Dino Race makes Candyland extinct

If your kids love dinosaurs and playing games, then Dino Race should definitely be on your “board games to get” list.

Dino Race is a children’s board game with the cutest dinosaurs you’ll ever find in game.

Players race to get their two dinosaurs safely to the end of the terrain track to gain prizes (points). And the player who gets the egg to safety will also score bonus points.

In addition to the cute dinosaurs, Dino Race also includes high quality components with compelling visuals that kids will enjoy.

Take a look at how the game is played in Caleb’s video review of Dino Race.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Dino Race?

Yes, Dino Race can be enjoyed by the whole family.

While Dino Race is definitely a children’s board game, parents can enjoy playing it as well. And that’s a good thing because it’s very likely that your kids will want you to play along.

As Caleb showed in his video review, the basic movement mechanic in the game is by matching terrain cards with terrain tiles/spaces. Which reminds us a lot of Candyland.

But Dino Race crushes Candyland to bits!

 

Dino Race vs. Candyland

As we’re sure you’re aware, Candyland has been an amazingly popular children’s board game. It was first published in 1949 and it seems everyone in the world knows about Candyland.

Candyland is so simple for little kids to understand and play. Players simply turn over a color card and then move their playing piece to the next occurrence of that color on the path. There is no strategy at all. Candyland is simply a color-matching game. Turn over the right cards and you’re lucky enough to ‘win’.

And in a way, Dino Race can be compared to Candyland. 

But Dino Race makes Candyland extinct.

Dino Race is similar to Candyland in how players move their dinosaurs. Players use terrain cards to move one of their dinosaurs to the pictured terrain. The difference being that players can’t skip tiles. In order to move, they need to play a terrain card with the same terrain on the next tile in the dinosaur’s path.

In a game for children, card-to-board-space matching is an engaging mechanic. It makes it really easy for kids to understand how to move their dinosaurs.

However, unlike Candyland, players aren’t just left to the whims of chance.

In Dino Race, players get to use strategy.

Mind you, it’s not deep strategy. But rather it’s the right amount for a children’s game.

As Caleb showed, in Dino Race players have a hand of cards and get to choose when and how many cards to play on their turn. And in addition to terrain cards for movement there are cards that affect the dinosaurs of other players (like Push Back, Throw the Egg, and Steal a Card).

So playing a string of cards that combine movement with bumping other players makes for a fun turn.

Players also have 2 dinosaurs to move along the tiled path. This is great because it’s more likely that even if something bad happens to one dinosaur, players will still be able to utilize the other in the meantime.

On top of the card/hand management and choices, players roll the Event die at the end of each of their turns.

While one result is for the lava to flow down the path, the more likely result is for players to draw more cards. And even if it’s not your turn, if your dinosaur is on the terrain rolled, you’ll get to draw a card.

So even when it’s not a player’s turn, they’re still interested in the actions of the other players. It’s a great way to keep kids engaged during the whole game.

 

Love variable set up

Another great element of Dino Race that we love is the variable game set up.

Even though there are only 4 different terrain types (plains, desert, swamp, jungle), the 12 terrain tiles are randomly set out to form the path. So every game will have a different order to moving along the path to the finish.

The prize tokens used also vary every game. There are 12 prize tokens in the game but the number of tokens randomly chosen to use each game depends on the number of dinosaurs in the race. As a 4 player game with 2 dinosaurs each, that means that at least 4 tokens won’t be used in a game.

So even the scoring options differ from game to game.

 

How does Dino Race score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

With the age of our kids, Dino Race isn’t one that’s being clamored for again and again. But that doesn’t mean it won’t score high on your own family’s “let’s play again” game meter.

Even though Caleb is now 12, you can see that he still gives Dino Race a 4 out of 5 on our rating scale. And he’s been the one to say, “let’s play again” as soon as we finish a game of Dino Race.

So even though our teenage kids are past the target age of Dino Race, this board game is definitely staying on our game shelf. Not only do we have neighbor kids that borrow games who will love this, but it’s also a keeper for the grandkids yet to come.

If you’re looking for interesting board games for your young kids, we highly recommend Dino Race.

Thanks Ares Games for a fun children’s game!

The Board Game Family Game Ratings
	Caleb
	Brooke
	Jaden
Has not played	Trevor
	Mom
	Dad
	Average