The Island of El Dorado: The Thieves of El Dorado
The Island of El Dorado: The Thieves of El Dorado Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 8 Cave Event Tiles
- 5 Metal Doubloon Coins
- 4 Metal Treasure Coins
- 3 Player Boards
- 6 Golden Dice
- 5 Black Battle Dice
- 1 Titan Die
- 1 Thief Die
- 1 Cave Shrine Goblet
- Rulebook
- 2 Explorers
- 2 Farmhouses
- 6 Offerings (2 colors)
- 1 Fort
- 12 Villagers (6 colors)
- 4 Thieves
- 2 Outposts
- 1 Hideout
- 1 Titan
- 1 Wolf
New Player Abilities
Sequoia the Traveler: Lessons learned from her tribe at a young age have made Sequoia tremendously perceptive and able to withstand long journeys. She can use wood to buy additional explorer speed during her explore phase.
Yanga the Ranger: A skilled tracker and archer, Yanga can attack up to two tiles away without any risk of death. He attacks only with his own strength, not with the total strength of the tile from which he's attacking. He cannot attack tiles occupied by buildings, he cannot perform ranged attacks off-turn, and if he ties or loses a ranged attack, his turn ends immediately. Yanga's ranged attack does benefit from the +2 strength of the cave shrine if he possesses it. If he range attacks and defeats an explorer or thief that controls the cave shrine, the shrine is dropped on their tile until picked up by another explorer or thief.
Setup
The Thieves of El Dorado allows for multiple modes and combinations of play depending on how many people are at the table.
| Players | Base Game | Thieves Expansion: Free For All | Thieves Expansion: Team Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1v1 | 1vT(2) | not available |
| 3 | 1v1v1 | 1v1vT(2) | 2vT(4) |
| 4 | 1v1v1v1 | 1v1v1vT(2) | 2v2 |
| 5 | not available | 1v1v1v1vT(2) | 2v2vT(4) |
| 6 | not available | 1v1v1v1v1vT(2) | 2v2v2 |
| 7 | not available | 1v1v1v1v1v1vT(2) | 2v2v2vT(4) |
| 8 |
T(#) = number of Thieves available to player.
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Choose a mode of play from the chart above. If you're playing with teams, pick your teammate and sit next to them. Decide who will be playing as the Thieves, if applicable.
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Set aside the 3 shrine pieces, the golden dice, the treasure coins, the cave shrine goblet, and the black battle dice from both the original game and the expansion.
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Separate the resource cards and put them face-up where everyone can reach them.
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If playing with the Thieves, give that player the Thieves explorer card ("In Hiding" side up), wooden pieces, thief die and three of the five doubloons. If your number of thieves available this game is 2 (see chart above), put two thieves back in the box. Set the other two doubloons near the resource cards.
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Give one explorer card to each remaining player or team randomly, and give everyone the wooden pieces of their explorer's color. If playing as a team, add two more villagers to your set of pieces. You should have four villagers if you're playing alone and six if you're playing with a partner. (Five or seven, respectively, if playing as Hector the Corporal.)
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Separate the El Dorado tiles and the cave tiles.
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Gather the cave tiles and remove the cave shrine and cave exit tiles. Shuffle the remaining cave tiles and place them in a face-down stack. Remove 10 tiles from this stack and put them back in the box. Shuffle the cave shrine into the bottom half of the stack, place the cave exit tile on top, and set aside.
Expansion Rules
The Thieves of El Dorado uses all of the same rules and mechanics you already know from the original Island of El Dorado game. The Thieves of El Dorado rules and mechanics are added in addition to the base game rules.
How to Play as a Team
Taking a Turn
Each of the two players on the team roll two golden dice simultaneously (four dice total). They then share these four dice, assigning the two gather and two speed amounts however they choose amongst themselves. They then proceed through the phases of their turn (gathering and exploring) at the same time. One player isn't allowed to start their explore phase until both have gathered.
Farming
Each individual player has access to the type of resource that their explorer is on, and they both have shared access to tiles farmed by a villager adjacent to a farmhouse. A player does not have access to the type of resource that their partner is on.
