Reviewing our 10 x 10 challenge for the year my wife and I noticed that we are behind where we want to be at. We also noticed that we needed two more game plays of any Tiny Epic game. To fulfill this purpose and to fulfill the new game a week challenge, I had picked Gamelyn Games’ Tiny Epic Dinosaurs.
My wife did play it once when we had our Tiny Epic game day event at our favorite local gaming pub and because I haven’t played it, it counts for this blog entry.
TINY EPIC DINOSAURS (2020)
BGG Description
In Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, breakthroughs in modern science have dinosaurs and humans existing side by side. This has allowed for a lucrative industry. Dino Ranching! Independent ranchers have begun farming dinosaurs to sell to the highest bidders for use in their high thrill theme parks. You are one of those ranchers. Do you have what it takes to out ranch your opponents and operate the most successful dinosaur farm!?
Tiny Epic Dinosaurs is a 45 minute, 1-4 player game of dinosaur ranching, worker-placement and resource management. It features classic euro game mechanics with unique twists that portray the dangers of farming these prehistoric beasts.
In Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, players control a team of ranchers and will be acquiring, breeding and selling dinosaurs. The game is played over 6 rounds. With each round consisting of several short phases.
In phase one, players will harvest the resources from their farm that are not being consumed by dinosaurs.
In phase two, players will put their ranchers to work. This phase has ranchers wrangling and buying new dinosaurs to farm, improving their farm’s security and supplies, vying for high dollar contracts, and researching technologies and unique dinosaur breeds. These unique dinosaur breeds introduce a large variety of special benefits players can utilize to separate themselves from their competition.
In phase three, ranchers return to finish their day’s work at the farm.
In phase four, players arrange their ranch, making sure their ranch is suitable for the types of dinosaurs they have.
Phase five is the feeding phase, and every dinosaur MUST be fed. Dinosaurs that don’t eat will escape, posing a grave threat to your enclosures’ security and your other dinosaurs.
Phase six is for breeding. For each pair of matching dinosaurs you have properly enclosed, you’ll welcome a new dinosaur to your farm.
-description from publisher
At the end of the game, players will receive victory points for each dinosaur they have, public and private contracts they acquired and for their research developments. The player with the most victory points, wins the game.
Weight 2.59/5
A Little More Info
The description did a really good job of providing a summary of each of the steps in a round. The only thing to really add to it is that during the fourth round you get an extra rancher and an additional private contract (you start with one).
What we like about the game
We love that this game is a worker placement game that has a “small-ish” table presence, and the game doesn’t take long to play.
The pieces are fitting for the theme and goes along with the style of other Tiny Epic games. That being said, there is one gripe about the pieces that we have (see next section).
We were impressed with artwork in the game and the icons. Everything is easy to see and understand within the game play.
One last thing to add that we love is that there is a playmat available for the game (we have it) that helps keep everything organized for you. We are becoming fans of having playmats for games that have one.
What we don’t like about the game
The games pieces are “Ultra Tiny Epic” for us instead of Tiny Epic. For people with larger hands and fingers, sometimes it is difficult to grab the game pieces. This is our only gripe about the game.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are a fan of the Tiny Epic game series, this game is a MUST HAVE. It looks great, plays great, and is fun. If you like dinosaurs as a theme then you are in luck with this one.
We do have to say that the more we play the Tiny Epic games, the more we like the small box series of games.
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