Ah, the dinosaurs are back from (never) having left. The film Jurassic Park forever changed the landscape of blockbuster movies in the nineties, with fantastic props, dramatic music, cinematography and groundbreaking visual effects. The film also sparked an even greater surge in love for dinosaurs among children (and secretly adults too), and although it seemed to wane for a while, thanks to no fewer than four Jurassic World films, dinosaurs are now more popular than ever due to this revival. Just to be clear: there are only three Jurassic Park films. Nothing The Lost World, Jurassic World. Still popular is the card game Similo, where players must cooperatively guess which card is the correct one by communicating only in a limited way and spotting similarities and differences.
You may think I spend most of my time playing board games. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. For me, board games are mainly a social activity with loved ones and friends, but everyone (myself included) has a fairly busy schedule. What requires a bit less planning is reading books. One of the books I read in December was Jurassic Park. Perhaps you didn’t know, but Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster is based on a semi-medical novel/thriller by Michael Crichton (also known for Westworld and ER). Many well-known films – including many of my favourites – are based on books I’ve never actually read. Last year I decided it was time to change that, and one of those books was Jurassic Park.
Anyway, without digressing too much: Jurassic Park is a fantastic film and dinosaurs are – even though I’m no longer a ten-year-old boy – rather cool. Yes, you can admit that. The first two Jurassic Park films are a core memory from my youth. The third is entertaining. The book is really quite brilliant, and I’ve actually forgotten most of the Jurassic World films, but I’m grateful that there’s a dino version of the delightful card game Similo.
In Similo, one player takes on the role of clue-giver and the other players must jointly guess which card the clue-giver is trying to indicate. At the start of the game, the clue-giver receives a single card. This is the card the other players have to guess. The clue-giver shuffles this card together with some others and creates a tableau of face-up cards on the table. Then, the clue-giver draws five cards and gives hints to the other players by indicating whether the card they need to guess has a similarity or a difference with the card shown.
What I really like about this version of Similo is that the theme was a little unexpected for me. Granted, Jurassic World is immensely popular, but when I think of Similo, I’m more likely to think of fairy tale characters or other human figures or animals that perhaps spark the imagination a bit more. Precisely because this set contains dinosaurs that, to the uninitiated, might quickly seem similar, you’re invited to think differently than with other Similo sets. This version is therefore especially fun to combine with the more “traditional” Similo sets.
