Guide the growth of your beanstalk while diverting the plants of your neighbors in this tile engine-building game for 1-5 players
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Hi Cavern Critters,
We’ve got a big milestone to share today, and it’s one we’ve been very excited to reach. 💚
🛠️ Base Game Production Is Underway
Everything for the Vine base game is officially in print. It has been for a little while, but we were waiting to share the news once we had enough information to warrant a full update.
That includes the rulebooks, tiles, cards, bags, and all wooden components. Full-scale production is now underway, and it feels great to see everything moving from planning into reality.
This is a huge step forward, and we’re excited with how smoothly things are progressing so far.
🎲 Deluxe Components Update
These items were the last to get approved since we had revisions that we needed to make in order to get them to the premium level that we wanted you to have.
First, the upgraded silicone water droplets. We are blown away by how fun and squishy these new water droplets are! They are more fun to play with than we ever imagined, but you gotta be careful, while they look appetizing, they ARE NOT EDIBLE!
We had to go through a couple of rounds of revisions to get the clarity just right for these droplets. With the final samples in, we're excited for you to be able to experience these final revisions at your table. They have a slight texture to them with a translucent coloring to give them a fun and vibrant tactile experience.
We also got in our finalized samples of acrylic tiles for our deluxe versions of the game. While we’re on the subject of acrylic tiles, we wanted to let everyone know that because oil prices have gone up as a result of current global conditions, the cost of acrylic has gone up significantly.
Rest assured we are still going to produce everyone’s deluxe versions of the game, but we’ll be ordering far fewer after the campaign. We just wanted to let you know that your deluxe versions are more rare than you may have initially imagined, and potentially more sought after until we’re able to do a second print run.
We also wanted to share images of what to expect for those of you that purchased deluxe pieces, there's just so much to be excited about at this stage! Look at these shiny acrylic tiles here:
🎒 Vine Playmat Bag Update
The next major update is about the Vine Playmat Bag. We wanted to let everyone know that it’s now bigger and better.
The bag will now be built to accommodate all 8 playmats. This is because we’ve seen an increasing number of you order all 8 playmats, and we didn’t want you to be forced to leave any behind.
This upgrade should allow the people who bought the core 6 to slide them in easier, while also making the bag more versatile for use overall.
📦 Pledge Manager and Shipping
We’re also getting ready for the next stage of the pledge manager, which is shipping.
We’re planning to get the rates locked in next month, so keep a lookout for your survey email. We’re also currently working out the logistics of offering some in-person pickup options for conventions, but that information will follow in future updates.
While we’re on the subject of the pledge manager, if anyone still needs to make final changes to their order, we're working on being able to unlock your order for a brief window of time. If you email [email protected] we can assist you in any changes that need to be made, it may be easier to go to our website and add pre-orders there. (same pricing applies) There's also about 8-9% of you that haven't filled out your surveys at all, and there's no better time than the present.
If we're successful in being able to unlock pledges, this can be for late additions or for people who have changed their minds after seeing the updates. We know at least some of you may want the additional playmats now that all 8 will fit into the bag, so now’s the time.
🌿 Pre-Orders and a New Friend
Lastly, in addition to the pledge manager finalizing, we’ve begun taking pre-orders for Vine on our website.
Check out the Pre-Order page Here.
If you check out the site, you’ll also find a new addition available for all of you enamel pin lovers.
🦝WE WANT YOUR HELP NAMING OUR RACCOON FRIEND🦝
If you comment your name suggestions below (in the comment section for this update) we'll put together a poll of the top suggestions in our next update, and let you all decide.
We fell so hard for our little raccoon friend from the illustrator of the moonlit wooded bramble playmat that we decided to add them to the pin family. If you checked out our Pintopia campaign, you saw them there first, but now they’ll also be available for purchase when the games arrive.
We’ll have more to share soon as shipping information is finalized, and production continues to move forward. Thank you again for your support and for being part of this journey with us.
Vine is growing into something special because of you. 🌿
Best Regards,
The Vine Team at Cavernwire Games
Hey CavernCritters!
We have something we’ve been so excited to share…
Factory samples of Vine have arrived! 🎉
Seeing this game fully assembled, bagged up, and sitting on the table feels surreal.
The box is looking really good. The colors are rich, the finish feels great, and it looks beautiful sitting on a shelf.
That said, we discovered something important once we packed everything up for storage.
When the base game and the Pumpkins & Beetles expansion are stored in their corresponding drawstring bags (for quick setup), the box is just a little too snug.
And because we care deeply about fast, easy setup, we’ve decided to make the final box ½ inch deeper.
This gives everything room to fit, keeps setup effortless, and makes packing the game away feel satisfying instead of cramped.
Originally, we planned to add just a couple extra pumpkins…
But once we started testing the full production version, we realized we could do something better.
Instead of a few extra pumpkins…
🌟 We’re adding 13.
That brings the total to 45 pumpkins of varying sizes and connection points.
This creates:
It’s a small change that makes a big difference.
You already know and love the starting player snail meeple. Your votes made that clear!
But the garden needed one more tiny resident…
Meet the Beetle Meeple 🐞
The beetle comes with the Pumpkins & Beetles expansion and serves an important role:
As beetle leaves are drawn from the plant bag, the beetle meeple marks which vine will be targeted next.
And honestly… we just love how it looks crawling across the table.
We’ve also expanded the objective system!
Instead of 3 public objectives, the base game now includes:
🌟 6 total public objectives
This means each game will feel more unique depending on which objectives are in play.
We’ve also included:
🎃 3 bonus expansion-specific objectives
So every playthrough will feature a new combination of growth strategies and bonus scoring opportunities.
