Dino Dodge Preview

I feel like most gamers have themes that they are drawn to, no matter what. And for me, one of those themes is dinosaurs. I’ve always just been enthralled by dinosaurs since childhood, and that fascination continues in my present-day life. So if you’ve got a game about dinosaurs, I will play it. When Blue Gear Games reached out about Dino Dodge, it was an automatic yes from me. I knew I had to play it. And now that I have, how does it fare?

Disclaimer: We were provided with a preview copy of Dino Dodge for the purposes of this preview. The components pictured below might not be 100% finalized. Also, I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook in this preview, but rather provide a general overview of the rules and gameplay. -L

Dino Dodge is a competitive game of take that in which players are dinosaurs trying to avoid falling meteors to be the last dino standing. Players will perform actions and use special Land powers in hopes of trapping opponents under a falling meteor and eliminating them from the game. The last dinosaur alive is the winner! To setup for a game, take the 8 Land tiles and place them in a circle with the normal (non-lava) side face-up. Each player receives a random ‘Move You’ Action Card, the remaining Action Cards are shuffled, and 4 additional cards are dealt to each player – max hand size for this game is 5 cards. The Action Card deck is then placed face-down in the center of the Land tile circle, forming the draw deck. The deck of Meteor Cards is also shuffled and set off to the side. Players receive a Dino Meeple and Role Card in their chosen color. Select a starting player, who receives the Active Player Token, and they will draw a Meteor card and place it, on its highest numbered axis, above any Land tile they so choose. Players will then place their Dino Meeples on any Land tile, and the game is ready to begin!

Played over a series of rounds, each round is broken down into 3 phases: 1. Active Player Phase, 2. Sky is Falling Phase, and 3. Boom Phase. To begin a round, the Active Player will draw a Meteor Card and place it above any Land tile. Once that is done, the Active Player now has the opportunity to play cards to perform Actions and use abilities. When you are the Active Player, you must perform at least 1 Action, but may perform as many as you are able/choose. The different Action Cards allow you to either move yourself or move your opponents to adjacent Land tiles. Each Action Card also has 1 of 4 Land Ability symbols. All Land tiles have corresponding symbols that allow players to perform special Land Abilities. The Land Abilities are: Move Meteors, Swap 2 Adjacent Land Tiles, Rotate a Meteor, and Swap Any 2 Active Meteors. To perform the ability of the Land tile you are currently on, you must play an Action Card with the corresponding symbol. If you want to use the ability of a different Land tile, you must play 2 cards with the matching symbol. After you have performed as many actions as you would like, flip the Active Player token to signify that you are moving to the Sky is Falling Phase.

During this second phase, all Meteor cards in play will rotate down towards the “Boom” axis. Some Meteors count down from 3, and some only count down from 1. If any Meteor has now reached its “Boom” axis, the round moves into the Boom Phase. In the Boom Phase, all Booming Meteors need to be resolved. If a Meteor has Boomed over a Land tile that is currently uninhabited by any players, it is simply discarded and the Land tile is flipped over to the Lava side. If a player is on a Land tile under a Booming Meteor, they must use their Action Cards to perform a single action that will get them out from under the Booming Meteor. You may choose to draw a card if you are in this situation, or you can risk it and make do with what you have – it’s like a game of chicken between your Dino and the meteor. If you successfully get out, then you live to play another round! If you are unable to get out from under a Booming Meteor, your Dino has perished in the impact and you are eliminated from the game. It is possible to save yourself by risking the lives of your enemy Dinos, so strategize carefully and remember – only one Dino can survive. What if a Meteor is Booming on a Lava Land tile? Then you’re in double danger! You must play a pair of matching Action cards to either perform your Dino power or Land Ability to save yourself if you can. Again, if you are unable to do so, you are eliminated from the game. Once all Booming Meteors have been resolved, the round ends – give the Active Player token to the next player, they draw and place a new Meteor card, and the round continues as described above. The game continues in this fashion until only one Dinosaur remains!

For being a take that game, I have to say that Dino Dodge surprised me with the amount of strategy in the gameplay. All Action Cards are dual-purposed – either used for movement or for Land Abilities. So you need to strategize and decide in which way you want to use your cards. Maybe you want to use a Land Ability, but you would have to risk giving up your only card that lets you move yourself. That element of hand management elevates the gameplay for me, because it forces you to think ahead. And something I left out of my earlier description of the gameplay is that you may only draw cards to your hand in certain circumstances. So as you play, your hand is slowly dwindling and your choices become more limited. You don’t draw back up to 5 cards after every round. That adds another layer to your strategy that ups the intensity and excitement of the game.

As with all take that games, there is going to be that element of attacking opponents. But I feel like the style and gameplay of Dino Dodge makes it feel less like personal attacks on each other. Maybe that’s just the way I played it? I was focused more on saving myself than I was on actively trying to get opponents out of the game. Yes, obviously there will be instances where you have to throw opponents under the bus, so to speak, but to me it doesn’t feel targeted or ill-intentioned – we’re just all trying to survive out here, man! So that definitely is a positive for me about Dino Dodge. It provides some of that take that feel without the hard feelings between players. One thing I will mention is that I found Dino Dodge to be a better game at higher player counts. With more players, there are more opportunities to strategize and more options in general. I did play a few 2-player games and they just felt like they took too long to really get that excitement and strategy going. I played several 4-player games as well, and that felt like the sweet spot to me. Yes, players are being eliminated, but starting with more players manipulates the playing field much faster than with only 2 players, and gets to the crux of the game much more quickly. Just something to consider!

I’ll touch on the components for a minute. Again, as I said, this is only a preview copy of the game and might not be 100% finalized. That being said, overall it’s a pretty great quality game. The artwork is fun and colorful, the Dino characters/Meeples are cute, and the components themselves are clear. One thing I will say is that the Action Cards are color-coded, (all matching Movement cards in the deck are the same color), but they are the same colors as 4 of the 5 Dino Meeples, so at first I thought the colored cards corresponded to the specific Dino Meeples. But such is not the case. The color-coding is a neat idea, but perhaps using colors different than those of the characters would be more clear. The rulebook could also be edited and streamlined a bit better, but it’s not incomprehensible in its current form. Overall, I like what I see and I’m excited to see what comes next!

I think you can probably tell by now that Dino Dodge gets 2 thumbs-up from me. The theme isn’t necessarily anything new, but the way the different mechanics work together makes it feel new and fresh. Dino Dodge is the perfect size for a filler game, and could also be a good gateway game for newer members to the hobby. It’s pretty light-hearted and fun, while also giving your strategic thinking a workout. If you’re looking for a take that game that move beyond aggressive/combative gameplay, I would definitely recommend Dino Dodge. I can’t wait to follow its progress on Kickstarter (coming August 3rd), and I can’t wait to play it again!