Dino Hunt
Dino Hunt Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What's in the Game
This game includes this rulebook and:
- 109 Dino Hunt cards, plus two Booster Packs with bonus cards. (You can get more Booster Packs to build your collection of cards.)
- The Time Track, with the complete card list on the back.
- Four different colors of Energy Track – one for each player – and four ring-shaped Energy Markers. (Look on the back of the Energy Tracks for more game ideas!)
- Four Dinosaurs – one for each player – to use as markers on the Time Track.
- One No Extinctions Marker, used on the Time Track when a player controls the Synchronizer.
- One 6-sided die, with a dinosaur on the '1' face.
Starting the Game
(1) Separate the cards into Dinosaur cards and Specials. The Specials are the ones with the Dino Hunt logo on the back. Shuffle both decks. Put the Special deck face-down.
(2) Decide how long you want your hunt to last. For a short game, less than an hour, "cut" the Dinosaur deck in the middle, to choose about half the cards. That way, you never know just what you will be hunting! Put one stack face-up, with the dinosaur picture showing. This is the play deck. The others go face-down to start the discard stack.
(3) Give each player a ring-shaped marker, an Energy Track, and the dinosaur of the same color. (All players start with zero Energy.)
(4) Put the Time Track in the center of the table. Start each player's dinosaur in the Late Jurassic.
(5) Deal one Special card to each player. You can look at the card that you get.
(6) Each player rolls the die. The highest roll goes first (roll again in case of ties). When one player finishes, the next player clockwise takes his turn.
The Cards
Dinosaur Cards. Each card represents a single prehistoric creature. The front of the card, with the color picture, has game information. The back of the card has scientific data.
Special Cards. These represent gadgets, expert assistants, good luck for you . . . and bad luck for your rivals. They all have the same back, so you never know what Special is on top of the deck.
Some Specials are discarded after use. Others (Experts and Gadgets) work over and over.
Some Special cards (Jet Packs, for instance) add to your die roll when you hunt. If you have two or more identical Specials, though, only one at a time will give you a bonus!
When you read a Special, the first part of the text (in italic) tells when it can be played and what it does, in game terms. The second part tells the story of what happened – you can read it out loud!
Duplicates. Your Booster Packs may contain duplicates of some cards. Carnivores are rarer than herbivores, just as in nature, so if you get a lot more cards, you will have more plant-eaters. It is all right to have duplicate cards in your deck. In fact, some Specials (found only in booster packs) give you a bonus if you catch two dinosaurs of the same kind.
However, Expert cards are unique. Only one of each Expert can be in play at a time. If you draw an Expert that duplicates one in play, discard it.
Time Track
There are five prehistoric time periods in Dino Hunt, from the Triassic (the oldest) to the Late Cretaceous. Your marker on the Time Track shows what time period you are in.
When a Dinosaur card is taken from the deck, it goes on the table. Put it above or below the Time Track, in any period when it lived. (The periods when it lived are shown on the card, and are color-coded to match the Time Track.) When you are in the same period with a dinosaur, you can hunt it!
A dinosaur stays on the table until it's captured . . . or until it goes to the discard pile because of a bad hunt result, or a Special card.
Energy Track
Your Energy Track shows how much energy you have in your power cells. When you start each turn, put your Energy marker on 10.
You spend energy whenever you move your expedition to a different period in time: 1 Energy for each period you enter or pass through.
You also spend energy when you send your captured dinosaurs to the present day.
And some Gadgets need energy. This includes Gadgets you use during other players' turns!
A Sample Dinosaur Card
- Name. The creature's scientific name.
- Time Period . . . when it lived.
- Family . . . the type of creature.
- Diet. What scientists think it ate.
- Hunt Table. When you hunt this creature, roll the die . . . the table tells you what happens.
- Energy. The Energy cost to send this creature home when you catch it.
- Score. The card is worth this many points at the end of the game.
The printed sample card is Tyrannosaurus Rex, Late Cretaceous, Theropod • Carnivore, with Energy 4 and Score 11. Its hunt table reads:
- 6, 5 – Captured! Pay 4 Energy.
- 4 – Missed! Pay 1 Energy.
- 3 – T. rex escapes! Pay 1 Energy. Discard this card.
- 2, 1 – T. rex kicks and grabs with its mighty clawed feet, wreaking havoc among your crew! If you have any Gadgets, discard one (your choice). Discard this card. Your turn is over.
Taking Your Turn
Each player's turn has three parts. You must take these in order. You have to get energy and draw new cards before you can go hunting!
(1) Recharge! Move your Energy marker to 10.
(2) Draw a Special card for yourself. Then roll the die and put out that many new Dinosaur cards. (On each player's first turn, instead of rolling the die, just put out the top 4 cards from the dinosaur deck.)
(3) Travel in time and hunt dinosaurs!
(1) Recharge Energy
Start your turn by moving your Energy marker up to 10. It can never go over 10 unless a Special card allows it.
