Pyramid Review
Bone Wars: The Game of Ruthless Paleontology
Published by Zygote Games
Designed by Diane A. Kelly & James L. Cambias
Illustrated by Bryant P. Johnson
Four Paleontologist Cards, 33 Dinosaur Bone Cards, 71 Event Cards, & Rules Sheet; $19.95
Bone Wars: The Game of Ruthless Paleontology is the first release from new publisher, Zygote Games, a card game intended to both educate and entertain. Designed for two to four players, it combines three well-trod themes: dinosaurs, history, and science in a game about the Great Dinosaur Bone Rush of the late 19th century. Players take the roles of four genuine bone hunters whose rivalries will see them lie, cheat, steal, and besmirch their opponents, all in order to attain scientific immortality and prove themselves the greatest paleontologist of the age.
The deck is divided into Bone cards, Name cards, Event cards, and finally four Paleontologist cards, one per player. The personalities and histories of all four are detailed on the publisher's website, the cards here giving a name, a Prestige Point track (acquired to win the game), and an individual special ability. Bone cards are divided between skeletal elements and Fossil cards. Skeletal elements come as dinosaur skulls, limbs, and vertebrae, all color coded to different dinosaur families, and used to construct and revise complete skeletons. Fossil cards represent smaller finds, and cannot be revised. Event cards are also divided, into three types. Name cards describe individual . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 21, 2006
Copyright © 2006 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.
