Infiltrate: into the bear cave

Description from the designer:

You have woken up early this morning. All week long you have been working up courage for today´s big adventure: Today you will dare to climb down old Doctor Humboldt´s cave to find his fabled diaries that you and your friends had been talking about all summer.

And now you´re standing there at the cave´s entrance. The first rays of the sun coming through the last remains of the forest´s foliage are still too weak to warm you up and a strange smell hovers above the dark hole in the ground in front of you. The sounds of your stomach make you realize that you must have forgotten your breakfast – too late to go back now...

Infiltrate: into the bear cave is a cave exploration treasure hunting game for one player – without combat. The goal of the game: Reach the bottom of the cave, search the storage chambers, find Dr Humboldt´s diaries and return with them to the surface – but don´t get caught by the bears!

The Cave The cave you will be exploring is made up of two parts:

Part one is the cave itself – a randomized stack of cave tiles creating a three dimensional labyrinth. Starting above ground all you can see is three manholes leading into the cave below stretching 4 floors deep into the rock. Glimpsing through those manholes might give you an idea what awaits you down there... This allows you to make an educated guess about which way might be the best path through the cave while still allowing for surprises along the way.

The second part of the cave is the hidden information track that is used to store everything that is hidden and happening below ground in the chambers of the cave you haven´t discovered yet. The track is not only used to store the items of the still hidden chambers but also to move the cave´s inhabitants through those chambers as well.

During the game when you gradually explore the cave you will fan out the cave tiles along the hidden information track to get a two dimensional representations of the cave that makes all chambers and possible routes between them visible.

The Bears (the AI of the game) The rumours were right: There is indeed living a bear in this cave – and not only one, but three.. Those bears will roam the cave while you´re busy exploring.

They are steered by their own desires. Each bear´s desires are represented by a cup filled with wooden cubes of different colours.

Each colour stands for a different desire. The composition of those cubes represents what goes on in the bear´s head and will change during the game according to what that bear experiences. The bears will either be tired – doing nothing, hungry – searching for food, angry – looking for things to destroy, or bloodthirsty – coming for you..! During the game you will draw cubes form the bear´s cup to determine what the bear wants to do and in which direction and how far it will move.

Yourself and your actions On your turn you can climb through the cave, open crates, carry and use items. For all this you need energy. Like the bears you also have a cup with wooden cubes that represent your energy reserve – and also your fear that will get in the way of your plans from time to time . Each turn you draw as many energy cubes as you like – the amount drawn equals the amount of energy you can spend on this turn. But if you draw a black cube you are instantly paralysed with fear. You could still make your body move but only for a certain cost - or you have to stand still shivering in the dark, hoping that the bears will not find you..

Experience Certain key moments during your adventure will help you unlock hidden (one time) powers that you never knew to possess.

The Items Dr Humboldt has stored away his belongings in a huge number of crates that can be found all over the cave. Those crates contain items that will help you survive on your quest. Some make you stronger, some help you deal with the bears. But to carry those items around in the narrow cave takes concentration. You have to set aside the necessary energy to be able to do that.