Cards are one of the core mechanics in Gold and Goblins. They directly affect the speed, efficiency, and income of your mines. Cards unlock new technologies, improve production, and preserve your progress even when moving to a new mine.
 
 

What are Cards?

Cards are special items used for magical research in your mines. With them, you can:

  • Automate mining operations

  • Increase shaft income

  • Speed up goblin spawn and boost their efficiency

  • Earn more gold from rocks and barrels

  • Upgrade the Crusher mini-game

  • Boost event and chest rewards

Important: All upgrades unlocked with cards are permanent and stay with you when moving between mines. This makes them essential for long-term progress.

How to Get Cards

Cards can be obtained in several ways:

  • From regular and bonus chests found in mines

  • By clearing checkpoints and completing fixed shafts

  • From the in-game shop (with resources or real money)

  • As event rewards, if you collect enough keys

  • In the Crusher mini-game between mines

  • From chests after Mine 100 (for Ancestral Cards)

Some of the cards are more precious and hard to obtain than others. There are seven types of rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary, Epic, Majestic and Ancestral.

 
 

What can you upgrade with Cards?

Cards impact many aspects of the game. Here are the main upgrade categories:

1. Shafts and Automation

 

  • Common and Uncommon cards are used to upgrade jewels, assign managers, and automate shafts.

  • Higher card levels provide higher income.

2. Speed and Productivity

 

  • Speed up goblin spawn

  • Reduce goblin cost

  • Boost the speed of the shafts and the forge

3. Combat Bonuses

  • Some cards unlock critical hits for goblins, significantly increasing mining efficiency.

4. Resource Rewards

  • Increase gold earned from rocks, barrels, and checkpoints.

5. Crusher Enhancements

  • Boost the Crusher’s speed

  • Enable bomb launching

  • Amplify explosion effects and pickup range

6. Event Benefits

  • Increase rewards gained from collecting event keys

  • Improve overall efficiency in event mines

Notable Card Examples

Rare & Legendary Cards:

  • Crit Chance and Crit Damage – increase the frequency and strength of goblin critical strikes. Crit-strike cards can improve the speed of mining. When the crit bonus is unlocked, your goblins will sometimes land a strong hit with amplified damage. The Crit Chance card increases the frequency of crit strikes. While the Crit Damage card multiplies the damage dealt by those strikes.

  • Rocket Cart – boosts shaft and forge speed.

  • Iron Pickaxe / Special Delivery – increase gold from rocks and barrels.

  • Golden Hamlet – raises the goblin cap.

  • Golden Cannon – increases the level of newly hired goblins.

Epic Cards (Crusher & Chest Enhancements):

  • Crusher Speed – increases the speed of the Crusher Truck in the mini-game.

  • Crusher Bomb – unlocks automatic bomb throwing.

  • Booster Pack – adds more cards to each chest.

  • Big Boom / Rocks Gems Chance x2 – boosts gold and gem yield from rocks.

Goblin King - Majestic Card

goblin-king

The Goblin King is a unique Majestic card that unlocks a special boss goblin in the main mines.

  • Obtained in Treasure Hunt
  • Requires 4 cards and elixir to summon

  • Permanently stays in the main game (not available in events)

  • Increases the damage of nearby goblins

  • Works especially well with crit-based setups

Ancestral Cards - late-game power

These cards appear only after Mine 100, once you've maxed out many regular cards.

How they work:

  • Any extra cards beyond max level are automatically converted into Ancestral Cards

  • The rarer the original card, the more Ancestral Knowledge you gain

  • These cards increase goblin and dynamite damage

  • Only active in the main game, not in events

  • Occasionally drops as a bonus from chests