Happy Little Dinosaurs

Gameplay

Happy Little Dinosaurs is a delightfully blunt and entertaining board game that tells the tale of dinosaur extinction—if having a bad hair day was a reason for extinction. In this game, players (as dinosaurs) compete to survive extinction by playing different cards to score the highest number of points.

The game comes with four dinosaur player boards—one of each dinosaur: Stego, Nervous Rex, Cry Ceratops, and Bad Luck Bronto— their corresponding Meeples, one Main deck of cards consisting of 53 Point cards and 16 Instant cards, and one Disaster deck.

Card Types:

Main Deck

• There are 53 Point cards with different point values on them, numbered one through nine
• Also in the main deck are 16 Instant cards, consisting of:
  • Score Booster: add 2 points to any player’s score
  • Score Sapper: subtract 2 points from any player’s score
  • Disaster Insurance: play this card if you would add a disaster card to your disaster area this round and instead move the disaster card to the bottom of the disaster deck
  • Disaster Redirect: play this card if you would add a disaster card to your disaster area this round and instead move it to another player’s disaster area
  • Score Inversion: the player with the highest score must switch scores with the player with the lowest score

Disaster Deck

• Natural Disasters (Uncommon Cold or Leaf Me Alone [which means you get cut by a sharp leaf])
• Emotional Disasters (Baddest Hair Day or Ghosted)
• Predatory Disasters (Stomped or Feeling Squirrelly [which means you are attacked by saber-toothed squirrels])
• Meteor (can act as any of the three Disaster cards)

To begin, each player takes on a dinosaur persona. Deal out 5 main deck cards to each player (each player must have at least one point card, if they have all Instant cards, redeal that player’s cards). Then, place both decks in the center of the play area, leaving room for two discard piles. Flip the top card of the Disaster Deck to reveal the Active Disaster.

Now players simultaneously flip over a card of their choice from their hand. Whoever has the highest point card wins! The winner moves their meeple down their escape route, moving the number of spaces equal to their point value. The loser adds the Disaster card to their Disaster Area on their personal game board and advances 1 space on the escape route. They may also discard a card from their hand (an unfavorable one, typically).

However, it’s not always that simple.

Firstly, there’s the matter of Disaster Traits. Each Dinosaur has one or two disaster traits, meaning that, based on the Active Disaster, they might have an advantage or disadvantage. For example, if a Meteor Disaster is played, Stego gets one extra point, but if a Natural Disaster is played, Cry Ceratops gets minus one point.

Then there’s the matter of Instant cards, which you can play in addition to your point cards. There are also point card effects. Some of the point cards have notes on the bottom like “You may discard up to 3 cards from your hand.” Or “You may swap this card with the Point card of the player to your right or left. You cannot swap for a card that has an effect.”

But what if after all of that there’s a tie? After adding Point card values, advantages and disadvantages from Dinosaur Traits, and the effects of Instant cards and the effects of Point cards, if there is still a tie, follow the rules below:

1. If there’s a tie for the highest score, both players earn the points and can move their meeple that many spaces on the escape route.
2. If there’s a tie for the lowest score (or in a two player game, a tie at all), Sudden Death occurs! Players choose a Point card from their hand and reveal them at the same time. The player with the lowest point value loses.

To win, you must make it to the end of your escape route or be the last dinosaur standing. If you collect three of the same disaster cards in your disaster area or one of each of the different disaster cards in your disaster area. Don’t forget that a meteor card can act as any card, so if you have two natural disaster cards and a meteor card, you are still out!

History

Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.

In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay and Twisted Cryptids in addition to Happy Little Dinosaurs, which was released in 2021.

Variations

You can purchase a number of different expansion packs to bring new perils to Stego, Nervous Rex, Cry Ceratops, and Bad Luck Bronto. Some expansion packs include Perils of Puberty, Hazards Ahead, and Dating Disasters. There’s also the option to purchase an expansion pack that turns Happy Little Dinosaurs into a five- or six-player game, and adorable vinyl figures if you’re looking for an upgrade from the wooden meeples that come with the game.