T-Rex
T-Rex Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 85 Dinosaur cards
- 5 Trump cards
- 30 Dinosaur egg cards
- 3 Cards with rule summary
- 9 Cards with these rules
Goal
The goal is to collect the most points in dinosaur egg cards in 12 rounds. Each turn, the players play a dinosaur card face up trying to win one of the two dinosaur egg cards being offered this round.
Preparation
Shuffle the dinosaur egg cards face down and divide them into two decks of 15 cards each. Draw the topmost card in each deck and place it face up on the table.
Shuffle the 5 trump cards, draw two of them and place them on the table, one over the other in a cross. Set the remaining 3 trump cards aside and face down for now.
Sort the dinosaur cards into 5 sets of 17 cards each based on the illustration on their backs. Each player takes a set and each player's set is the same as the others except for the illustrations on the backs of the cards. When playing with fewer than 5 players, return the unused sets to the box. Each player shuffles his set, puts them face down in a deck and draws the top 7 cards for his starting hand.
Playing cards
The oldest player begins and places one card from his hand face up on the table. Play continues in clockwise order with the other players also placing a single card each face up on the table. When a player, in his turn, plays a subsequent card, he places it so that it covers the previous card. For scoring purposes, only the player's topmost card is counted.
The trump cards
The trump cards rank the order of the colors. Example: if yellow is placed over green in the cross, yellow is the highest color and green the lowest for this round. Red, blue and brown lie in between, but do not have an order among them. The red 6 is, thus, higher than green 13 and yellow 12 would be the highest card. The color may be changed after each round.
The dinosaur card sets
Each player has 3 cards in each of the 5 colors and will have cards numbered 1 to 15 and two special cards. The combination of numbers and colors is shown below. Each of the 15 "normal" cards has a symbol on it. These are:
- Draw symbol (1-3 cards): indicates that the player draws the number of cards shown from his face down deck, placing them in his hand. When his deck is exhausted, the player draws no more cards. Nine of the cards have these symbols.
- Meteor symbol: signals the beginning of the last turn of playing cards prior to distributing the two eggs. Each player, including the player who played the meteor, plays one more card in normal turn order. If, however, a player plays a meteor card with a higher number than the previous meteor card, the set of final turns resets and will end with the player who just played the higher-valued meteor. This final set of turns can be extended again and again as the players play increasingly higher meteor cards. The round will end when all players have had a "final" turn with no higher meteor cards being played. Six of the cards have meteor symbols.
The two special cards in each set are:
- Chamaelosaurus: is a new breed created for this game. No fossil record of this creature has yet been found. As the name suggests, the Chamaelosaurus takes the color and number of the dinosaur card it is played on. It does not, however, take the symbol of that card. Place the Chamaelosaurus card crosswise to the card stack so that the color and number of the card beneath it can be seen.
- Meteor shower: is considered the highest numbered meteor card. As with the "normal" meteor cards, it signals the beginning of the last turn of playing cards prior to distributing the two eggs. The final set of turns can be reset by any other player's Meteor shower card, however. Place the Meteor shower card crosswise to the card stack so that it may be easily found later.
The distribution of the 15 number cards:
| Color | Values |
|---|---|
| Red | 1, 6, 11 |
| Yellow | 2, 7, 12 |
| Green | 3, 8, 13 |
| Blue | 4, 9, 14 |
| Brown | 5, 10, 15 |
Allocating the eggs
A round ends when the player who put the highest meteor card plays another card. In determining which player gets the eggs, only the topmost card in each player's stack of played cards is considered. The player with the highest-valued card, considering number and color takes the egg of his choice from the two face-up eggs. Next, the player with the second highest-valued card takes the remaining face-up egg.
Source note: the printed rules read "the player who put the highest comet card"; "comet" is taken to mean the meteor card, as in the rest of the rules.
Discarding
Each player must now discard one card from the game. The player may discard either the topmost card from his stack of played cards or the topmost card of his face down deck. If the face down deck has been depleted, the player must discard the top card from his stack of played cards. If, however, the player played his Meteor shower card, he must choose this card to discard, even if it is no longer on the top of his stack of played cards.
The players now take any remaining cards from their stack of played cards and place them face down on the bottom of their face down deck. They are placed there without changing their order or the order of the face down deck.
Changing the trumps
The player with the lowest card on his stack of played cards may change one of the two trump cards. He may exchange any of the three unused trump cards with either of the two face-up trump cards. In this way, he changes either the high or low trump. He may not exchange the two face-up trump cards with each other.
The next round
The player with the lowest card on his stack of played cards begins the new round by playing a card to his stack of played cards. The others play as in the previous round until the round ends as before.
