Cretaceous Rails Board Game Review

Cretaceous Rails

WBG Score: 9

Player Count 1-4

You’ll like this if you like: Euros with a theme, it can be done!

Published by: Spielcraft Games

Designed by: Ann Journey

This is a free review copy of the game. See our review policy here

Make no mistake. Cretaceous Rails is a fantastic game. Every review I have seen, everyone I have played with, and every comment on BGG (well most) see people praising this brilliant game. Don't be fooled with how it looks. This is no toy. Cretaceous Rails combines elements of worker placement, contract fulfilment, route building, and pick-up-and-deliver to deliver a fully immersive, captivating and gorgeous looking experience. I am somewhat entranced by this game and I am going to tell you why. First, let's get it to the table and see how it plays.

How To Set Up Cretaceous Rails

First, lay out the board based on your player count. There are two starting map tiles; pick the one suitable for how many players you have. Then from this, build up two to four more map tiles, again based on your player count. You can copy the suggested setups in the rulebook, or let each player place one however they choose for a more varied game. The tiles are double-sided and can be placed however you wish.

Now fill this map. Each hex will show a symbol on it, telling you which dinosaur to put on it. Each hex also holds a tree token, representing the jungle. Then, place all the tourist figures into the bag, and pull four at random for each cabin hex, as well as the home hexes. Just use the middle two for a two-player game.

Next, shuffle the 16 action tiles and place them at random into a four-by-four grid in the centre of the table. Place the first player token onto the tile with the matching symbol. Then place the resort card board down, shuffle the resort cards, and place the top eight cards out, placing the remaining deck face down next to this. Then place the round tracker onto the first spot for this on this board.

Finally, have each player choose a player mat, along with the four executives, 30 train minis, their train engine, and eight train car tiles in their colour. Set these up around your board, with the train engine and two train car tiles placed in a line above the top of the mat representing your starting train. Each player then takes a dinosaur and tourist from the supply that matches those on the picture on their board and places them onto their player mat. Each player takes one of the four star tokens and places it onto their starting spots on the four tracks on their board. Each player also take son resort card and adds it to their hand. Finally, all players then take turns placing two train minis onto the mat starting from the starting hex. You are now ready to begin.

How To Play Cretaceous Rails

The game is played over four rounds, with each player having four turns each round. Play runs in reverse order to how players placed their two starting trains onto the board during setup. Starting with the first player, on your turn, you will place one of your four executives onto the four-by-four grid of action tiles you placed during setup. You will place your executive between two tiles, meaning you can do both actions on your turn. The tiles show six different actions; here is what they all mean.

Lay Rails - This is how you can extend you two train cars you build during set up. During the game you can only have one long continuous rail. They must all join up. You can have diverging paths, and you can relay previously built track if you run out. You can build where another player has already built but only once. There can only be two tracks per space.

Clear Jungle - You can remove one Jungle token from the board on any hex that is adjacent to your rail network. Take the token and place it onto one of your empty rail tokens above your player board. If you have no empty train, you cannot do this. You want the Jungle tokens as they will be used to build cards later, and you also cannot capture dinosaurs if there are Jungle tokens present. You also cannot gain any benefits from the safari action if the Jungle tokens are present.

Safari - Here, you can take one of the tourists on the board from any hex adjacent to your rail network, including your own home hex, and place it on one of your empty rail tokens, if you have one. As you do this, you will be able to move the corresponding star on your player board the same number of spaces as this tourist saw matching colour dinosaurs on this journey. What this means is that if you took a red tourist and it travelled down your rail network and passed two red dinosaurs that were in spaces with no jungle tokens there, you could move your red star on your player board two spaces forward. This will increase the points for red dinosaurs at the end of the game. You also now have a red tourist to use to fulfil resort cards. Each volcano you pass will count as one wild dinosaur, increasing the amount of spaces you move your star on the ratings tracker by one space.

Capture Dinosaur - You can take a dinosaur on any space adjacent to your rail network as long as the jungle token has been removed. You will then add the dinosaur you took and place it onto an empty rail token above your player board. Again, you cannot do this if you don't have an empty train token. The dinosaurs are not refilled, so what you start with is what you all have to use in the game. Be careful with what other players may be after and make your plans accordingly.

