Dino Detektive Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Flow
  • Distributing Finds
  • Moving Pieces and Uncovering Finds
    • Uncovering Finds
    • Further Movement Rules
  • The Player Must Decide
  • Collecting Finds
  • Fame Points from the Museum
  • Starting a New Round
  • End of the Game

Components

• 108 finds (Fundstücke), depicting the skeletons of five dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus, Diplodocus, Euoplocephalus, Oviraptor and Triceratops. Each find carries a small number to help assemble the skeletons.
• 36 fame markers (Ruhmesmarker) with values 2, 4 and 6, in the colours of the respective dinosaurs.
• 16 movement cards in four colours. Each colour set contains one card with 1 movement point, two cards with 2 movement points and one card with 3 movement points.
• 12 game pieces in four colours: one researcher, one assistant and one dog per colour.
• 4 reference cards (Übersichtskarten), one per player. The value of each dinosaur is shown on them.
• 5 bonus cards (Bonuskarten), one per dinosaur, with values Tyrannosaurus 6, Diplodocus 6, Euoplocephalus 4, Oviraptor 2 and Triceratops 2.
• 5 bonus markers (Bonusmarker), each worth 3 points.
• 2 colour dice (Farbwürfel).
• 2 starting player bones (Startspieler-Knochen). The two large bones are fitted together crosswise.
• 1 game board (Spielplan).
• 1 voucher for an audio-guide tour of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum. This is not game material and plays no part in the game.

Setup

The game board is placed in the middle of the table. It is divided into 21 excavation plots (Ausgrabungsparzellen). Each plot has five dig sites (Fundorte), each marked with a coloured cross.

• Each player receives a reference card, a set of four movement cards in one colour, and the researcher, assistant and dog of the same colour. Researchers are placed on the jeep field (Geländewagen), assistants start on the tent field (Zelt), and dogs go on the dog-blanket field (Hundedecke). Cards and pieces that are not needed are returned to the box.
• All dinosaur finds are shuffled and placed face down in several stacks beside the game board.
• The fame markers and bonus markers are sorted by value and colour and placed beside the game board, together with the two colour dice and the bonus cards.

The player who most recently visited a dinosaur museum receives the starting player bones and becomes the starting player.

Game Flow

The game is played in rounds (Durchgänge). At the start of each round, finds are distributed onto the dig sites using the two colour dice. After that, each player has two options available:

• either the player uses movement cards to move their researcher, assistant and/or dog, and only the researcher may uncover finds;
• or the player collects uncovered finds with their pieces and places them in front of them. A player who does this may not move their pieces again in that round.

Distributing Finds

At the start of each round, the starting player rolls both colour dice.

Then a find is placed face down on every dig site (Fundort) of the colours shown. If both dice show the same colour, only the dig sites of that one colour are filled.

Attention: no find may be placed in a plot in which any game piece is standing.

Moving Pieces and Uncovering Finds

Only a player's own pieces may be moved. The starting player begins. Play then continues clockwise. A player may take several turns within one round.

To move their pieces, each player holds four movement cards: one card with the value 1, two cards with the value 2 and one card with the value 3. Each player therefore has at most eight movement points.

Each move from one plot to an adjacent plot costs one movement point.

For example, if a player plays their 3-card:

• they may move one piece three plots;
• they may move one piece one plot and a second piece two plots;
• they may move three pieces one plot each.

Example: Bernd wants to move his dog with a 1-card, so he may choose the plots marked with red arrows. If he plays a 2-card, he may also move his dog to the plots marked with blue arrows.

A player may also play several movement cards at once. The movement points of the played cards are added together. The movement points may then be split across any number of their pieces.

Uncovering Finds

The researcher has a special ability. If the researcher's movement ends on a plot containing face-down finds, the player must uncover all finds in that plot. The skeleton side of each find becomes visible. Assistants and dogs cannot uncover finds.

Further Movement Rules

• A player may let movement points lapse. For example, if they play their 3-card with three movement points, they may use only one or two of them.
• Played movement cards stay face up on the table and are only taken back into hand at the start of the next round.
• A player may always freely choose which of their pieces to move.
• A piece may not end its movement on a plot where a piece of the same colour already stands. It may, however, move through a plot occupied by one of its own pieces.
• Tip: with two movement points, two pieces of the same colour on adjacent plots can "swap places".
• No piece's movement may end on a start field (jeep, tent, dog blanket). Pieces may move across these fields as normal, and this costs movement points just as for plots.

