Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
As a video game junkie from “back in the day”, I was disappointed with my play experience of Dungeon Kart, the Mario Kart-a-like board game released by Brotherwise in 2024. Some of Dungeon Kart was fine—it’s a great-looking production, and it was clear that the folks behind the game spent a lot of time trying to get that Mario Kart feel down just so.
But in execution, Dungeon Kart was a major miss, mainly because of its time orientation. Games of Mario Kart 8 on the Switch might take 2-3 minutes. Dungeon Kart, in one extreme case, took almost 90. And 90 minutes is too long for players to stay focused on flinging banana peels at opponents.
Enter Dodos Riding Dinos (2021, Detestable Games and Draco Studios), the game that I didn’t realize I was missing. It’s got great art, great miniatures, a very easy-to-parse rulebook with plenty of variants, and comes with four distinct racetracks that all have special rules and tracks aligned to player count built into the map design. Then it hits the home run by allowing me to drop a meteorite on the unsuspecting head of a rival.
Yes, That’s a Dodo On Top of a Dinosaur
Dodos Riding Dinos is a simple kart-style racing game for 1-8 players. Now that I have done the solo play as well as games with as many as four players, my guess is that the sweet spot will end up being 4-6 players to ensure that downtime is not too massive and I can get a full field of opponents. (Thanks to a very easy-to-run bot system, players can always have a full set of eight racers as long as someone is OK managing the AI.)
Each player selects a dino miniature during setup, each with its own special power. Players get a hand of cards that are used to both plan for the current round as well as serve as its racer’s health meter…run out of cards, and you’ll be forced to move backwards a couple spaces before “respawning” by getting a new hand. Just this element alone is something that I love, and finding ways to get cards back during each round becomes crucial as a way to stay in the match without having to suffer a minor setback.
After all cards are revealed, players take turns resolving their effects—some cards offer a simple movement forward, others are more aggressive in nature (they may attack other players or give someone a big movement boost, but these powers only trigger when a player has played the only aggressive card in a round), and some cards grant the active player a real chance to shine. That moment comes when they read the card’s text and reveal a dexterity challenge listed on that card.
Yes, friends…in this version of Mario Kart, players in Dodos Riding Dinos have to physically roll a log at other cards, or fling a banana token at an opponent in the lead. I still think that the meteorite—which has to be dropped from above a player’s eye level in a straight line over another player’s dino—is the hardest challenge in the game, one that we never quite got right during my three review plays.
But this boosts engagement significantly, and it adds a needed wrinkle in a game that even at 30 minutes can feel a little long if players aren’t using their spiciest card concoctions. Some of the race tracks have other rules that need to be considered when moving around, and like other games in this category, the finish line area is always dramatic in Dodos Riding Dinos.
Can I Get the Kids to Come Back?
While we enjoyed Dodos Riding Dinos at home, the kids (ages 11 and 8) have already moved on from it, despite being fans of the gameplay and as fans of similar video game experiences. That confirms my thoughts on the game as well…everyone was happy, but no one was truly thrilled.
And that’s OK. Dodos Riding Dinos is a solid family game that can be played in a variety of different ways thanks to a simple base rule set. I love how much game is included in just the base game, and with a cup series option also included, players could knock out a quick four-game tournament to help mitigate for those unlucky bonus die rolls tied to some of the cards or not quite getting the right draw after getting knocked back by other players’ dexterity challenges.
There’s also a bunch of expansion content in the wild for the Dodos Riding Dinos system, so if you want to dip your toes in the pool, know that there’s a deep pool of content waiting for your family!
