Deep Claim

Word of ore has reached the deep woodland, and the local magnates — in tailored coats, with survey maps and hired crews — have sensed the opportunity. Coal lies near the surface. Diamonds lie deep, and the season is short. Who walks away with the biggest empire?

Rulebook · Version 3.0

Players
2–4
Rounds
4
Length
60–90′
Age
12+
Weight
2.8/5

What you are doing

You are one of the mining magnates — a hippo in a three-piece suit, a squirrel with a pocket watch, a bear who has actually read the survey reports. Over four short seasons you will sink shafts into a mountain everyone shares, hire whatever crews you can outbid your rivals for, and try to finish the year with more to show for it than anyone else at the table.

Every player holds the same seven cards. Each card is three things at once: a bid value, a digging pattern, and an income. You deploy six of them each season and keep one. The card you keep pays you; the six you play buy cards and cut rock.

There are two currencies in the game. Coins win the contracts and critters on offer at the locations — outbid your rivals or watch the card you needed go to someone else. Pickaxes pay for digging, and the deeper you go the more they cost. The ore you cut out of the rock is what fulfils your contracts. Contracts stay hidden in your hand until you can pay for them — and the moment you do, the card is laid face up in front of you, its ore icons on show for the rest of the game.

Those ore icons are what score: at the end of every season players compare them ore by ore, and whoever shows the most of an ore takes its victory points — an amount that changes from season to season.

How you win. Score the most victory points after four seasons. Most come from winning those ore comparisons each season; the rest from the owls and bears you recruited, the ore you banked, and your secret objectives (if you are playing with that module).

01 What is in the box

Each player takes the following, all in their chosen colour.

One player's components 1 2 3 4 5
1
7 action cards in your colour, numbered 0 to 6
2
1 player board
3
2 track markers
4
1 victory point marker
5
8 miners

And the general components list.

The shared game components 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1
The scoring chart, showing what each ore is worth in each of the four seasons.
2
The victory point track, running from 0 to 49.
3
1 round marker — the wooden cube that sits on the season tracker beside the chart.
4
48 vein tiles. The bonuses that sit on a mine's intersections.
5
16 mine cards. Each is a 3×3 grid of ore with four intersections.
6
56 critter cards — 25 beavers, 16 bears and 15 owls, the crews you hire.
7
40 contract cards. The ore icons on a contract are what it costs to fulfil, and what scores for you afterwards.
8
Neutral miners.
9
The hammer — the first player token.
10
Ore cubes — coal, silver, gold and diamond. The supply is never limited.
11
4 location boards. One is used per player. Each carries the row of cards on offer and the toll column — a mine card is placed beside it so that its three rows line up with the three toll icons.
12
10 magnate cards — the mining magnates module.
13
16 objective cards — the secret objectives module.

02 Setting up

The numbers on the picture match the numbered steps below.

A three-player game set up and ready to begin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9a 9b
A three-player game, ready to begin.
1

Lay out the locations

Place one location board per player — two, three or four — one above the other.

2

Deal a mine to each location

Shuffle the sixteen mine cards and deal one to each location. Keep the rest as the mine deck.

3

Place the vein tiles

Shuffle the vein tiles face down. Draw four for each mine and place them face up on its four intersections — the points where four cells meet.

4

Place the neutral miners

Place one neutral miner on each mine. That cell cannot be dug, but it counts toward surrounding vein tiles and belongs to nobody.

5

Fill the displays

Shuffle contracts into the critter deck to form the mixed deck — 8 contracts at two players, 10 at three, 12 at four.

Each of a location board's four card slots has an icon printed in the middle of it, showing which deck that slot is filled from. The three slots showing a critter icon take cards from the mixed deck; the rightmost slot, showing a contract icon, takes a card from the contract deck. Fill every slot at every location, face up.

6

Leave room for digs

Keep the space to the right of every mine clear. Face-down dig cards are played there.

7

Set out the supply

Sort the ore cubes into four piles — coal, silver, gold and diamond. The supply is never limited.

8

Set out the decks

Put the contract deck, the mixed deck and the face-down vein tile pool within everyone's reach.

