It’s HERE!!!!!
Hello my Happy Little Geeks and Geekettes!
This review is of a game I have been waiting on for what seems like the last 65 million years. As soon as I heard the game creators Unstable Games, made famous by their Unstable Unicorns game, was releasing a new project I was immediately interested. When I found out their new game was going to be based on dinosaurs . . . well, you can imagine how desperately I wanted a copy!
Happy Little Dinosaurs is for the great optimists of the world. The world, neigh the universe is deliberately out to get you, but it’ll be alright tomorrow . . . hopefully.
The aim of the game is to survive.
There are two ways to win, you can either be the first dinosaur to reach the end of your survival track of 50 points, or you can be the last dinosaur standing in a world that is falling apart around you. It sounds simple, but the disasters are wide and varied, and the other players are all out to survive too, even if that means throwing you under the next meteor-shaped bus that comes your way.
The base game is for 2-4 players and consists of a player mat for each player, a Happy Little Dinosaur meeple to match, a deck of point cards and a deck of disaster cards.
Disasters come in 4 varieties:
Environmental - volcanoes, cold snaps, flesh eating plants
Predators - big teeth, VERY big teeth
Emotional - because mental health is important
Meteors - which are exactly as they sound.
Points cards are used to defend yourself from the onslaught, the player with the highest point wins . . . Or do they? As some cards have special effects which can turn the tides on your opponents to give you an edge.
The base game is for 2-4 players. But you know me, if someone offers me more dinosaurs, then I’m going to buy them. I purchased the Exclusive Edition on pre-order, and I’m so glad I did. Extra cards and extra dinos were included, which allow the player count to go up to 6.
The game box was bigger than expected, but I found that meant more room for more expansions (if Unstable Games is reading this that’s a hint). The card quality is excellent, and the card sleeves are also hardy, but nice and sleek for easy shuffling.
The artwork by Ramy Badie is super cute. Better still, you can buy t-shirts with some of the designs from the Unstable Games website (I bought a few and they are amazing quality!).
The dinosaur meeples are adorable., but it’s a little sad that the Stego meeple doesn’t have any thagomizers . . . Well actually my only real disappointment is the rule book which is originally presented in a nice size that matches the folding player mats, but on opening turns into a large A0 single sheet which is a little clumsy to handle.
This is obviously going to rank highly on my scorecard, the dice love the dinos! It caters to players from 8 and up, so pretty much dino enthusiasts of all ages.
Check out the other offerings from the Unstable Games team.
Take care and stay safe
Dino-Girl x