How to Teach Dinosaur Island

Dinosaur Island has a lot of pieces on the table, and the temptation is to explain every board before anyone touches a die. Resist it. New players need one sentence of goal, the shape of a round, and the danger of loose dinosaurs. Everything else can wait for the moment it comes up.

Here is a script in the order you would say it, with the moments to stop talking. Print the Dinosaur Island teach sheet and put it where everyone can read it. For the general method behind this script, see how to teach a board game in five minutes.

Before anyone sits down

Set up first, so the teach starts with parks on the table. Use the rulebook’s recommended first game: the objectives “Have 12 DNA in cold storage,” “Buy 3 lab upgrades,” and “Reach an excitement level of 10,” plus the plot twist that starts the bag with no hooligans and adds 5 at the end of rounds 1 and 2. Setup normally uses 2 plot twists and the recommendation names one, so draw a second at random if you want the full setup.

Put each player’s starting dinosaur in their paddock, set every marker, and hand out startup cash. Leave the solo cards in the box.

Minute 1: the goal

Say: “We each run a dinosaur theme park. Most points at the end wins.”

Point at the objectives. “When all but one of these are claimed, we finish the round and the game ends. These three are short, so tonight is a short game.”

Minutes 2 to 3: the loop

Hold up a recipe tile. “To make a dinosaur you need its recipe, its DNA, and a worker in your lab. Dinosaurs raise your excitement. Excitement is how many visitors you draw from this bag each round.”

Hold up a patron, then a hooligan. “Patrons pay $1 and score a point at an exhibit or attraction. Hooligans pay nothing and take up space.”

Then the twist: “Every dinosaur raises your threat. If threat beats security, dinosaurs eat your visitors.”

Stop here. Ask: “Questions on the loop?”

Minutes 4 to 7: one round, out loud

Walk the five phases, pointing at each board.

1. Research. “Dice get rolled here. We take turns placing scientists, one at a time. Your scientists are levels 1, 2, and 3. Put one on a die and you get that DNA times its level. You can also raise your storage, grab a recipe, or pass to turn the scientist into an extra worker.”
2. Market. “Two actions each, one at a time. The row price is the cost. Attractions cost their printed price plus the row. Pass and you get $2.”
3. Worker. “Everyone at once, in your own lab. Workers make DNA, make dinosaurs, raise security, and grow paddocks.”
4. Park. “Draw visitors, get paid, place them, check for loose dinosaurs, score.”
5. Cleanup. “Lowest score goes first next round. Market slides down in price.”

Minutes 8 to 9: the three numbers to watch

• Excitement on the track board: how many visitors you draw, up to 20.
• Threat on your lab: 1 per herbivore, 2 per carnivore.
• Security on your lab: raise it with the Tool Bench or other upgrades, paying the cost printed next to the track.

Say: “The leftover die with the most threat pips adds to everyone’s threat this round. Keep a little extra security.”

Minute 10: start, and teach the rest live

Say: “That’s it. Roll the dice.” Then play.

Teach these the first time they happen:

• Cold storage limits. The first time someone claims more DNA than they can hold, the extra is lost.
• Rare die faces. The extra worker and paddock upgrade faces need the level 3 scientist and are not multiplied.
• Buying DNA. Paying $2 to $5 for DNA also discards one item from that row.
• The specialist limit. A fourth hire fires one, and you lose what it gave you, extra workers included.
• Hooligans first. They must be placed before patrons, and anyone left over waits in line.
• Final scoring. Remind the table two rounds before the end that empty exhibits cost 10 VPs.

What to leave out

• Strategy. Let people discover that buying security late hurts. It sticks better.
• Every plot twist and specialist ability. Read each one when it enters play.
• Variants. The no plot twists and reroll the threat die variants can wait for game three.
• Solo mode and expansions. Later levels cover them.

Coaching during the first game

Help with arithmetic, not decisions. “Your threat is 5 and your security is 3, so the holding die decides how many get eaten” is helpful. “Buy security now” is playing their park for them.

If someone stalls in the Worker Phase, ask one question: “Which recipe can you finish this round?” Our piece on analysis paralysis has more ways to keep a heavy turn moving.

When the game ends, ask who wants a rematch with the medium objectives.