The Great Dinosaur Rush
The Great Dinosaur Rush Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
The game takes place over three rounds, each with three distinct phases: Field, Build and Exhibit.
- During the Field Phase, each player will dig for bones from the Bone Yard, adjust the museum, and then take an action. Some actions will require the player to draw a Notoriety Token. This is risky, because the player with the most Notoriety at the end of the game will subtract their Notoriety from their score!
- In the Build Phase, players secretly construct dinosaur skeletons behind their player screens. They use the Bones collected during the Field Phase to construct a skeleton that will compete against the other players' skeletons.
- The next phase is the Exhibit Phase. Once everyone has finished their skeletons, they reveal their creations and players compare their skeletons to score points in different categories.
- After three rounds, the player with the most Notoriety will subtract their Notoriety score from their total. The remaining players add their Notoriety to their score because the attention has increased their fame. The player with the most Victory Points wins!
- Players can also pursue bonus points by completing skeletons that have features of the most famous dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures) discovered during that historical era!
Components
Dinosaur Bones/Large Bone Bag: There are 210 Dinosaur Bones in 5 different colors. The different colors are used to build different parts of the dinosaur skeleton:
- Green - 60 head, spine, and rib bones (including 15 starting bones)
- Red - 50 limb bones (including 10 starting bones)
- Yellow - 50 neck and tail bones (including 10 starting bones)
- Blue - 30 unique bones
- White - 20 wild bones. Wild bones count as the color they touch. They can only touch a single color.
Game Board: The game board represents the dig sites and is used to track players' victory points, note the current turn and round, and show the scores in the various museum categories. Each hexagonal space on the board is a dig site. The black spaces between dig sites are tar pits. These are impassable.
Player Screens (1 each in 5 different colors): Each player gets a screen. Players will build their dinosaurs behind the screens, away from other players' prying eyes. The ropes on the outside of the screen identifies each player's color.
Player Paleontologists (1 each in 5 different colors): Each player takes a paleontologist in their color. Paleontologists move between dig sites on the game board and collecting bones.
Score Cubes (1 each in 5 different colors): Each player gets a score cube in their color. These will track score on the game board.
Tracking Cubes (6): These track the level of each museum category, as well as the current game round and phase.
Notoriety Tokens/Small Notoriety Bag (45 total, including 15 in each denomination): These tokens are taken by players when they perform Notorious actions.
Paleontologist Cards (15): These cards represent historical figures related to the Bone Wars. Each player gets one at the beginning of the game. Each provides a unique advantage.
Dinosaur Bonus Cards (21): Players can build their dinosaurs according to these bonus cards to score extra points.
Setup
- Place the game board on the table within reach of all players.
- Give each player a screen, paleontologist token and score cube in their color.
- Each player places a score cube near the "1" on the corner of the game board.
- Place five black cubes on the first (top) row of each of the museum categories on the game board.
- Place the last black phase tracking cube on the top "Field Phase 1" space on the game board.
- Place all of the Notoriety tokens into the smaller bag.
- Give each player a random paleontologist card. If players agree, each player can instead select a paleontologist. Paleontologists give players a special ability to break or change one of the game rules. Players should familiarize themselves with their cards.
- Deal each player two dinosaur bonus cards face down.
- Give each player two red starting bones, two yellow starting bones and three green starting bones. Players can never lose these starting bones throughout the game. These bones are placed in each player's 'pile' - an area in front of the player that remains in view of all players.
- Place the rest of the bones into the larger bag. Then draw three bones from the bag and place them on each hex space on the game board. Only place bones on spaces in the outer game board rows when playing a 4- or 5-player game, as indicated on the board. Bones are never placed on the black 'tar pit' spaces on the board.
- The player who most recently went to a museum is the starting player. The starting player places his or her paleontologist token on one of the paleontologist token spaces on the outside of the game board. Note that some spaces may only be used in a 4- or 5-player game. Players continue to place their paleontologists on the board in clockwise order from the starting player.
