The happy orange colors of Pandasaurus Games was easy to spot in the exhibit hall but it seemed like there was a dearth of actual dinosaur games there this year. There was the 2-player person-tile drafting game Gatsby with 3 different, concurrent game objectives. Beasts (maybe dinos in there?) is a 2-5 player co-op card game where you play to get a 3 digit number to increase while avoiding the Beast’s interference. Tricky Kids is a trick-taker where you write your own numbers on the cards. It comes with optional rules cards that add a lot of chaos to the mix. The 2-4 player The Mind: Soulmates is very similar to The Mind but you play cards face down but one player gets to see some cards and give a clue. Finally, there is Paper World, a 2-4 player game of drafting tiles to make a 3×3 tableau, racing to meet specific goals along the way.

Gatsby

Gatsby has two players trying to catch the attention of Jay Gatsby, primarily by recruiting varying characters onto your side. The game has three main areas of play: a cabaret, finance center, and a racetrack. The three areas each have a bit of a theme where the cabaret area is playing with cards (trying to make lines), the finance side has players moving tokens around (climbing up tracks), and the racetrack has (surprisingly) a bit of a race aspect to it, which you want to win. Players are also limited in that you cannot also choose the action your opponent just selected. The goal of the game is to get three characters of the same color, one of each color, or have the most “Stars” if any location runs out. The game should be out in September.

Beasts

Beasts is a 2-5 player cooperative game reminiscent of The Game. Players are trying to place their cards on a central tableau of three cards. Cards must always be placed such that the total 3-digit number increases. Unfortunately, when a Beast card comes out, it starts to block specific cards in a particular slot. The Beast cards can be “startled” into other slots. Players have limited ways in which to communicate so the challenge becomes when to which cards, etc… Beasts should be out in October.

Tricky Kids

Tricky Kids is a 2-6 player trick-taking game (out in October) that has some interesting and some more silly aspects. The basic idea is a trick taking game, but you get to choose the numbers on your cards, writing with a dry erase marker. The caveat is that your hand must add up to 21 – no putting 100s on all your cards. Winning tricks awards players with point tokens, but even these have a varying value. There are optional “Tricky Rule” cards that add more chaos to the mix. Things like write your cards then pass them to the right, this round you can go up to 50 but whoever has the highest total can’t win, everyone plays facedown, you can use 1/2s on cards, etc… An interesting take on the trick-taking genre as trick-taking and chaos don’t always mix well (and why the Tricky Rule cards are considered optional.)

The Mind: Soulmates

It’s been out awhile but I believe it is just now coming out (in September) here in the US. (Maybe its just back in print.) The Mind: Soulmates is a slightly souped up version of The Mind. Players (2-4) are still trying to play the cards in their hands in sequential order without talking. The twist here is that one person gets to be the “seer” and looks at some of the cards and then writes down a single number (any number, their choice) and then everyone plays the round. Hopefully, that number gives you some clues about what to do. Get the sequence wrong and you have to try again, correct and you go to the next “level” and have to try again with an even harder situation.

Paper World

Paper World (out in August) is a 2-4 player game that has players drafting cards to place in their own 3×3 tableau. In a turn, a player either takes cards from the communal row or places cards in their landscape. When taking cards, a player must take all the cards of the same number or all the cards of the same color. The same is true for playing cards – players can play multiples if they match color or number. Tiles can be played over, but they must be the same color and a higher number. Players are trying to fill in their tableau to get high numbers but also set up their tableau to match any of the three public goals for the round (like a line of three cards that equal nine, stacks with specific numbers or values on top, etc…) The first to get a public goal scores the most points but others can still score them for fewer points.