Minecraft: Digging Down

{
 "title": "''Minecraft: Digging Down''",
 "rows": [
 {
 "field": "\n* Jens Merkl\n* Stephanie Korupp\n* Ina Franz",
 "label": "Designer(s)"
 },
 {
 "field": "Alexandria Land",
 "label": "Illustrator(s)"
 },
 {
 "field": "(link to File:Mojang Studios logo.svg article, displayed as 20px) (link to Mojang Studios article, displayed as Mojang Studios)<br>(link to wikipedia:Ravensburger article, displayed as Ravensburger)",
 "label": "Publisher(s)"
 },
 {
 "field": "September 1, 2026<span class=\"noprint\">; 2 months' time</span><span style=\"display:none\"> (<span class=\"bday dtstart published updated\">2026-09-01</span>)</span>",
 "label": "Publication date"
 },
 {
 "field": "(link to wikipedia:Card game article, displayed as Card game)",
 "label": "Genre"
 },
 {
 "field": "English",
 "label": "Language(s)"
 },
 {
 "field": "2-4",
 "label": "Players"
 },
 {
 "field": "30 minutes",
 "label": "Playing time"
 },
 {
 "field": "9+",
 "label": "Age range"
 }
 ],
 "invimages": [],
 "images": []
}

Minecraft: Digging Down is an upcoming card game to be published by Mojang Studios and Ravensburger.^[1] In the game, players explore a cave system and complete objectives based on the difficulty level.

A standard set of Minecraft: Digging Down includes:

A set of 120 cards, which includes:

• Four objective cards
• Four inventory cards
• Sixteen basic equipment cards (four tools and four colors each)
• Twelve exchange item cards
• Thirty-two torch cards
• One base card
• One decision card
• Fifty cave cards (fifteen dirt, seventeen stone, and eighteen deepslate)

• One health indicator with double-sided adhesive
• Four hearts
• Four characters with stand bases
• Five torch tiles
• Three enchantment card sleeves

Carefully remove all contents from the punchboards. Then, attach the two sides of the health indicator together with double-sided adhesive tape in the marked areas and pressing the sides down firmly. Finally, insert the four characters into the stand bases.

The player chooses their character and takes the corresponding inventory and basic equipment set of their color, making sure to use the side of the inventory card depending on the number of players:

Next, place the health indicator in the middle of the table, sliding the four hearts into it, followed by placing the base under the health indicator and the decision card to the right of it.

Next, place the characters next to the base, followed by the twelve exchange items in a stack to the left of the base. The remaining torches are set next to the exchange items stack as a supply and the five torch tiles are placed in front of them.

Then, select a difficulty level as follows, placing the objectives corresponding to the chosen difficulty level face up next to the health indicator:

Next, shuffle the cave cards in separate piles corresponding to the materials on the back of the cards without looking at the front of the cards. Then, form four stacks by laying out the cave cards across, placing down deepslate, then stone, and then dirt, making sure to distribute them as evenly as possible. Finally, place the four stacks next to the decision card, which forms the cave system with different passages that players can explore.

Keep the game box nearby for resolved or lost cards. The three enchantment card sleeves are only needed for Hardcore mode.

The game is played over several rounds, with each round consisting of several exploration turns for each player. A round ends when a player decides to voluntarily return to the base, or if actions performed by a player cause them to respawn back at the base.

In order for the player to move further down the cave, they must use their equipment to fight mobs and mine ore. For basic equipment, if the game has two players, each player gets three stone swords and three stone pickaxes; if the game has three or four players, each player gets two stone swords and two stone pickaxes. When equipment is used, the card must be flipped over to show the inactive marker (a black arrow). Once a exploration turn is finished, players may return to the base and flip over all used tools back to the front, showing the active marker (a gray arrow), meaning they can be used again.

A player can use several of the same type of tool, being either swords or pickaxes, at the same time to add their values together. Some cave cards can only be solved together as a team (e.g. A mob has a strength of eight. Alex flips an iron sword with a strength of four and Steve flips two stone swords, each with a strength of two. With the total strength of the swords at eight, the mob is defeated, and any strength value left over is ignored).

Each exploration turn starts with the decision card. The players discuss together as to whether they would want to start an exploration turn or return to base.

If the players decides to explore the cave, one torch must be discarded. As an optional advantage, players can now move and use torches.

The player then places their character in front of a cave passage so they can flip the top card over later and discover what's there. The player can also use torches to peek at what is hidden under the cards. To do this, the player must discard one torch from their inventory and place a torch tile with the light side facing up in front of the cave passage they are currently standing in front of. The player then looks at the top cave card and tells the other players as to what lies ahead, and then places it back face down. The player then decides as to whether they would want to stay in that passage or go to another one, being mindful of the amount of torches they have.

The player can move and/or use torches as often as they like. If all players decide that they want to explore a cave passage, then starting from the base going from left to right, the player who is on their turn reveals the top cave card of each cave passage that at least one player is standing in front of. However, the player may no longer move or use torches. The player can then either attempt to resolve the revealed card or flip it back over to keep it unresolved. If a torch tile is used, it remains in front of unresolved cards. Then, the player in front of the next cave passage reveals the top card of that passage, and so on. If there is a cave passage with no players in front of it, the passage is skipped. After all cave passages are resolved, the player decides again whether to start another exploration round or return to base.

Many cards award the player with loot if they can resolve them. The loot is shown on the lower half of the cave card and is marked with a black border. If the card is resolved, the loot from it is collected under the torch tiles near the player's base and turned over so the loot is facing right side up. Loot can only be placed in the player's inventory after the player voluntarily returns to base. Once the loot is in the player's inventory, it can be distributed amongst the other players, who can use them from their next exploration turn onwards.

As soon as the player has resolved a cave card that matches one of their objective cards, they immediately flip the target card over (e.g. A player finds diamond ore blocks and successfully mines them. The cave card is added to the loot and immediately flipped over to the side with the green checkmark (👁 Image
). Then, once the player finds the second card and successfully mines it, they flip over the second target card and win the game).

If the player cannot resolves cards (e.g. mobs that can't be defeated), they lose hearts. Each card specifies as to how many hearts are removed from the player's health indicator. If the last heart is removed from the player's health indicator, all players in that cave are forced to respawn at the base, and all loot collected is lost and placed back into the box. If the player loses a cave card that matches one of their objectives, the target card still counts as having been completed.

Returning to the base can be done in two ways:

• The player can voluntarily decide to return to their base if they don't have enough tools to use or wish to protect their loot. However, the player will need to discard two torches at the beginning of their turn.
• The player involuntarily respawns at the base if they lose all of their hearts on their health indicator; no torches need to be paid if this happens.

At the base, the player can completely refill their hearts on their health indicator, secure and distribute loot if they have any, flip over all used tools back to their active side, and fill their inventory with torches if they have any remaining in their stash.

The player is free to organize their inventory at the base however they like, such as putting torches in their stash if space is needed for loot. Items may also be permanently discarded into the game box if they are no longer needed.

If the player does not have enough torches to pay to return to the base, all loot will be lost. If the player runs out of torches and has no torches left in their inventory or stash, they are out of the game.

The player that completes the win conditions for the corresponding difficulty wins the game. However, the player loses if they run out of torches.