Sharing Resources
Team members are allowed to show one another the contents of their hand of resources at any time. They may trade (or give) resources, treasures, or the cave shrine at any time only if they are on the same tile or adjacent tiles. Players who are not teammates can also share resources and treasures if they are on adjacent tiles.
Sharing Wooden Pieces
When playing as a team, all forts, farmhouses, villagers, and offerings are shared by both players, can be used by both players, and affect both players. The costs of these items, however, cannot be split between the two explorers unless they are on the same or adjacent tiles and therefore able to share resources.
Sharing Treasures
If an explorer discovers a treasure during team play, that explorer alone benefits from it. Treasures can be passed between teammates during their explore phase if they're on the same or adjacent tiles, but the cursed treasure cannot be given away.
The Army of Jiménez: When playing in teams, one player holds on to the treasure coin, but both teammates benefit from it's ability. The player who holds the coin may choose to re-roll one black battle die per battle that their color's wooden pieces are involved in. This includes battles with only their teammate's explorer.
How to Play as the Thieves
The Thieves seek to discover and control the four shrines just like the rest of the explorers. However, instead of gathering resources from the island, they steal from the other explorers to fund their own economy of gold doubloons.
The Thieves in Hiding
The Thieves start the game in hiding, and they return to this state anytime the Thief player has no thieves, outposts, or hideout on the map. When you lose your last non-offering piece on the board, flip your card to the in hiding side, discard all of your resource cards and take or discard doubloons until you have two doubloons.
When it's the Thieves' turn and they are in hiding, they may choose to purchase and place their hideout anywhere on the map (see Buying a Hideout, page 18), or they could choose to skip their turn and collect one doubloon for doing so. The Thieves may repeat this process as many times as they like to collect more doubloons before emerging (5 doubloons maximum). While in hiding, they can neither steal nor be stolen from. Once they purchase their hideout and at least one thief, they flip the thief card to "The Thieves of El Dorado" and enter their explore phase for that turn. If all tiles on the island are occupied, The Thieves are forced to remain in hiding.
Taking a Standard Turn
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Choose: Either take one gold from the resource stack or steal from the other explorers.
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Steal: If you chose to steal, roll the thief die. After rolling, choose the one of the numbers on the die to be your reach this turn. The other number will be your steal this turn. Your reach is the maximum number tiles away an opponent can be for you to be able to steal from them. Your steal is how many cards you can take from a player within your reach.
Using your reach, determine which players, if any, you can steal from this turn. You can originate your reach from your hideout, from an outpost, or from any one of your thieves.
Once you have determined which players are within your reach, choose one of those players and take their entire hand of resources. Look through their hand of resources and take any combination of their cards up to your steal. Return the remaining hand to the player you stole from. You cannot steal from an explorer if they are on a tile occupied by a fort. Players can never conceal the number of cards in their hand.
Example of Reach & Steal: In this example, Thieves rolled 1/6. Yanga is not within reach of 1 or less, so The Thieves choose 6 as their reach, and 1 as their steal. They steal 1 resource from Yanga's hand.
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Explore: During the explore phase, you can do any of the following in any order: Move, Attack, Buy.
Move
Each Thief begins each turn with four speed which can be used to move onto existing tiles or to discover new tiles. Each thief doesn't need to use all four of their speed each turn, but they cannot roll over unused speed to their next turn.
Example of Moving & Buying: Thief A moves two north to the gold. He builds an outpost. Thief A continues moving south to discover a wood tile. Meanwhile, Thief B is created from the new outpost. He is immediately given 4 speed. Thief B then moves north to build a second outpost. He then moves to discover a shrine tile. He chooses to end his turn on the food tile.
Attack | Unit Strength Listed on Explorer Cards
Battles between thieves and explorers follow standard combat rules. Each individual thief has a strength of three which does not increase as surface shrines are controlled. If a thief controls the cave shrine, that individual thief has +2 strength for as long as they control it.
Moving thieves into a battle: If you are the Thieves, it's your turn, and you initiate a battle, you can move as many thieves as you'd like (if sufficient speed) into that battle before it begins. The same is true if it's your turn and you're attacked by an army of villagers. If it is not your turn and you are attacked by an explorer or villagers, you cannot move additional Thieves onto the battle tile.
