Skip to main content

In this article you will find the Review of the board game DinoGenics, where we analyze the DNA of the mechanics of this dinosaur themed game, as well as photos of its components and our opinion about it.

INTRODUCTION

In DinoGenics you will be the owner of a millionaire corporation that has the goal of building the best dinosaur park ever seen. Seven rounds make up a game. In each of them you will have a certain number of workers, with whom you can carry out different actions: obtain credits at the Ferry, buy and sell dinosaur DNA in the Market, raise goats on the farm to feed them … Make sure to have enough hotels to be able to receive all the visitors assigned to you in each of the rounds; The more visitors you host, the more credits and victory points you will receive. But above all, and perhaps most importantly, give each of your dinosaurs the habitat they require. If you don’t, there may be serious consequences …

OBJETIVE

Get the highest possible number of victory points. Most of them are achieved at the end of each of the rounds, so you will be scoring as the game progresses, cumulatively. When the game ends, other factors are taken into account that also grant victory points and that you will see later.

GAMEPLAY

DinoGenics is divided in seven rounds or seasons. Each round players must place workers visitors on the board and play/buy cards to purchache dinosaurs and gain money.

The main mechanic is worker-placement, but players have to feed dinosaurs and control any chaos that could be created controling this dangerous animals.

 

END OF THE GAME

The game ends when the seventh round ends. To the victory points that you have been getting throughout the game, you have to add the score of some game elements: undamaged buildings, dinosaurs variety, money, DNA cards and scandal tokens.

The player with the most points has won. If there is a tie, the winner will be the one with the highest reputation.

DATA SHEET

  • Name:                              DinoGenics
  • Date of birth:                  2019
  • Place of birth:                 Ninth Haven Games
  • Son of:                             Richard Keene (Designer), Nikola Matkovic, Grzegorz Pedrycz, Tan Ho Sim (Artists)
  • Genre:                              Board Game
  • Age:                                  14+
  • Players:                            1-5
  • Time:                                90-120 min

DinoGenics in our game transport handbag Game Travel Bag

ANALYSIS AND RATING

FREAKISM (Originality, Theme):

Along with Dinosaur Island, Dinogenics is an ideal title for those who love Eurogames and dinosaurs. Despite the box billet it presents and the exuberant price it has, it is not complicated to learn or play, being at the height of a simple Stone Age, only with a little more crumb.

From my point of view, I think that Dinogenics does not stand out for being an original game. I am aware that the board game market is growing and it is difficult to shine in it. However, Dinogenics is a simple worker placement without innovative mechanics whose grace is the theme and its, indisputably, precious and admirable aesthetic.

Original has seemed to me that dinosaurs need to be fed and live in certain habitats so that they do not go into a rage. Although anger is really very easy to control (in my games none reached this state), it is funny to see how they get pissed off and destroy your entire park, causing other dinosaurs to be released and also go into a rage for having their habitat threatened (chain reactions). I am especially a fan of the result of anger dice that causes a visitor to drop money to see a dinosaur in action.

Freakism rating: 

HYPE (Excitement, Replayability):

Dinogenics I have loved it. The theme for me is not relevant, the fact that it is dinosaurs is not going to cause me to give you more points. It is simply easy to learn, to explain and the test games that I did did not feel heavy. As in many eurogames, you can take advantage of the break to think about what to do when he touches you again, speeding up the game in a way, something I generally like these games.

The market section of the continent board seemed interesting to me. If DNA cards are purchased, they are not replaced in any way. The only way to add cards to it is by selling them for money. Consequently, this causes the rest of the players to buy them. Being attentive to what others want is important to know which DNA cards to sell in the Mercado, more than anything to not give them the possibility of getting them easily and have to depend, therefore, on the actions of Site A and Site B, which work by drawing DNA cards randomly.

The variety of facilities is good too. You have the classic ones that: give victory points to the rough; that give reputation directly; that fulfilling the required requirements will grant you credits or victory points, being able to satisfy these requirements several times to receive their benefits more than once at once (for example, a credit for each facility that welcomes visitors).

The title has a certain dose of aggressiveness between players, especially if it is played with four and five.

Perhaps what I think has been little deepened is the visitors. While in Dinosaur Island these have a bit more weight, in Dinogenics the main interest they have is that they award victory points at the end of each round, during the maintenance phase. If you are the fourth or fifth player several rounds in a row, in the end it ends up taking a lot of toll, since those who receive the most visitors are the first and second player. It seems not, but receiving three victory points for every two visitors you have is a lot.

Hype rating:

SANITY (Difficulty, Rules):

Dinogenics does not give any problem, neither when learning it nor when carrying out the first game. The manual begins by presenting each of the components as a summary, then jumps to preparing a game and then goes on to explain how to play. The actions of the continent board are all explained on a single page, thus demonstrating the simplicity of learning and executing them. The concepts that require a bit more clarification, such as the anger of the dinosaurs, the habitat they need to live, how they created the creatures … are detailed on separate pages one from the other. If the game is already simple in terms of understanding and putting it into practice, the structure of the manual supports it.

Sanity rating: 

DELUXE (Components, Design):

All Dinogenics are pure visual delight. It is evident that the cost of the game is, it is obvious, high for the good material it has. To highlight you have:

  • Each species of dinosaur has its own plastic meeple, representing it.
  • The containing board, the individual boards, and the visitor board are of considerable thickness.
  • The dice of anger are engraved.
  • The game box is thick. It has an interior insert that helps organize all the material.
  • The players’ workers are pieces that represent, that, workers. The same happens with the fences, they are easily identifiable.
  • The aesthetics of the DNA and Manipulation cards, as well as their illustrations, seem cool to me. T

Deluxe rating:

GALLERY

DinoGenics displayed on our board game mat:

CONCLUSIONS

Dinogenics is a good game, for my taste. Essential? No, it is not. It is nothing more than another placement of workers with mechanical details already seen in other titles. Worth? I think so, as long as you really like the theme that surrounds it and the eurogames, because the price certainly does not help to buy it (around eighty euros). Of course, and as I have already indicated, the Price is an indicator of decent component quality and nothing to complain about at all. I consider that it is suitable for you if you are one of those who pay attention to aesthetics and you like simple Eurogames. Even more so if you like or are in love with dinosaurs.

Our BGG final rating:

The Doctor Frikistein® reviews are made without any sponsorship and with games purchased for our property.

Click to rate this post!
[Total: 0 Average: 0]
 

Cristian Becerra

Author Cristian Becerra

Cristian Becerra Porrón is born in Barcelona, currently living in Viladecans. Founder of the El Dado Dorado (The Golden Dragon) association, he has been writing reviews since 2010, taking advantage of the great economic crisis in Spain that began there in 2008. Since he was a child he already played classics such as Monopoly, Parcheesi, Goose game ... but the funny thing is that, as he did not always have friends willing to play with him, he ended up playing alone, playing several players at the same time. By the time he was fourteen, the Wise Men gifted him Game of Thrones and Warcraft. These games served as a base to fall in love with the world of modern board games and as a point of entry into it.

More posts by Cristian Becerra

Leave a Reply