Into the Realm of Goblin Vaults and Bidding for Treasure
Make clever bids on treasure cards to stash in a valuable collection along with gears in the trick-taking game of Goblin Vaults.
Returning to my recently arrived solo games that didn’t make it to my solo table yet, I came across Goblin Vaults! I picked up the Swindler’s Chest, which means there’s likely another new game in the wings. Or vaults? Ha! The gameplay of this one seemed intriguing, especially with the included solo mode. Time to head back to Kulbak Prison to collect treasure!
Game Overview
Game Name: Goblin Vaults
Publication Year: 2023
Designers: Keith Matejka & Eric Schlautman
Artists: V. Fedorova, R. Petter, L. Ribeiro, & D. Sá
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
A block of treasures go up on offer each round, and bids are placed. This is a tricky process, though, as different goals make some cards more desirable than others, and building out a vault involves careful placement considerations. With an unpredictable solo opponent, each round can be tricky!
First Play
June 2, 2025
Complexity
2
Latest Play
June 3, 2025
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
6
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
66
Game Area
32" x 20"
Low Score
33
Goblin Factions
Most gameplay happens with a deck of suited cards. The solo mode uses 4 of 6 available suits, which is nice to mix up the visual variety every now and then. But there are goblins!
Faction cards are randomly assigned for bidding tokens, but also for final scoring bonuses. So much personality!
It took me a little while to wrap my head around the rules, and I made a fair amount of tiny mistakes over most of my plays. Not confusing: Just a little more involved to start.
Luckily, the solo opponent is very simple to run. Figuring out the best strategies becomes the focus of each play.
Interesting Bidding
A round involves a trio of cards up for bid, as well as a warden card to set the powerful suit and faction icons. The solo opponent draws a card first, placing it in a set column.
Next comes the player’s turn. Suits aren’t as important as in a typical trick-taking game: There is no following or matching, and only the warden suit will beat the others.
Values are important, though: Underbidding involves paying a gear and taking the card used to bid… Which can be great!
Finally, the solo opponent draws another card and places it. I won the far right card and replaced it with the 5 of skulls.
Vault Construction
A single card is placed during setup, and then each round, another is added to a vault. This 3×4 grid is built out according to the goals, which vary between plays.
Placements are set in stone, unless a card matching the warden faction icon is placed. Then, a card might be moved… Or a card from hand can be swapped for a new one.
Lots of neat elements! I used the recommended first play goals, which seemed to be some of the easier ones.
I ended up with the perfect final card, which just barely put me up for a victory! Had I solved this game? No, not at all!
Simple Solo Mode
The solo opponent doesn’t build a vault, but simply collects a hand of cards. Final scoring is slightly different, yet is all about counting symbols and collected gears. Very easy!
I slowly began to see the different strategies to block the solo opponent from the more valuable cards, while even underbidding on purpose to add cards to my vault.
So neat! My silly mistakes didn’t really impact scoring, aside from maybe costing me a victory a few times. No problem.
Gameplay was rather abstract and focused on collecting cards for victory points, yet I thoroughly enjoyed my turns!
Taking Chances and Discovering Surprises
I never heard anything about this game after it was released, and honestly didn’t expect much. Trick-taking games are pretty common, although finding one with a decent solo mode can be nearly impossible! So I expected very little and thought this might be more of a silly sort of pastime to try out a few times, then move on. But not quite so. Not at all!
Granted, I don’t know if I would classify this as one of my favorite games, but I’m extremely picky. Ha! A game doesn’t need to be the best ever to be enjoyable. The trick-taking elements here took me by literal surprise, especially with how smoothly the solo mode ran. My thoughts were focused on my own strategies, with a layer of how to take a card away.
Not every unplayed solo game around here is going to be a hit, yet this is why I play so many new games: There are tons of surprises to discover! This one is excellent in its own way, and is also inspiring me to return to the other games set in this world to dig into the setting and lore… Kulbak Prison always has something going on. Glad I took a chance on the game!
The One Perfect Card…
At one point, I had the best strategy and knew exactly what I needed to pull off an excellent final score. And you know what happened? The solo opponent beat my final bid!
I was stuck with the 3 of lanterns, when the 8 of books was what I wanted to finish the leftmost chamber. Thwarted!
Granted, had I played better and switched out the warden card, I likely could have set myself up to win that last bid.
But that’s what I enjoyed about gameplay: There was a good amount of unpredictability with the solo opponent’s cards, but it didn’t feel random. Just needed to improve my game!
Consulting Gundur
My only big concern with the base game was the limited number of goals: Only 2 basic goals, and 2 goals per suit. Of course, I forgot about the mini-expansion when I started!
This was an excellent addition with 8 additional basic goals, plus 2 more goals per suit. All the variety I could ever want!
I came across some combinations that were better suited to each other… Oh, a pun. Ha ha! Some goals actively worked against each other, but then it was a game of optimization.
Sometimes, I chose poorly and didn’t see the best way to maximize victory points. But each play was a fun puzzle!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-6
Expansion: Goblin Vaults: Gundur Pack
Accessory: Swindler’s Chest
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Hard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 2 Wins & 4 Losses
Talk about tricky! My wins were hard-fought and came down to making the best decisions. I enjoyed building a different vault each time and trying to figure out how to make the most of the scoring goals. Definitely a very enjoyable solo trick-taking game, which is hard to pull off!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Bidding is an interesting process that sometimes involves planning to underbid in order to take the card used to bid.
- Each round features an interesting decision to make about building a vault and deciding which card is the best one.
- The solo opponent is very easy to run and acts unpredictably, yet not in a way that feels unfair or overly random.
- Adjusting the difficulty level happens during final scoring, which is very easy to implement with no extra rules.
- Play time moves quickly with an intuitive sequence of play and clear rules for resolving the solo opponent’s cards.
- Fulfilling goals and maximizing victory points offers a very satisfying conclusion to building a treasure vault.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rules aren’t difficult to learn, but there are some elements that take a few plays to fully figure out how they work.
- For enough variety to keep everything interesting, the mini-expansion almost seems like a requirement.
- It can be easy to forget about the tier scoring bonuses for cards when the goals are much more of a focal point.
- Factions can be a little confusing, as remembering how to trigger the warden action bonus is easy to mix up.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the hard difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you ever played Goblin Vaults? Do you have a favorite combination of goals? I wasn’t expecting to find a lot in this one, but it was a very pleasant sort of experience! The trick-taking puzzle kept me on my toes without feeling like I had to make an overwhelming amount of decisions. Glad I discovered an unexpectedly fun solo trick-taking experience!
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