Dinosaur Island

Setting up Dinosaur Island involves placing the central Research Centre, Marketplace, and Trackboard in the play area. Players randomly take DNA dice based on player count and arrange market tiles including lab upgrades, attractions, and specialists. Dino recipe tiles are sorted by category and placed on the research board alongside objective cards, plot twists, income tokens, and dinosaur meeples. Each player receives a lab and park board, starting money, worker meeples, scientists, and corporation tokens, initializing their DNA tracks, threat levels, and security levels before placing their first dinosaur paddock and initial worker supply.

The main objective of Dinosaur Island is to construct and manage the most successful dinosaur theme park. Players compete to attract the highest number of visitors, create thrilling attractions, and breed various species of dinosaurs from extracted DNA. Success requires a delicate balance between driving excitement to draw crowds and upgrading security systems to ensure that tourists remain safe from carnivorous dinosaur attacks.

Gameplay proceeds over a series of rounds divided into five distinct phases. Phase 1 is the Research Phase, where players roll DNA dice and assign scientists to gather DNA, increase storage, or acquire dinosaur recipes. Phase 2 is the Market Phase, allowing players to purchase lab upgrades, hire specialists, or buy new park attractions. Phase 3 is the Worker Phase, where players assign workers to various lab actions to refine DNA, create dinosaurs, upgrade security, and collect funds. Phase 4 is the Park Phase, where visitors enter the park, generate income, trigger excitement levels, and test park security against potential dinosaur breakouts. Finally, Phase 5 is the Cleanup Phase, resetting markers, restocking the market, and preparing for the next round.

Scoring in Dinosaur Island takes place primarily at the end of the game, though certain objectives and attractions provide points during play. Players gain victory points for surviving yellow patrons, completed objective cards, built attractions, and successfully exhibited dinosaurs. However, players lose points for any dinosaurs that escape due to insufficient security, and empty paddock recipes result in point penalties, rewarding careful park planning and risk management.

The game concludes after a predetermined number of rounds determined by the chosen game length (short, medium, or long) or when objective cards are fully claimed. Once the final round's cleanup and scoring phases are completed, players tally all victory points from objectives, attractions, and dinosaur exhibits. In the event of a tie, the player with the most remaining money wins the game, and remaining ties share the victory.