Despite us being avid gameschoolers, it’s been a while since I posted about any board games around here! But we’re loving Dragomino so much at the moment, that I thought I’d better rectify the situation, and write a review!
Dragomino is a simple and quick game, that is perfect for playing with little ones! The premise of the game is to build your dragon island by matching domino-style tiles, so that as many dragons as possible can live there. Each time matching tiles touch, you can select a dragon egg, some of which contain dragons! There are six different landscapes – desert, snow, prairie, forest, mountain, and volcano, with each having a different type of dragon that lives there.
HOW TO PLAY
Each player takes a starting domino tile, and 4 “exploration” tiles are laid out in the centre face up. The person holding the mother dragon (for the first round, this is the youngest player) gets first pick of the tiles, and chooses one that will match a landscape on his or her starter domino. After placing it, they then chose a dragon egg of that type to place on the match – hopefully that egg has a dragon on the back, but if they find themselves with only a broken shell, that player gets possession of the mother dragon! Play then continues clockwise, with each player choosing and placing a domino tile, and collecting their required eggs. Once each player has had a turn, any remaining tiles are removed from the “exploration” pile, and are replaced by 4 new ones, ready to start a new round.
Of course, it’s perfectly possible to match your tiles in more than one place at a time, so the fun comes when you can pick up 2, 3, or even 4 eggs at a time! Also, there are only 7 of each type of dragon, however each type has a different number of eggs, ranging from 9 (volcano) to 14 (desert), meaning you have a greater chance of getting a dragon from a volcano egg! As eggs are removed from the pool and placed on islands, the ratios of dragon to empty shell change continuously!
When all the exploration tiles have been placed, the game ends, and the person with the most dragons wins! The holder of the mother dragon gains a bonus point, and any ties are decided by how many eggshells players have.
The game encourages forward planning, and strategic thinking, as players need to work out what tile placement could be most advantageous to them later in the game, and which type of dragon egg is most likely to yield a dragon! Though there’s just enough of a luck element in the game, that younger players only just learning these sorts of things, can still be quite competitive and aren’t bound to come in last each time! The age rating on the box is 5 and up, which is probably quite accurate. Mr7 plays well with no help at all, so it’s brilliant for the whole family! It’s a very quick game too – just 15 minutes or so from start to finish, maybe even quicker once everyone knows what they’re doing – meaning that no-one gets bored, and you can often go straight into another game of it! And it’s so much fun, you’ll want to!!!
We really love Dragomino! It’s perfect for when you’ve only got time for a quick game, but you still want something a bit strategic that requires a little bit of thinking! And it’s brilliant for magic and mythology-loving kids, and little Harry potter fans. Highly recommended!
Dragomino can be found at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
A Different Way To Go 