Into the Dark 2017

Description from the designer:

Into the dark is the third part of a series of solitaire games that use a very simple core concept – travelling from point a to point b – to explore 3dimensional spaces in which those journeys take place.

After "layers behind each other" (into the woods) and "holes on top of each other" (Infiltrate: into the bear cave) now the shadows cast by 3dimensional scenery influence the movement possibilities on the board. Therefore the game that has to be played by the light of a single candle.

what it is about: In this game you will enter a strange land to find a certain secret site and hopefully return to the exit. To find out where this site is, you will have to venture "into the dark" - which in this game is the bottom of the board. Here you can find information about the possible secret sites to visit and how that strange land will react to you entering them.

Apart from you there is one local inhabitant roaming the land. It will try to reach you. If it does the game is over.

How it works: The land is a landscape of dark (shadow) and light (no shadow) spaces. You can move freely as long as you do not use a dark connection (dotted line between spaces in shadow) or enter a dark space. In the last case you would become scared and have to add a despair cube to your cup of action cubes.

These cubes are drawn during the game and placed onto an action display. 9 cubes arranged into 3 by 3 grid define what might happen: Each round you will choose one column or row of cubes in that display. The cubes chosen will define whose turn it is: Yours (white cube), a tower´s (yellow cube) or the Inhabitant´s (black cube). In your turns you can either move from light space to light space or modify the board by pushing towers to the left or right. This will change the distribution of shadows on the board an through that your movement possibilities.

3 x 6 "end game rule tokens" provide 216 possible different end game scenarios you will have to prepare for in the first half of the game.