Mining Inc

Mining Inc is a 2-4 player game where competing mining agencies are trying to find great treasures buried deep in the ground. There are 4 legendary treasures, each with a different win condition once discovered. Each player can only obtain 1 win condition, and players do not know which one they will get until they find it.

This game is all about upgrading things. Players get cards and slide paperclips to track how far their upgrades have progressed. They must spend energy and/or money to upgrade stuff. Upgrades include things such as energy generation, cargo capacity (hand limit), drill (allows mining deeper), hull (allows selling of hazards), and the scanner (allows looking at the top cards of the deck).

The mining is represented by 4 decks of levels 1-4. The deeper levels require upgraded drills and more energy, but have better rewards. Players can sell their loot to gain more money, which is then used to upgrade their operation further.

Since players do not know their win condition in advance, there is an incentive to find it early and start working towards it, but this comes at the cost of being able to amass certain upgrades that are expensive but can quickly snowball.

—description from the designer