Dino DNA and a New Way to Ranch with Tiny Epic Dinosaurs
Enjoy the fun of dinosaur ranching with species from the Stegosaurus to Tyrannosaurus Rex in Tiny Epic Dinosaurs.
Alright. I’ll admit it… I caved in and picked up Tiny Epic Dinosaurs mostly for the little wooden dinosaurs. I wanted them! My collection might not show it, but I was very much into the dinosaur craze of the 90s. Jurassic Park was magical, and the theme song still gets me. So the chance to play a solo game with dinosaurs was almost too much!
Game Overview
Game Name: Tiny Epic Dinosaurs
Publication Year: 2020
Designer: Scott Almes
Artists: Nikoletta Vaszi and Benjamin Shulman
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Hurray! The goal is to build up a ranch of various dinosaurs to complete contracts. Along the way, managing resources and feeding the inhabitants create challenges. Pair up the same species, and baby dinosaurs will show up! The premise seemed interesting, and I was excited about the art style. Dinosaurs, people. DINOSAURS!
A Not-So-Tiny Area
I’ve played a few games in the Tiny Epic Series. Somehow, the size of the required play space continues to surprise me. The “tiny” only applies to the box and components!
The puzzle of aligning the cards was partially satisfying, and a little frustrating. I can still see where I didn’t line up a few edges as well as I could have. Next time!
Different actions allow for new dinosaurs, more resources, added barriers, special research, and more.
There isn’t anything that jumped out at me here, but once again… Did I mention that this includes dinosaurs?!
All the Dinosaurs
So many tiny dinosaurs! I separated them all into different compartments but failed to lay them out neatly. All that time with the cards tired me out, apparently. Ha ha!
There are 4 standard types of dinosaurs, all basically identical. Except for a unique Allosaurus with 1 leg…
Don’t spend much time looking for it here, though. I had it off to the side trying to contemplate how to reattach the odd break. I think I just have a 1-legged Allosaurus!
All of the DNA cards are unique, which are accompanied by a collection of unique purple dinosaurs. So awesome!
Progressing in Style
The round tracker also contains descriptions of every phase. Most importantly, though, take a look at that round tracker! Best mug for the job. No question.
My woes started here, though. I’m someone who dislikes minuscule text. I can read it, but I prefer not to struggle.
When I get around to it, I’ll have to show off some of the dice I recently acquired. They’re 25-30 mm in size… Compared to the usual 12-16 mm dice size. Yup!
Still, the rules were fairly straightforward and I didn’t need to do too much referencing during play.
Choosing an Opponent
Each player card has a different solo opponent on the opposite side. Or, as the rulebook told me several times, the “reserve” side. I was in a grammatically correct mood.
Anyway, I settled on the breeder. This might look complicated, but never fear! It’s not too bad.
The solo opponent has sections for each of the regular dinosaurs. A single dinosaur may live in each enclosure, and the top empty enclosure represents that action.
So if there were 2 Stegosauruses, the solo opponent would collect 1 Velociraptor and claim the 1st player marker.
Off to a Strong Start
As I sent my ranchers around the island, I didn’t worry too much about the options. This was a learning game and I was pretty excited when I picked up a Gallimimus.
There wasn’t a lot of flocking, though… Only a single unique dinosaur of a species can exist at once in the game!
I also welcomed a Stegosaurus into the mix. This was the start of my high-quality breeding operation. Maybe? Ha!
One thing that was pretty neat was the way I could choose to feed the Gallimimus. That gave me a little more control over how I could manage my plant and meat resources.
Majestic Dinosaurs
There they were, roaming about their enclosures. A single barrier helped me separate the species. I wasn’t too excited about this limitation, though.
It made sense to keep herbivores away from carnivores and omnivores, but why not mix things up?
All the same, I had lofty plans ahead for a Stegosaurus ranch. But that wasn’t going to do much in the way of completing contracts, so I had to abandon the idea.
I wanted my Jurassic Park moment. But the solo opponent pulled ahead early on. I needed a new strategy, and fast.
You Bred Raptors?
Kind of. That was my new strategy, of course! So I started off with this lone Velociraptor that roamed its paddock.
In another enclosure, I made a lovely home for my special 1-legged Allosaurus. Maybe he or she couldn’t stand up, but there was no problem in the appetite department!
Although I was having some fun, the solo opponent just kept completing contracts and collecting more dinosaurs.
I wanted to do so much more, yet my actions were always stifled. A few times, a rancher didn’t get to do anything due to the way the solo opponent blocked the actions.
Fulfilled Contracts
Many dinosaurs headed off to new homes from my little ranch. I had some other plans for Velociraptors, but the solo opponent snapped up contracts left and right.
It was a frustrating experience as I totaled my score during both plays. I had some really neat dinosaurs!
Yet it was a futile effort against the solo opponent. As in… Not even close. I didn’t write the game off entirely, yet I knew it was about time to pack it up. But… DINOSAURS!
Since I played, I came across a few house rules or other variants that I hope to try out down the line.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Required Play Space: 22″ x 22″
Setup Time: 5 Minutes
Play Time: 40-50 Minutes per Play
Outcome: 62-88 and 60-95 (2 Losses)
I researched a variety of DNA cards for some rather neat combinations. Alas, my scores were horrible. This didn’t need to be the best solo game experience ever, but I felt utterly defeated with no path forward. Still, I’ll let things cool off and give it a whirl sometime in the future!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
4
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
6
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the cards feature bright and colorful artwork that brings the theme to life in a fun way.
- The wooden dinosaurs are adorable and very nicely crafted with unique shapes that are generally easy to locate.
- Each research card is unique and presents new opportunities to improve a ranch with different abilities.
- Building enclosures and figuring out where to place each dinosaur creates an interesting challenge.
- The solo opponent sequence is easy to follow and requires a minimal amount of downtime in between turns.
- Managing the resources and space for feeding and breeding dinosaurs adds another layer of decision-making.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The text and iconography are very tiny in many cases and can be difficult to read from a far distance.
- Every turn for the solo opponent allows for an action and possible completed contract, which escalates quickly.
- Although the number of rounds seems reasonable, play time can drag on a little bit for what the game offers.
- There are times when a rancher can’t be placed simply due to the luck of the draw with the solo opponent’s deck.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played the solo mode of Tiny Epic Dinosaurs? Am I simply missing something obvious? It’s a shame when a first experience doesn’t go so well. There are some excellent suggestions out there for how to improve the solo mode, which I intend to try out. Like the dinosaurs themselves, though, this one is going extinct… Only temporarily, though!
Love your website. I passed on this because I KSed Dinogenics, but this does look good.
Thank you for the kind words! I feel like with a few adjustments, the solo mode could definitely be a lot better. I felt like I was floundering the whole time. Granted, I was still learning, but the solo opponent constantly picked up the contracts I was working towards. Not surprising that I lost!
I’ll have to pay more attention to dinosaur-themed games now. None has ever looked like it would give me what I was looking for, but you never know! I’ll keep an eye out, particularly for those sneaky Velociraptors. Ha ha!
The masters of the tiny text on a murky background for me are FFG with the various Arkham games. Especially if you have less than super-bright lighting…
Actually, I never considered this, but you’re right! Icons don’t always get across stories, yet I don’t like seeing a massive amount of tiny text. We’ve played multiplayer a few times and I always have to pick up every card to see what’s going on. Many times, others get an effect wrong because it’s so hard to read. I think I may need to create some Arkham-themed magnifying glasses…