(2) Draw Cards
First, draw one Special card for yourself. Most Specials are good for only one use; keep these hidden until you use them. But Gadgets and Experts will help you over and over. Put these face-up in front of you as soon as you get them.
Now roll the die, and draw that many cards from the top of the Dinosaur deck. Place each creature on the table, above or below the Time Track (whichever is easiest), in the period when it lived.
You may look at all the cards before you place any of them. If a creature lived in more than one period, you choose which of those periods to place it in!
When the Dinosaur Deck runs out of cards, keep playing until no dinosaurs are left on the Time Track. Then the game is over.
(3) Go Hunting!
Now you can travel in time (or stay where you are) and hunt dinosaurs. You may hunt and travel over and over, as much as you want . . . until you run out of Energy, or a bad hunt result ends your turn!
To Travel in Time:
(a) Move your dinosaur marker to your new time period on the Time Track.
(b) Move your Energy marker down, to pay for the trip. Time travel costs 1 Energy for each period you enter or jump over. For instance, moving from Late Jurassic to Early Jurassic costs 1. Moving from Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous costs 2.
To Catch a Dinosaur:
The object of the game is to capture prehistoric creatures, and send them home with your time machine. You may hunt only the creatures on the Time Track – never those in the deck.
You may pick up the cards on the table to look at them before you hunt, but you must put them back in the same place.
Each "hunt" is one die roll. To go hunting:
(1) Announce which creature you want. You must be in its time period. You may hunt any creature that is in your time period.
(2) Roll the die. The higher your roll, the better! Some Special cards can add to your roll. Your rivals may also play cards to make your hunt more difficult. (If cards are played to change your roll, a result of less than 1 is still a 1, and more than 6 is still a 6.)
(3) Look at the Hunt Table on the Dinosaur card, to see what happened.
On a good roll, you capture it. On a bad roll, it escapes. On a very bad roll, it can attack your party and end your turn! (This is a good time for all the other players to growl "Yaaargh!" like angry dinosaurs.) Or something else can happen.
Hunt Results
When you capture a dinosaur, you must pay the Energy cost, shown on the card, to send it home to your zoo. Keep it in front of you. It counts points for you at the end of the game. (You cannot hunt a dinosaur unless you have enough Energy to send it home. If you make a mistake and cannot pay this cost after you hunt it, leave the card on the table.)
If you miss your shot, you must pay 1 Energy. Leave the card on the table. You may continue your turn, unless all your Energy is gone.
If the dinosaur escapes, read the card carefully. If it tells you to discard the card, immediately place it on the discard pile. (Never discard a dinosaur unless a card specifically tells you to.)
Sometimes, on a roll of 1 or 2, there will be an even worse result than "escape." Follow the instructions on the card. For instance, the dinosaur might attack you and your turn will end . . .
After the Hunt
If you want to move to a different time period, you can . . . as long as you have energy! Or you can stay in the same period.
If you missed your shot, but the dinosaur stayed on the table, you may hunt it again if you still have enough Energy. But you do not have to hunt it again; you may change your target, or even move to another period.
You may keep moving and hunting as long as you have targets and Energy . . . unless a bad hunt result ends your turn!
Special Cards
Each time you start a new turn, you get one Special card.
You also get a Special card when you capture the last dinosaur in any time period. (Dinosaurs still in the deck don't count. For instance, if there is only one Triassic dinosaur on the table, and you catch it, you get a Special.) You don't get a card if the dinosaur escapes (or is discarded for any other reason) – you must actually capture it.
Playing Special Cards
A Special card can be something good for you, or something bad for one of your rivals. Each card tells when you can play it. Read the instructions on the cards, and follow them even if they break the regular rules of the game!
If two or more contradictory cards are played on the same turn, the last card played is the one that counts. So if someone plays Misfire on you, and you immediately play Lucky Shot, your card is the one that counts, and you got that dinosaur after all!
If two or more cards are played and they are not contradictory, they all take effect.
Discards
If a dinosaur escapes when you hunt it, you must put it in the discard stack. These cards are out of the game unless a Special returns them to play.
When a Special card is played or discarded, it goes to the Special discard stack, face-up. If you run out of Special cards, reshuffle the discard stack.
Ending the Game
The game ends when there are no Dinosaur cards left in the Dinosaur Deck or on the Time Track. That is, they have all been captured or discarded. The more Dinosaur cards you started with, the longer your adventure will be!
Scoring and Winning
Each creature you have captured scores the points shown on the card.
Some Special cards will give you bonus points for certain dinosaurs. If you have duplicates of the same bonus card, only one counts.
The winner is the player with the most points!
If there is a tie for the highest score, the winner is the one with the most creatures!
Keep on Hunting!
Want more cards? Check out the Dino Hunt Booster Packs where you got this game. They include limited-edition versions of all the cards in this set, plus 90 more dinosaurs, 31 more Specials and 10 "ultra-rare" gold foil dinosaur cards! For a complete list of all the 1996 Dino Hunt cards, look on the back of the Time Track.