If a thief or multiple thieves are defeated in battle: Defeated thieves die and return to your available wooden pieces. They cannot be repurchased until the explore phase of your next turn. The Thieves lose half of their resources (rounded down) to the victor and lose one doubloon back to the resource stacks. Any thieves not involved in the battle may continue with their turn. When the Thieves lose your last non-offering piece on the board, they go in hiding. See "The Thieves in Hiding", page 16.
If a thief or multiple thieves tie in battle: Any thieves that were involved in the battle return to their previous tiles and their turn ends. Any thieves not involved in the battle may continue with their turn.
Hideout: Hideouts occupy their three adjacent tiles with a strength of two. If an opponent moves onto one of those 3 tiles, they are attacking the hideout and any thieves on that tile. Hideouts cannot attack farmhouses or defend outposts.
Outposts: Outposts have a strength of four and, like a farmhouse, do not occupy their adjacent tiles. If your explorer or villagers occupy a tile with an opponent's outpost on it, you may choose to initiate an attack on that outpost during your explore phase. This is called an outpost battle. Outposts do not add their 4 strength to any battles other than outpost battles.
Buy | Costs Listed on Thieves Player Board
The thieves use gold coins called doubloons to buy buildings, offerings, and additional thieves. They begin the game with three doubloons and can buy more doubloons during their explore phase by trading in matched pairs of resource cards.
Thief: A new thief must be placed on a tile adjacent to an outpost or hideout. This new thief immediately receives 4 speed. Thieves can explore the map, battle opponents or cave dwellers, build offerings or buildings, and can be used as a reach origin when stealing. A thief or thieves which were defeated this turn cannot be repurchased until next turn.
Offering: Offerings are placed on and used to control shrine tiles. Your thief must be on a tile next to a shrine tile to place an offering on it. Unlike the explorers, placing an offering on a shrine does not increase the strength of The Thieves, but it does bring them one step closer to controlling all four shrines and winning the game.
Hideout: Hideouts are aggressive buildings and occupy their three adjacent tiles with a strength of 2. If The Thieves are in hiding, hideouts can be built on any unused corner with unoccupied adjacent tiles, both on the surface or in the cave. If The Thieves are in play, hideouts must be placed on a corner adjacent to a thief. They can be used to create new thieves, and as a reach origin when stealing.
Diagram key (printed on the page): Thief can build hideout: farmhouses don't occupy tiles and all adjacent tiles are unoccupied. In hiding, thieves can build a hideout without being on the tile. Thief can't build hideout: adjacent tiles are occupied by a fort and a villager.
Outposts: Outposts can be used to create new thieves and as a reach origin when stealing. Outposts must be placed on a corner adjacent to a thief and can be placed anywhere on the surface or in the cave, even if adjacent tiles are occupied by opponents, water, shrines, or the edge of the board. They cannot be placed while The Thieves are in hiding.
The Thieves in the Cave
The following paragraph is printed on the base game's cave page, beside the base cave rules; it is transcribed here because it defines the Thieves' cave treasure.
Thieves: The Thieves have a treasure of 2 wood, 2 food, and 2 gold. If you defeat the Thieves, you claim their treasure. If they defeat you, your choice of half of your resources (rounded down) is added to their treasure. Place their treasure to the side of the cave.
A Darker & Deeper Cave
Treasures
As you explore the cave, you may discover one of its four treasures. When you move onto one of these tiles, take the corresponding treasure coin into your hand and enjoy its spoils. Playing in teams? See "Sharing Treasures", page 15.
If a thief or explorer that possesses one or more treasures and they are defeated in battle: the victor chooses and takes any one treasure coin as their own (this does not apply to the cursed treasure). If you are defeated by a cave dweller: place the treasure coin on the tile (if the dweller has a meeple) or on the dweller's space of the cave player board. Whoever defeats this dweller receives that treasure.
