Last Updated on May 23, 2026 by The Official Game Rules Team

Ravine is a cooperative survival card game where players become stranded survivors after a deadly plane crash deep in the wilderness. Injured, starving, and surrounded by strange dangers, the group must work together to survive long enough for rescue to arrive.

At first, Ravine may seem like a simple survival game about gathering food and crafting tools, but the game quickly becomes much darker and more unpredictable. Players must balance health, supplies, teamwork, and mental stability while facing dangerous nights, mysterious events, and the possibility of complete madness.

Every decision matters. Do you risk losing health to forage for more supplies? Should the group spend resources building shelter or focus on making weapons? Can everyone survive another night, or will someone finally snap under the pressure?

The main goal of Ravine is simple:

Stay alive until The Rescue card appears

If the entire group dies before rescue arrives, everyone loses.

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How to Play Ravine

Game Components

103 Forage Cards
41 Night Cards
20 Madness Cards
20 Craft & Guide Cards
9 Wreckage Cards
1 Fire Token
36 Heart Tokens

Each deck serves a different purpose during the game and introduces new challenges as the days pass.

Game Setup

Before the game begins, separate all cards into their matching decks and shuffle them individually.

Place the following decks face down in the center of the table:

Forage deck
Madness deck

Next, deal:

1 Wreckage card
1 Crafting Guide card

to each player face up.

The remaining Wreckage cards are set aside. Craft cards may stay in the box until players actually craft those items during the game.

Choosing Difficulty

Players must decide how many Nights they will attempt to survive before rescue can appear.

Take that number of Night Cards and create a face-down deck.

Then:

Find The Rescue card
Shuffle it into the bottom 3 Night cards

This means players never know exactly when rescue will arrive, only that it will appear near the end of the game.

Recommended Difficulty Levels

Beginner: 8 Nights
Normal: 12 Nights
Difficult: 16+ Nights

Longer games are much harder because supplies become scarce and Madness effects begin stacking over time.

Starting Health

Place the Fire Token face down in the center of the table. This means the fire is currently out.

Every player receives:

6 Heart Tokens

To determine starting health:

Place 3 Hearts face up
Shake the remaining 3 Hearts like dice
Toss them onto the table

The rolled Hearts determine how injured each survivor is after the crash.

Players must keep their Hearts visible at all times so everyone can track the group’s condition.

Round Structure

Every round in Ravine follows the same cycle:

Day Phase
Foraging
Crafting
Night Phase
Madness Check

The game begins by drawing the first Night Card, but most player actions happen during the Day.

Day Phase

During the Day, survivors search for food and supplies while preparing defenses against the dangers waiting at night.

Players spend much of the game deciding:

How much health to risk
What resources to share
Which items to craft
Whether to help teammates or protect themselves

Because Ravine is cooperative, teamwork is extremely important. However, fear and Madness can slowly make cooperation much harder.

Foraging

Foraging is the primary way players gather supplies and food.

Every player may forage:

Once per Day
At the same time as everyone else

To forage:

Flip over 1 full Heart
Draw 1 Forage Card

This represents risking your health while searching the wilderness.

Important Foraging Rules

Maximum of 3 Hearts may be flipped at once
Players with a Basket may draw 1 extra card
Players must wait until everyone finishes before revealing cards
Players may share or hide what they found

Foraging is risky because health is your most valuable resource. Searching too aggressively can leave players dangerously weak before Night begins.

Resting Instead of Foraging

Players may choose not to forage and instead rest for the Day.

Resting:

Prevents health loss
Does NOT restore health

Sometimes surviving another Night is more important than risking additional injuries for supplies.

Dangerous Foraging

One of Ravine’s most brutal rules involves foraging at low health.

Players may forage while on their:

Final Heart

However:

If they fail to find Food, they die

This creates some of the game’s most tense moments because desperate survivors are often forced to gamble their lives for supplies.

Types of Forage Cards

The Forage deck contains multiple categories of cards, each with different effects.

Food Cards

Food is the safest and most important type of resource because it restores lost health.

The number of Hearts shown on the card indicates how much health is recovered.

Food Rules

Food worth 2+ Hearts may be divided between players
Food cannot be eaten:
- During Night events
- During attacks
- To interrupt effects already happening

In other words, eating berries while being attacked by a cougar will not save you.

Managing food correctly is one of the biggest survival challenges in Ravine.

Uh-Oh Cards

Uh-Oh cards represent the dangerous and mysterious side of the wilderness.

