One of the first things that a child gets right after a teddy bear is usually a dinosaur. It’s basically a staple of being a kid. Whether it’s because dinosaurs are pressed upon us at an early age, or because they are truly fascinating, or both perhaps, everyone loves them. My favorite is still the Triceratops. The movie Land Before Time came out when I was 5 years old – prime viewing age. I still remember Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and the rude “threehorn” Cera. Also…… did you know that Lucas, Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy (who’s now at Disney leading Star Wars) were Executive Producers on LBT?! Anyway… Dinosaurs are awesome. I mean, how can you not be fascinated with them. Combine that with the Indiana Jones franchise which wrapped up in 1989 (no…. I don’t count the Crystal Skull), looking for old stuff looked really cool as a kid! I know there’s a difference between a paleontologist and an archeologist, but as a kid, it was the same. And since it was cool back then, it’s still cool now! So, when I asked if I wanted to review Jurassic Parts, I was very excited, to say the least!
Jurassic Parts, by 25th Century Games, is designed by Kevin Lanzing (Flash Point Fire Rescue) and illustrated by Andrew Bosley (Everdell, Everdell: Pearlbrook, Tapestry, and The River). You can find there Kickstarter Campaign HERE. It’s a 2-4 player area control and set collection game where you work with your fellow archeologists to unearth dinosaur fossils and race to collect the best sets of complete fossils.
The playing board is comprised of 45 fossil tiles, half of which are turned upside-down so you don’t know exactly what type or part of the fossil it is – kind of like its buried and not unearthed yet. Players take turns sharpening three chisels each turn which they will then place on the in between tiles on the board. Placing your chisels on the board is not a 1 for 1 adventure all of the time though. Some tiles have “rocks” on the edges, which dulls your chisel, meaning that you will need to spend two chisels to place one on the board. If the place you want to place a chisel has a rock on both sides, you would need to spend 3 to place one of them. This feature of the game definitely makes you think about where you want to place chisels on your turn, and whether or not you want to let someone else finish a line that will break the slab apart.
Once a portion of tiles are completely separated from the main slab by a complete line of chisels, the smaller part of the slab is broken off and distributed to all of the players who had a chisel in the line that broke the tiles off. Distribution is not proportional though, which makes it really interesting. The player with the most chisels receives 50% of the dino fossil tiles, rounded up. The next player receives 50% rounded up of the leftover, and so on. So, if there were three players involved and seven hexes, 1st player would receive 4, 2nd 3 and 3rd 1. When it gets interesting is when there is a remainder left over, of scenarios where not everyone involved gets a fossil! In a 4 person scenario with 5 fossils, the 4th player gets nothing. In a 2 player scenario with 6 fossils, there is a remainder of 1. Any remainders are handed over to the Field Leader.
There are five different types of dinosaurs that you are working to collect, all of different VP values and all of varying sizes. The smallest dino is the Pterodactyl (1 tile, 1 VP), then the Velociraptor (2 tiles, 4 VP), the Triceratops (3 tiles, 7 VP), the T-Rex (4 tiles, 10 VP) and finally the Brachiosaurus (5 tiles, 15 VP). Once a complete fossil is completed you earn an Amber, Amber is 1 additional VP at the end of the game, but more importantly, you can use it as you interact with the Field Leaders, which we will discuss next.
The Field Leader is kind of like the “bank” that you can interact with, trade with, and purchase upgrades from. You can spend Amber earned for different “upgrades” at any time during your turn. You can sharpen an additional 2 chisels, take any fossil from the Field Leader, take any tile (excluding the two wilds) from the game board slab, or ignore rocks on the next two chisels you place. These are all amazing, and are upgrades you will want to utilize. The caveat is that they get more expensive if you want to use more than one on a turn. 1stuse of any upgrade is 1 Amber, the next upgrade (any of them) will cost 2 Amber, and the 3rd costs 3. This definitely balances the benefit that these give you on your turn and mitigates a “super turn” if you stockpiled your Amber. The last thing that you can do with the Field Leader is selling tiles to them. You’re able to sell one tile per turn for one Amber. You can’t sell parts of completed dinosaurs after you’ve collected an amber on them though, so make sure you keep a few extra tiles around!
The final way to score VP in the game is to collect the Plant Fossil tiles. There are 8 of these in the game, and the scoring for these is progressive depending on how many you’ve collected. Scoring ranges anywhere from 1 VP for 1 tile all the way to 26 VP for having all 8. It’s an investment, and harder to collect with more players, but definitely something you don’t want to sleep on!
The final element of the game, which adds a little bit of A-Symmetry to gameplay, are the Item Cards. These are optional modifier abilities that give you a one-time advantage in the game. These range from reducing the cost of transacting with the Field Leader, earning a bonus amber when you complete a 4 or 5 piece dino, get 2 extra chisels this turn, peak at an unearthed tile, and many more that will be coming with the Kickstarter Edition! I love these cards and think they add just the right amount of variation into the game that can really help you swing a turn in your favor!
End Game is triggered when there two tiles left on the board. The final player will split the two, select one, and gives the other to the Field Leader. They then have the opportunity to finish their turn and can interact with the Field Leader as they wish. Players will then add up their points from completed dino fossils, plant fossils, 1 VP for each Amber and 1 VP for each individual dino fossil tile that was not a part of a compete set. The highest score wins!
Things I Enjoyed:
The art is AMAZING. So well done. The player cards are diverse people, and all have a fun backstory.
The game, at its core, is very simple and easy to teach. Once you start playing it though, you realize that there is a lot of depth. Will you try to just get a part of all of the breaking lines, or will you try to break off large pieces? Will you try to dissect existing lines, or start your own? When will you spend your amber, and on what? There are many decisions to make on your turn, and you have to keep an eye on what pieces the other players are selecting each turn because each players tiles are hidden information until the full fossil is built. Are you trying to build a T-Rex? Well there are only two of them, and if one is already complete, you may never see the final piece you need!
Field Leader Interaction – What a cool way to have a “bank” trading mechanism! Trading with the Field Leader for Amber and also trading for tiles that they have as a remainder of a break is critical to completing dino sets. You have to keep a watchful eye on what is ending up there over the course of every players turn.
There’s no down time between turns. Breaks from the slab can happen at any point and can involve you. You have to make sure you are keeping track of what others are selecting on breaks. You have to monitor what is being traded into the Field Leader. If you take a break after your turn is over, you will definitely fall behind!
DINOSAURS!!!
Quick setup and tear down.
A clear and complete Rulebook. There are visual examples of how to play chisels between tiles with and without rocks, how to interact with the Field Leader, how slab breaks work, and all of the other scenarios that you may encounter in the game. A lot of effort has been taken by the designers to simply and clearly explain how the game mechanics work and highlight all of the things you may encounter while playing!
Variety – The game board will always be different because of the randomness of laying out the tiles and you don’t have to make a symmetric-looking board! You just never know where the fossil sets will end up, or where others will decide to dig.
Final Thoughts:
Jurassic Parts is a perfect for new or seasoned gamers alike. No two games will be the same. The game starts out feeling fun and light. The intensity then turns up about halfway through as the frequency of slab breaks intensify and the excitement ramps up until the last two tiles are selected! I highly recommend this game, and hope that you make your way over to their Kickstarter Page! Their campaign is currently fully funded, with additional stretch goals still being announced! The campaign runs through February 12th.
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