Crypt and a Creepy Adventure Into the King’s Treasure Tomb
Enter the final resting place of the king to hunt down rare trinkets and treasures as a comically greedy heir in Crypt.
After a practically nonstop exploration of unplayed games, it’s been nice to take a short break to bring some of my older solo games back to the table! Crypt might not be one of my favorites, yet there’s something so silly about the premise of looting the king’s treasures as a horrible heir. It’s surprisingly strategic, especially with its unique dice mechanic!
Game Overview
Game Name: Crypt
Publication Year: 2018
Designers: Jeff Chin and Andrew Nerger
Artist: Jeff Chin
Publisher: Road To Infamy Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Playing as a rather spoiled heir, different treasures can be collected each round. Some are known, while others are hidden. Servants, in the form of dice, make an effort to recover these trinkets and may become exhausted in the process. In the end, it’s all about forming a collection!
First Play
April 25, 2019
Complexity
2
Latest Play
August 25, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
38
Play Time
5 Minutes
High Score
55
Game Area
16" x 16"
Low Score
25
Macabre Humor
The premise of looting the king’s tomb might sound horrible, especially since these are his heirs! Yet it’s a silly sort of theme that isn’t meant to be serious.
All of the heirs look rather terrible in their own ways, so I almost enjoy scoring poorly. Ha! Yet there are some funny personalities to think of as each round progresses.
I forgot how quickly this plays, along with the interesting decisions. And such bright and colorful artwork!
Dice act in an interesting way, too, with a push-your-luck mechanic. Sometimes, the tapestry is necessary. Ha ha!
Artifact Collectors
Each collection can take a different path, especially with the way 2 treasures are face-up and another is face-down every round. It’s usually best to focus on just 1-2 cards.
Collectors offer additional abilities or ways to score victory points. Each is double-sided with unique options, so randomizing them creates lots of options.
With this selection, tapestries were the most important, as was a valuable piece of jewelry! Most useful, indeed.
The pottery collector could also be used to gain a card… Lots of combinations and things to consider each round.
Snooty, Snooty Heir
I decided to play as this rather harsh heir. Although he’s clearly reading the will, I like to imagine his name is Will and this is just some snarky letter written to him. Ha!
Most of the time, I like to feel like I’m playing as my character so I can root for them. This is the rare exception.
Will could do horribly and I would still be happy! After all, he wasn’t even doing this work on his own.
Servants, represented by dice, try to collect treasures. The value is set, and duos or trios can be used to lock in a card. But they must be rolled to see if they get exhausted or not.
A Lucrative Loot
Things went fairly well, all things considered. The solo opponent is literally the king’s ghost, which blocks and holds onto certain cards with similar dice mechanics.
Well, minus the exhaustion… Ghosts don’t sleep! I had a lot of struggles with my handful of plays, which made for a very challenging and fun kind of experience.
Although there isn’t a way to modify the difficulty level, the highest scores require very careful plans and plays.
I’m slowly learning when to ignore lower-value treasures, although that’s not easy. I want everything! Ha ha!
Doing More with Less: Limited Components
Small box games are excellent for shelf space, yet they also have another major benefit: Limited components. For this game, only a deck of cards and some dice are needed to play. That means less table space, too! Yet more than anything, I like to take a look at my games to see which ones can do a lot with less. For instance… What if this was overproduced?
Imagine a complex mechanic to determine exhaustion, a servant pool with new characters to hire, complex collectors, and treasures that all did more to break the rules. Would it be a better game? That’s obviously hard to answer without actually bringing those concepts to life, but my point is that the game works well with much simpler mechanics.
I love the complex and heavyweight games in my collection, so this isn’t meant as a knock against them! As I continue to explore more and more solo games, the idea of fun continues to pop up. And simpler mechanics, layered with rather silly or light-hearted themes, work wonders! I appreciate what this game does with so few components.
For getting a game to the table, an easier setup process also helps me out. I’ve improved this with custom organizers for other games, but there’s something so nice about not having to think about laying out all sorts of boards, tokens, cards, and other elements. On the days when I simply want to dive in and play something, less is definitely more!
Session Overview
Play Number: 29-34
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 38, 26, 32, 33, 33, and 38 (6 Losses)
Goodness! I never reached my victory threshold, although there were some close calls. Such a fun challenge! I figured the real reason for these losses came down to what Will was really up to… Some of these treasures looked like he wanted to do something in the land of the occult, and the king wasn’t going to allow any of that! And so the final scores made Will either foolish or petty… Which I agreed with. Let the king’s ghost rest in peace, you petty fool!
%
30 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
6
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the treasure artwork is bright and colorful, while the heirs have their own humorous or snooty expressions.
- Deciding how to use each die is interesting in terms of focusing on a single treasure or trying for more cards.
- Most exhausted servants are the result of relying too much on luck, so it’s often easy to plan around less dice.
- Gameplay moves quickly with fairly simple decisions that differ based on the outcomes of dice rolls.
- Collectors offer some focused strategies, but the face-down cards also provide lucrative options when choosing.
- The theme is different and meant to create some laughs, which it does well with the rather questionable heirs.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rulebook, particularly the solo rules, aren’t written in an intuitive way so the learning process is a bit murky.
- A great deal of luck plays into the possible scores, ranging from the collectors to the cards and die rolls.
- There isn’t a lot of variety in how each play progresses, often utilizing similar decisions and strategies each time.
- Some collector combinations offer far fewer opportunities for victory points, reducing the overall balance.
Victory Conditions
Score 40+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 40 points.
Score at least 50 points.
Score at least 60 points.
Continue the Conversation
Have you ever played Crypt? What other solo games bring in a unique theme or mechanic you enjoy? The exhaustion with the dice is quite different, and ties into the theme very well. As always, I’m actually mildly happy when the heir doesn’t do so well. Ha! This is a fun little solo game that I like bringing back to the table. Always a good time!
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