The game may now begin.
Overview
The game is played over three rounds. Each round has three phases: Field, Build and Exhibit. During the Field Phase, each player gets three turns to dig for bones, adjust museum categories, and perform actions, some good and some Notorious.
In the Build Phase, players secretly build a dinosaur that best makes use of the bones they've collected.
Finally, players reveal their dinosaurs and score them based on the various museum categories. Players can score extra points for completing Dinosaur Bonus Cards.
At the end of the game, players also score their Notoriety. All players add their Notoriety to their score except for the player who has the most Notoriety, who SUBTRACTS Notoriety points.
What's Secret in The Great Dinosaur Rush
Even though each player has a screen, most stuff in The Great Dinosaur Rush is public information. The exceptions are:
- Players cannot look at the Notoriety tokens or bones in the black bags.
- The values of Notoriety tokens are kept secret after they're drawn, but the number of tokens each player has is public knowledge.
- Each player's screen is used to hide their dinosaur as they construct it during the build phase. Outside of the build phase, the players' bone piles should be visible to other players.
- Dinosaur bonus cards are kept private until they're ready to be scored during the exhibit phase.
Rounds, Turns and Phases
There are rounds in the game, each which has a Field Phase, Build Phase, and Exhibit Phase. The Field Phase is performed three times during each round:
Round (x3)
Field Phase (x3)
- Collect Bones
- Move
- Publicize
- Take an Action
- Collect Bones (only third time through field phase)
- End Field Phase
Build Phase
Exhibit Phase
A black round tracking cube is used to track the current phase.
Round Tracker: Round 1 — Field Phase 1, Field Phase 2, Field Phase 3, Build, Exhibit. Round 2 — Field Phase 1, Field Phase 2, Field Phase 3, Build, Exhibit. Round 3 — Field Phase 1, Field Phase 2, Field Phase 3, Build, Exhibit. Game ends after Round 3.
Field Phase
The starting player for the first Field Phase is determined during game setup. In future rounds, the starting player is the person with the most points. If there is a tie, the first player is the next clockwise tied player from the last starting player.
Beginning with the starting player and going clockwise, each player performs the following four items, in the order listed.
- Collect any bones in their paleontologist's space (called the dig site)
- Move
- Publicize
- Take an action
Collect Bones
Any bones in the paleontologist's dig site are added to the player's pile. On the first turn of the game, the paleontologist will not be in a dig site, and will not collect bones. A player's bones remain in full view of players except during the build phase.
Move
Players must move their paleontologist to another space. It may move as many spaces as the player wants, in a single, straight line without turning. The paleontologist may move through other paleontologists, but may not stop on a space with another paleontologist.
The black tar pits between dig sites are impassable. Paleontologists may not move into or through these spaces.
Publicize
The player moves the black cube on one of the museum categories up or down a single position.
Actions
The player performs one of the following actions, either standard or Notorious. These actions are listed on the inside of each player's screen.
Standard Actions
Publicize: Player increases or decreases a museum category one step, just like the phase of the same name.
Donate: Player places 1-3 bones from their pile back into the bag, then takes that many points
OR
loses a single Notoriety token of that value.
Research: Player draws a dinosaur bonus card. If no additional cards are available, then this action cannot be taken.
Notorious Actions
Players draw a Notoriety token after performing Notorious actions.
Sabotage: Player draws a Notoriety token, looks at it, and places it face-down in an adjacent space. That space must not have another paleontologist in it. If any player crosses over or lands in that space, they collect the token.
Dynamite: Player draws three bones from the bag and adds them to their pile. Any bones in that players dig site are placed in the bag.
Steal: Player takes a bone from an adjacent dig site and places it into their pile. The dig site may have another paleontologist in it.
After performing a Notorious action, the player draws a Notoriety token from the bag, looks at it and places it face-down in their play area. The number of Notoriety tokens that each player has is public knowledge, but only the owning player knows the value of the tokens.
