Dinosaur Board Games

[comandantedavid]

Hi folks,

I'm a very infrequent poster, but as a dinosaur enthusiast I check here regularly to monitor upcoming toy releases and such.  I'm a more avid collector of board games, and I'm always on the lookout for good dinosaur/prehistoric games.  They are few and far between, and there are often better non-prehistoric choices to take my money.  I'm pretty picky about art as well as game-play.  I demand beautifully illustrated AND anatomically plausible dinosaurs!  If I can't have that, I'll choose retro cool over contemporary digital schlock.  So I've played several but never been convinced to buy one for myself.

I thought you might appreciate an introduction to some of the best dinosaur board games out there, including a new release on the horizon (which I am NOT involved in but which did spark my curiosity and occasion this post).  Since these are toys and many of the games include plastic or wooden figures, I thought it appropriate to post here, but mods should feel free to move my post to the "other media" board if you'd rather keep this space focused on plastic rather than cardboard!

*orthocone*

The Best and Brightest and Most Dinosaurish:


Evo: apply custom upgrades to your dinosaurs as you direct their evolution!  A fun game representing the best tendencies of the board game renaissance, it comes in an earlier, cartoony edition and a later version with hyper-realistic (i.e. not actually realistic) art and a sort of Dino-Rider story layered on to explain your ability to direct evolution toward chosen ends.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1159/evo
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/107255/evo-second-edition



Trias: a Euro-style game with trademark hexagonal tiles that act like shifting tectonic plates as you try to keep your little wooden herd of reptiles alive.  I love this style of game but most of my gaming partners prefer more dice and cards and direct combat.  Rules for moving the tiles can be a bit hard to grasp at first, but get easier with practice.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4249/trias



Dominant Species: a lengthy, massive, much-loved game.  This is more like an "evolution" game than a strictly dinosaur game.  There are several such evolution games that warrant a closer look (such as "Bios Megafauna" and its heavier precursor, "American Megafauna").  The card game version looks more manageable but less interesting.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/62219/dominant-species
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/96260/dominant-species-the-card-game



Dino Business: an economic Jurassic Park simulator that apparently had a limited release in Europe but is hard to find in the U.S.  Adorable wooden dino bits.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/59414/dino-business



Tyranno Ex: a classic but somewhat abstract Avalon Hill treatment.  Handsome if outdated art.  Relatively easy to find.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/719/tyranno-ex



Dinosaurs of the Lost World: another Avalon Hill classic with a Conan-Doyle inspired story and wonderful vintage comic portrayals of encounters between players and dinosaurs.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/393/dinosaurs-of-the-lost-world



Dinosaur Chess: a sweet little labor of love self-published by geologist and professor Richard Oldham of American River College.  It is "chess" in the sense that each piece has its own moves, but it is played on a large board with a hexagonal grid and (as in Trias) shifting continents.  Available from the designer through the forums on Boardgamegeek.com.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6848/dinosaur-chess



Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs: a retro, collectible pile-o-plastic in the spirit of fireball island.  Produced by Waddingtons in the UK in the 1980s (I daresay some of the collectors across the pond remember this one?).  It features ugly, ugly, so ugly they are beautiful T-rex, pteranodon, and loch ness monster figures that could all feature on Plasticosauria's blog.   Looks like a blast.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3149/lost-valley-of-the-dinosaurs



Die Schlacht der Dinosaurier: a glorious vintage box-o-plastic with cavemen riding weaponized dinosaurs a la Paraworld.  A curiosity more than anything, and not easy to find outside of Europe.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1081/die-schlacht-der-dinosaurier



Triassic Terror: An upcoming, rather ambitious project that looks like a true game for grownups.  Not set in the Triassic - or in any other actual time or place, sadly.  Still, it eschews the usual "evolution," "tectonic shift," and "humans among dinos" game-play tropes in favor of predator-prey dynamics within an ecological system (oh for a game set entirely within the Morrison or Horseshoe Canyon formations!).  The publisher and designer are both well established with good records in the industry.  And if the Kickstarter campaign is funded, the game should be available for purchase to a general audience.  I am very cautious about Kickstarting board games - you really have to know what you like and I usually like to wait for more reviews and such.  Also, Kickstarter is still limited to the U.S., as far as I know.  The plastic figures are sort of unfortunate, but easily swapped out for Kaiyodo minis or others.  The digital art is better than most, but the design (as distinct from the paleo-art) looks somewhat cluttered, which can effect ease of play.  We'll see.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/135243/triassic-terror

*orthocone*

The Rest:
The three big Jurassic Park board games had their own charm, of course, but didn't really hold up to repeated play.  Easily found at goodwill or a yard sale.  The minis are wonderful for custom projects.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2206/jurassic-park-game
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2205/the-lost-world-jurassic-park-game
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2597/jurassic-park-iii-island-survival-game

Other good-looking but hard to find or out-of-print evolution games include the card game "Evolution: the Origin of Species," "Primordial Soup," and "Urland."
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71021/evolution-the-origin-of-species
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124/primordial-soup
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2539/urland

There are also a number of "caveman" games, such as the excellent "Stone Age" (a personal favorite but anthropologically questionable), the decent "Mammoth Hunters," and a tribute to 1960s stop-motion: "Cavemen: the Quest for Fire."   
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34635/stone-age
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5767/mammoth-hunters
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/110870/cavemen-the-quest-for-fire

Finally, of course, dinosaurs often pop up in comic-book style geek-fests like "Smash-Up," which lets you pair dinosaurs with robots or ninjas, or "Biomechanic Dino Battles," an ongoing design project with both poster-board and digital versions that's pretty much what it sounds like.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122522/smash-up
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/105760/biomechanic-dino-battles
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113615/biomechanic-dino-battles-the-deckbuilding-game

*orthocone*

What are your favorite dinosaur or other prehistoric board games?  Are there any I missed that you would include on a list of the best and most interesting?

[DC]

I am  a big fan of using dinosaurs for structured play like board games, RPG's or miniatures.  I use them for our classes At the Smithsonian Summer camp program.  The Euro board game movement has great potential but needs to be more kids oriented.  Trias is a big favorite.  We changed the rules to score only at the end of the game.  I feel book keeping killed the play especially for kids. We will be using Safari Ltd Good Luck minis as playing pieces.
Schlact is a fun game, die fest.  The option for the kids to paint their figures is under rated.  The plastic used doesn't make it easy unless you use a primer.  We include painting as part of the class. 
A successful game needs good figures.  The ALADAR'S QUEST A PREHISTORIC RACE FOR SURVIVAL GAME had some nice art work but cheap card board markers.  Dull!    King Zor , Dino Might and Tyrannosaurus Rex have nice figures but the Parcheesi - candyland rules are dull.  JumpOsaurus has great figures but it is too much like checkers. For a good game you need figures and a game that gives the figures meaning with out being strangled by book keeping.  Settlers of Cataan  or Axis and Allies are good models.
Triassic Terror sounds promising thanks Randy 

[comandantedavid]

Yes, I've found that getting the right mix of good, accessible play and decent-looking dinosaur figures is a real challenge.  I've looked at using the Safari good luck minis for Trias - they seem to be the best option for the scale!