Original Gameplay
Basics:
Mechanic: Race to the Finish
Theme: The extinction of the dinosaurs
Players: 2-8
Time to create: 10 minutes to create the concept, and another 5 minutes in tweeking
Materials:
1 6-sided die (d6)
8 dinosaur playing pieces
8 extinction tokens each matching a playing piece
Circular Board
1 Wasteland tile
Rules:
You are a dinosaur facing extinction. In order to survive you must keep moving forward in the search for water and food.
Behind you, the land is becoming a wasteland. You have nowhere to turn back to now.
Choose a player to go first. Play will continue in a clock-wise direction.
Place all player pieces and the wastland tile on the starting point.
Each player must place their matching token on the "safe" area of the given Extinction Box on the board.
Each turn a player must roll the d6 and move forward that amount of spaces.
At the end of each round, the wasteland tile is moved forward a set number of spaces, dependent on the number of rounds which have passed as stated below.
Round 1-2: Moves 2 Spaces
Round 3-6: Moves 5 Spaces
Round 7-11: Moves 8 Spaces
Round 12-17: Moves 11 Spaces
Round 18+: Moves 15 Spaces
All spaces before the wasteland tile have become an unlivable wasteland.
Players have 2 turns to escape the wasteland until they pass the Evo zone, where players are granted an extra turn to escape for the remainder of the game.
Each time a player finds themselves in the wasteland, they must move their dinosaur token up one square in the Extinction Box.
After every round that a player finds themselves still stuck in the wasteland, they must move their token up another square in the Extinction Box.
If a player is unable to escape the wasteland, they have become extinct.
Winning:
The first player to reach the waterhole at the center of the board wins.
If no players are able to reach the waterhole, the player to travel the furthest on the board wins.
Additions:
The Board
Materials
Comments (11)
Robert Polzin said
at 1:23 pm on Jun 30, 2009
What happens if two players meet each other on a tile? It would be interesting to see if some conflict begins between the dinosaurs (possibly optional). This could give a whole new level of play to the game. Say you create several different types of dinosaurs too with different abilities for the players to choose from or select randomly. Say you have a T-Rex with the ability of like +1 to a dice roll to attack another dinosaur he encounters on the board. Or a pterodactyl that has the ability to avoid fights at all by flying away.
Granted this may be a bit hard to implement with this game - as each player seems to have the same starting point. I still think the idea of giving a variety of dinosaurs different special abilities based on their species would be an interesting and possibly semi-educational feature to the game.
CalaveraX said
at 1:35 pm on Jun 30, 2009
That was a nice idea! DinoWars! you could create a Set of Dinosaurs with diferent attributes, give them some "point costs" and the players init with X amount of points to spend y the dinosaurs (like Heroclix, anyone know that game?)
and so you can add some penalty slots, like " a petrol pit " wich make you lose a turn, or something like that. it could give to your game some new gamplay as Robert Says.
Cheers! and Nice Game!
jason@greenodesign.com said
at 1:37 pm on Jun 30, 2009
Continuing with the idea of varied dinosaurs, you could have certain spaces represent an Evolutionary epoch(?). When you evolve you get to choose an ability like: Flight, Amphibious, Claws, Tail, Thick Hide, etc. Then you get to make your own dinosaur!
CalaveraX said
at 1:40 pm on Jun 30, 2009
i think with respect to jason idea, the game is like a fast gameplay, what you could do, is when finish the game, give to players the chance to Upgrade their dinosaur for the next game, so, like a D&D character you can build you character and use it to variuos games :D
cheers!
Leana Galiel said
at 1:43 pm on Jun 30, 2009
oo I like the idea of attributes. Also, thinking about it, there needs to be something for players to do once they become extinct. maybe if I added penalty tiles? players who are extinct are allowed to place one penalty tile together at the end of each round (only one tile can be placed each round); or players are each allowed to play a penalty tile every say 2-3 turns. what do people think?
Leana Galiel said
at 1:48 pm on Jun 30, 2009
in response to evolution: that is a possibility at the safe point, maybe instead of everyone gaining an extra turn to survive, each player must choose a different attribute. the first player to reach the safe point gets first pick, the second picks from what is left, and so forth. so instead of players starting off with attributes, they gain them when they evolve. these attributes could be a help to you or a hinder to others, like increased movement for yourself, or another could be the ability to trap another player for a round.
jason@greenodesign.com said
at 1:50 pm on Jun 30, 2009
Alright, now where is our virtual game table to test these out?!
Leana Galiel said
at 1:55 pm on Jun 30, 2009
haha if I knew enough programming to make a little multiplayer boardgame online I would...i can make a quick board in photoshop though :D
CalaveraX said
at 2:14 pm on Jun 30, 2009
i can help you programming xD i'm studing for Video Games Programmer, and i'm in the last year of study xD
Leana Galiel said
at 2:25 pm on Jun 30, 2009
hmm if we could set it up so people could play at the same time, I can host it on my website, and we could all playtest it...the possibilities. I'm adding a quick board design to my post now.
Robert Polzin said
at 4:04 pm on Jun 30, 2009
Haha. Let us know how it goes.
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