Board Game - Tiny Epic Dinosaurs Deluxe (2020) [+]
Mar 28 2022
Tiny Epic Dinosaurs Deluxe is a worker-placement game about breeding and selling dinosaurs.
Each player has a grid map where they can place barriers and dinosaurs (no two dinosaur types can live in the same area and dinosaurs can run away through the edge of your map if you don't have barriers, man-made or natural like water/mountain, to stop them). Most squares have a resource (meat, plants, ore) but if a dinosaur is on the square you can't collect the resource.
During a turn each player places a worker on an activity spot. If a worker is present in a spot you need two workers to do the same activity (many activities have variants and one of your workers is double-sized so it's usually not too bad). Main activity categories:
There are four basic dinosaurs: plant 1, plant 2, meat 1, meat 2. The #2 version eats more but needed for some contracts. There are also unique dinosaurs that you get from tech cards, these have special rules (e.g. a dinosaur that is considered to have barriers all around it, or a dinosaur that can be placed in water). Besides unique dinosaurs tech cards can also give you special abilities.
Once everyone has placed all their workers you finish the turn: Place new barriers and dinosaurs. Then if there are two in an area they breed and produce a third. Then all dinosaurs eat and if you can't feed them all the extra ones run away (plant dinosaurs break barriers, meat dinosaurs eat a plant dinosaur as they leave). Then collect resources and go to next turn.
You most points for turning in contracts. A few points for number of dinosaurs you have at the end of the game (basic and unique) and tech cards.
In general each player plays by themselves and you can only interfere by placing your worker on a needed activity or taking a tech card they want.
The first game took us four hours with four players. Probably half that long for a normal game. Pretty good theming and not too complex of a game. Was quite fun.
Each player has a grid map where they can place barriers and dinosaurs (no two dinosaur types can live in the same area and dinosaurs can run away through the edge of your map if you don't have barriers, man-made or natural like water/mountain, to stop them). Most squares have a resource (meat, plants, ore) but if a dinosaur is on the square you can't collect the resource.
During a turn each player places a worker on an activity spot. If a worker is present in a spot you need two workers to do the same activity (many activities have variants and one of your workers is double-sized so it's usually not too bad). Main activity categories:
- catch a dinosaur, which can wound both dinosaur and worker with minor effects
- buy a dinosaur using resources
- gather extra resources
- buy barriers
- buy technology
- turn in contracts
There are four basic dinosaurs: plant 1, plant 2, meat 1, meat 2. The #2 version eats more but needed for some contracts. There are also unique dinosaurs that you get from tech cards, these have special rules (e.g. a dinosaur that is considered to have barriers all around it, or a dinosaur that can be placed in water). Besides unique dinosaurs tech cards can also give you special abilities.
Once everyone has placed all their workers you finish the turn: Place new barriers and dinosaurs. Then if there are two in an area they breed and produce a third. Then all dinosaurs eat and if you can't feed them all the extra ones run away (plant dinosaurs break barriers, meat dinosaurs eat a plant dinosaur as they leave). Then collect resources and go to next turn.
You most points for turning in contracts. A few points for number of dinosaurs you have at the end of the game (basic and unique) and tech cards.
In general each player plays by themselves and you can only interfere by placing your worker on a needed activity or taking a tech card they want.
The first game took us four hours with four players. Probably half that long for a normal game. Pretty good theming and not too complex of a game. Was quite fun.