Bavieca: Take the speed treasure coin and gain +1 speed immediately and +1 speed per turn for as long as you possess it. If you are playing as The Thieves, choose at the start of each explore phase which individual thief will receive the +1 speed this turn.
Originally a gift from King Sancho Ramírez to El Cid in the 11th century, Bavieca is a mythical warhorse gifted with exceptional speed.
Raleigh's Golden Rose: Take the resource treasure coin and harvest +1 resource of your choosing immediately and +1 resource per turn for as long as you possess it. You do not have to be farming the resource you choose.
While on a botanical expedition, a lieutenant of Sir Walter Raleigh found a rose on the island unlike any he'd ever seen. Its radiant appearance and intoxicating aroma deepens the islands connection with anyone who holds it.
The Army of Jiménez: Take the battle treasure coin. As long as you possess it, you may choose to re-roll one black battle die per battle you are involved in, even if your explorer is not involved in the battle.
In 1536, rumors of El Dorado drew the conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez and his army away from their mission to find an overland route to Peru. The pitfalls of the cave, however, proved too much for this army. Their spirits have lingered as they wait for a champion to lead them once again into battle.
The Cursed Treasure of Cortés: Take five gold immediately. However, you must also take the cursed treasure coin. The explorer or thief who discovered this treasure is now cursed with -1 speed and -1 strength until they control the cave shrine. This curse follows you even through defeat in battle. If your explorer only has a strength of 1 when they discover the cursed treasure, they do not die, but have a strength of 0, immediately losing any battle in which they engage.
This ancient Aztec treasure discovered by Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century and hidden shortly thereafter in this cave will shower you with riches…at a cost.
Cave Dwellers
The Titan: Until the Titan is defeated in battle, it has its own turn between each player (or team) turn. When it's the Titan's turn, the upcoming player (or team) rolls a battle die and moves the Titan that many spaces towards the nearest living thing (your explorer or a villager). If the Titan (strength 6) moves onto a tile with any wooden piece, it attacks and continues its movement unless it is defeated. If the Titan is an equal number of spaces from living things, the upcoming player who rolled for the Titan chooses which way it moves.
The Thieves Cave Tile: If your game doesn't involve The Thieves as a player, see "Thieves", page 9. If your current game does involve The Thieves as a player, this tile contains the thieves' treasure (2 food, 2 gold, 2 wood) and one thief. When this tile is discovered, immediately place a wooden thief piece on the tile (unless all available thieves are already in play). The player that discovered the tile may have initiated a battle by discovering it. If a battle was initiated, resolve the battle using standard battle rules (see "Attack", page 8). The player that occupies the tile after any battles (if necessary) are resolved takes the thieves' treasure into their hand.
The Wolf: When you find The Wolf, attack it like any cave dweller. If you defeat it, take the wolf token. The wolf becomes your companion until another explorer defeats it (making it their companion). It costs one food to move the wolf one space. The Wolf can explore new tiles if the newly discovered tile is adjacent to your explorer and has 1 strength to aid your explorer or villagers in battle.
Cave Shrine
When you discover the cave shrine tile, turn it over and place the cave shrine piece by the explorer or thief who found it. This explorer or thief immediately controls the cave shrine and has +2 strength for as long as they possess it. The cave shrine piece moves around the map with this explorer or thief and can be passed between explorer teammates or between thieves when they're on adjacent tiles, thus passing off the +2 strength bonus.
If the explorer or thief in possession of the cave shrine is defeated by a group of villagers, the cave shrine is dropped and stays on that tile until collected by another explorer or thief. The villagers on that tile can defend it (without the +2 strength bonus) but cannot control it for their team.
Cave Events
Cave-In: Shuffle the cave exit tile into the cave stack. All pieces on the cave exit tile are defeated immediately. Players may still enter the cave by moving from the cave entrance tile to the cave-in tile, but cannot exit until the cave exit tile is rediscovered. When the cave exit tile is rediscovered, flip the cave-in tile over. The cave exit's Xs are void for the rest of the game.
Secret Tunnel: In addition to using the standard cave exit, players may move from this tile to any surface tile adjacent to the cave entrance tile. If they move to an occupied tile, a battle ensues. They may not discover new tiles on the main island using the secret tunnel.
