Trove Game Review

The Basics:

• For ages 10 and up (publisher suggests 12+)
• For 3 to 6 players
• Approximately 45 minutes to complete

Geek Skills:

• Active Listening & Communication
• Counting & Math
• Logical & Critical Decision Making
• Reading
• Strategy & Tactics
• Risk vs. Reward
• Hand/Resource Management

Learning Curve:

• Child – Easy
• Adult – Easy

Theme & Narrative:

• After surviving a deadly dungeon, the most challenging adventure awaits: dividing up the loot

Endorsements:

• Child Geek approved!
• Parent Geek approved!
• Gamer Geek approved!

Overview

The dungeon was dark and deep. The risks were significant, as was the treasure. As you explored the twisting paths and murky depths, many friends and foes fell. Thankfully, you survived and now have a big treasure bag for your trouble! But before you celebrate, you must pour out the contents and go through each piece of loot, dividing it up with the surviving members of your party. However, not every shiny gold piece and interesting artifact comes for free. Sometimes, there are curses and other nasty surprises. Luckily, you still have a few surviving hirelings to do your bidding. Good luck dividing up the trove of loot!

Trove, designed by Jacob and Lauren Lewis and published by HeadBonk Games, is comprised of 80 cards. The cards are as thick and as durable as your standard playing card. Illustrations by the talented Jason Glover, Ricardo Gabriel Telles, and Bradley K. McDevitt reinforce the game’s theme and add visual flair.

Preparing to Dive Deep

To set up the game, complete the following steps:

First, look through the cards and set aside the 12 Hireling cards. Shuffle the Hireling cards and deal a number equal to the number of players. These Hireling cards are referred to as the “Adventure Pool.” Any remaining Hireling cards are placed back in the card box. Also, set aside The Beast Lives cards unless you want to use them in your game as a variant.

Second, shuffle the remaining cards and place the deck face-down. This is the draw deck for the duration of the game. Place the Adventure Pool near the draw deck.

That’s it for game setup. Determine who will go first and start your adventure!

Dividing Up the Loot

Trove is played in rounds and phases for a total of six rounds per game. Each round has three phases. A single round of gameplay is summarized here.

Phase 1: Hiring

In turn order sequence (traditionally clockwise around the table), each player selects one Hireling card from the Adventuring Pool. In the first round, the elected first player goes first. During subsequent rounds, the player with the fewest points goes first.

Players should take a moment to select the Hireling of their choice. Each Hireling has a Rank value and a Special Skill.

The Rank value determines the order in which the players grab the loot and resolve their Skill. Lower Rank values pick treasure first but resolve their Skills last. For example, the “Thief” will select a piece of loot before the “Assasin,” but the “Assasin” can use their Skill before the “Thief.”

The Skill for each Hireling is unique and summarized on the Hireling card. It’s up to the player to determine how best to use it during the round or not. It’s always optional. Skills include drawing cards, stealing cards, and protecting the player against adverse effects like curses and traps.

Phase 2: Loot

The player with the most points (or the elected first player for round one) now draws several cards from the draw deck equal to the number of players plus one additional card. For example, five cards would be drawn if playing with four players. These drawn cards are placed in a row and face-up in front of all the players. This row of cards is referred to as the “Loot Pool.”

Each piece of loot in Trove comes with a name, a possible treasure value, and an effect.

The treasure value of each card is shown as a plus or a minus value, suggesting that not all treasure is worth pocketing. However, some pieces of loot, such as the “Death Tome,” are worth negative points, but many points if paired with another piece of treasure.

Not all treasure and loot come with a gimmick. Some, once claimed, get set aside for points. Some treasures, however, will have effects that must be dodged or resolved immediately or later in the game.

Within the Trove cards are special encounters that are not treasure, but do provide opportunities for the player to better their position for a victory. Events and Strangers will be drawn during the game, and can be claimed and resolved. These cards do not provide any points towards the player’s victory total, but they can certainly be used to disrupt and gain an advantage. They also throw the players interesting new changes to their strategy and tactics.

Starting with the player with a Hireling card with the lowest Rank value, each player will pick one card from any available Loot Pool. After all the players have selected a card, one card in the Loot Pool should remain.

