- Setup
- You have a deck (likely 52 just for consistency) of dirt cards. The back is, well, dirt. The other side has a mechanic. Mix them about the table, blank side up. Try to keep it about two cards high, but it’s dirt, so there will be some overlap. The dinosaur “skeleton” can go anywhere that so pleases the players.
- Objective(s)
- The goal is to trick families and social groups into spending time with each other and building a fun, informative sculpture.
- Actions players take
- In clockwise order from the oldest player, players select a card of their liking to excavate. Upon picking that card, they can either be greeted by a dinosaur bone, a mechanic, or just more dirt. Each bone gets added to the skeletons, and rewards the player one million dollars. The instruction booklet will show you where to put it, and give you some fun facts about it. Mechanics can prompt other actions (excavate an adjacent dirt, lose a turn, draw again) and dirt does nothing. You’re not going to find something every time. Real archaeologists almost never find something.
- Ending the game (win, lose states)
- I don’t think you can lose Cardisaur, I think you can just not be the person who completes the dinosaur. I think everyone wins because now you have a cool dinosaur sculpture. What I could do – in a world where I add a monetary value to the bones – is make players pay to excavate. Maybe everyone starts with 5 million. I just don’t want to turn it into a competition. It’s a fun little silly dinosaur game.
2 Replies to “Cardisaur Rules”
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Playtest for: Max (Cardisaur)
Playtester: Clay
What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
Drawing dirt card
I also didn’t like when one foot bone had been found and the dino could no longer support itself
What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
Getting on a roll and having several turns in a row of drawing bone cards
Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
Build the dinosaur (both assembling the structure and putting the cards on the structure)
If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
I would remove some of the dirt cards or at least space out the distribution of them when drawing them
How has the play experience changed since the first play test?
Much more dirt cards than previously
Is this a game you would play again? Why?
Max will most likely make me play many more times because he likes it
Tester Aaron
1. the amount of dirt
2. did not take to long to play
3. there be some use for the money
4. more types of bones
5. N/A
6. yes interesting concept that i would like to see where it goes