
- BGG rank
- BGG #167
- BGG rating
- 8.7
Too Many Bones: Undertow
- 1–2 players
- 60–180 min
- Complexity 4.0/5
- 2018

Rules assistance for Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale is an expansion for Too Many Bones released in 2022 for 1–4 players. It was designed by Adam Carlson and Josh J. Carlson and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling and Cooperative Game.
How do you top our legendary Too Many Bones Logbooks? This is the only way we knew how! The Automaton of Shale is a brand new Too Many Bones short story, told in verse by Logan Giannini and enhanced by beautiful pop-up art by Anthony Letourneau, with paper engineered by Sam Ita. The book contains a unique Too Many Bones adventure, complete with new encounters, loot, baddies and a new tyrant to battle at the end of the adventure. These pieces may be played front to back as a singular adventure or mixed with your existing Too Many Bones content. —description from the publisher
Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale has a complexity rating of 4.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a heavy game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale belongs to these categories: Fantasy, Dice, and Adventure. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling and Cooperative Game. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale are: Adam Carlson and Josh J. Carlson. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Too Many Bones: The Automaton of Shale as an expansion for Too Many Bones. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Too Many Bones to use it. Check that your edition of Too Many Bones is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.