Designer: David Simide

Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski (Architects of the West Kingdom, Coloma, Dice Settlers, Dragon Keepers, Explorers of the North Sea, Imperium, March of the Ants: Empires of the Earth, The North Sea Runesaga, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea, Rise to Nobility, Robin Hood and the Merry Men, Shipwrights of the North Sea, Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Villages of Valeria, Viral, Zoocracy)

Publisher: Borderline Editions (Kluster, Krom)

Genre/Mechanisms: action point allowance system, area movement, deduction, dice rolling, memory 

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Dig Your Way Out is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total almost 6x the initial funding goal.

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

What It’s About: Escape your life sentence at Blackgate Prison with the aid of Spoons, Knives, Picks, an Shovels, and buy items using prison’s most common currency– Cigarettes. This fast-paced, medium-light game plays like a board game adaptation of The Escapists, with stellar art by The Mico.

How It Works:  Players need to acquire 8-12 Tunnel Points, depending on player count. Each round, in clockwise turn order, players take up to 2 actions, and can also reveal their Background Card, and eventually use their Gang Ability. Free Actions, which can be activated in any location, include: Search, Move, Join a Gang, Extort a Prisoner, Craft, and Play an Action Card. Search allows players to draw the number of Search cards indicated by their current location. Move allows players to roll a die and then move to one of the 2 corresponding locations. Joining a gang costs 3 different Accessory Cards, specific to each gang, but will earn you a Gang Card with a special ability. Extorting a Prisoner requires a weapon; then players can either attempt to Announce a Tool they desire through Intimidation. If they don’t have the desired tool, or don’t want to give it way, Combat ensues. Players discard weapon cards until one player runs out; the loser must either give the winner the tool in question, or allow them to draw one card from their hand at random. Crafting involves fashioning a new item or items from a pair of items, one of which is always a Link. And playing an Action Card simply allows the player to take the action on the card. Location-specific actions include: Digging in the Cell Block, Selling or Buying in the Recreation Area, Healing in the Infirmirary, or Stealing a Spoon in the Kitchen. Player need to remember who has tools and who has weapons, and who has what thing they need. But most importantly, get to the Cell Block and keep digging!

Comparisons:  The gameplay for this one is pretty specific to this game. But if you’re looking for other criminal-themed board games with a heavy dose of bluffing, negotiation, or take that, I’ll refer you to The Boss, Ca$h ‘n Gun$, The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire, Nothing Personal, and Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem.

What Should I Pledge?:
$37 Dig Your Way Out: includes the base game, all unlocked stretch goals, and the free, exclusive, mini-expansion Officer Buster.
$112 3-Pack of Dig Your Way Out: including no shipping fees.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
The mini-expansion Office Buster is a KS-exclusive, as is the addition of the White Collars, which includes a double-sided player board and two different standees.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $37 plus shipping, which is currently an unknown, but I’d estimate it at $7-15. Or you could order the 3-Pack for $112, pay nothing in shipping, and flip the other two new-in-shrink copies after they arrive.

Dig Your Way Out completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, July 4th and tentatively ships in March 2020.