Phase 3: Use Skills

Each player now uses their Adventurer card Skill, starting with the player who has the Adventurer card with the highest Rank value. Optionally, the player may elect not to use the Adventurer Skill by declaring their Adventurer is “taking a rest.”

Stashing Your Loot

The round ends after the third phase is completed. The used Hirelineg cards are collected and shuffled back into the Adventuring Pool. Discard the unclaimed card in the Loot Pool. Deal a new group of Hirelings and begin the next round.

Ending the Game

After completing the sixth round, all the players count the points noted on their collected cards, paying particular attention to any cards with extra bonuses or penalties based on what was collected.

The player with the most points wins the game.

Game Variant

Shuffle as many of “The Beast Lives” cards into the draw deck when setting up the game as you like. When a “The Beast Lives” card is drawn and put into the Loot Pool, the game will end (regardless of the number of rounds played) after the last phase of the current round.

The drawn “The Beast Lives” card describes the new victory conditions. If more than one “The Beast Lives” card is drawn, the first card of this type put into the Loot Pool defines the new victory conditions.

To learn more about Trove, visit the game’s web page.

Final Word

The Child Geeks had a lot of fun with Trove, enjoying the new cards that always provided attractive new opportunities and surprises. According to one Child Geek, “What I like most is that you don’t know what to expect until you see what is available. This makes hiring your helpers important, too, because you want to make sure your hired help is really helpful!” Another Child Geek said, “I liked it because it was fast, and you interacted with the other players just enough to make it fun but not difficult to win.” When the last piece of treasure was collected and the points counted, the Child Geeks all agreed that Trove was a winner.

The Parent Geeks also had a great time, finding the game fun, fast, and casual with just the proper depth and engagement to keep everyone at the table from the first to the last point counted. As one Parent Geek said, “The game keeps you guessing and looking for the next big score of treasure. Because it is random, I found myself eagerly awaiting the flip of the cards to determine if I hired the right guy or I as going to have to take a hit in my purse.” Another Parent Geek said, “Fun and fast. I enjoyed the amount of thought I had to put into it and felt it was well worth my time, regardless of whether I won. I appreciated adding the Beast into the game, too. Gave the games a fun new twist.” When the Beast was slain and the treasure collected, victory was awarded to Trove by the Parent Geeks.

The Gamer Geeks found Trove to be an engaging card game best approached and appreciated as a game filler. It gave them enough time to play the game with just enough engagement to make each round enjoyable. As one Gamer Geek put it, “The game reminds me fondly of the older games I played as a kid, like Talisman, where everything was random, but you still had choices as a player. It kept me interested and wondering what was next. I enjoyed it.” Another Gamer Geek said, “A good filler for those who are into fantasy. The game gave me enough to think about and resolve to keep me engaged, but it was never too slow or burdensome to make me feel negative about it. Good stuff at our table before our big game of the evening.” After the dust settled and the dungeon was explored, the Gamer Geeks all agreed that Trove was worth diving into.

Trove was a good time. Everyone I played the game with found it easy and fun to learn. It can feel that the game stays a bit too long at the table, but this was primarily and almost always since players can and should take their time to pick their Hirlings and Treasure. This is not a game to be rushed, although most of the time, I found the decisions to be made to be noticeable. Nevertheless, our games always ended with everyone at the table happy.

If you use The Beast Lives game variant, I strongly suggest you split the Trove deck into thirds and shuffle in as many The Beast Lives cards as you like into one of the three-thirds. Then restack the deck, ensuring the third that contains The Beast Lives cards is at the bottom. This will keep the game at a reasonable length and throw in a new twist towards its end.

Do play Trove when you have an opportunity. For such a small card game, it’s packed with a lot of adventure and fun gameplay. It’s highly recommended for those looking for a quick fantasy game that rewards as much as punishes poorly conceived notions of proper dungeon treasure division etiquette. Greed isn’t always good, nor should you give good treasure away.

This game was given to Father Geek as a review copy. Father Geek was not paid, bribed, wined, dined, or threatened in vain hopes of influencing this review. Such is the statuesque and legendary integrity of Father Geek.