Steven Rhodes: Let’s Dig for Treasure

What’s It All About?

Head back to the ’70s again with this Steven Rhodes push-your-luck game “Let’s Dig For Treasure.” So, before games consoles, it seems children would amuse themselves with treasure hunting. But not combing the beaches with a metal detector in this game – oh no – for these children the best way to dig up their treasure is a spot of grave robbing. As you ransack the dig stacks of three graves, you must beware of obstacles that will cost you loot. There will be plenty of point-accumulating cards, as well as some useless items and even some dreadful items! Plenty of spooky fun!

How To Play

The game is simple, shuffle the cards and place them in 3 dig stacks in the middle of the players. The dirtiest player digs first, choosing one of the dig piles and taking the top card. Then, they can either keep digging from that stack or end their turn. Beware, there is a chance of getting a bad card that makes you lose all your newfound goodies! Once the first player has ended their go, the player to their left starts digging. Play ends when one of the stacks is completely depleted, then the players add up all their points. Whoever has the most is the winner.

Cards

There are 26 types of cards altogether:

25 “Dirt” cards that each give you 1 point.

30 “Worms” cards that also each give you 1 point – though if you dig up 2 in the same turn, then your turn ends and you have to discard all your cards from that turn.

10 “Evil Skeleton” cards that make you end your turn and discard your cards.

7 “Granny Gruppo’s Gingerbread Cookies” and 7 “Old Man Murray’s Milk” cards which aren’t worth anything unless paired together, when they each become worth 5 points.

7 “Boatman’s Coins” cards worth 5 points each.

3 “Loyal Dog” cards that are worth 5 points; these cards you leave in front of you, and if you dig up a skeleton you can move the dog card to your score pile and put the skeleton in the discard pile.

3 “Wedding Ring” cards worth 10 points.

3 “Sleepy Gravedigger” cards worth 5 points. When you dig this card up, you may look at the top 4 cards of any dig stack and put them back in random order.

3 “Sewer Line” cards that are worth -10 points, but not for you! When you dig these up you get to give them to any other player of your choice.

3 “Treasure Map” cards where you can look at the top 4 cards of any dig stack, score one of them and put the rest back in any order you want.

3 “Cursed Family Heirloom” cards, worth 10 points but you must immediately give them to another player or you can’t score them.

3 “Crown Of The Lich Lord” cards, worth 5 points and lets you discard the top 5 cards of any dig stack. If an evil skeleton was discarded, you can have another turn. 

Less Common Cards

1 “Treasure Chest” card worth 20 points.

1 “Narco Drug Stash” card; worth 5 points and, if you have at least 5 other cards alongside it, you can take another turn.

1 “Boardgames” card. This one’s not worth any points unless you’re the owner of the game, then it’s worth 5 points.

1 “Landmine” card, worth 5 points and makes you discard an entire dig stack.

1 “Lottery Ticket” card, worth nothing unless you score it on your last turn of the game – then it’s worth 50 points!

1 “Pirate Sword” card; worth nothing, but you can give it to any player to skip their next turn entirely!

1 “Skwirmz The Worm God” card. Not worth any points itself, but makes all of your worm cards at the end of the game worth 5 points each instead of 1.

1 “Leprechaun’s Gold” card worth 30 points.

1 “Ark Of The Covenant” card worth 40 points.

1 “Pirate Hat” card that lets you steal any card from another player.

1 “Radioactive Waste” card worth -20 points. When you find this you must discard everything you dug up during your current turn – except for the Radioactive Waste card, which you must score.

1 “Wedding Dress” card that’s worth nothing unless you have zero dirt cards in your score pile, then it’s worth 50 points.

Finally, there is the “New Kid” card that’s worth nothing unless it’s your first time playing the game, in which case it’s worth 20 points. 

Is It Fun?

My family and I had a great time with Steven Rhodes’ Let’s Dig For Treasure. Super fast to set up with a quick and fun play. The artwork is also great fun with all the quirky and often very funny imagery. Like the other two games in this series, it is nice and small for travel. For anyone that likes games such as exploding kittens, this will be a must.