Matthew BaileyToday, we’re taking a look at “Gigantosaurus: The Adventure Game,” which I received a few months ago. I held off on the review, but now that the game is finally hitting shop shelves and I am super happy to finally get to write about it as I have spent a good chunk of the last few months playing this with Henry(3) and it is his favourite game.
The game is based on a popular children’s cartoon that, if you have young kids, I’m sure you’ve seen. Games based on licences like these are often fairly mainstream—and sometimes a bit underwhelming but “Gigantosaurus” stands out with a much higher-quality feel, which is clear from the moment you open the box. First, the box itself is beautifully made, as is the board it comes with. All the components are really nice, thick cardstock, and the absolute highlight of the game has to be the dinosaur meeples. Even better, there’s an epic Gigantosaurus meeple, which is quite possibly the biggest meeple I’ve ever seen!
The gameplay is fairly simple, but since it’s aimed at very young children, it works really well. The general idea is that, on your turn, you roll a dice. If you roll paw prints, you move a certain number of spaces. When you land on a space with a concealed leaf token, you turn it over to reveal a symbol. If that symbol matches one of the empty spaces in your book, you can add it there. The first player to complete their book wins the game.
If, however, you roll the Gigantosaurus footprint, you move the Gigantosaurus around the edge of the board by that number of spaces. What’s clever about this is that players can hop on and off the back of the Gigantosaurus, using it to travel around the board faster, potentially landing on a space with a leaf token they need. Since the tokens remain face-up after they’re revealed but unclaimed, younger kids can easily hunt for the symbols they need.
Another nice feature is a slightly more advanced variant for slightly older children, where you can choose to turn those tokens back over, concealing them again and adding a bit more memory challenge.
Gigantosaurus is a really simple game aimed at very young children, but the production values are impressively high. There’s a slight amount of strategy involved, too, which helps increase their chances of finding the tokens they need. The meeples are wonderful, and the Gigantosaurus meeple itself is fantastic.
If your child is a fan of the show, or you’re looking for a lovely yet simple game for young kids, this one’s a great choice.
Disclaimer: A copy of Gigantosaurus was kindly provided by “Hachette Games” for the purpose of review. Flavien Loisier is the General Manager of Hachette and is in our community. Our thoughts and opinions are, however, our own.
