Mining Gold Games

Board Games

• Collect more gold than your opponents in gold-mining board games. When playing Out of the Box's "Gold Digger," place "Gold" and "Fool's Gold" cards next to mines, and stake one or more claims on a mine. Receive one gold coin for each gold bag on a card; "Fool's Gold" carries no value. If you're the only player with a claim on a mine, you receive all of the gold coins for that mine. Divide the gold coins accordingly if more than one player had a stake on a mine. The player with the most gold coins wins the game.

  Gather enough gold to buy a mine and claim all gold for yourself in Stratus Games' "Gold Mine." In the "Development Phase," put down tiles to form the mine tunnels. During the "Production Mining" phase, move your miner playing piece through the tunnels, collect gold nuggets, and exit the mine before your opponents. Throughout the game, try stealing gold nuggets from opponents or send bats their way to chase them away from their current position. Collect the following number of nuggets to win: 10 in a two-player game, seven in a three- to four-player game and five in a five- to six-player game.

Online Gold-Digging Games

• Maneuver through gold mines, collect gold and avoid pesky enemies in online games such as "Gold Diggers" and "Gold Panic," both accessible at Free Online Games. In "Gold Diggers," press the directional arrow keys and spacebar to navigate a gold-mining machine. Eat monsters to prevent them from biting the pipe. If you eat a bomb, you lose energy from your life bar. Collect all of the treasures to advance to the next level. The game ends if monsters bite the pipes or if your energy depletes. When playing "Gold Panic," dig through sand and push stones to help the miner push gold into his cart. Watch for exploding bombs and spiders. Advance to the next level upon moving gold into the cart. Restarting a level costs you one life. You also lose lives if a stone falls into the cart. The game ends when you lose five lives.

Online Gold-Mining Games

• Mine gold from above the ground in online games such as "Gold Miner Classic," accessible at Grab.com. Press the "Down" arrow key to lower the claw and help a miner reel in gold and other treasures. The claw reels in a treasure upon grabbing it. Advance to the next level when meeting monetary targets. Continue gold-mining adventures in "Gold Miner Vegas, "Gold Miner World" (which requires a Facebook account to access) and "Gold Miner Holiday Haul Deluxe."

Pretend Play

• Engage in live gold mining with excavating kits such as 4M Industrial Development's "KidzLab Gold Mining Kit" or Wild Creations' "Fool's Gold Mining Kit." When using the 4M kit, place items on a solid, level area. The plaster contains six hidden pyrite nuggets (also known as "fool's gold"), which you mine by digging and scraping away the plaster. Supervise kids using the kits, and use safety goggles as a precaution, as nuggets may contain sharp edges.