Paleodinos

Whistling winds and flecks of sand graze your cheeks as your rock hammer strikes into the hard ground. You repeatedly lift it and drive it into the dirt until it hits something solid. You’ve found what you were looking for.

It’s always been your dream to be a paleontologist, and now that dream has come true. You’re out in the field at one of six dig sites, fossil after fossil being excavated. You’ll need to hurry and excavate what you can though as there are others there too, and with limited supplies at each dig site, you’ll need to strategize which fossils you want to excavate and send back to the museum, and which you’ll to donate to science.

Paleodinos is light-weight, real-time gateway game where you play as a paleontologist, collecting tools and excavating fossils from six different dig sites.

Send fossils back to your affiliated museum or donate them to attract guests to your museum. Collect the full fossils for a dinosaur and complete an exhibit to draw in even more guests. Manage your resources and select which dig site to occupy wisely or risk missing out on the fossil that you need to complete your exhibit. Attract the most guests to your affiliated museum for you to gain world renowned status in paleontology.

• 1 Game Board & Tool Box
• 5 Museum Platforms
• 1 Bag
• 40 Fossil Tiles
• 75 Guest Meeples
• 5 Meeples
• 30 Player Cards (6 each)
• 1 Tool Die
• 45 Tools (15 each)

1. Place the Game Board in the center of the play area, inserting the Dig Site Signs into their designated slots.
2. Attach the Tool Box to the Game Board if it isn’t already attached and separate the Rock Hammers, Brushes, and Chisels.
3. Place the Bag of Fossil Tiles, the Guest Meeples, and the Tool Die off to the side of the Game Board.
4. Randomly draw 6 Fossil Tiles from the Bag and place them on the Game Board in the designated slots at the 6 Dig Sites.
5. Distribute the Museum Platforms, the Player Cards, the Meeples, and 1 of each Tool to each player.
6. Players will randomly select a Player Card and reveal its number. The player with the highest number goes first with player order continuing clockwise. In player order, players will then place their Meeple on the Game Board at any of the unoccupied Dig Sites. Player order is only relevant in setup and ties are broken by players continuing to reveal cards until one has the higher number.

Paleodinos is a real-time game where players’ turns are taken simultaneously. Rounds consist of 3 Phases which can be remembered by the acronym, “DIG” for Dice Roll, Investigate, and Go.

Phase 1: Dice Roll

A player will roll the Tool Die which will show the number of tools players may receive that Round. The type of tool that players may receive is determined by which Dig Site their Meeple is currently occupying and shown on the sign next to the Dig Site Sign. Starting from Dig Site 1, and continuing in numerical order, players will gather their tools from the Tool Box. If the supply of a certain tool runs out or there are not enough tools of that type to distribute to players occupying a Dig Site, players will not collect that turn and are therefore advised to take tool count into consideration in the Go Phase.

Phase 2: Investigate

After players have gathered their tools, they may simultaneously investigate the Dig Site that they are currently occupying to see if fossil excavation is possible. To do this, the player would check the bottom right-hand corner of the Fossil Tile at the Dig Site that they are currently occupying and check to see if they have the required tools to excavate.

If players have the necessary tools in hand, they may excavate the fossil and return used tools to the Tool Box. They may then choose to place that Fossil Tile in one of the slots in their Museum Platform or donate it to science, placing it off to the side, and discarding it from the game. After doing so, the player would then add the number of Guest Meeples indicated on the Fossil Tile that they excavated to their museum.

Completed fossils with a head, torso, and tail of the same dinosaur add 1 additional Guest Meeple to their museum, however, players may only collect a total of 3 different types of dinosaur fossils, each with 1 head, 1 torso, and 1 tail each. Any fossils excavated that cannot be placed will be donated.

In the case of multiple players occupying the same Dig Site, players will place the required tools off to the side and secretly bid with their remaining tools. The player who bids the greatest number of tools gets to excavate the fossil and will place all required tools as well as any bid tools back into the Tool Box. Players who were unable to excavate the fossil retain their tools but may not excavate for that Round.

In the event of a tie in bids, tied players will randomly select a Player Card and reveal its number, continuing the process in the case of consecutive ties. The player with the highest number wins the bid.

Players may only excavate once per Round and once all excavations have been completed, randomly draw the number of excavated Fossil Tiles from the Bag and place them on the Game Board in their designated slots.

Phase 3: Go

Once players have finished investigating, they will choose the Dig Site that they would like to occupy in the next Round. To do this, players will secretly select one of their Player Cards and place it face-down in their player area. Once each player has selected a card, players will simultaneously reveal them and move their Meeples to the Dig Site that they chose.

End of the Game

The game will end at the end of the round when either a player welcomes 15 Guest Meeples into their museum, or on the round when the last fossil tile is removed from the bag.

The winner is the player with the highest number of Guest Meeples in their museum. In the case of a tie, the player with the most complete number of dinosaur fossil exhibits is the winner. If the tie persists, share the victory.

Play Paleodinos for free on Tabletop Simulator.

This version, as well as many other Tabletop Simulator mods by Maikai Games may come with a few components that are different from the printed game, however, all components required for playing the game should be included. Please feel free to try out this game as many times as you like, and if you find yourself interested in Paleodinos, we hope that you'll consider adding it to your collection.

Thank you for visiting Paleodinos' page on The Game Crafter.

Paleodinos was created by Maikai Games, an international family from the US and Japan.

With 3 very young children, we strive to create games that are simple to learn and engaging for all members of the family. We also love to mix fun with education and in Paleodinos, we bring players past the exhibits they see in museums, to the very dig sites that fossils are found at, and give the player the experience of excavating their own fossils and adding them to their own exhibits.

Thank you again for taking the time to look at Paleodinos. We hope that you enjoy it and that it makes your game night a memorable one, whether it be with friends or family.

Disclaimer: While Paleodinos may be mechanically playable by children younger than the advertised age, the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) requires that all products manufactured for children under the age of 12 be tested by an independent third party. Please note that Paleodinos has not been tested, nor has it received any certification for it to be manufactured for children under the age of 12.