Digging For Dinos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • 1. Move a Paleontologist Token
  • 2. Flip the Paleontologist Token
  • 3. Cleaning Up the Dig Site
• Movement Restrictions
• Completing a Dinosaur
  • Special Ability
• End Game
  • Scoring
• Credits

Components

• 99 x Fossil Tiles (3 eras containing 33 dino tiles each)
• 1 x First Player Marker
• 8 x Paleontologist Tokens
• 4 x Player Cards

Setup

1. The starting player is the player who last saw a dinosaur. They receive the first player marker.

2. Each player takes two paleontologist tokens with the same matching icon and color, as well as the corresponding player card (this is so players remember which paleontologists are theirs).

3. Mix up all of the era 1 fossil tiles and place the amount listed below in a face-up grid within easy reach of all players.

   • 3 or 4 players: 25 tiles in a 5 x 5 grid
   • 2 players: 16 tiles in a 4 x 4 grid

   Put the remaining era 1 fossil tiles in a face-down stack near the grid.

4. Starting with the last player and proceeding counter-clockwise, each player places one of their two paleontologists on any unoccupied fossil tile in the grid, with the orthogonal side facing up. Then, beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player places their second paleontologist on any unoccupied fossil tile in the grid, with the diagonal side facing up.

   The fossil tiles that players place their paleontologist tokens on during setup are the first fossil tiles the players will be able to collect. When a player moves a paleontologist token, they take the fossil tile the paleontologist started its move from and add it to their collection.

5. Mix up all of the era 2 fossil tiles and place them in a face-down stack next to the era 1 tile stack. Do the same for the era 3 fossil tiles.

IT'S TIME TO START DIGGING!

A Word From The Dig Site: The excavation begins after each team of paleontologists stakes their claim on the dig site. Carefully choose where to start—your first moves will shape your path to discovery!

How to Play

Your paleontologists are in position, tools at the ready. The first fossils are waiting—let the excavation begin!

The goal of Digging for Dinos is to collect fossil tiles and assemble complete dinosaur skeletons to score points. Players compete to gather valuable fossil sets while obeying the dig site's movement restrictions. At the end of the game, the player with the highest score will be declared the winner.

In clockwise turn order, starting with the first player, each player will do the following on their turn:

1. Move a paleontologist token
2. Flip the paleontologist token
3. Clean up the previous dig site location
   1. Collect the fossil tile
   2. Replace that fossil tile with a new one from the current era

1. Move a Paleontologist Token

The player selects one of their two paleontologists and moves it one space along the fossil tile grid, in one of the directions shown on the selected paleontologist token. Each side of the paleontologist token moves differently. One side moves orthogonally; the other side moves diagonally. The token must move in a direction depicted on the face-up side.

2. Flip the Paleontologist Token

After moving, the player must flip the paleontologist token they moved onto its other side. In this way, each paleontologist will alternate between moving orthogonally and diagonally.

Example: Luca selects the orthogonal paleontologist token and moves one space on the grid. After collecting the fossil they started their move from, they flip their token from the orthogonal side to the diagonal side.

3. Cleaning Up the Dig Site

After a player moves a paleontologist to a new fossil tile, they must do 2 things:

• Collect the fossil tile that the paleontologist moved from and place that tile in front of themselves.
• Replace the tile they collected with a new one from the top of the current era's stack, face-up. If the current era's tile stack is empty, simply proceed to the next era. When the final fossil tile from era 3 is placed, proceed to End Game.

This completes a player's turn, and the next player's turn begins.

Movement Restrictions

• A. Players must move their paleontologist in the pattern shown on the top of the one they choose to move (orthogonally or diagonally).
• B. Paleontologists cannot move onto a fossil tile that is occupied by another paleontologist token.
• C. Paleontologist tokens can jump over any number of occupied fossil tiles to the next open fossil tile in the same direction.
• D. Paleontologist tokens cannot move off the sides of the fossil tile grid.
• E. If there is no open space in a given direction, the paleontologist cannot move in that direction and the player must make another choice.
• F. In the rare case that there is no legal move available, the player must move one of their tokens to any open tile, ignoring movement restrictions, then flip their token and take the preceding tile as usual.

