The Economy, Without the Noise
THE SHORT VERSION
Gold comes from winning games, Gold Tiles, and specific Gambits. There are no investment tables, no compound interest, and no hidden catch-up mechanic. A healthy run is one where you can afford one good buy per shop and still have a buffer for a bad boss fight.
Where Your Money Comes From
| Source | How it works |
|---|---|
| Winning a game | The main source. You earn gold for capturing every enemy piece |
| Gold Tiles | Landing a piece on a Gold Tile pays out |
| Gold Gambits | A few Gambits convert captures or landings into gold |
| Selling a Gambit | You can sell a Gambit you no longer use to recover part of its cost |
The real economy rule
You cannot farm gold forever. Crumble and the Stalemate Counter keep games moving, so every turn spent stalling is a turn you could be capturing and earning. Economy and tempo are the same skill in this game.
How the Shop Works
Every shop offers a fixed layout. Read it before you spend.
| Slot | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Piece slot | 1 random piece |
| Gambit slots | 3 random Gambits |
| Token slots | 3 tokens (piece, gambit, or tile tokens) |
| Reroll | A fixed gold cost to refresh the shop |
| Boss preview | The lower-left corner shows the next boss and its modifier |
Because the boss preview is right there, your first decision in every shop should be: can I afford an answer to that modifier and still buy something useful?
Spending Order: What to Buy First
| Priority | Buy | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Gambit your board can trigger every game | Reliable value beats a situational power spike |
| 2 | A piece or tile that fixes your weakest spot | One safe landing square can save a run |
| 3 | A “Max Piece on Board” upgrade | More pieces on the board is more capture options |
| 4 | A flex Gambit that answers the next boss | Swap it in when the preview calls for it |
Gold Gambits Worth Knowing
These are real Gambits that touch your economy directly:
| Gambit | Rough price | What it does for your economy |
|---|---|---|
| Squirrel’s | $1 | Pays out per pawn you have, a cheap early earner |
| Bug Catcher’s | $2 | Pays on pawn captures |
| Race Flag’s | $3 | Pays around pawn promotion |
| Beth’s | Mid | Pays out around the queen, a late-game engine |
Prices and effects shift with patches, so confirm the exact numbers in the shop before you commit.
Three Habits That Keep You Solvent
1. Keep a buffer
Never spend down to zero. A small reserve lets you take one good buy after a messy boss win instead of limping through the next stage.
2. Match Gambits to your board
A cheap Gambit you trigger every game is worth more than an expensive one you trigger once a run.
- Sell what stopped working. When the board grows or the boss changes, a Gambit that no longer fires is dead gold sitting in a slot.
When You Are Broke
Do not panic-buy. Do these in order:
- Win the earlier, easier games in the stage to rebuild gold before the boss game.
- Sell any Gambit that stopped matching your board. It is a slot and gold back.
- Take the Gold Tile landings you skipped when you were racing.
- Buy the cheapest thing that answers the boss modifier, not the most expensive thing on the shelf.
There is no hidden catch-up mechanic and no investment table to lean on. Recovery is tempo: win games, sell dead weight, and spend only on what answers the fight in front of you.
Spending planned? Now look at the pieces -Pieces and Tiles Guide
Boss next? -Boss Battle Guide