The Miners are cursed! They have stolen forbidden pirate gold and are trying to put it back. The first Miner to get rid of his gold and exit the mine will have the curse broken, while all the others will be cursed forever.

At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt the required number of Gold Nuggets, according to the standard rules (i.e., 10 Gold Nuggets if there are 2 players, 7 if there are 3 or 4 players, or 5 if there are 5 or 6 players). Placement of the 20 Development Mining tiles occurs as usual, except that Gold Nuggets are not placed on any Gold Chamber tiles.

During Production Mining, each player tries to get rid of his Gold Nuggets. Gold Nuggets can only be placed on empty Gold Chamber tiles that the player’s Miner occupies during the Miner Action phase of his turn (i.e., instead of picking up a Gold Nugget in the usual manner, a Gold Nugget is placed). A Gold Nugget is never automatically placed on a Gold Chamber tile when it is drawn.

The cursed Gold Nuggets stick to each Miner that passes through the Gold Chamber in which they were placed. Every time a Miner enters or passes through a Gold Chamber that contains a Gold Nugget, he must collect the Gold Nugget immediately. This occurs both during the Miner Movement phase of a turn or as the result of a Bat Challenge. All Gold Nuggets that are passed in a single movement must be collected.

When a Gold Challenge occurs, the loser must take one of the winner’s Gold Nuggets and keep it for himself (not place it on a Gold Chamber). The Challenger, if the winner of the Challenge, may still roll for a bonus movement in order to get away from the Defender.

The first player to get rid of all of his cursed Gold Nuggets and return to the Mine Entrance wins the game!