Who doesn't want to be a dragon and hoard all the good stuff from their siblings? Do you have what it takes to collect the most gold before lights out?
| Baby Dragon Bedtime (2018) | |||||
| Designer(s) | Steve Darlington | Artist(s) | Steve Darlington | Publisher |
Tin Star Games |
 |
3-7 |  |
7+ |  |
5m |
This card game is a clever card drafting memory game. Players play all at once, or you can slow down the game so each player takes a turn one at a time for younger players.
Box and Components
The game box is your typical card box with the flip top that tucks into the box. It has enough room for the cards and instructions; however, the box won't hold sleeves cards. The game consists of 7 starter decks (in each upper left hand corner that are letters A through G, that symbolizes each starting deck). Each starter deck contains: 2 peeks, 2 Grabs and 1 Flip for a total of 5 cards to start your deck, which in total is 35 cards. The rest of the deck contains 37 additional cards that consist of: 2 grabs, 2 peeks, 2 flips, 5 roars, 2 flaps, 11 one point victory, 4 two point victory, 5 dust bunnies, 1 chewing gum, 1 swoop, 1 crash and 1 Mama! The 37 additional cards will be shuffled and face down on the table within reach of all players. Each card has a specific ability (more on this in the mechanics sections).
The cards are made of a sturdy material that does gives some leeway before you bend to far to fold the card. The artwork is really cute that demonstrates what the abilities on the cards depict.
Mechanics
The overall goal of the game is to have the most victory points at the end of the game which you get by grabbing cards from the center of the table and adding them to your deck; however, you could get negative point cards as well. You can play until all cards are face up OR all dragons have gone to bed. If you feel like your deck has the most victory points and don't want to risk getting anymore Dust Bunnies (negative points), you can place your hand over your deck and say "I'm going to bed". If you do this, you do not take anymore turns, but your opponents can continue playing until they decide that they are going to bed or all cards are face up. One perk about "going to bed" is you rest on your hoard you have collected and are no longer targets of opponent attacks. Once all players are done, they count up their points. Gold is worth 1 point, Hoard is worth 2 points, Dust Bunnies are worth negative 1 point, and chewing gum is worth negative 2 points. Whichever baby dragon has the most points wins!
Setup
To set up the game, provide each player with a starting deck, either all A's, all B's, so forth and so on. All players now have a starter deck that consists of 5 cards.
The remaining 37 cards are shuffled and placed spread out face down in the center of the table within reach of other players. You can either let them over lap some or take the time to set them up into a grid like pattern.
The player's starting deck are shuffled and placed face down next to them on either side. Regardless of how you would like to play the game (simultaneously or taking turns), the game play is the same.
How to Play
Play begins with players flipping one card from their starting deck over. The cards have abilities or positive or negative victory points. Beginning with your starting hand these cards are:
- Grab- put a card from the table onto your discard pile.
- Peek- look at one face down card; put it back face down.
- Flip- Flip one card over, from face down to face up OR face up to face down.
Once you flip over the card from your deck, you perform the ability on the card. As an example, I flipped over the "grab" card, use its ability to grab a card from the center of the table, and added it to my discard pile. Card grabbed can be either one of the face up or face down cards. Once I grab the card, it becomes part of my discard pile along with the card flipped from my starter deck. Play continues going through the starter cards in this manner. When you are out of your starter cards, you can either flip your discard pile over so it is now face down OR you can do a quick shuffle and place it face down to begin drawing again.
Again, the game can be either played simultaneously or can be played in a slower turn-based mode for younger players with each player taking one turn at a time.
Final Thoughts
This game is such a nice, quick game that can be broken out and played at anytime. I like that it is a memory game to help with cognitive skills as well as a dexterity game that requires you need to be quick if you play the simultaneous version of the game. You need to be quicker than your opponents to claim the most victory points. I love the artwork because it shows the meaning of each card. Even if you are playing with younger players that are not strong readers, they can figure out what the cards mean by the illustrations. Some may need some guidance from a grown up, but they are easy to understand. The rule book is to the point and has so much information packed in such a small booklet. I like how it breaks down what each card means to help clarify that. I like it gives the optional rules to slow the game play down for younger players as well as being able to add an 8th player if you so choose.
Links/Media
Baby Dragon Bedtime Board Game Geek Page
Disclosure
We received the product in order to write an honest review; all reviews reflect the honest opinions of the writer.