Example round
The trumps in play are brown (low) and blue (high). Anna, as the oldest player begins and plays yellow 6 (with the symbol of 2 cards) on the table to start her stack of played cards. She then draws the top two cards from her face down deck, adding them to her hand. Brian plays blue 7 (with a meteor symbol), thus beginning the last turn for this round. Carol plays brown eight (with the symbol of 3 cards) and draws 3 cards. Nick sees the end of the round approaching and, wanting one of the eggs, plays blue 12 (with the symbol of 2 cards) and draws 2 cards. It is Anna's turn again and, having no high blue cards, she plays a brown 3 (with a meteor symbol) to try to have the lowest card for the round. Since this meteor card has a lower value than the previous, it does not extend the round. Brian, as the last to play in the round, plays his blue 12 (with the symbol of 2 cards) and draws 2 cards, ending the round.
The eggs are distributed as follows: Nick and Brian tie with the highest card (blue 12). The tie is broken in favor of the later card played. Thus, Brian wins and gets first choice of the two eggs. Nick is second, having lost the tie-breaker with Brian, and takes the second egg. All four players now choose a card to discard. It must either be the topmost card on their face-down deck or the topmost card on the stack of played cards. Brian chooses first, then Nick, Carol, and, finally Anna, who had the lowest card. As Anna has the lowest card (brown 3), she may change one of the two face-up trump cards. As she has several yellow cards in her hand, she exchanges the yellow trump for the blue, making yellow the highest color for the next round.
The round is over and two new dinosaur eggs are drawn and placed face-up on the table. Anna will begin the next round.
Suppose, however, that Anna had played blue 7 (with a meteor symbol) instead of brown 3. Her blue 7 meteor is "higher" than Brian's because it is later. Thus, she has extended the round. The round continues with Brian playing blue 12 and drawing 2 cards. Carol removes herself from the fight for eggs, playing yellow 1, and draws a card. Nick plays his Chamaelosaurus, placing it crosswise over his blue 12. Since this was played later than Brian's blue 12, it will be higher. Anna, as the last to play, plays her blue 12, draws 2 cards, and ends the round.
The eggs are distributed as follows: Three players are tied for highest with blue 12. Anna wins because hers was played last. She takes the egg of her choice from the two face-up on the table. Nick's Chamaelosaurus makes his blue 12 the second highest and he takes the other egg. The players discard one card each as before, but this time Anna is first, followed by Nick, Brian, and Carol. Carol now has the opportunity to change the trump. Since the other players have all played high blue cards, she decides to make no change, leaving blue as the highest color and hoping that her blue cards can win her an egg in the next round, which she now starts.
Game end and scoring
The game ends after 12 rounds (each player will have just 5 cards left). The players score based on the eggs they have collected. Each egg is worth one point. However, if a player has collected several eggs of the same color, his score for that color is the number of eggs he collected squared. Thus, if Anna collects 3 green eggs (to go with her ham), she scores 9 points (3 x 3) for the green eggs. The player's total score is the sum of the scores for each color he has collected. The player with the highest sum is the winner. If players tie for highest sum, the tying players sum the numbers on their remaining dinosaur cards. The player among them with the highest sum is the winner. For example: Anna collects 1 blue egg (1 point), 2 green eggs (2x2=4 points) and 4 red eggs (4x4=16 points). Her total score is 1+4+16 = 21 points.
Questions and answers
Which card is the highest? The card with the highest value in the color of the high trump. If no cards in that color are being considered, it is the card with the highest value from the three colors that are not trump this round. Cards of the low trump are always considered the lowest cards. If two cards tie for highest value, the card played later is higher.
Which card is the lowest? The card with the lowest value in the color of the low trump. If no cards in that color are being considered, it is the card with the lowest value from the three colors that are not trump this round. Cards of the high trump are always considered the highest cards. If two cards tie for lowest value, the card played earlier is higher.
What occurs when a round ends and everyone played the same card? The card played last is the highest and the card played earliest is the lowest.
May several Meteor shower cards be played in a round? Yes. The card played last is the highest.
May several Chamaelosaurus cards be played in a round? Yes.
May one play Meteor shower as the first card? Yes.
May one play the Chamaelosaurus as the first card? Yes, but it will have no value.
May one play the Chamaelosaurus on the Meteor shower card? Yes, but the Meteor shower has a value of 0 so the Chamaelosaurus takes this value. Thus, this would count as the lowest card at the end of a round.
What occurs when a player has no cards in his hand and it is his turn to play a card? He draws the top card from his face-down deck and plays it.