9

Lay out the scoring chart

Place it where everyone can read it. 9a — put the round marker on the season tracker, at R1. 9b — every player puts their victory point marker on space 0 of the scoring track.

10

Hand out the player materials

Each player takes the seven action cards in their colour, eight miners, a player board and its three markers — one for coins, one for pickaxes, one for victory points. Set the coin and pickaxe tracks to 7, and put the victory point marker on space 0 of the scoring track. Choose a first player and give them the hammer.

11

Draft your first contracts

Reveal twice as many contracts as there are players and lay them out where all can see. Beginning with the first player and going clockwise, each player chooses one contract and takes it. When the last player has chosen, they immediately choose a second, and the picking runs back the other way around the table until everyone holds two.

Keep your contracts as a private hand, hidden from the other players. They stay there until you fulfil them.

If any deck runs out mid-game, shuffle its discard pile to form a new one.

03 Your seven cards

At the start of the game each player takes the set of seven cards in their colour, numbered 0 to 6. Every set is identical.

A single action card showing its bid value, income and digging pattern 1 2 3 4
1
Bid value. Play this card face up above a location and this is your bid. When your turn to resolve comes, you pay this many coins and take a card.
2
Income. The open hands always mean income. This card pays 4 pickaxes if it is the one you keep.
3
Legal cells. Every ticked cell is somewhere this pattern may be placed. On this card, all nine.
4
Miners. How many miners you place, and so how many ore you dig up. Two miners means you place two.
Card 5: bid five coins, or dig any two cells, or keep it for four pickaxes.

Some patterns need their miners placed next to each other. Where that is so, the miners printed on the card are joined by a connector: connector

Every symbol used in the game is listed under The icons in the glossary at the back.
All seven action cards, zero through six
The whole hand. Low cards bid cheaply and earn coins; high cards dig widely and earn pickaxes.
Deploy six. Keep one — it pays its income in phase II.
CardIncome if keptDigging pattern
05 coins1 cell, top row only
14 coins1 cell, rows 1–2
23 coins + 1 pickaxe1 cell, any row
33 resources of your choice2 adjacent cells in a row
41 coin + 3 pickaxes2 adjacent cells in a column
54 pickaxesany 2 cells
65 pickaxesany 3 cells

04 Your player board

A player board in use, showing tracks, phases and fulfilled contracts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1
The six phases, in order. The first player walks the hammer along this row so the table can see which phase is being played.
2
The pickaxe track. Move your marker up and down it as you earn and spend. It stops at 15.
3
The coin track, the same, and it also stops at 15.
4
Your two markers, one on each track.
5
The critters you recruit sit beside your board, where everyone can see them.
6
Four columns for fulfilled contracts. Tuck each new contract under the last so that every ore icon stays visible — you are not limited to four contracts.
7
Your ore supply — ten mine carts. Ore you dig sits here, and you may never hold more than ten. To take an eleventh, discard one first.
The six phases run along the top. Both tracks cap at 15. Recruited critters sit beside the board; fulfilled contracts tuck into the columns below.
You have four columns but no limit on contracts. Tuck each new one under the last so every ore icon can still be counted at scoring.

05 Reading a contract

Contracts stay private in your hand from the moment you take one until you fulfil it in the Contract phase. Fulfil it by spending the ore printed at its foot; the card is then tucked face up into one of the four contract slots below your player board, where it stays for the rest of the game.

A contract card 1 2 3
1
Price. Like a critter, a contract has no fixed price — the question mark means it costs whatever you bid to take it.
2
The reward, paid the moment you fulfil the contract. This one gives 2 victory points and a contract drawn from the deck; others pay coins, pickaxes, ore or an upgrade.
3
The ore it asks for. Spend exactly these from your supply to fulfil the contract. This one wants a gold and a diamond.
Those same ore icons keep working after the contract is fulfilled — they are what you count in the Score phase, every season for the rest of the game.
A contract with one ore icon is a 1-ore contract, with two a 2-ore contract, and so on. Several objectives and critters count contracts by that size.