The Player Must Decide

Each time a player is due to act, they must decide whether to play movement cards and move at least one piece, or whether to begin collecting finds instead. A player does not have to use all four of their movement cards in a round, but they may not pass.

Once a player has decided to begin collecting, they must place their remaining movement cards face up and may not move their pieces again in that round.

It can therefore happen that in one round some players are still moving their pieces while others have already begun collecting finds.

Collecting Finds

Once a player has decided to collect, then each time they are due to act they must take exactly one uncovered find from a plot containing one of their pieces. They place this find face up in front of them. The player may choose which plot the find comes from. When no uncovered finds remain available to them, that player's round is over.

Only finds that have been turned to their skeleton side by any researcher may be collected. A researcher or an assistant may collect an uncovered find from the plot they are standing in. A dog may collect a find only if at least one researcher and/or assistant of a different colour is in the same plot. A dog cannot collect a find if it is alone, or if the only pieces in the plot are dogs.

For example, a dog may take a find from a plot in one turn but be unable to do so the next time it is due to act, because the piece of another colour has been moved out of the plot by another player in the meantime.

It can quite often happen that one player is already busy collecting finds while other players are still positioning their pieces.

Example: Giulia is the starting player. She plays a 2-card and moves her dog and her assistant one plot each. She places the card face up in front of her. Bernd is next. He plays his 3-card and places it face up in front of him. With these three movement points, Bernd moves his researcher two plots further and moves his assistant one plot. After moving his researcher, Bernd turns all finds in the plot where his researcher ended its movement to the skeleton side. Markus is next and moves his assistant one plot with his 1-card. Then Giulia is up again. She plays her other 2-card and now moves her researcher two plots, and after the move she turns over the finds in the researcher's plot. Bernd is up again and decides to end his movement for this round. He places his remaining movement cards face up in front of him, takes one of the uncovered finds from the plot where his researcher stands, and places that find in front of him. From now on in this round, Bernd may no longer move his pieces and may only collect further finds. When Markus is next, he plays his 2-card...

Playing tip: when a player switches from moving to collecting depends on which plots their own pieces stand on, and whether a find lying in the plot where their own piece stands is one they badly want. It is best to move your own researcher and assistant to plots that hold no enemy pieces. Otherwise you may have to share the finds in that plot with the players who also have pieces there. The dog is the opposite: it should always be moved to plots where researchers or assistants of other players stand, so that it can collect finds.

Fame Points from the Museum

There are five different dinosaur skeletons in the game. Two skeletons consist of two pieces each, two consist of four pieces, and one consists of three pieces. To make the finds easier to put together into skeletons, each find shows a small number. The value of each dinosaur is shown on the reference cards.

As soon as a player has a skeleton complete in front of them, they receive a fame marker of the same colour as the skeleton and place it on that skeleton.

In addition, the player who completes the first skeleton of a given kind receives the matching bonus card.

If a player manages to have all five different dinosaur skeletons complete in front of them, they receive a bonus marker worth three points (see the example below).

Starting a New Round

As soon as no player can collect any more finds, the round ends. Each player takes their four movement cards back into hand. The starting player passes clockwise.

The new starting player receives the starting player bones. They take the two colour dice and roll them to determine which dig sites must be filled with new finds. Again, only the dig sites of the rolled colour are filled, and only those in plots where no game piece is standing.

If there are not enough finds left to distribute, the plots are filled in ascending order, beginning with plot number 1.

The starting player then begins the new round by playing one or more movement cards.

End of the Game

The game ends at the end of the round in which the last finds are placed on the game board. The player with the most fame points wins. In case of a tie, there are several winners.

Example: Bernd has a set of all five dinosaur skeletons plus the bonus marker. He also has two bonus cards (Oviraptor and Tyrannosaurus). The three single finds score him no points. Bernd therefore has 31 fame points.

Note on the example (added by the transcriber, not in the printed rulebook): the rulebook does not itemise the score. From the values printed on the reference cards, the five skeletons are worth 20 points in total (Tyrannosaurus 6, Diplodocus 6, Euoplocephalus 4, Oviraptor 2, Triceratops 2), plus the bonus marker of 3 and the two bonus cards (Oviraptor 2 and Tyrannosaurus 6), giving 31.