Draftosaurus

Draftosaurus has already been released in 2019 and was on the recommendation list for the family game of the year in 2020. So it's high time we took a closer look at the game. As the name suggests, the main mechanic of the game is drafting. In this mechanism, game elements are drawn face down from a stock. After selecting one or more elements, the remaining subset is then passed on. This is usually done with cards, but here Draftosaurus goes a different way, because: cuddly dino-meeples are passed on, which represent a different species depending on their color.

A zoo for our dinos

To set up the game, a number of dinosaurs equal to the number of players is thrown into the cloth bag. Each player also receives a zoo board. As quickly as the game is set up, the rules and gameplay are explained. The game is played over two phases. At the beginning of a phase, each player draws six dinosaurs from the cloth bag. The active player rolls the placement die. Each player now places a dinosaur on his zoo plate according to the rules, while the active player may ignore the rule die. Then the rule die and the remaining dinosaurs are passed face down to the neighbor on the left. Once all six dinosaurs are placed in the park, the second phase begins. After the second phase, scoring takes place.

For the occupation of the enclosures, of course, there are some rules to follow:

• In the forest of sameness, only dinosaurs of the same species may be placed
• In the Plain of Diversity, only Dinosaurs of different species may be placed.
• The Prairie of Lovers is, as the name suggests, for couples.
• In the trio under the trees, the species does not matter - but at the end of the game there must be exactly three dinosaurs in the enclosure for a score to be possible.
• The king of the jungle naturally wants to be the sole ruler in his enclosure
• Also on the island of the loner only one dinosaur may be placed

At the end of the game, points are awarded for the appropriate occupation of the enclosures. Dinosaurs that you can't do anything with in the course of the game are placed in the river. But there are no points for this. As already mentioned above, the placement die you roll determines in which enclosures our dinos may be placed. For this purpose our playing field is divided into corresponding zones like forest or plain. In addition, there are also rules that do not refer to an area such as:

• A dinosaur must be placed in an empty enclosure.
• A dinosaur must be placed in an enclosure where no T.Rex has been placed yet

Closing party at Dinopark

The first plus point Draftosaurus has collected directly when opening the box, namely in the moment when the cuddly Meeples in the form of dinosaurs jumped at me. Nothing could go wrong there. But even if you can't do much with the theme, the game is convincing as a whole package. The mechanism of drafting in combination with the pacement die is well done. Children and beginners get a gentle crash course in game mechanics. The game is quickly explained and just as quickly played. The back of the zoo board provides variety, as we occupy a wintry amusement park with slightly modified enclosures.

Despite the short duration of the game, a strategic depth develops through the drafting, which compensates well for the luck factor at the beginning of a phase. And if you bet on the wrong horse or the wrong dinosaur species, the next round is not far away. Of course, you can't expect a full-length game here, but what Draftosaurus wants to be makes it perfect: an entertaining game for the whole family that can be played quickly in between. Most of the time it doesn't stay with one game :-)

Finally, a short word about the game material, which can be described as very good throughout. The publisher has taken the community's criticism of the boards and the bag to heart and improved the edition that is available to us.

Draftosaurus was kindly provided to us free of charge by Board Game Box. This has no influence on our rating.