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Dig ‘Em Up Dinos Board Game: Rules for How to Play

By: Author Eric Mortensen

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Categories Board Games, Children's, How to Play, Roll and Move

Dig ‘Em Up Dinos Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Looking for a specific Dig ‘Em Up Dinos rule?  |  Set Up  |  Playing the Game  |  Spaces  |  Winning the Game  |  FAQ  |  Components  |

Objective

The objective of Dig ‘Em Up Dinos is to be the first player to complete your dino and reach the museum.

Set Up

  • Place the gameboard in the middle of the table. Set the spinner near the board.
  • Shuffle the dig cards and place them facedown on the corresponding space on the gameboard.
  • Each player chooses a dino. They will place one of the corresponding colored bones on each of the corner spaces. The bones of any color that isn’t chosen are returned to the box.
  • Every player takes the mover corresponding to the color they chose in the previous step. Place your mover on the start space.
  • The player who most recently saw a dinosaur in a museum, book, movie, TV show, etc starts the game. Play passes to the left/clockwise throughout the game.

How to Play Dig ‘Em Up Dinos

To begin each of your turns you will spin the spinner. The number you spin on the spinner determines how many spaces you will move your pawn. You will move your pawn around the board following the arrows. You can move through and land on spaces that another player’s pawn are currently on.

Spinning the spinner
The current player has spun the spinner. They spun a three. They will move their playing piece forward three spaces.
Moving your playing piece three spaces after spinning the spinner
After spinning a three on the spinner, the current player moved their playing piece three spaces.

After you have moved your playing piece, look at the space that it is currently on. If it is on one of the unique spaces, you will take a special action.

After taking the action corresponding to the space you landed on, your turn ends. Play passes to the player on your left.

Spaces of Dig ‘Em Up Dinos

Map space

Map

Whenever you land on a Map space, choose another Map space on the board. You will move your playing piece to whichever Map space you chose. This action is not optional. You must move your pawn to a new Map space.

Mudslide space

Mudslide

When you land or move onto any mudslide space, you will continue to move along the path in the direction you were moving. Your pawn keeps moving until it reaches the final space in the mudslide. 

Using the mudslide to move
The orange player spun a three on the spinner. They decide to move forward one space and then move onto the mudslide space. They will slide along the space until they reach the inner circle. Since they have one space left, they will move one additional space clockwise along the inner circle.

No matter how many spaces you move, it only counts as one space. If you still have spaces left to move, you will continue moving off the mudslide space.

Shovel space

Shovel

Should you land on a Shovel space, you will draw the top dig card. You will follow the directions printed on the card. For educational purposes you should also read off the dinosaur fact.

Using a dig card
The current player landed on a shovel space and drew a dig card. They will have to do something silly, and then they will move one dino bone to a different dig site.

After you follow the directions, you will place the card on the discard pile space.

Dig Site space

Dig Site

Whenever you land on or pass a dig site space, you will find the set of bones that match your color in the corresponding dig site section of the board. Add the bones to the set of bones that you have already collected. You can start assembling your dinosaur as soon as you collect some of the bones.

Picking up dinosaur bones
The blue player passed the backyard dig site. They will take the blue dinosaur bones and add them to their collection.

If you have spaces left to move after you reach a dig site, you should continue to move and take the corresponding action of the space you land on. At the end of your turn you can take your bones from the dig site.

Winning the Game

Once you have completed your dinosaur (four pieces), you should assemble it. You will then start to move towards the museum. The first player to reach the museum with a completed dinosaur wins the game. The game does not say if you have to reach the museum by exact count.

Winning Dig 'Em Up Dinos
The blue player has reached the museum space after completing their dinosaur. The blue player has won the game.

Dig ‘Em Up Dinos FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components for Dig 'Em Up Dinos

Components

  • Gameboard
  • Spinner
  • 16 Dinosaur Bones
  • 4 Safari Truck Movers
  • 4 Stands
  • 34 Dig Cards
  • Instructions

Year: 2022 | Publisher: Goliath Games

Genres: Children’s, Roll and Move

Ages: 4+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.