How to Play Dinosaur World

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place Central Islands

Position the 3 Central Island boards in the middle of the table

Prepare Attraction tiles

Divide the 16 Attraction tiles into 4 stacks by type and place each stack faceup on the appropriate space of the Attraction Island

Prepare Special Building tiles

Divide the 30 Special Building tiles into 3 stacks by letter (A, B, or C), shuffle each facedown, then layer them with C on bottom, B in middle, and A on top

Prepare Dino Paddock tiles

Shuffle all 17 Dino Paddock tiles together, place the stack facedown in the slot at the bottom of the Dino Paddock Island, then reveal 3 tiles faceup

Create general supply piles

Set up public supply piles for Workers (6 colors), Dino Meeples (17 types), Coins (3 denominations), Death tokens (3 denominations), Boredom tokens, Excess Security/Threat/VP tokens, and Danger dice

Place Worker Database cards

Shuffle the Worker Database cards and place them in a facedown stack

Set up Public Notice board

Place the Public Notice board near the Central Islands with the Round marker on the "1" space of the Round Track

Prepare DNA dice

Place all 9 DNA dice in the dice bag

Set up Objectives

Divide Objective cards into 3 stacks by letter (A, B, or C), shuffle each stack separately, reveal 1 Objective from each stack faceup, and return all other Objectives to the game box

Choose player pieces

Each player chooses a color and takes 1 Lab board, 1 Park board, 1 Welcome Center, 1 Jeeple, 5 Jeeple Bonus tokens, 5 Route tokens, 3 Objective markers, and 12 Resource markers

Determine first player

The player who most recently trained a raptor to respond to hand signals is the first player and receives the first player marker

Establish Turn Order

Place the first player's Resource marker on the first space of the Turn Order track, then each other player in clockwise order

Place Lab board markers

Place 1 marker at "2" on each basic DNA track, 1 marker at "1" on each advanced DNA track, 1 marker at "0" on the Security track, 1 marker at "0" on the Threat track, and 1 marker at bottom of Jeeple Upgrade track

Place Public Notice markers

Place 1 marker at "0" on the VP track and 1 marker at "0" on the Excitement track

Position Objective markers

Place your 3 Objective markers near the Objective cards

Place Welcome Center

Place your Welcome Center tile (with the "Welcome Center" side faceup) in the middle slot of your Park board

Position Jeeple

Place your Jeeple on your Welcome Center

Set up Route tokens

Place 2 Route tokens next to your board, then place the remaining 3 tokens on zones marked "3," "4," and "5" on your Jeeple Upgrade track

Select starting Jeeple Bonus

Choose one of your Jeeple Bonus tokens, place it in the first slot on your Jeeple Upgrade track, and immediately gain that bonus

Receive starting Coins

Take Coins from the supply: 1st player gets 8, 2nd player gets 9, 3rd player gets 10, 4th player gets 11

Deal starting tiles

Reveal tiles from the Special Buildings stack equal to the number of players plus 1, then reveal the same number from the Dino Paddocks stack

Draft first tile

Starting with the first player and proceeding in Turn Order, each player drafts 1 tile of their choice from the pool

Draft second tile

Starting with the last player and proceeding in reverse Turn Order, each player drafts a 2nd tile of the opposite type (if your first tile was a Dino Paddock, you must pick a Special Building)

Place drafted tiles

Each player adds both drafted tiles to their Park at no cost, touching any side of the 4 available edges of their Welcome Center tile

Discard leftover tiles

Place the leftover Paddock and Special Building in separate discard piles near the appropriate stacks

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Complete all five phases

Each Round is made up of 5 phases: Hire Workers, Public Actions, Private Actions, Jeeple Tour, and Income & Cleanup

Finish each phase together

All players must complete each phase before any player moves on to the next phase

Reveal Worker cards

Reveal Worker Database cards from the deck equal to the number of players plus 1

Select Workers

In Turn Order, each player selects one of the available Worker Database cards and takes the Workers shown on the card from the general supply

Discard remaining cards

Place all Worker Database cards that were dealt in a discard pile next to the deck

Draw DNA dice

Draw a number of random DNA dice from the dice bag equal to the number of players plus 2, roll them, and place them on the Gather DNA spaces on the Central Islands

Take turns performing actions

In Turn Order, players take turns performing 1 public action from the available options; any Workers or Coins spent are returned to the general supply

Pass when desired

If you do not want to take a public action, you may instead pass and skip the rest of this phase

Continue until all pass

Players continue taking turns until everyone has passed, then return all DNA dice to the bag

Gather DNA

Select a single DNA die from the pool and spend 1-3 Workers of any color to gain all DNA icons on the selected die, multiplied by the number of Workers you spend

Build a Dino Paddock

Choose a Dino Paddock tile from the Island and spend 2 Workers of any color (or 1 Administrator) plus the Coin cost printed on the tile to purchase it

Build an Attraction

Choose one of the 4 available Attraction tiles and pay the Coin cost printed on it to immediately place it in your Park

Build a Special Building

Choose a Special Building tile from the Island and spend 1 Worker of any color plus the Coin cost printed on the tile to immediately place it in your Park

Place immediately

You must place each tile immediately after you purchase it

Maintain adjacency

Each tile you place must be adjacent (along an edge) to at least 1 other tile in your Park

Separate Dino Paddocks

Dino Paddocks may not be adjacent to each other

Avoid duplicates

You may never have 2 tiles with the exact same name in your Park (including Attractions)

