Rule Videos

• General presentation of the game and its components
• Illustrated explanations of game mechanics
• Strategic tips for beginners

Game Rules

As a director, manage your mine and extract as much coal as possible to win! But beware of looters and unexpected events...

• 1 central board, 6 colored boards, 6 pawns
• 30 color cards, 60 profession cards, 10 event cards
• 20 coal cubes, 1 die, 6 dice cards (for the variant)

1. Each player takes 1 colored board, 2 coal, color cards and the following 8 profession cards: 4 miners and 4 pit builders.
2. In the center, set up the gear board, the pawns and the coal reserve.
3. The last person to have handled coal starts, with the die on "1". This indicates the round number and the maximum amount of coal that can be sold during resolution.

• Each player places 1 card in turn on the 5 locations (events, shelter, watchtower, mine, recruitment).


• Events: slow down other players or gain advantages (only event cards can be placed here), Looters' Shelter: try to steal coal from others. Profession cards must be placed with the color card of the player you want to loot (multiple attacks = multiple stacks),


• Watchtower: protect your stock,


• Mine: start coal extraction,


• Recruitment: draw additional cards.


• Play up to 4 cards per round, with the freedom to place multiple cards on one zone. No card can be placed on the Expedition location, which is only used for coal storage. Cards are played one by one in turn, clockwise, to allow strategy adjustment. The round ends when each player has placed 4 cards (it is possible to place multiple cards on the same location or play fewer than 4 cards).


• Resolution Phase: reveal the cards in order; apply effects from 1 to 6 (events, looting, watchtower, expedition (Move players' pawns), coal extraction, recruitment).


• When the round is over, resolution begins in the detailed order below. For each location, players reveal their cards in turn starting with the player who has the die: Events: reveal all players' cards, apply their effects. The firedamp affects all players, including the one who played it. Only pit builders at the mine location protect from its effects (one pit builder per firedamp card is needed).
  
• Looters' Shelter & Watchtower: reveal all players' cards, each attack is resolved as follows: If defense points (shown on helmets) ≥ attack points: no looting. Otherwise: the looted player loses the difference in coal (up to their stock limit). Only a player's initial stock can be looted, not what they just stole themselves. In case of a group attack on the same player: Looters take turns in order of points obtained (from highest to lowest), In case of a tie between looters, coal is shared rounding up (e.g.: 3 coal looted by 2 players, both players take only 1 coal each).


• Expedition: sell coal (up to the limit shown by the die) and move the pawn forward on the central board.


• Mine: reveal the cards and collect the amount of coal shown on the helmets. If there's no more coal on the central board, too bad!


• Recruitment: draw 2 cards + those shown on the helmets played at the recruitment location. Discard cards beyond 8 cards in hand. Finally: Take back the color cards and discard all other played cards (the discard pile can be used as a draw pile if there are no more cards), The die passes to the left player and increases by +1. The game lasts 6 rounds, one per die face.

The game ends after 6 rounds or as soon as a player reaches 21 points. In case of a tie, break it by: coal in stock, if still tied by profession cards in hand, finally a die roll can break the tie in case of ultimate equality.

Variant

• Each player starts with 3 coal (instead of 2).
• No coal stock on the central board.
• At the start of each round, the player with the die draws a die card: it sets the maximum amounts that can be mined and sold by everyone this turn.

Dummy Player

• Prepare the dummy player's board like a normal player.

• Draw 4 cards for him each round using the booklet method.
• If the dummy player has coal: watchtower card.
• If several players have coal: draw a color card and profession card for the looters' shelter.
• Place 1 recruitment card.
• If there are cards left to place, put them in the mine.

• 2 watchtower cards if the dummy has coal.
• Remaining cards looters' shelter depending on number of opponents with coal.

Partner Cities

• Blanzy: Coal Mine Museum, visible headframe.
• Decazeville: Street Art tour, mining museum, industrial heritage.
• Cransac-les-Thermes: Spa, wellness, museum, biodiversity.
• Aubin: Medieval fort, heritage and mining museum.
• Firmi: Natura 2000, Lac de la Forézie, preserved nature.
• Cagnac-les-Mines: Departmental Mining Museum and reconstructed underground gallery.

Coal History

Coal was formed millions of years ago from fossil forests, compressed in swamps, then slowly transformed under pressure and heat.

• Peat: First stage, rich in water, poor in carbon.
• Lignite: Brown coal, used for electricity.
• Bituminous coal: Intermediate, industrial exploitation.
• Anthracite: Richest in carbon, hard, black, burns very hot.

• Central role from the 19th century: locomotives, industries, heating.
• Major coal basins: Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Lorraine, Massif Central, Tarn-Aveyron…
• Up to 300,000 people employed in mining!

Headframes, slag heaps, mining towns, museums: all this heritage is part of our culture and landscapes.