Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write

I thought it might be fun to talk about some of my favorite board games. Since we are moving very soon into the year 2023, I've decided to share my top 23 board games of all time. I'll begin with number 23 and work my way to number one.

My number 23 favorite board game is:

Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write

As the pun-ish reference implies, this is a roll-and-write style game. When playing these sorts of games, players roll dice and then record results on a sheet in front of them. (Think: Yahtzee.) In the case of Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write, it's two sheets. In Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write players are competing to build the best dinosaur infested amusement park. (The game is very much inspired by the Jurassic Park movie franchise.)

image by Frannob85 - board game geek

The dice are big chonky amber colored cubes that are very satisfying to roll on the table. After the dice are rolled, players take turns selecting dice to use. The dice faces show various resources that you can claim or actions that you can take. Each player will end up with 2 dice to use each turn, and there will be a third die left over that all players can use at the end.

The main resource is DNA. You use DNA to clone dinosaurs. You want this because dinosaurs equal excitement, and excitement equals victory. You have to be careful though because dinosaurs also equal danger, and if you have too much unmitigated danger, people will die. Letting people die will hurt your chances at victory. Other resources include income to pay for everything (that's really important,) and security used to mitigate danger.

As you build your park, you get to draw little shapes on graph paper and then take guests around on tours to earn income and build excitement. The game offers a great resource management puzzle as you try to add more and more attractions to build excitement and have enough money to keep your security up to snuff so people don't start becoming dinosaur chow.

The theme is fun, and the game is quite crunchy. This isn't your grandma's game of Yahtzee. Modern "roll and writes" can be deep, fully realized board game experiences, and Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write is certainly that. But, the really awesome part about the roll-and-write format is that there's almost zero set up and tear down time. You spend all your time playing the game!! That makes this format one of my favorites, and Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write my 23rd favorite board game!

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