06 Reading a critter card

Critters are the crews you hire at the locations. A recruited critter is placed face up beside your player board and stays there for the rest of the game, where everyone can see it. There are three kinds — bears, owls and beavers — and the symbols around the card tell you which kind it is, when it acts, and what it does.

A bear, an owl and a beaver card side by side 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1
Which kind of critter it is. A little window showing a bear, an owl or a beaver.
2
Price. The coin carries a question mark because there is no fixed price — a critter costs whatever you bid to recruit it.
3
When it acts. The green diamond gives the phase in roman numerals — this bear acts in phase VI, the Score phase. Whatever the card does, it does it then.
4
Discard to use — the waste bin. Every bear has one: firing its effect costs you the card.
5
The bear set. Bears you never discard score 1, 3, 7 or 12 VP for holding 1, 2, 3 or 4 of them.
6
Card number, for looking the card up in the glossary at the back.
7
What the critter does. The banner at the foot of the card, written in icons. Every effect in the game is listed by card number in the glossary at the back.
8
The hourglass — this owl scores at game end rather than acting during a season. Every owl has one.
9
The lightning bolt — this beaver also acts the instant it is recruited, and then in every Income phase after that. Every beaver has one.
A bear, an owl and a beaver. Bears fire once and are discarded, owls score at the end, beavers pay out every season.

07 The season (round)

Deep Claim is played over four seasons, each made up of six phases that always happen in the same order, printed across the top of every player board.

The hammer. The first player holds the hammer token and moves it along the row of phases at the top of their board, one step at a time. It tells everyone which phase the table is in, and the first player leads each one.
I

Deploy

Beginning with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player deploys one card on their turn. Play passes round and round until every player has deployed six cards. The seventh card stays in hand — it will pay income in the next phase.

A card is deployed in one of two ways:

Face up, above a location — a bid worth the value printed on the card. Tuck the card under the top edge of the location board so that only its bid value shows, and keep the bids in order, highest first.
Face down, to the right of a mine — a dig, committed to that mine.

A player may deploy as many cards as they like at the same location, as bids, as digs, or both.

Bidding the same value. If a bid matches one already at that location, the newer bid is placed to the right of the older one — the player who committed first resolves first.

Bidding, and being pushed out

A location mid-round, with bids tucked above and four cards on display
Bids tucked above this location, arranged highest to lowest, with four cards below to fight over.
Example Three bids are tucked above this location. The yellow player has bid a 5. The green player has bid twice at the same location — a 3 and a 2.

Yellow resolves first: they take the 5 back into hand, pay five coins and recruit the bear. Green’s 3 comes next and takes the owl. Green’s 2 resolves last, and with nothing left worth two coins green forfeits and takes 2 coins + 2 pickaxes instead.
A location holds only four cards, so a low bidder can be pushed out. If nothing worth taking remains, or you cannot pay, you simply take the 2 coins + 2 pickaxes.
II

Income

In turn order, beginning with the first player, each player collects everything they are owed this season:

First they take the income printed on the card they kept — coins, pickaxes, or a choice between them. Then they activate every beaver they have recruited, one after another, in whatever order they like.

Both tracks stop at 15. Anything earned beyond that is lost.

III

Recruit

Locations are resolved one at a time, from the top down. At each location the bids are worked through from highest to lowest, regardless of who placed them.

When a bid resolves, that player takes the card back into their hand, pays coins equal to its value, and takes any one card still on display at that location.

A player may instead forfeit and take 2 coins + 2 pickaxes — and must do so if they cannot pay the bid. A beaver acts the moment it is recruited, and again in every Income phase afterwards.

A contract taken this way joins your private hand, hidden until you fulfil it. Critters go face up beside your player board, where everyone can see them.

IV

Mine

Starting from the topmost mine, take the face-down pile sitting beside a mine — it holds every dig card committed there — turn it face up and deal the cards out one by one, arranging them from lowest value to highest. Cards of equal value keep the order they were dealt, so the one played earlier sits first.

Work through that line in order. On their turn a player takes the card back into their hand, places its miners on ore in the mine, pays the cost in pickaxes, and takes the matching ore into their supply.

