⛏️ The mine

Going down

• The tunnel is on the ore mountain, right next to Foreman Hannes. From fishing level 8 it is open – just walk in.
• The mine has 8 levels. Levels 1 to 3 are fixed; from level 4 down the mountain reshuffles the tunnels every day – the same for everyone. Feel free to tell each other where it glitters today.
• The cage takes you between levels and back up. Every new level needs new ropes: bars and shells, plus a minimum fishing level.
• Your miner’s lamp only lights a little way. Veins glow on their own – better lamps see further.
• On level 5 there is an underground lake with six species: blind cave fish and fish that glow on their own. Catch them all to complete the “Mine Lights” set.

Digging

• Stand in front of a glowing vein. Press Space or tap the sign or the ⛏️ button.
• A ring closes in on the crack. Strike when it hits – space, click or tap anywhere. Perfect strikes give more ore; all perfect gives an extra chunk.
• A vein you have mined grows back for you in about 25 minutes. Until then it stays dark, and the sign in front of it shows when it is full again. Nobody takes anything from you – everyone has their own vein.
• Switch between two or three levels: by the time you are back, the first one is full again. That way you can stay in the mine as long as you like.
• After 300 veins in one day your arms get tired: each further vein gives ×0.7 ore, from 600 veins ×0.45. After midnight you are fresh again.
• Harder veins need a better pickaxe. A sign tells you which one.
• Rockfall: when a shadow grows beneath you, step aside. If you stay, a few chunks fall out of your cart – nothing worse happens.

Cart, ore trader and smelter

• Ore goes into your mine cart – at first it holds 40 chunks. When it is full, ride the cage back up.
• The ore trader and the smelter stand outside the tunnel. The trader buys ore and gems, for example coal for 4 and gold for 8 shells per chunk.
• The smelter turns 4 chunks of ore into a bar for a small fee (copper 4, gold 18 shells). Steel is made from iron and coal.
• Bars and gems go into the material pouch and take no backpack slots. Whatever you do not sell stays in the cart – overnight too.

Gear

At the forge next to the smelter you make better tools from bars, gems and shells.

There you can also forge furniture for your hut from bars and gems – an iron lamp or a crystal light, for example.

Finds

• The rock hides 30 finds: fossils, amber inclusions, minerals and old mining relics. Rare ones lie deeper. Duplicates earn a finder’s reward.
• Every complete collection unlocks a title – and whoever finds all 30 keeps the Cabinet of Wonders.
• Mining relics turn up especially often behind blasted rock.

What happens underground

• “Gold vein!” – sometimes a wall glitters gold. For 5 minutes everyone in the mine digs more ore, and each of you may take a share from the vein once.
• Firedamp: a green cloud slows you down, and you cannot dig veins inside it. Stand in front of it and press Space (or tap the sign) – after 3 seconds it is gone. Otherwise it drifts off by itself.
• Flooding: from level 4, a tunnel sometimes fills with water. Wading is slow – rubber boots help – and the water drops by itself after 12 minutes.
• Blasting together: from level 3, there is a blasting spot every day. If two people each place a charge within 20 seconds, it goes bang – and a big vein opens for everyone who joined in. After that the rock needs a 90-minute break before you can blast there again.
• Cart ride together: wherever long rails run, a cart is parked at both ends. Stand in front of it and press Space (or tap the sign) – and you are sitting in it. Anyone who joins within the next 8 seconds rides along to the far end. As long as it has not left yet, Space gets you back out.

💡 Your first minutes in the mine each day count as “fresh hands” for the daily mix – then you get a bit more ore.