Example: Otto needs to replace the fossil tile they just collected, however, there are no tiles remaining in the era 1 fossil tile stack. As a result, Otto selects the first tile from the era 2 fossil tile stack to replace the fossil tile they just collected.

Completing a Dinosaur

Each player groups their collected fossil tiles into sets that represent specific dinosaurs, such as the ferocious Tyrannosaurus or the majestic Brontosaurus.

Each tile features:

• A. A dinosaur name identifying which species it belongs to.
• B. A grid location indicating its position in the set.
• C. Two scoring values: a lefthand number for incomplete dinosaurs, and a righthand number for completed dinosaurs.

During the game, players must arrange their collected fossil tiles in front of themselves so that all players can track their progress.

To complete a dinosaur, you must collect all of the fossil tiles in its set. The number of tiles required varies by dinosaur.

Note: If a player completes their fourth dinosaur, proceed to End Game.

Example: Emmy has collected three of four Pterodactyl fossil tiles. They still need the final Pterodactyl fossil tile to complete the set.

Example: Matteo has 4 of the 5 Stegosaurus fossil tiles for a total score of 9 points. If Matteo had all 5 Stegosaurus fossil tiles, they would have a complete dinosaur and would score 17 points instead.

Special Ability

The Velociraptor and Deinosuchus have a special ability that triggers immediately when those dinosaurs are completed, as noted on both fossil tiles:

The player who completes either of these dinosaurs may immediately flip one of their paleontologist tokens over to the other side.

A Word From The Dig Site: Each era contains exactly one set of fossil tiles for each dinosaur. If a player misses out on a fossil tile from era 1 that they need to complete a dinosaur, there will be another opportunity to collect that tile in era 2, and again in era 3.

End Game

The dust settles over the dig site as the final fossils are unearthed. Who will emerge as the greatest paleontologist of the age?

The game ends when either the final Era 3 fossil tile is placed on the board or when any player completes their fourth dinosaur. If any players have not yet taken their turn this round, they each take one final turn in order. Once the round is complete, all players collect the fossil tiles beneath their paleontologists. Then, players total their scores to determine the winner.

The winner is the player with the most points. Ties are broken by the largest scoring completed dinosaur fossil. If there is still a tie, check for the 2nd biggest, and then 3rd, etc.

Scoring

Each player scores their collected fossil tiles in this way:

• Score the left-hand number on each fossil tile that is NOT part of a completed dinosaur (A).
• Score the right-hand number once for each COMPLETE dinosaur set (B). Tiles in completed sets do not score individually.

Credits

Game Designer: Andrew Stiles

Art, Rulebook, & Graphic Design: Brian Robertson

Game Development: Michael Guigliano

Rulebook Editor: Phil Gross

Writer: David A. Rodriguez

Publisher: Michael DeVito

Business Director: Kenny Welker

Special thanks to the playtesters: Mike Petty, Rebecca Moraris, John D Wood, Gene Chipman, Daryl Andrews, Kevin Levy, Chris Backe, Glenn Cotter, Mads Floe, Magnus Karlsson, JT Smith, Carl Klutzke, Troy Pichelman, Jack Rosetree, James Peters, Jason Harris, Devin Metlin, Steven Ungaro, Steven Vesci, The Playtester Sisters, All the Protospiels, Laura Guigliano, Bobby West, Keith Ward, Jason Engle, Phil Gross, Lachlan Kadick, John Bankert, Dave and Di Rossi, Chad Smith, Jessica Hernandez, Kenny Welker, David Rodriguez, Will Esgro, Jon Malbrough, Donnie Coleman, Corey Andalora, Ari, and the CuseCon Game Designer Guild.