Fossilis is a game we are playing on repeat as part of our study of rocks. We’re getting creative – studying rocks can encompass so many different things! Today we’re studying rocks as they pertain to fossils and playing this excellent game to super charge our learning!
The components that come with this game are excellent – a 3D dig site board, terrain tiles, tweezers, and teeny tiny bones!
Set up goes like this: sprinkle the bones and hammers into the dig site, put the lid on, and gently shake the bones around to evenly distribute them.
Slide the site map in between the dig site and the lid and remove the lid (so no one can see where the bones are).
Lay the terrain tiles randomly on the site map and then slide it out and flip it over to act as the score track.
Each turn has 3 steps:
- Spend 4 energy to take actions
- Buy 1 card from the market
- Claim 1 dinosaur card
Energy points can be spend in the following ways in any order:
- Gain 1 plaster
- Move 2 spaces
- Climb onto the dig site (players get pushed off occasionally and can climb back on along the same edge using 1 energy point)
- Place 1 sand tile
- Dig 1 tile (sand, clay, or stone) by sliding tiles adjacent to your pawn 1 space in any direction to uncover dig holes and discover bones!
- Extract bones
After using energy points, players can buy up to 1 card from the market with terrain tiles gained during part 1 of a turn. Tool and supply cards cost the fragments listed at the bottom of the card and give specified benefits. Tool cards can’t be played until the player’s next turn but supply cards can be played immediately.
The last phase of a player’s turn is to claim a dinosaur card into his lab. Players must have at least one of the required bones in storage to claim a dinosaur. Players can only have one dinosaur in the lab at a time.
Dinosaurs score points based on the value of the dinosaur but also on its characteristics, so choose carefully and strategically!
Events are triggered throughout the game as the plaster pool runs out. Some events are helpful, but most are disastrous! Earthquakes, landslides, snake bites, oh my!! The effects of each event last until the next event is triggered.
Four plaster pools are played throughout the game, and when the last one runs out, players complete the current round PLUS one more complete round. Final scores are then calculated, and the best dinosaur hunter wins!
Fossilis has 33 different dinosaur cards with some information about each, making this game a gameschooling super star! The different types of bones are also interesting to look at and do some research about. There are so many great little rabbit trails this game could lead to!
Hunting fossils can be a dangerous business…watch out for predators!!
We have enjoyed playing this game and talking about paleontologists, how fossils are created, how scientists use bones to make models and guesses about what they might have looked like. It’s been a really fun educational resource to add to our rock unit!
Thanks to the excellent Kids Table Board Gaming for sharing with us!
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