Dinosaur Island Rawr n’ Write Review — Get ready to create life

Dinosaur Island Rawr n’ Write is one of the best, if not the best, roll-and-write games I have ever played. If you like roll-and-write games, this one is a must-have. I am a huge fan of Jurassic Park, and I love everything about dinosaurs, and this game perfectly emulates that feeling. Before I dive into this review, I have to state that I purchased this game myself; this is not a review copy.

What’s in the Box? 

Inside the box you get: 

• A cardboard game board. 
• 10 AI cards for solo play. 
• A red dice bag and 10 dice. 
• 1 Seasonal Marker.
• 1 First Player Marker. 
• 2 Park Pad sheets. 
• 20 Specialist cards. 
• 20 Building cards. 
• The rulebook. 

Everything inside of the box is well-made and will hold together through multiple play sessions. At least at first, as I continue playing and writing this article, the rulebook is falling apart. The staples are not holding things together well enough. The cards are not flimsy and they’re extremely easy to read. This is important because the cards are how you score. 

Setting up the game is easy, the whole setup minus the pads can be seen in the photo above. I am set up for a Solo Game: The solo rules are included in the back of the rulebook and they work flawlessly. The whole game takes up the space of a table depending on how you like to set your pads up, draw on my lap so they’re not pictured here. 

Playing the Game 

I play Dinosaur Island in Solo Mode and will continue to do so for a while. It has one of the best solo rule variants I have ever seen. The Solo Mode is simply spectacular. You play against a simulated opponent, and the goal is to see how high you can score. This involves some setup changes, such as removing the Petting Zoo building card as well as the Insider card and Chaos Theroist card. You have to use the two-player side of the game board and bring out the AI card deck. 

Solo Mode follows the same structure as the standard game, so make sure to read those rules first. Now, during each Action Phase, before drafting dice, you have to draw a Solo Card and follow the instructions. 

Once you figure out what Game Variant you want to play (more on this below) you get set up and go through the rulebook. Dinosaur Island is not a light game. The rulebook is 23 pages and is full from page to page with rules and tips. I will not cover every rule here, but there are some game mechanics that I want to call attention to.

Creating your park is easy and fun with a hint of strategy, especially against the AI opponent as you shoot for a higher score. In the image above, you’ll see an example of an incomplete park pad. To create your park, you have to extract DNA to create dinosaurs, build buildings, and create roads. You’re allowed to twist the shapes you build, but they can never be touching each other. Furthermore, to run the dinosaur tour you need to have roads. The dinosaur tour is one of the bigger goals for the game, it gives a lot of Excitement and VP. You use the different cards to get buildings to build (like the Pterosaur Aviary seen above.) You also get cards that give you other benefits such as the Paramedic. 

The dinosaur tour runs along a route that follows a couple of key rules. The tour must start at your HQ and it may end at any Building or at any Park Exit that is not circled. Your park tour may only travel through connecting Roads and Buildings; it can’t travel through empty squares and your tour may never backtrack. The dinosaur tours are my favorite mechanic because they force you to consider how your park is laid out. You can never gain Excitement from the same building twice when it has been marked.

The dice drafting is fluid too. During the drafting phase, you must put the dice in the bag and shake it. After that, you draft them and pick them depending on how many players you have. The amount of dice you draft changes slightly if you’re playing solo. On the dice you’ll find various actions: But the reason I want to call attention to this is twofold. One, the dice are amazing; they roll great and feel fantastic as the graphics on the dice are also extremely easy to read. Second, the dice are tied to gaining resources and Threat. I like the randomness, especially because the DNA on the dice is how you make dinosaurs in the first place. 

Finally, I want to take a second to talk about how the game is scored. At the end of the 3rd season of the game, each player has to fill in the final scoring area on their sheet. Your goal is to be the player with the highest VP, this is why running the dinosaur tours is so important. I like the scoring because even during a solo game it never feels like winning the game is out of your reach.

I am obsessed with Game Variants

The Game Variants should not be used until you have a handle on the rules. The first Game Variant is called Dice Blocking: In this variant, you’ll be having a more competitive game. You can only place dice on the occupied action space if your die has more threat than the occupying die. Essentially you can block your opponent from using their dice. You can not use this variant in Solo Mode. 

Specialist & Building Draft is my favorite variant. These rules allow you to draft Specialist and Building cards individually, instead of drawing a set of public cards at setup. You have to include all of the Expert Specialist and Building cards. To do this in Solo Mode you follow the instructions as they’re presented. It makes Solo a lot more difficult, I lost 5 games doing this but I find it to be extremely enjoyable.

Final Thoughts 

Dinosaur Island Rawr n’ Write has quickly become one of my favorite solo games that I have gotten to play this year. I simply adore the theme because the game designers captured the fun of building a dinosaur park amazingly. The biggest downside is the rulebook, mine is falling apart and will be stapled again, it does not stand the test of time when it comes to being opened too much. If you like roll and write games Dinosaur Island is a must-have.