Your First Three Games of Dinosaur Island

Your first three games of Dinosaur Island are where habits form. Some are rules slips, quietly played wrong because nobody checked. Others are legal choices that cost a lot of points. This lesson covers both, checked against the Rulebook 2.0 and its “Easily Missed Rules” page.

Rules slips to catch early

Multiplying the rare die faces. The extra worker and paddock upgrade faces need your level 3 scientist, and you get the benefit once. They are not multiplied by research level.

Going over cold storage. You can never hold more DNA than your limit for that type. Extra DNA from a die is simply lost, so raise limits before a big claim.

Splitting a wild die wrong. A level 2 or 3 scientist on a wild DNA face may take any mix of DNA types of that rarity. They do not have to be one type.

Thinking a pass ends your research. Passing moves one scientist to your worker pool for this round. You still take a turn, or pass, with each of your three scientists. The pass space never fills up.

Forgetting the $2 pass in the market. A market pass pays $2. Passing your first action does not cost you your second.

Skipping the discard when buying DNA. After buying DNA, discard one item from the row you paid for. If that row is empty, you can still buy.

Keeping a fired specialist’s workers. Hire a fourth specialist and you must fire one. You lose everything it gave you, including extra workers.

Placing patrons before hooligans. Hooligans always go in first.

Overfilling an exhibit. Each dinosaur holds one visitor. An exhibit with one dinosaur holds one visitor.

Losing the gate money. You collect $1 for every patron you draw, even ones stuck in line.

Forgetting to raise excitement and threat. Each new dinosaur raises both. Move both markers every time.

Turn order by seat. After round 1, the player with the fewest VPs goes first, and ties keep last round’s order.

Habit 1: security as an afterthought

New players build a carnivore, feel the excitement jump, and plan to buy security “next round.” Then the holding die shows 3 pips and four patrons vanish.

Remember the math from the threat and security lesson: each point your threat beats your security usually costs about 2 VPs that round. Security is cheap early, $1 for level 2 and $2 for levels 3 and 4, and it never goes down. Raise it in the same Worker Phase you create a dinosaur, not a round later.

Habit 2: the empty exhibit

A recipe tile in your park is a promise. If the exhibit has no dinosaur at final scoring, you lose 10 VPs. New players grab a big carnivore recipe in the last round or two, cannot gather the advanced DNA in time, and finish with a hole in their score.

Before you take a recipe late, check three things: the DNA it needs, how much you hold, and how many rounds are probably left. If you cannot fill it, leave it for someone else.

Habit 3: four workers all game

You start with 4 workers. Every lab slot, from refining DNA to creating dinosaurs to raising security, needs one. A park running on 4 workers often manages one dinosaur a round and still has to choose between security and paddocks.

Specialists are the main way to gain workers, and the extra worker die face is another. A passed scientist adds a worker for one round. In your first games, aim to reach 6 workers early. The market lesson covers which specialists are worth it.

Ignoring capacity

Excitement draws visitors, but only visitors with a place to stand score. If your excitement is 12 and your park holds 7 visitors, five people pay $1 each and score nothing. Build attractions and fill paddocks as your excitement rises. That is the subject of the attractions lesson at Level 2.

Not watching the objectives

The game ends when all but one objective is claimed. New players often realize the game is ending one round too late, with DNA in storage and money unspent. Count the open objectives at the start of every round. When two are left, plan your last round now.

A quick checklist for game three

Before the Worker Phase, ask:

1. Does my security cover my base threat plus the holding die?
2. Can every exhibit I own have a dinosaur by the end?
3. How many objectives are left, and which one can I claim?

That habit alone fixes most of what goes wrong in the first three games.