Designer: David Alberto Diaz

Artists: Josh Cappel (1960: The Making of the President, Belfort, Endeavor: Age of Sail, Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Pandemic, Scoville, Wasteland Express Delivery Service), Apolline Etienne (Haunt the House, Muse, Wreck Raiders)

Publisher: Kids Table BG (Haunt the House, Problem Picnic: Attack of the Ants, Wreck Raiders)

Genre/Mechanisms: set collection, tile placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Fossilis is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 7x the initial funding goal with 6 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  Explore a dinosaur graveyard & dig for bones in this three-dimensional game board filled with recessed pockets of fossils.

How It Works: Players take on the road of competing paleontologists, embarking on the dig of a lifetime! Players take turn in player order, with each player turn comprised of 3 steps. First, the active player Spends Energy to take Actions and makes one Extraction. Secondly, the active players Buys a Card from the Market. And Finally, the active player Claims 1 Dinosaur Card into their Lab.

Most player Actions cost 1 Energy, and the player Actions include: Gain 1 Plaster, Move 2 Spaces, Climb Onto the Dig Site, Place 1 Sand Tile, Dig 1 Sand Tile, Dig 1 Clay Tile (requires 2 Energy, and Dig 1 Stone Tile (requires 3 Energy). Additionally, when Extracting, it costs the active player 0-6 Plasters depending on the type of bones being extracted. A player can score a Dinosaur card whenever they have the required bones to do so.

When a Plaster pool runs out, the next Event Card is revealed. When the final Plaster pool runs out, players complete the current round and then play one final round. During End Game Scoring, players can score the Dinosaur remaining in their lab if they are able to do so. Them they score points for Skill Scores, Empty Skill Slots, Leftover Bones, Leftover Plaster, Market Cards (Tools and Supplies), Dinosaur Characteristic Sets, and possibly a Variety Bonus if the player has at least 1 of all 9 characteristics. The player with the highest total points wins.

Comparisons:  There’s the obvious comparison to Operation since players are using tweezers to remove bones from the central game board. But there’s thankfully no obnoxious buzzer in Fossilis, and more to the point, there are plenty of mechanisms to give Fossilis varied, tactical gameplay. In the end, you’re looking at a set collection game with some very tactile gameplay, and an incredibly unique board and game design. Much of the same design team also worked on Wreck Raiders.

What Should I Pledge?:
$40 Fossilis: the game (with KS-only gold embossing on the side of the box), a KS-only Amber first player marker, and all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
The gold embossing on the box, the Amber first player marker, the Power Tools micro-expansion, the Caution Tape micro-expansion, the custom paleontologist meeples to replace the retail version’s standard meeples, custom Waves to replace the retail version’s wooden cubes, and a Bone Wars solo mode designed by David Turczi.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $40 for Fossilis and $9 in shipping for a total of $49.

Fossilis completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, November 7th and tentatively ships in August 2020.