Cannot place, cannot buy

If you cannot legally place a tile, you may not purchase it

Take actions simultaneously

Since private actions only affect your Park, you may take them at the same time as other players, in any order you choose

Place Workers to act

To take a private action, place a Worker on the corresponding action space on your Park board in the next empty slot

Use each action up to 3 times

Since there are 3 slots on each action space, you can use each action up to 3 times each Round

Use any color Worker

You may place Workers of any color on any private action space, though some Worker types have special skills that grant bonuses

DNA Refinement

For each Worker you place here, choose one of the DNA recipes shown and take one action:

VC Funding

For each Worker you place here, gain the number of Coins shown on the slot where you placed the Worker (each subsequent slot gives 1 less Coin)

Security

For each Worker you place here, spend Coins to advance the marker on your Security track by 1 space (the cost is the number of Coins printed in the zone you advance to)

Jeeple Garage

For each Worker you place here, spend Coins to advance the marker on your Jeeple Upgrade track by 1 space (the cost is the number of Coins printed in the zone you advance to)

Make Dinosaurs

For each Worker you place here, choose a tile in your Park that has at least 1 empty Dino slot and spend DNA to make 1 Dino there

Scientist bonus

When gathering DNA, gain +1 DNA of any type; when refining DNA, gain 1 basic DNA of your choice after you combine or split

Administrator bonus

When building a Dinosaur Paddock, you do not need to spend a 2nd Worker; when raising VC funding, gain an additional 1 Coin

Security Worker bonus

When increasing Security, pay 1 less Coin

Park Ranger bonus

When upgrading your Jeeple, pay 1 less Coin

Start at Welcome Center

Your Jeeple Tour always starts at your Welcome Center (or your Park Entrance in Round 4 or later)

Move up to your Route limit

The total distance your Jeeple may move equals the number of Route tokens you have unlocked

Move to adjacent tiles

Each time you move your Jeeple, you may move it to any adjacent tile in any direction

Mark your path

After you move, place one of your available Route tokens on the tile that you just exited to track your route

No backtracking

Once you've placed a token on a tile, you can't return there for the rest of your Tour

Activate tiles optionally

Each time your Jeeple enters a tile, you may choose to activate the tile by spending the required Workers and/or resources

End your Tour

When you place your last available Route token, your Tour has reached its last stop; you may activate the current tile, then must end your Tour

Place required Workers

Each Special Building and Attraction has one or more Worker slots showing a specific Worker type; to activate, you must place at least 1 Worker of the indicated type

Gain or spend Excitement

Gain Excitement equal to the Excitement value printed at the bottom of the tile, minus the value on the Boredom token (if there is one)

Increase Boredom

If there is no Boredom token on the tile, place one there with a "1" showing; if there is already a Boredom token present, increase its value by 1

Take the tile's action

Once you have placed a Worker and paid any costs, you may take the action printed on the tile; if you placed more than one Worker, you may use the action once per Worker you placed

No Worker required

Dino Paddocks do not require a Worker to activate, but there must be at least 1 Dino present to activate it

Calculate Excitement

Add together the Excitement values for each slot that has been filled, then subtract the value on the Boredom token (if there is one)

Increase Boredom

If there is no Boredom token on the tile, place one there with a "1" showing; if there is already a Boredom token present, increase its value by 1

Make a Danger roll

Find the Danger die that corresponds to the Dinosaur's type (Herbivore, Small Carnivore, or Large Carnivore) and roll it once; for each skull icon you roll, gain 1 Death token

Skip activation

You may choose not to activate a tile when you move your Jeeple there

No Excitement or Boredom

In this case, you do not gain Excitement, increase Boredom, or roll a Danger die

Still mark movement

You must still place a Route token to show you have expended movement

Return Jeeple and Route tokens

Move your Jeeple back to your Welcome Center (or Park Entrance if you have one), remove all Route tokens and place them next to your Lab Board

Gain Jeeple Bonuses

Gain the benefits of all Jeeple Bonus tokens you have slotted into your Jeeple Upgrade track (including any tokens you slotted earlier this Round)

Collect Coin income

Collect the number of Coins shown on your current space on the Excitement track

Reset Excitement

Move your Excitement marker back to the "0" space

Return Workers

Return all Workers placed in your Park to the general supply (you may save any unused Workers for the next Round)

Evaluate Threat

Compare your Threat track and Security track; if you have more Threat than Security, gain Death tokens equal to the amount by which your Threat exceeds your Security

Cleanup Central Islands

Return all leftover DNA dice to the bag, discard 2 Dinosaur Paddock tiles from the end of the track, and discard 2 Special Building tiles from the end of the track (3 tiles if playing with 2 players)

Adjust Turn Order

Re-order the player markers on the Turn Order track from the player with the fewest VP (first) to the player with the most VP (last); if there is a tie, the tied player who was previously later in Turn Order moves ahead

Advance Round marker

Move the Round marker forward to the next-numbered Round space; if it reaches the END space, the game immediately ends

Replace Welcome Center

At the end of Round 3, when the Round marker advances, all players replace their Welcome Center with a new Park Entrance

Flip and relocate

Pick up your Welcome Center tile, flip it to the "Park Entrance" side, then place it in a new location in your Park that is at least 3 spaces away from its previous location

Start Tours from new location

From now on, your Jeeple Tour always starts at your Park Entrance

Score at any time

Objective cards can be scored at any time during a Round; when you complete an objective, place one of your Objective markers on the card in the first empty slot

Score VP immediately

Immediately score the VP printed on the slot where you placed your marker

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