After the starting player has performed the four items listed, play passes around the table in clockwise order. The field phase is performed by each player three times. Move the black phase tracking cube on the turn marker each time around the table.
On the third time around the table, players collect bones from their dig site space one additional time, adding the bones to their player pile.
End of the Field Phase
At the end of the field phase in rounds 1 and 2, prepare for the next round's field phase by filling any open spaces with bones drawn randomly from the bag. Each dig site gets:
- two bones during the first round end phase
- one bone during the second round end phase
Do not add bones to dig sites with paleontologists, or to tar pits. Bones in dig sites from previous rounds remain there, and no new bones are added to those spaces.
Build Phase
Move the black phase tracking cube to the Build space. Players set up their screens so that they can build their dinosaurs in secret.
Existing dinosaurs built during the previous round may be dismantled or kept as a starting dinosaur for the current build phase.
Players build dinosaurs using bones in their pile, along with those collected during previous rounds. There is no requirement to create a dinosaur of any specific shape, as long as it has at least the following parts:
- 1 body, which includes both ribs (A) and spine (B)
- 1 neck (C)
- 1 head (D)
- 1 tail (E)
- 2 limbs (F)
Additionally, dinosaurs may, but are not required to contain
- unique bones (G)
- wild bones (H)
All of the bones in a player's possession must be used when building a dinosaur. None may be left over when the dinosaur is complete.
Ribs (A) and Spine (B)
The ribs and spine are two groups of green bones that form the center of the dinosaur. The spine is a single line of green bones that connect the neck to the tail. The spine must have at least one green bone.
The ribs are placed below the spine. There must be at least one rib.
Neck (C)
The neck is a single line of yellow bones connecting the right-most side of the spine to the head. The neck must have at least one bone.
Head (D)
The head contains a single grouping of green bones connected to the right side of the neck. The size and shape of the head is up to each player, but it must contain at least one bone.
Tail (E)
The tail is a single line of yellow bones connected to the left end of the spine. It must contain at least one bone.
Limbs (F)
The dinosaur must contain exactly two limbs, each of which is a separate group of red bones. Each limb must contain at least one bone. The limbs must not touch each other. Limbs may be connected anywhere on the dinosaur.
Unique Bones (G)
Unique bones can be placed on a dinosaur any way the player wants, provided they are on the outside. They cannot make connections between body parts (i.e. head to neck, spine to tail, etc.).
Unique bones add 'flair' to the dinosaur - things like horns, wings, fins, extra limbs or whatever the imagination can conjure!
When scoring during the exhibit phase, unique bones are only used when scoring the unique category. They do not count toward scoring any other category.
Wild Bones (H)
Wild bones are special in that they 'change color' to match whatever color bone they are touching. A single wild bone can only touch bones of one other color, and is considered a bone of that body part when it is scored. Wild bones cannot touch each other.
Dinosaur Bonus Cards
When building their dinosaurs, players should consider their dinosaur bonus cards. These cards are scored at the end of each round and can give players an extra boost.
In order to score a dinosaur bonus card, the parts of a player's dinosaur that are shown on the card must match the card exactly; the dinosaur can contain no more or fewer bones than are shown for the body part(s) on the card. Wild bones may be used to complete the bonus card.
Players should keep in mind the bones they need to collect during the field phase, so that they have the bones available to build a dinosaur that matches their bonus cards. They should also remember that all bones must be used when building their dinosaur.
Information on scoring bonus cards can be found under the Exhibit Phase.
Dinosaur Anatomy key: Head — group attached to neck. Spine — single line between neck and tail. Neck — single line between head and spine. Ribs — group below the spine. Limbs — must have two limbs. Unique — place anywhere. Wild — may only touch one color.
Example: In this example, Tim used a wild bone to match the Edaphosaurus card.
