Matthew BaileyJurassic Park: Danger! is a family-friendly asymmetrical grid movement and management-based strategy game where one player controls the dinosaurs and the rest of the players take on the roles of survivors trying to escape Jurassic Park.
Made by Ravensburger, what becomes clear very quickly is that this is not just a mass-market licensed cash-in. It stands firmly alongside Ravensburger’s excellent Alien: Fate of the Nostromo as a solid family game based on a well-known franchise.
You set up the game by creating a modular map that represents the layout of the park. The human characters begin in the centre, while the dinosaurs start in their designated areas. Around the edge of the park are three key locations: the Control Centre, the Visitor Centre, and the Maintenance Shed. These are locations that human players must visit and activate before they can escape. In addition to this, each character has a unique mission, generally based on what they do in the films. For example, Alan Grant has to distract the T-Rex.
The general concept of the game is that the humans need to activate the three key locations, complete their individual missions, and then escape. The dinosaur player, on the other hand, is simply trying to stop them by eliminating three characters.
What I really like is that there are some clever mechanics here that make this a very engaging experience, and it works really well as an entry-level family game in this type of genre. For example, the dinosaur player wins by eliminating three characters. However, if a player is eliminated, they are not out of the game entirely. Instead, they choose a new character and start again from scratch. The game ends when three characters have been defeated, no matter how many players are taking part. This means no one has to sit out doing nothing, which is a common criticism of more complex games like our family favourite, Nemesis.
The core mechanic of the game is card-driven. All player actions are controlled by cards. On your turn, you choose a card and place it face down so that other players do not know what you’ve selected. This adds a nice layer of social deduction as you try to anticipate other players’ moves.
The card system is actually quite similar to dungeon crawler-style games like Gloomhaven. As you play your cards, you’ll eventually need to rest in order to recover them. However, resting requires you to permanently burn one card, meaning it’s no longer available. You can also lose cards by being attacked by a dinosaur. Characters don’t have health as such. Instead, damage is represented by losing cards to your burn pile, which gradually limits your options until you can no longer continue.
All the characters have unique decks with their own playstyles, although I do feel they could be slightly more thematic. It’s a small complaint, though.
The dinosaurs also have their own abilities. The Velociraptors are faster, the T-Rex hits harder, and the Dilophosaurus has a ranged attack, all of which are useful in tracking and attacking human players. There’s also a clever sneak mechanic that both sides can use, which helps with movement and positioning.
Overall, we really enjoyed Jurassic Park: Danger!. It sits nicely alongside Alien: Fate of the Nostromo as a great example of a licensed game done right. The boys are big fans of the Jurassic franchise, and as we’ve been doing a bit of a marathon over the summer watching the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films, this game really fit the theme. They absolutely loved playing it.
It’s not absolutely perfect, and I do wish the combat was a little more involved, but for what it sets out to be – a gateway into more complex board games – it’s a great example. If you haven’t checked out my review of Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, which is an excellent family game based on a not-very-family-friendly franchise, I’d definitely recommend giving that a look too.
