Cavern Tavern

Cavern Tavern is not better than Kingsburg or Lords of Waterdeep, and it does not need to pretend otherwise. It is a Russian worker-placement game with decent production and enough character not to feel like another item on the shelf. The rulebook, meanwhile, has all the warmth and clarity of an interrogation cell.

You place your people in the available spaces, trying to shut down other players' options before they shut down yours. The dice matter, and an unlucky roll can leave you watching the ceiling while somebody else gets exactly what they wanted. The mini-expansion that gives dice-unlucky players a hand really ought to be in the box from the start.

The interaction is not decorative. The board space that lets you pin the other players' waiters was the most popular one, which tells you nearly everything about both the game and the group playing it. Five players felt awkward; four or six would probably give the nastiness room to breathe. So, who are you blocking first?

I am not convinced we played every rule correctly, which is also an indictment of the manual, but Cavern Tavern made a good impression. It will not displace the games it borrows from, but it is a pleasantly prickly alternative when you want worker placement with a little focused spite at the table.