Swipe an ore into its neighbour to line up three or more. Every swap costs one pick. Fill the score bar to break through to the next depth and get your picks back. One new ore works its way into the rock as you descend — only ever one, so the seam you chose stays the seam you chose.
Chains and big single moves shake loose wood, stone and obsidian. They stay in your stash between runs. Spend them at the workbench on a better pickaxe — which earns xp faster and finds rarer materials — and then on gear.
Under the board you can buy a special block outright, paying with score you have banked at the current depth. It buys power now and pushes the depth target further away. That trade is the whole point.
A tavern offers three blessings before every run — take one, or pay a few ingots for a different three. A watchtower opens the Abyss: eight ores, fourteen picks, and no forge to bail you out.
Tap a building on the map to step inside it. A market is where every trade happens; a sawmill and a mason’s yard turn timber and stone into furniture; the hall in the middle is yours to furnish. Charm from what you put in there pays out with the rest of the city.
Leftover wood, stone and obsidian raise a town. Its workers hand you ingots and a little timber at the end of every run — the city makes you richer, never stronger, so the board stays as hard as you set it.
Ore that falls into a new match keeps the chain alive and multiplies everything after it, up to 5×. Swapping two specials together sets off something much bigger.
Materials drop from chains and big single moves. A better pickaxe finds rarer ones and unlocks the gear made from them. Ingots buy materials at the post, and a mason’s yard makes every rate there cheaper.
Roads carry the town outward from the hall. A building only houses workers if a road links it back — anything cut off is hatched in red. Plots are finite, so what you build is what you give up. Tearing something down returns half its materials.
Ingots are smelted from every run you finish. Deeper hauls and harder seams pay more.
Pick a piece then tap a spot. Tap a piece already in the room to take it back. A second copy of the same thing is worth half — a varied hall is worth more.
Every trade loses a little, and ingots buy materials dearly. Mining is always the better deal — this is for when you are sitting on one thing and short another.
Anything you make waits in store until you place it in the town centre.