Wyrmspan · Board game rules
What does the Cave card do?
Quick answer
Cave cards are played onto your player mat to excavate empty spaces, expanding your three caves where you can later place dragons. [p.4 — Terminology]
Details
Cave cards are square cards that you play during the excavate action. Each cave card you play covers one of the 9 empty spaces on your player mat and converts that space into an excavated space. [p.4 — Terminology] You must excavate spaces from left to right within each cave—you begin the game with the first space in each of your three caves (Crimson Cavern, Golden Grotto, and Amethyst Abyss) already excavated, so over the course of the game you can excavate the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spaces. [p.5 — Excavate]
When you play a cave card, you pay 1 coin plus additional eggs depending on which column you're excavating: 1 egg for the 3rd column, or 2 eggs for the 4th column. [p.5 — Excavate] After playing the cave card, you activate its "when played" benefit (if any) and any "when covered" benefit on the space you just covered. [p.5 — Excavate] The colors of cave cards are purely aesthetic—any cave card can be placed in any cave. [p.5 — Excavate]