We’ve been inspecting everything closely, and here are a few things that stood out:
These turned out fantastic.
They feel thick, durable, and high-quality.
They make setup fast and storage clean.
The playmats are absolutely beautiful and vibrant.
The subtle grid overlay:
It’s exactly the balance we were hoping for.
These look so good in person. They have a satisfying presence on the table and add a lot of thematic flavor to the underground portion of your vine.
The blue hue on the woodengrowth tokens looks fantastic in person. It’s vibrant without feeling artificial, and it contrasts beautifully with the greens of the vines.
The assisting icons on the plant tiles and pumpkins turned out to be excellent visual aids.
They:
Exactly what we hoped for.
The final two items we’re waiting to review are:
💧 The 3D water droplets
✨ The acrylic tiles
These are the last pieces we need to inspect and approve before giving the factory the green light for full production.
As soon as those samples arrive, we’ll carefully review them for clarity, color, durability, and overall feel. If everything meets our standards, we’ll move directly into mass production.
We’re incredibly encouraged by how these samples have turned out. Seeing Vine fully assembled makes it clear that this game is becoming exactly what we envisioned.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Your trust allows us to make decisions that prioritize quality and long-term enjoyment.
We’ll share another update as soon as the final samples arrive.
— Bobby & the Vine Team
Just a short announcement today to remind those of you who are interested that Pintopia is officially live! 🎉
We’re excited to share that the pins from the campaign are now available, alongside a brand-new raccoon pin inspired by the Bramble playmat. On top of that, Pintopia features 36 incredible pin designs pulled from a wide range of titles across the tabletop game space, showcasing the creativity and personality of so many amazing games and creators.
This initiative is all about celebrating tabletop games and the communities around them, and we’re thrilled to see it out in the world. Below is the full list of all the pins we’re currently offering.
Check out the campaign here.
All files have officially been approved, and the updated printed component samples for Vine are now in production. This is a big milestone, and we’re eagerly awaiting their arrival so we can share a closer look at the final materials, colors, and finishes with you.
If you’re a retailer attending GAMA this March, you’ll be able to see these samples in person. We’ll have them on hand to showcase exactly what the final components will look and feel like, and we’d love to get your feedback while we’re there.
Final call! The Vine pledge manager closes tomorrow night, January 17th! While we are locking down orders tomorrow, there will still be time to change your shipping addresses. We will leave these unlocked until we are close to shipping the final products out. If you need to make changes to your pledge after tomorrow, you will have to reach out to our team at [email protected], and we can manually make changes for you.
We’ve been deep in playtesting over the holiday season, focusing heavily on Pumpkins & Beetles as well as the new Objectives that were unlocked during the campaign. These additions have been getting a lot of table time, and we’re excited to share how they’re shaping up.
Starting with Pumpkins, this expansion takes the familiar concepts of Vine and pushes them further into a spatial puzzle challenge. Because of that shift, we’ve made a few key rule adjustments to create a streamlined but meaningfully different way to play while still preserving the core feel of Vine.
Tile Draw Change
On your turn, instead of drawing two tiles, you now draw three:
Because careful planning is more critical when playing with pumpkins, adding another tile to the draw provides enough options to make impactful decisions while keeping the game progressing quickly.
New Crop Costs
When luck isn't on your side in the base game of Vine, and you can't seem to gain additional leaves, you can always stack bean tiles to create bigger bunches. Instead of stacking in Pumpkins & Beetles, the small pumpkins are your ticket to progressing your pumpkin patch.
Pumpkins have a different growth economy than green beans:
Each pumpkin tile's point value is determined by its size:
Growth Tokens Swap-Out Action
Growth tokens have also been reimagined. Instead of stacking, growth tokens now allow players to gain additional pumpkins. While this might sound like a meta-heavy strategy, larger pumpkins still require the leaf support to sustain them, so balance and planning remain critical.
Beetles can be added to games with either Pumpkins or Green Beans and introduce a fun, controlled form of chaos.
Here’s how they work:
When a beetle token is drawn:
This ensures that:
Objectives add a brand-new strategic layer by giving players a clear direction from the start of the game.
We’ve added:
Objectives are public goals for players to earn extra points. The first player to meet an objective immediately claims it.
This is extra content we’re thrilled to include for everyone who backed at the appropriate tiers, and it adds a lot of replayability and variety across different setups.
We’ve been playtesting relentlessly with all of these new systems, and we’re confident they open up a wide range of ways to enjoy Vine. While we continue to test at various player counts for the final tweaks, you still have time to upgrade your pledges to lock in these fun new modes for Vine.
On the production side, with Chinese New Year approaching, we’re actively working on samples for the base game and the upgraded water droplets.
We’re also exploring every option to ensure the acrylic tiles look and feel their absolute best before the tooling is finalized.
Once samples arrive, we’ll post a detailed update with photos and impressions.
We have submitted all of the files to the factory, except the three final files:
Each is currently undergoing final tweaks and should be done soon. All other files have been undergoing final checks for sampling and tooling.
If you’d like to see the updated rulebookfor the base game, the latest version is live on our website.
We’re also excited to share that Pintopia launches on the 22nd, bringing together a dozen tabletop titles in a shared celebration of game art, each represented as a series of beautifully designed enamel pins inspired directly by the worlds and visuals of those games.
Pintopia is part of a larger vision we have to foster closer collaboration across the tabletop space, creating projects that highlight and elevate the art behind the games we love. This is just the beginning, and future initiatives, such as The Beacon, will continue to build on that idea, bringing games together in thoughtful and creative ways that support designers, artists, and the tabletop community as a whole.
As always, thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. We can’t wait to show you what Vine is growing into. 🌿