Do you even need an extension? With Tiletum - Prospect for Silver, there's definitely one available now and it's once again filled to the brim, as usual for the publisher with lots of plastic bags for all the material. Let's take a look inside:

Prospect for Silver first introduces a new gameboard, the so-called Underground Map. This is variably composed of three different parts at the start of the game. And on this map, just like on the surface, our playing pieces can be moved from one location to the next, allowing them to reach the various underground locations.

Now, what do you do underground? Of course it's about building mines, but you can also build houses and even columns and cathedrals just like on the surface. Mines are simply another way of gaining victory points for the final scoring, but in particular they are used to mine silver.

This silver is not an ordinary resource and therefore cannot be substituted for gold. Instead, we need it to progress on a new technology map where we can unlock special abilities. This technology map again is randomly assembled at the start of the game from 9 technology pieces, 3 of which are required for a game, the rest are returned to the box and provide variety for the next game. And these technologies are really a lot of fun, especially as you further progress, and influence the way of playing, making Tiletum much more varied.

Finally, the Prospector Action Wheel from the base game is replaced by a new wheel. After all, we also want to move our so-called Prospectors on the underground map, similar to the architects and wagons on the surface. And so there are sections on the new wheel for this purpose, whereby some of the sections are assigned twice, i.e. you can choose between one of the options when taking a die.

As mentioned above, you might wonder whether you need an expansion at all for an almost perfect game. And my answer is no, you don't. But you should, at least if the expansion is as well designed as this one! The silver alone just looks great and the additional options on the underground map are not to be sneezed at either. But the best thing are the technologies, because they really change the way we play. Once you have acquired a technology, you want to use it and therefore often take different paths than if you didn't have the technology.