Miners may only go on ore nobody has dug yet. A player may place fewer miners than the card shows, paying only for the ore they actually take — or skip the dig entirely and forfeit the card for 2 coins + 2 pickaxes.

Digging

Every mine is a grid of nine ore, three rows deep. How far down you reach sets the toll — and hauling more than one ore out in a single dig costs extra.

1pickaxestoll
Coal Silver The surface. Cheap and crowded.
2pickaxestoll
Coal Silver Gold The working seam.
4pickaxestoll
Silver Gold Diamond One diamond per mine, always down here.
Dig cost — spend pickaxes equal to the toll of the deepest row you reach, plus 1 more pickaxe for every ore after the first that you dig up.
Example — the mine below Three dig cards were committed here: a 2 from green, a 2 from yellow and a 4 from blue. Turned face up and sorted, the two 2s come first — green's was played earlier, so green goes first.

Green takes their card back and places one miner on any ore, paying that row's toll alone. Yellow does the same with their 2. Blue's 4 resolves last: it places two miners in a column, so blue pays the toll of the deeper row plus 1 for the second ore.
A mine being resolved, with miners placed and vein tiles between the cells
Below the mine, the three dig cards that produced this state — resolved lowest value first.

Vein tiles

Example — the same mine The top-right vein tile is surrounded on all four sides: two blue miners, the neutral white miner, and yellow's. Blue holds two of those four cells — more than anyone else — so Blue claims that vein tile.

A vein tile is awarded the moment all four cells around it hold miners — neutral miners count. Whoever has the most miners among those four cells claims it and takes its bonus straight away. If two players tie, both take the bonus and the vein tile is discarded.

Keep the vein tiles you claim in front of you — several cards and objectives count them at the end of the game. Any vein tile nobody surrounds is discarded when the season ends.

V

Contract

In turn order, beginning with the first player, each player fulfils as many contracts from their hand as they can afford.

To fulfil a contract, return ore from your supply matching every icon printed on it. Take the contract's reward immediately, then tuck the card into one of the four columns below your player board, overlapping any already there so that every ore icon stays visible.

This is the moment a contract stops being secret. Unfulfilled contracts stay hidden in your hand; fulfilled ones sit face up in front of you for the rest of the game, and their icons count in this season's scoring and in every season after it.

VI

Score

Take each ore in turn — coal, then silver, then gold, then diamond. For that ore, every player counts the icons showing on all of their fulfilled contracts, including ones fulfilled in earlier seasons.

The player with the most icons scores the first place value for that ore in the current season; the player with the second most scores the second place value, where the chart shows one.

Then clear the mountain: retrieve every miner, discard the cards left unbought at each location, and discard any vein tile nobody surrounded.

Then advance the round marker one space down the scoring chart, and pass the hammer clockwise to the next player. Set up the new season: deal a fresh mine card beside each location, place four new vein tiles on its intersections, put out a new neutral miner, and refill every display with three cards from the mixed deck and one contract.

After the fourth season the game ends instead — go to Game end.

The scoring chart

Each ore has its own arc. Silver pays the same every season. Coal climbs. Gold is the backbone. Diamond is barely worth chasing in the first season, and worth a great deal by the last.

First place / second place, per ore, per round
RoundCoalSilverGoldDiamond
I2 / –4 / 25 / 23 / 1
II3 / –4 / 25 / 24 / 2
III4 / –4 / 26 / 36 / 3
IV5 / –4 / 26 / 310 / 5
Total 14162223
Ties. Pool the first- and second-place values and split them evenly among the tied players, rounding down. Coal has no second place, so tied leaders split its value.
Example In the third season the green player has 5 gold icons across their fulfilled contracts, the yellow player also has 5, and the blue player has 2. Green and yellow are tied for first: pool the 6 and the 3 for 9, and split it — 4 each, rounding down. Blue scores nothing for gold this season.
Coal is the only ore with no second place. Winning it is all or nothing — and it is worth more with every round that passes.

08 Game end

After the fourth season has been scored, the game is over. Add the following to each player's total.