Totec's Garden: This is exactly like the other gardens (see "Garden", page 5). When this tile is discovered, put Totec's tokens on all other gardens in play even as they are newly discovered. Any garden with a token on it produces no resources for the remainder of the game.
Solo Mode
The Thieves of El Dorado allows players to explore the island alone in a unique and extremely challenging mode of play. Three powerful El Dorado natives have joined forces to guard the island against your conquest. Using the power of the island to add to their already formidable strength, they will relentlessly pursue your explorer and villagers until the remains of your entire civilization are cast into the sea.
Solo mode plays like the standard game, with a few exceptions written below.
Setup
Set up the island and cave tiles as you would for any other game of Thieves, but leave the polyresin shrine pieces and The Torch cave tile in the box. Set aside the Titan and Wolf meeples, and one of the Thief meeples. Also set aside the three Thief offerings, one battle die, the thief die, and one golden die. You'll use these as the guardian's pieces. Place your explorer on the first El Dorado tile, and give yourself three of each resource to start. In solo play, you cannot play as Victoria the Wealthy, Emma the Cartographer, Nicholas the Fortuitous, or Lafitte the Pirate.
The Guardians
The three Guardians (Wolf, Thief, and Titan) of El Dorado are your opponents. They come into play as you discover the island shrines. Guardians can move onto shrine tiles, but you, as usual, cannot. You cannot place an offering on a shrine if a guardian is currently on that shrine tile.
Order of Play
The guardians take their turns in order after each one of your turns.
- YOUR TURN
- WOLF'S TURN (if wolf meeple is in play)
- THIEF'S TURN (if thief meeple is in play)
- TITAN'S TURN (if titan meeple is in play)
- REPEAT
Your Turn
Your turn is the same standard play while using the hardcore turn variant. See page 6 for standard turn rules and page 24 for the hardcore turn variant. When you discover the first island shrine, place the WOLF meeple on it. When you discover the second island shrine, place the THIEF meeple on it. When you discover the third island shrine, place the TITAN meeple on it.
Wolf's Turn
Roll a black battle die for the wolf and move them that many spaces towards the nearest living thing (your explorer or a villager). If the wolf (starting strength 1) moves onto a tile occupied by your explorer, villagers, or fortress, or if it is on a tile with a farmhouses, it attacks and then continues its movement unless it is defeated. If The Wolf is an equal number of spaces from multiple living things, you choose which way it moves.
Thief's Turn
When you find the second island shrine, place the Thief meeple on it. Once your turn is finished and the Wolf has finished its turn, roll the thief die and move the Thief meeple the lesser of the two numbers showing.
The Thief has a slightly different mission than the Wolf and Titan; they want to steal your offerings and replace them with their own. They pursue the nearest shrine you control and, once they are on the shrine tile, they immediately swap your offering with one of their own. This decreases your explorer's strength and increases the strength of each of the Guardians by one. If this happens, you'll need to return to that shrine to repurchase and replace your offering in order to win the game. When a shrine tile contains offerings from both the Guardians and your explorer, the Thief will no longer pursue it. When there are no shrines for the Thief to pursue, it moves towards the nearest living thing (your explorer or a villager).
If the Thief (starting strength 3) moves onto a tile occupied by your explorer, villagers, or fortress, OR if it is on a tile with a farmhouses, it attacks and then continues its movement unless it is defeated. If The Thief is an equal number of spaces from multiple shrines or living things, you choose which way it moves.
Titan's Turn
When you find the third island shrine, place the Titan meeple on it. Once your turn is finished and the Wolf and Thieves have finished their turns, roll a golden die and move the Titan that many spaces towards the nearest living thing (your explorer or a villager). If the Titan (starting strength 6) moves onto a tile occupied by your explorer, villagers, or fortress, OR is on a tile with a farmhouses, it attacks and then continues its movement unless it is defeated. If The Titan is an equal number of spaces from living things, you choose which way it moves.
Guardian's Strength
Each guardian has a starting strength that increases with every offering the thief has placed. Starting Strengths: WOLF (1), THIEF (3), TITAN (6).
