Date: 10th June 2005
Game played: Diamant ( Schmidt Spiele ) BGG Id: 15512

With a bit of time left, I thought we’d try this new treasure hunting game from Bruno Faidutti and Alan Moon. The game is about searching five caves for gems and escaping before a disaster falls on the explorers. On each turn, players secretly decide whether to probe deeper into the cave or retreat with any gems they’ve discovered up to that point. Players then reveal their decision and for those that choose to continue a card is drawn and placed at the end of the cave. If it shows a number of gems, these are split equally among those still exploring, with any remainder left on the cavern floor to be picked up by anyone choosing to retreat later in the round. If it shows a hazard, again, this is added to the cave tunnel and a further round is then played. If, however, a second hazard is revealed, of the same type as one previously encountered, disaster strikes and those still in the tunnel lose all of the gems they have collected in that cave. That ends the round and play progresses to the next cave. Once all five caves have been explored, the person with the most gems wins.

This is a push-your-luck game, where you need to try and judge the best time to retreat. If there are several gems left on the cave floor from previous turns, that could be a good time to flee but, if lots of other players join you, the spoils must be shared and you might regret leaving too soon. In our game, Phil and David Seemed to judge this perfectly in the first few rounds and they shot out to a substantial lead. Mark K and Chris kept waiting just too long and missed out on gems every round. In the last round, the leaders escaped early. I decided to go for broke, along with Mark K and Chris, and the cards fell kindly for us. I escaped with just enough gems to win, while the other two waited just too long and left with nothing. Quite good fun for a large number of players but the result is largely dictated by the luck of the cards.

 
Player
Rating
Score
Position
Winner
Garry
7
30
1
Phil
7
26
2
David G
7
24
3
Mark G
7
19
4
Nige
5
12
5
Chris
6
0
6
Mark K
7
0
6

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