These cards trigger immediate negative effects such as:

Animal encounters
Poisonous discoveries
Strange events
Injuries

Important Uh-Oh rules:

Effects happen immediately
Protective items must already be in your hand
Other players usually cannot help you

These cards create constant tension during foraging because even useful searches may suddenly become deadly.

Bone Pile Cards

Scattered throughout the Forage deck are special Bone Pile cards.

If players collect all:

4 Bone Pile pieces

they may assemble them into a mysterious bone circle.

Completing the circle grants powerful effects:

Revive 1 dead player with 3 Hearts
All living players gain 2 Hearts

The Bone Pile introduces a supernatural element into the game and can completely change the outcome of a struggling campaign.

Crafting System

Players can use gathered resources to craft survival tools and structures.

Crafting materials include:

Wood
Stone
Fiber

Once an item is crafted:

Take its matching card from the box

Some crafted items are permanent, while others are discarded after use.

Crafting is critical because surviving later Nights without protection becomes nearly impossible.

Fire

Cost

7 Wood

Fire provides:

Warmth
Protection from animals
Comfort during the Night

Important Fire rules:

Fire lasts only through the Night
It automatically goes out the next morning
Some Night cards prevent Fire from being lit

Maintaining fire becomes one of the group’s most consistent priorities.

Spear

Cost

7 Wood
7 Stone

The Spear protects:

One player
From one Animal or Human attack

After use:

The Spear breaks and is discarded

Because crafting a Spear requires many resources, players usually save it for emergencies.

Basket

Cost

7 Wood
2 Fiber

The Basket allows:

One additional Forage card each Day

However:

The player must still flip a Heart to forage

Baskets greatly improve long-term resource generation and are often worth crafting early.

Shelter

Cost

2 Wood
2 Stone
2 Fiber

Shelter protects:

Up to 3 players
From most weather-related Night effects

Unlike many crafted items:

Shelter lasts indefinitely unless destroyed

Before Night begins, protected players place a finger on the Shelter card to show who is inside.

Shelter becomes increasingly valuable during longer games.

Night Phase

After all foraging and crafting is complete, Night begins.

The group flips over a:

Night Card

and reads it aloud.

Night cards introduce new dangers including:

Storms
Animal attacks
Human threats
Psychological horror
Environmental disasters

Players may defend themselves using:

Crafted items
Wreckage cards
Fire
Shelter

Players unable to protect themselves suffer the consequences.

Death in Ravine

If a player’s Hearts ever reach:

0 Hearts

they die immediately.

When a player dies:

Their remaining cards are placed beside the Fire
Remaining survivors may share the items

Death makes future survival much harder because fewer players remain to gather supplies and craft tools.

Madness Cards

At the end of each Night, players perform a:

Health Check

Any player with:

1 Heart remaining

must draw a Madness Card.

The player secretly reads the instructions and follows them.

Madness effects can:

Last one Night
Continue until healed
Persist until death or rescue

Some Madness cards cause survivors to:

Attack teammates
Hide resources
Behave irrationally
Sabotage the group

As the game continues, Madness becomes one of the biggest threats in Ravine.

Madness Chain Reactions

Madness can create dangerous chain reactions.

For example:

One player’s Madness harms another player
That player drops to 1 Heart
They must also draw Madness

This can quickly spiral into complete chaos.

If players attack each other because of Madness:

Weapons may still be used defensively
The struck player loses 1 Heart

These moments often become the most memorable parts of the game.

Winning the Game

Ravine ends in one of two ways.

Everyone Dies

If the entire party dies before:

The Rescue card appears

the group loses the game.

Their doomed expedition disappears into history.

Rescue Arrives

If at least:

One player survives

until The Rescue card is revealed, the group wins.

The surviving players escape Ravine and finally return home after enduring the horrors of the wilderness.

Ravine Strategy Tips

Surviving Ravine requires careful planning and teamwork.

Some important survival tips include:

Avoid over-foraging early
Prioritize Food and Fire
Build Shelter before difficult Nights
Save Spears for major threats
Share resources when possible
Watch players nearing Madness

Balancing short-term survival with long-term preparation is the key to winning consistently.

Final Thoughts on Ravine Rules

Ravine combines survival strategy, resource management, psychological tension, and dark humor into a unique cooperative card game experience. At first, the game feels manageable, but as resources disappear and Madness spreads through the group, survival becomes increasingly desperate.

The game constantly forces difficult choices. Should players risk their last Hearts searching for food? Is it worth spending precious resources on weapons instead of Shelter? Can the group still trust each other after Madness begins taking hold?