SOS Dino Second Opinion

I’ve been hugely impressed with this game so far. Bought as a Christmas present for my 5 year old son, SOS Dino has already proved to be a huge hit within our household and I am truly thrilled about that. You never quite know how these things could go, I’m at the point of introducing games to my young family that are a little more challenging and need a little bit of thinking. This game has made the perfect start to that.

Dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs are under threat from erupting volcanoes and falling meteorites. The team’s job, that’s right, the game is cooperative and players have to work together as a team, is to use the dinosaurs to gather as many eggs in nests as possible, then get those dinosaurs out of the valley and on top of the mountains at the edge of the board.

The rules are reasonably straightforward to pick up. Once your board is set, players take turns to draw a tile, lay the tile and complete any actions from the symbols on the corresponding tile. These rules are either move some dinosaurs, or draw another tile. Pretty simple.

Once the last tile is drawn, the game is over and count up the score. The creators have kindly given some banding to work out how successful your score was in the construct of the game. They all read in a friendly way because the game is focused on children, so that’s quite cool.

The Valley

The board and components are really good looking. It has been well constructed and is full of vibrant colour. The 3d components with the volcanoes, mountains and obstacles really bring the game alive and make it jump out of the board. A great way for young minds to get into this game.

The dinosaur minis of Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus and Tyrannosaurus Rex also look fantastic. They’ve animated the minis very well and they really do steal the show on the visuals. My younglings quite often want to be the Triceratops or Tyrannosaurus Rex but this game doesn’t play that way. All players can control any of the dinosaurs on any given turn.

The Herd

It’s a team game as noted. It’s a great way for young ones to learn cooperation, take on leadership roles and problem solve the game to try and get the best possible score.

The game rapidly changes through the erupting volcanoes and inevitable lava flows that change the landscape of the board each and every turn. What’s worse is when the lava flow blocks the pressure builds and multiple lava tributaries are created as a result. This only adds to the problems and increases the game jeopardy.

This is also not a cute and cuddly game. Unfortunately, the eggs can be destroyed as can the dinosaurs themselves if they get caught up in the lava or hit by a meteor. This is a huge detriment to the possible points scored at the end of the game. So teamwork really is critical.

As parents we’ve tried not to dominate the gameplay with our own ideas and let the children think about how the goals can be achieved, but they need help and encouragement. With more practice they will get better at figuring out how to do it. Part of the fun and the challenge is to learn from errors made in games and that is how you grow from it. The children won’t learn if we as parents hijack and just tell them what they should be doing.

Game challenges.

There are some symbols and colour issues that just need checking. With quite a few things to look out for here it is important to just get a good grasp of the different symbols. Plus, each volcano has a different colour flower printed on, so when placing the lava tiles, just check these colours align and you are playing the right tile off the right volcano. These things were a lot for us adults to check on, so for young children, it’s important they get a little help and reminding here as there is plenty for them to consider.

Final thoughts.

We’re having a lot of fun with SOS Dino  in our home. The dinosaurs theme is brilliant and they really do need help. The game looks stunning with plenty of challenges throughout as the game constantly evolves and changes with each and every turn. If you have a family of your own I can highly recommend this game.

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