Everyone loves dinosaurs, right?
The thought of these incredible creatures roaming the earth over 200 million years ago is absolutely fascinating, and when you throw in the plethora of diverse characteristics and looks, it’s no surprise that children, in particular, often become obsessed with them.
There are no shortage of dino-related games out there, with a good chunk suitable for younger players, but one of the latest to hit the market is Gigantosaurus: The Game.
Gigantosaurus started life as a book by John Duddle, which was published in 2014 before being turned into a cartoon in 2019 and a video game in 2020. Then in 2023 René Groen (who had previously created Jurassic World: The Board Game in 2018) transformed it into a board game for 2-4 players… and that’s what we’re here to talk about today!
Tricera-Tops Quality
Starting with the visual, Gigantosaurus has certainly nailed the look of its source material, with illustrations of characters from the book sprinkled liberally throughout the game.
From the player pieces to the collectable tokens and even the board, thematically everything is right where it needs to be.
The quality of the pieces is top notch too, with big chunky dice accompanying big chunky player pieces and some thick cardboard for the board and the ‘Journal’ cards.
Everything here is made for the intended (younger) audience. Nothing too fiddly, bright colours, engaging artwork. You could say it’s all very Tera-Tact-ile… Sorry, I’ll get my coat.
Collect-a-Saurus
This mantra carries over into the gameplay too, as it’s all very straight forward, but that’s not to say it’s by the numbers, or particularly easy to win though.
Each player gets a ‘Gigantopedia’ that features a selection of prehistoric creatures, which can be found on discs which are placed on the spaces on the board.
These discs start the game face down. Players roll a die that dictates whether they can move one or two spaces on their turn, or whether the Gigantosaurus will move, but more on him later.
When they land on a space, they can choose to flip either of the face down tokens to see what’s on the other side. If they reveal something they need they immediately take it and place it on their journal. If it’s something they don’t need, then it stays face up for other players to collect (or is flipped back over in the harder version of the game.)
Should they reveal a ‘Bully’ token, they are immediately flung back to the starting space. The bully remains face up on that space and will continue to force players that land there back to the start until the Gigantosaurus scares it away.
Which brings us nicely to our huge green friend, and titular character.
This massive lump of wood sits menacingly on his own space at the start of the game, and every time his symbol is rolled on the dice he moves precisely 3 spaces clockwise. Should he land on a space with a bully on it, they are immediately removed from the game.
Players can also choose to catch a ride on his back should he go past them, which allows them more movement options when rolling, and also gives players a chance to move greater distances even when it isn’t their turn.
First player to completely fill their Gigantopedia wins the game!
Family Fun
It’ll come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the source material, or who glances at the box, that this game is designed for children, so as two fully grown adults we didn’t expect to have that much fun… but we did.
Yes, it’s simple, but it’s also pretty quick to play, there IS a little bit of strategy involved and the first game came down to the wire so we even decided to play a second where we both took 2 Journal cards to make things more interesting.
By no means am I saying this is a good game for adults to play alone, but it’s also not one that will be a chore to play if the kids grab it from the shelf for the 100th time.
The Bottom Line
Gigantosaurus definitely plays it safe and doesn’t do anything ground breaking, but then it doesn’t need to. There is enough there to make it entertaining, especially if you have children who are fans of the franchise already.
The pieces are big and chunky, perfect for little hands to move around the board, and the imagery is all very bright and bold. Kids will love to see the Gigantosaurus stomping around the board, and there isn’t too much of a punishment even if they encounter a bully.
Difficulty can be increased too by flipping the counters back over, so there is also a small amount of replayability if younger (or older!) players get tired of the normal mode.
