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Tiny Epic Western
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The Great Dinosaur Rush
2016
Rules assistance for The Great Dinosaur Rush
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 60 min
- 10+
- Complexity 2.1/5
Rules assistant for The Great Dinosaur Rush
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Great Dinosaur Rush is a board game released in 2016 for 2–5 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Scott Almes and its main mechanics are Set Collection and Stock Holding.
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About the game
The Great Dinosaur Rush — or the Bone Wars, as it's otherwise called — was a period of incredible advancement in paleontology (i.e., the discovery of fossils). In The Great Dinosaur Rush, players compete to grab bones from the best dig sites, and build new dinosaurs for prestigious museums, gaining notoriety in the process by stealing bones, sabotaging dig sites, and otherwise impeding your fellow paleontologists. The game is played over turns, each with two main phases: dig and build. During the dig phase, players collect different-colored bones from dig sites and perform actions. Some dirty actions give players secret notoriety tokens. Notoriety adds to players' scores at the end of the game, but having the MOST notoriety SUBTRACTS from the score! During the build phase, players create their dinosaurs from the bones they collected, maximizing them to score points in various museum categories: length, size, height, ferociousness, etc. You'll have to play dirty if you want to win — just not too dirty!
Editions
- The Great Dinosaur RushenAPE Games2016
- Wielka Wystawa DinozaurówplCube Factory of Ideas2017
Questions and answers
The Great Dinosaur Rush supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Great Dinosaur Rush is 60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Great Dinosaur Rush for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Great Dinosaur Rush has a complexity rating of 2.1 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The main mechanics of The Great Dinosaur Rush are Set Collection and Stock Holding. Mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns, such as rolling dice, drafting cards or placing workers. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you enjoyed The Great Dinosaur Rush and want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Great Dinosaur Rush are: Scott Almes. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Great Dinosaur Rush as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.