DODOS RIDING DINOS

Dodino Island needs a new ruler! In order to be crowned a perch on the Dodosaurus Egg-throne your Dodo Bird must team up with a dinosaur and win a grueling race around the island. Compete with your choice of twelve Dodo/Dino teams for the chance to be the next ruler of Dodino Island in this board game from Detestable Games and Draco Studios.

Race through exotic locations in this tabletop game with either meeples or minis while throwing bananas, rolling logs, flicking eggs and hurling meteors at your rivals. Dodos Riding Dinos combines strategic card play and the luck of rolling dice for an entertaining game experience. Plus, the physical interactions of having a meteorite crash into the racecourse, a dino tripping over a banana peel, getting your face full of splattered egg or the tickle of a feather causing one of these mighty dinosaur steads to crash are fun elements to the game that add extra excitement and heckling into the fray.

There are twelve plastic minis of the dinosaur and dodo bird teams that come with the game. Each mini comes in a different color or you can paint them to customize the look of each. If you don't want to have a painted mini damaged by being battered by the wood-based bananas, eggs, feathers, logs and meteorites tossed by players on the game board, then there are also wooden meeples of each dino that can be placed upon the race track instead. 

There are four tracks to choose from each on a sturdy cardboard base:

DODINO ISLAND

The place where Dodos and Dinos live in peace ... but when the island's leader is crushed by a meteor it is now a race to claim the throne of leadership.

BOREAL SKY

Dodinos Island has curious magnetic effects due to its proximity with Polaria. This causes the appearance of large Auroras Borealis that almost touch the ground in clear night skies. Dinos have discovered they can jump in and run across these light bridges in the night sky.

IGNIS VOLCANO

Your Dodo has fallen into Dodino Island's volcano and you must jump into the crater to rescue them. Keep running and avoid burning your legs with the hot volcanic terrain. 

POLARIA ICEBERG

During the winter, it is common to see icebergs near Dodino Island. The strong icy winds make bridges that Dinos sometimes cross to explore these cold lands.

Play each board separately or combine them to make one large competition for the Dodosaurus Egg-throne. Beware that some boards have special hexes to add challenging aspects to the game. For example, beware dangerous shortcuts and deep snow on the Polaria Iceberg! Flame hexes in the Ignis Volcano are difficult to enter but provide some opportunities to burn other players you are racing against.

DINOSAURS OF DODOS RIDING DINOS

The dinosaurs you can race as are:

1) Triceratops - Othniel Charles Marsh

2) Stegosaurus - Othniel Charles Marsh 

3) Tyrannosaurus Rex - Henny Fairfield Osborn

4) Spinosaurus - Ernest Freiherr Stromer Von Reichenbach

5) Compsognathus - Joseph Oberndorfer 

6) Liopleurodon - Harry Govier Seeley

7) Pachycephalosaurus - Barnum Brown

8) Parasauporolophus - William Arthur Parks

9) Velociraptor - Pascal Godefroit

10) Sauropod - Elmer Samuel Riggs

11) Ankylosaurus - Peter Kaisen

12) Pterodactylus - Georges Cuvier

Each dinosaur comes with a Racer Card that has a cartoonish illustration of the dino. Each card includes a Dodo Bird name based upon a paleontologist and a Dino nick name based upon a dinosaur's name or trivia. It also includes special attributes for each dino. For example, Lio the Liopleurodon can take one card from the deck of an opposing player whenever you are passed plus advance one space. There are also Speed Value Modifiers to provide an artificial intelligence factor when some racers become NPC during Solo or 2-player games.

My family loves dinosaurs so Dodos Riding Dinos was a game night hit in our house. It has rules that are easy to grasp, incorporated dexterity and player interaction into the play, and just provided an overall fun time. It incorporates strategy in the use of card decks but also the luck of the roll of the die or the toss of one of the hazard items also adds some entertaining randomness to a game's outcome. Dodos Riding Dinos absolutely earns a Geek Daddy nod of approval for being a great selection for a family game night.

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