Dwarven Dig! is a new big-price, if not big-box, release from Kenzer & Company. I was intruiged by the copy on the description, but Kenzer & Company doesn't have much of a track record for me, so it was in the "try before you buy" category. Fortunately, I was at Origins last week so I was able to give it a go at one of their many demos.

First, a caveat: the demos Kenzer was running were played with 6 players, while the game usually supports only 4. Given the "race" nature of the game, and the fact that it has a sequence of play that is more or less devoid of player interaction, the extra players almost certainly were a drag on the game. They should have sprung for the extra copies and let us play with the number it was meant to be played with, 4, which I think would have been a superior game. Somewhat, anyway. However, the comments I'm about to make here are still valid, I believe .

The basic premise is that each player starts at the entrance to a mountain, and is trying to reach the center to grab a treasure (of which 3 are available, at least in the version I played) and then escape. To do this, you have 4 miners, each with some sort of special perk - Warriors, who are good at beating up on people, miners who are good at digging, technicians who are good at digging and overcoming some obstacles, and elders who are good at accumulating "grit" (as in "true grit", not "rules grit", and it is sort of a general "luck" currency that can be applied to any dice rolls). Also, each dwarf has some special power that he can use, from extra movement to an attack that can be lauched at range to anywhere on the board. These abilities are listed on the one and only one reference card Kenzer provides with the game, so make sure you use them when you are going first (rules this player gets the one reference card), or you are very likely to forget.

You work your way through a rather lengthy sequence of play, starting with digging through walls, moving, playing action cards, overcoming obstacles on tiles, attacking, maybe attacking and digging again, accumulating "grit", and buying cards. This sequence of play is, as I say, lengthy, and let me complain again about the fact that Kenzer has provided only one reference card, so one player gets to read out the order and the rest get to guess what's next, at least until they get comfortable with the game.

Various obstacles include hazardous gasses, lava flows, underground rivers, and some sort of huge insect thing. All obstacles are handled cleanly and similarly, with a target number and then the specialist dwarves who provide a bonus to meeting it. Roll a die, if you make the target (with modifiers) you survive, otherwise, someone is likely to die (your choice). Interestingly, the chance of death is directly proportional to the number of dwarves in the space, so if you keep everyone together, you are at very high risk of pain, and this "survival" roll is the only roll in the game that can't be modified by grit.

All this is chrome, however, because this game is in play depressingly familiar. You race to the center, grab a gold, and try to escape. Everyone else tries to do the same. If you've played these "combat race" games, you by now know the drill - first one to the center gets whacked, the game is as much or more about diplomacy (read: whining) as anything else, the random board setup is going to typically significantly favor some players over others, whether or not you draw attention to yourself will dictate whether you win or not. The action cards are, as expected by now, of wildly mixed quality, ranging from powerful enhancers (extra moves, extra dig phases) to moderate hosers (extra hazards - which would you rather do, help yourself significantly or modestly hinder one of three other players?) down to the completely marginal. Does anyone spend any time thinking about these things?

This sort of game can be salvaged by a decent theme, and Dwarven Dig! tries valiantly in this area, but does not succeed. It's just a bit too generic, and this coupled with the fact that it has non-trivial downtime, takes too long given the content, is a bit too complicated, and really isn't all that tactically interesting makes it hard for the game to engage on an intuitive, emotional level at all. Still, to be fair, you have to give them points for trying here, and if the designer had a decent developer who had convinced him to take enough stuff out of the game, maybe turn it into a light card game, this could have been a very solid $10-$15 small-box game. But he didn't, and it's not, and even at $35-ish (plus shipping!) from Boulder, the game doesn't justify the price tag.

After spending two hours of my life that I won't get back on this game, I was left unsure how to feel about it. On the one hand, it was certainly the low point of my Origins 2003 experience, and my initial reaction was simply disbelief that this sort of game is still being endlessly remade - sort of the Airlines (Avalanche) of 2003. On further reflection, however, there was more reason for optimism. Because again, in fairness, this game is an improvement over many past games that are similar in feel - games from Throneworld and Twilight Imperium down to Illuminati and Zombies!, all of which are essentially races to a target where you spend most of your time just whacking other players somewhat randomly. It does get some traction on a decent theme, is too long but not excessively so, and is too complex but not excessively so. This is an improvement. Not so much of an improvement that I'm going to recommend it in general given the difficulties of the genre, but if you do like games of this nature, you might want to check out Dwarven Dig.

How much is the fact that I played with two extra players going to affect the game? Hard to tell. It will certainly be shorter and move along at a better clip with 4, both of which will be welcome improvements. As far as I can tell, there is no upside to playing with more, and I would not recommend doing so - 6 players is clearly too many. The game will obviously be better with fewer, but the game still is fundamentally a whack-your-neighbhor game, and dropping the two extra players will make it only a slightly better one.

Anyway, as you can tell probably, I won't be buying this or agreeing to play it again; in the whack-your-neighbhor category, Nuclear War still reigns and Family Business is shorter and simpler - both qualities that are at a premium here. Anyone who has become a gamer through Settlers of Catan, Bohnanza, or Carcassone is not likely to be impressed by Dwarven Dig. However, I think this one will appeal to some people, and by this point you (hopefully) know who you are . The recent game this feels most similar to me is, interestingly, Duel of Ages - although the games are certainly rather distinct in many ways. Still, if that's the sort of thing you like, it might be worth checking out.