Draw Cards - You can take two resort cards from the face-up display with this action. Add them to your hand of cards when you do this. When you take a card, immediately refill it from the display. You can hold as many cards as you wish in your hand. You can spend one previously gained tourist from your board, move them to the left of your board where the focus group area is, and remove four cards and replace them with four new cards to choose from. Tourists moved this way count for nothing during the end game scoring.

Build Cards - With this action, you can build as many cards as you wish and have the right resources for. You can use any resource on your player board, but not in your rail tokens. The cost of each card is shown at the top. The benefit is shown at the bottom. Some cards have immediate benefits, while others grant you additional powers when you take certain actions on later turns. When you build your cards, place them to the right of your player board in the spaces marked. Your first card must be built in level one. But after that, you can build in level two if you wish, and then after that, level three. Some cards have additional benefits if they are built at higher levels, but note, some also have higher costs.

The cards, along with gaining you benefits and improving your later actions, also all show an end game score multiplier on the bottom.

At any point, you can replace any action you pick with the unload train action. Here, you can take all the tourists, jungle tokens, and dinosaurs on your train cars and place them onto your player board. You can only use the items on your board to play cards, not the ones in your train cars.

One of the action tiles has the first player token. If anyone chooses this tile on one of their four turns, they take the first player token and will be the first player for the subsequent round.

At the end of the round, you can unload your trains for free. Then take back your four executives, discard and replenish the eight cards on the resort board. Then shuffle the 16 section tiles and lay them out into a new four-by-four grid ready for the next round. The game ends after the fourth round is over, at which point all players will score points for all their captured dinosaurs. This will be based upon the position of the stars on the ratings track. Any dinosaurs still on your player board score half their shown points. You will then score points for each resort card you have built based on the multipliers they have on them. This could be for your jungle tokens or tourists that you have gained and used to build cards during the game, for any adjacent cabin or volcano to your rail network, the number of rails you have built on the map, or the number of train tiles you were able to gain during the game.

Is It Fun? Cretaceous Rails Board Game Review

What makes Cretaceous Rails feel so fun is how it always leaves you wanting to do just a little bit more than you actually can. You have four turns in each round, but there is always a sense you could do twice as much if only you had one more executive to place. You want to lay rails, capture dinosaurs, run a safari and build cards all at once, but the game keeps you tight, forcing tough choices every single turn. That tension feels great, and you can see what everyone else is doing too, which adds an extra pinch of pressure when you know they might just grab the dinosaur or tourist you were counting on. Or maybe, you could open up a dinosaur for them, by taking that Jungle token you really need!

Another thing that makes this game sing is how each action is linked to something else. Taking a tourist pushes your track on the scoring board, capturing a dinosaur helps score your cards, building rails opens up new spaces, and clearing jungle tokens makes everything else possible. Every move feels like it unlocks another small bonus, so each turn feels meaningful. But you never get it all. The clever part is you are always balancing what helps you now against what sets you up for later, and the board keeps changing as other players make their moves.

Then there is the huge range of ways to score points at the end, which gives the game real depth. You can go heavy on resort cards, stack up on tourists, chase the biggest multipliers on dinosaurs, or build out a sprawling rail network to try and score a bit on everything. The best part is, the scoring is not obvious, and the multipliers from the cards can make late game turns swing wildly. That means everyone stays in the running right up to the last turn, and it makes the end game scoring a proper event where big jumps in points feel earned and dramatic. You wont know who has won until you actually work it out, and as you go through each part on the handy score pad, it feels like a satisfying conclusion to good times had by all at the table.

The whole game just feels alive because of the shared board and all the gorgeous dino minis placed around it. Watching dinosaurs get scooped up, tourists pile onto your trains, and new rails snake across the map gives the game a real sense of momentum. It feels tight, colourful, and thematic without being fiddly. This is a euro with theme. With colour. With a personality. And even though it is a euro at heart, the dinosaur theme is never forgotten. You really do feel like you are running a slightly reckless prehistoric safari for profit, and that mix of strategy and fun is what makes it so special.

There are many different ways to play this game, but they all interest me and they all bring me a lot of joy. What you do affects others. What others do affects you. You can take the spots others want on the action board, you can take the dinosaurs they need. Players can take the resort cards you had your eye on. This is an interactive, thematic euro that really is top of its class.