Example of thief offerings affecting guardian's strength: If Thief has 2 offerings placed, the Wolf's strength is 3, the Thief's is 5, and the Titan's is 8.
Battle
Solo mode uses the standard rules of battle with the hardcore battle variant. See page 8 for standard battle rules and page 24 for the hardcore battle variant. If you discover the Wolf, Thieves, or Titan while searching the cave, they immediately move to that tile from the surface of El Dorado or come into play for the first time on that tile. You have initiated a battle with that guardian. The Thieves treasure is still in play as usual.
If a guardian is defeated in battle: Defeated guardians are placed on your choice of an unoccupied shrine tile. They resume their usual behavior after your next turn.
If your explorer is defeated in battle: You lose. The game is over.
Hardcore Mode
If your group of gamers would prefer to significantly reduce the element of luck during your playthrough of The Island of El Dorado, hardcore mode is a set of rule changes which shifts the dynamic of the game towards forward-thinking strategy.
Setup
In hardcore mode, each player gets to decide the on-map location of at least one important tile. Go through the El Dorado stack and remove all three shrines and the cave entrance tile. Randomly hand out these tiles to each player referencing the chart below and the number of players in your current game. If playing a three player game, shuffle the cave entrance back into the El Dorado stack.
| Players (or teams in expansion) | Tiles per player |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2 Shrines | 1 Shrine & Cave Entrance |
| 3 | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine |
| 4 | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | Cave Entrance |
| 5 (expansion only) | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | Cave Entrance | 1 Garden |
| 6 (expansion only) | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | Cave Entrance | 1 Garden | 1 Garden |
| 7 (expansion only) | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | 1 Shrine | Cave Entrance | 1 Garden | 1 Garden | 1 Water |
Set up the rest of the game as normal, and place a battle die with 2 indicated on the first El Dorado tile. This will come into play later.
Placing Important Tiles
At any time during their explore phase, players may use one speed to place the shrines or cave entrance they were given at the beginning of the game instead of drawing a tile from the top of the El Dorado stack. As usual, their special tile must be placed adjacent to their explorer and must touch two other surface tiles. This must be done within their first three turns of play. Use the black battle die from the setup section to keep track of how many turns players have left before their special tiles must be placed. Any special tiles not placed on the map by the end of each player's third turn are shuffled back into the El Dorado stack.
Battle
Each battle, players have one opportunity to selectively reroll battle dice at a rate of one gold per die. Add your strength on the battle tile and roll that many black battle dice, as usual. Then, you may pay gold to reroll any number of battle dice. You may only do this once per battle, so choose carefully. The attacker rolls first and must complete their reroll before the defender rolls at all.
Taking a Turn
Instead of rolling two golden dice to start your turn, each player simply begins with six turn points. Each of these points may either be used to gather one resource (of a type that your player is farming), or to move your explorer one space. If you choose to gather resources, you must finish doing so before exploring. We recommend using one golden die to keep track of how many turn points you've used as you gather and explore each turn. In team play, each teammate starts with six turn points. These points cannot be shared.
Explorer Abilities
Certain explorer abilities are changed slightly during hardcore mode.
Laffite the Pirate: Roll two golden dice at the beginning of your turn, like in standard play. Any 3s or 5s rolled on these dice determine if you can steal from the other explorers, but do not affect anything else in hardcore mode.
Nicolas The Fortuitous: Nicolas may choose to reroll his entire throw of battle dice once per battle. If he chooses to do this, he is not allowed to pay gold to reroll any additional battle dice. This can only be done if Nicolas himself is on the tile where the battle is taking place.
Tile Reference
The final page of the rulebook is a tile-art reference sheet. Each hexagonal tile is labeled as follows:
- Produces Food
- Produces Gold
- Water
- Produces Wood
- Produces Gold, Food & Wood (Garden)
- Shrine (three tiles)
- Cave Shrine
- Cave Exit
- Cave Entrance
- Empty Cave
- Strength 2 (Tiger)
- Strength 3 (Thieves)
- Strength 4 (Giant)