Donkeys For the Win (A Caverna: The Cave Farmers Review)

This is a BIG game.

 So if you are a board gamer in general, you're probably familiar with The Geek; and if you're familiar with The Geek, you're probably already familiar with Caverna: The Cave Farmers from Uwe Rosenberg because it's been on everyone's Most Anticipated and Hottest of 2013 and Coolest Donkey List for the past 6 or 7 months.  And I have caught Donkey fever.  Wait...maybe not.  Donkey fever sounds terrible.

If you're familiar with Agricola you already understand about 80% of this game.  It plays very much like a classic Uwe do-stuff-to-make-food-to-feed-your-workers-to-do-more-stuff-to-make-you-points game.  Yes.  That's an official board game mechanism.  Look it up.  You start out with a modest pair of workers who represent dwarves excavating a mountain and plowing fields and raising livestock and ignoring leash laws to fill their homes with dogs.  You gotta make food and you want to earn points and when these things come together, it is a beautiful thing (link is PG-13 for one bleep).

You have options, amigo.  You have 'em.

The major difference between Agricola and Caverna is that Caverna is chock full of a ridiculous amount of options on just how to feed and expand.  It's truthfully unbelievable how many options you have in this game.  Do you want to mine rubies and ore and trade them for money and food to support your dwarven family?  Great!  You can.  Do you want to build a sheep-ton of pastures and fill them with barnyard animals?  Do it.  No one can stop you.  Wanna acquire as many of board gaming's most fun loving animals and build a burro empire?  GET.  THOSE.  DONKS.  There are so many ways to earn points and so many paths to victory that it's overwhelming - even for an experienced gamer.

And that's the real genius of this game.  So far, in the handful of plays I've gotten in, there aren't any "dominant" strategies.
Like any game there are certainly stronger or weaker elements, but I've watched my fellow players use equally different and valid strategies to score big time points.  It's really a thing of beauty.  To see this baby operate full tilt and to enjoy the sheer variety and range of options is very satisfying.

So I guess if I'm closing up this review I would say this: play Caverna: The Cave Famers as soon as you can and as often as you can.  I think this game has high potential for long term replay ability.  Not only that, but when you get done with a game, you'll have fun just looking back at your board and exclaiming to your friends, "Look what I can do!"

WyoGamer Rating: 5/5 Stars

WyoGamer's BGG Rating: 9.5