Exhibit Phase
Move the black phase tracking cube to the Exhibit space. During the exhibit phase, players reveal their dinosaurs and score points based on various museum categories.
After all players have completed building their dinosaurs, the screens are placed aside. Then one player announces each museum category and each player determines the number of bones their dinosaur has in that category. The museum categories are:
- Size: The number of rib bones
- Height: The number of bones in the largest limb plus the number of bones in the neck
- Length: The number of bones in the tail plus the number of bones in the spine
- Ferocity: The number of bones in the smallest limb plus the number of bones in the head
- Uniqueness: The number of unique bones
The player with the most bones in a category scores points equal to the left-most value on the museum categories score track on the row that the green dinosaur token is on for that category. The player with the second-most bones in that category scores the points shown in the second column. NOTE: the third scoring column is only used if there are four or more players. Points are scored by moving the player's scoring token around the scoring track on the outside of the game board.
For example, the green dinosaur token is on the third row of the Height museum category, where the scores are 10, 7 and 4. Height is neck plus biggest limb. Karl's dinosaur has five neck bones. Its biggest limb has four bones so his height score in height is 5 + 4 = 9. Nine bones is more than any other player has in the Height category, so Karl moves his scoring token 10 spaces.
Ties
Ties in The Great Dinosaur Rush are friendly. This means that when two or more players have the same bone count in a category, they all score the points for that place, and the next player(s) would score the next scoring level.
Scoring Dinosaur Bonus Cards
After scoring in the various museum categories, players can gain points for any dinosaur bonus cards they completed. Players reveal their completed cards, and score the number shown in the top right corner.
The parts of the dinosaur shown on the card must match exactly to score. They must:
- Have the same number of bones. Wild bones may be used.
- Be built in the same configuration.
Dinosaur bonus cards are discarded after scoring.
End of Round
After scoring has completed, adjust the black cubes on the game board as follows:
- At the end of round 1, move all museum category markers up two spaces toward the top (fewer points). Move the black phase tracking cube to the Field Phase 1 of the next round.
- At the end of round 2, move all museum category markers up one space toward the top (fewer points). Move the black phase tracking cube to the Field Phase 1 of the next round.
End of Game
After scoring for museum categories and dinosaur bonus cards during the third round, players reveal their Notoriety tokens and announce their total value. Each dinosaur bonus card that was not completed counts as three Notoriety points for the player.
The player with the highest Notoriety value subtracts that value from their score. All other players add their Notoriety to their score. If there is a tie for the most Notoriety, then all players add their Notoriety to their score.
The player with the highest final score wins! In case of a tie, the player with the lowest Notoriety among the tied players wins. If there is still a tie, those players share the victory.
Variant Rules
Try the two-player variant or the family rules for a simpler, gentler game.
Two-Player Variant
This version is identical to the three-player game, with the following changes:
Setup Changes: All museum categories start at the second level
Exhibit Phase: During the exhibit phase, the winner in a museum category scores for first place. The other player scores for second place in that category only if they are within two bones of the winner. If they are within four bones of the winner, they score third place, otherwise they score nothing in that category.
Game End: The player with the most Notoriety subtracts the difference between both players' Notoriety totals from their score. For instance, if one player has eight Notoriety and the other has five, then the player with eight Notoriety subtracts three from his score.
Family Variant
Players do not gain Notoriety in the family version of the game, and Notoriety does not affect players' scores.
Setup: Give a Family Actions card to each player during game setup.
Field Phase: Use the actions listed on the Family Actions card instead of the ones on the player screens. As mentioned, there are no Notorious actions in the family game. The Publicize, Donate and Research actions from the basic game are used in the family variant, as well as a new action, Survey:
Survey: Move paleontologist a second time. Do not collect bones as part of the second move.
Credits
Game Design: Scott Almes
Art: Mr. Cuddington
Graphic Design: Paul Tseng, Daniel Solis
Development: Jonathan Madison, Shawn Macleod
Production: Kevin Brusky and APE Games