal cards from the table when you complete them, they should remain out where everyone can see them, as players need to accomplish all 3 of them to win.
Expert Players
At the start of the game, "dig" a number of bonus single dirt spaces based on your position in turn order: 1/2/3 spaces if you are 2nd/3rd/4th in turn order.
Tile + Card Glossary
Each Goal card and Digging card names an action. The actions are:
- Mine all emeralds – Cross out every emerald square on the board.
- Mine all amethysts – Cross out all amethyst squares on the board.
- Mine all coins – Cross out every ancient coin square on the board.
- Explode 5 stones – Cross out 5 grey rock squares (by "exploding" them).
- Dig out center – Cross out all 9 lighter beige dirt squares that are in a 3 by 3 area near the center of the board.
- Excavate tablet – Cross out all squares adjacent and diagonally adjacent to the dark brown squares containing the tablet.
- Excavate fossil – Cross out all squares adjacent and diagonally adjacent to the dark brown squares containing the skeleton.
- Deliver water – Cross out squares that create a single contiguous path from the water at the bottom to either of the two squares directly below the water tower at the top. (The path does not have to be direct, however diagonals do not count for contiguity.)
- Deliver oil – Cross out squares that create a single contiguous path from the oil at the bottom to either of the two squares directly below the oil truck at the top. (The path does not have to be direct, however diagonals do not count for contiguity.)
- Connect pipes – Cross out squares that create a single contiguous path from the pipe on the left to the pipe on the right, including the pipe squares. (The path does not have to be direct, however diagonals do not count for contiguity.)
Example Turn
On your turn, you select the Digging card shown in the rulebook (a beige dirt shape).
Then you rotate and mirror the shape and cross out the indicated squares on your card.
On a future turn, you might start crossing out your next shape on any of the squares shown in green here. Or instead, you might choose to Explode any of the grey stones shown in orange.
Source note: the example board in the rulebook shows a player's board after several turns, with green squares marking legal dig options and orange squares marking grey stones that may be exploded.