SourceScores
Leftover economyCoins + pickaxes combined, divided by 4, rounded down
Banked ore1 VP per gold and per diamond · 1 VP per two coal and/or silver
OwlsEach owl scores its printed condition
Bears held1 / 3 / 7 / 12 VP for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 bears you never discarded
Objectives2 / 5 / 9 VP for 1 / 2 / 3 completed, plus each card's difficulty bonus

Highest total wins. If two players tie, the one with more fulfilled contracts takes it — and if that ties too, the mountain provided for you both.

09 The two modules

Both are optional. The game plays complete without either, and you may add just one.

Secret objectives
Objective cards Setup: deal each player 3 objective cards at random, kept hidden all game.

They are scored at game end. You score for how many you completed — 2, 5 or 9 VP for one, two or three — plus each card's own difficulty bonus.
Mining magnates
Magnate cards Setup: deal each player 2 magnates. Keep one and return the other to the box.

Your magnate gives you an asymmetric ability for the whole game. Their abilities are always optional — you may decline to use one in any season.

Glossary

Every card and tile in the game. Open a section to read it.

The icons
CoinCoinGain the indicated number of coins.
PickaxePickaxeGain the indicated number of pickaxes.
Coin or pickaxeCoin or pickaxeGain the indicated number of resources, choosing coins or pickaxes freely.
IncomeIncomeWhatever is shown beside the hands is gained during the Income phase.
Victory pointVictory pointScore the indicated number of victory points.
CoalCoalTake that many coal from the supply into your own.
SilverSilverTake that many silver from the supply.
GoldGoldTake that many gold from the supply.
DiamondDiamondTake that many diamonds from the supply.
Coal, silver or goldCoal, silver or goldTake that many ore of your choice — but never a diamond.
Coal or silverCoal or silverTake that many ore, choosing coal or silver.
UpgradeUpgradeMove one ore in your supply up a tier: coal becomes silver, silver becomes gold. Never to diamond.
ContractContractTake a contract card. It is not fulfilled yet.
Fulfilled contractFulfilled contractCounts a contract you have already paid the ore for.
Vein tileVein tileA bonus that sits where four mine cells meet. The number inside the blast is how many copies of that bonus are in the pool.
Ore in the box
OreAcross the 16 minesAcross the 40 contracts
Coal6435
Silver4026
Gold2420
Diamond1611

Every mine card holds exactly one diamond, always in the bottom row.

Vein tiles — 48 in the pool

The number inside the blast on each tile is how many copies of that bonus exist.

7×Gain 3 coins
7×Gain 3 pickaxes
6×Gain 2 pickaxes and 2 coins
6×Gain 2 victory points
6×Gain 1 coal or 1 silver
5×Gain 1 gold
4×Upgrade 1 ore one tier (never to diamond)
4×Draw 1 contract
3×Activate one of your beavers again
Owls 1–15 — they score at game end
12 / 6 / 10 VP for 3 / 5 / 7 fulfilled contracts
23 VP per 3-ore contract fulfilled
31 VP per coal and silver icon on your fulfilled contracts
43 VP per diamond icon on your fulfilled contracts
52 VP per gold icon on your fulfilled contracts
61 VP per leftover pickaxe
71 VP per leftover coin
84 VP per set of 3 different critters
93 VP per recruited beaver
103 VP per owl
112 VP per bear
122 VP per 2-ore contract fulfilled
132 VP per claimed vein tile
142 VP per fulfilled contract showing a gold or diamond icon
151 / 3 / 6 / 10 VP for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 different ore types in supply
Bears 16–31 — discard to use once
Bears you never discard score 1 / 3 / 7 / 12 VP for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 held.
#PhaseEffect
16IIITreat your bid as +4 (pay the original bid)
17IIActivate all your beavers again
18IVIgnore the mine cost of a single dig card
19IVMove one of your dig cards to the front — it resolves first
20anyGain 6 coins
21anyGain 6 pickaxes
22anyGain 4 VP
23VICount as having 2 more icons of one ore (not diamond)
24VFulfil a contract for 1 less ore
25VICount as having 1 more diamond icon
26IPlay a 7th card this round — you gain no kept-card income
27VTreat 2 ore in your supply as interchangeable (coal, silver, gold)
28IVClaim any unclaimed vein tile with a miner of yours around it
29IIIWhen resolving your bid, pay nothing
30IIDouble your kept income
31IMove one of your deployed cards to any other location
Beavers 32–56 — act on recruit, then every income phase
322 pickaxes + 1 coin
332 coins + 1 pickaxe
343 pickaxes
353 coins
36Any 3 resources
37Exchange up to 3 resources (coins ↔ pickaxes)
381 pickaxe, + 1 VP per 3 ore in your supply
391 coin, + 1 VP per pair of the same critter type
40Any 1 resource, + 2 VP if you hold all three critter types
411 VP, + 1 pickaxe per silver icon on your fulfilled contracts
42Buy 1 gold for 2 coins
43Buy 1 silver for 1 pickaxe
44Gain 1 coal
45Pay 2 pickaxes: upgrade 1 gold — the only route to a diamond that isn't digging
46Pay 2 coins: upgrade 2 coal and/or silver
47Upgrade 1 coal or silver
481 coin, + 1 VP per 2 fulfilled contracts
491 VP + 1 pickaxe
502 resources of your choice, + 1 VP per 2 claimed vein tiles
511 resource of your choice, + 1 resource per gold icon on your contracts
521 VP + 1 coin
53Pay 2 pickaxes: gain 1 VP
54Pay 2 coins: gain 1 VP
55Sell 1 coal, silver or gold → 3 resources
56Sell 1 diamond → 6 resources
Upgrading moves one cube up one tier — coal to silver to gold. Each cube upgrades only once per activation, and no upgrade reaches diamond except beaver 45.
Objectives — 16, with their difficulty bonus
ObjectiveBonus
Fulfil three 3-ore contracts+2
Have 2+ icons of each ore type on your fulfilled contracts+2
Recruit 8+ critters+2
Have 3+ diamond icons on your fulfilled contracts+1
Have 7+ fulfilled contracts+1
Have 6+ silver icons on your fulfilled contracts+1
Have 5+ gold icons on your fulfilled contracts+1
Recruit 2+ bears, beavers and owls+1
Recruit 3+ bears+1
Recruit 3+ owls+1
Fulfil one 1-ore, one 2-ore and one 3-ore contract+0
Have 7+ coal icons on your fulfilled contracts+0
Recruit 4+ beavers+0
Claim 4+ vein tiles+0
Have 5+ ore in your supply+0
Fulfil four 2-ore contracts+0
The mining magnates — 10
MagnateAbility
Pawl FurryDeploys all 7 cards each round. In income, gains 4 resources of his choice.
Peter CritterHis kept-card income is always doubled.
Rocky BandiniAt the end of the recruit phase, claims 1 unbought card for 2 coins.
Hugh PottamusIgnores the quantity tax when digging — pays only the depth toll.
Miles MolesworthHis depth toll is always 2 pickaxes. Gains 1 VP each time he digs a diamond.
Hazel NutkinBefore fulfilling contracts, upgrades any number of coal or silver one tier each. Gains 1 coal in income.
Whitey SwansonEach fulfilled contract grants 1 VP + 1 resource.
Greeny ToadsonOnce per deploy phase, plays 2 cards on his turn. His forfeits pay 3 coins + 3 pickaxes.
Waldo NosebeakIn income, may reactivate 1 of his used vein tiles. Gains 1 VP each time he claims a tile.
Sly FoxworthIn scoring, counts as having 1 additional ore icon of his choice, and always wins ties.
Quick reference
Dig costDeepest row's toll (1 / 2 / 4) + 1 per extra ore dug
ForfeitAny recruit or dig → 2 coins + 2 pickaxes
Ore supply10 cubes — discard one to swap in a new one
Coin & pickaxe tracksCap at 15
Miners8 each, retrieved every round
LocationsAlways resolved from the top down, in phases III and IV
Vein tileAll 4 cells covered → most miners claims it → ties all paid
Scoring tiesPool 1st + 2nd, split evenly, round down
UpgradesNever reach diamond, except beaver 45