Dino Land — a world guide
Long, long ago — before bedtime had a name, before anybody had invented the sock — there was a green valley where a gentle brontosaurus grazed and never once hurried. That valley is Dino Land. Ferns nod in every direction, something leathery screeches across the clouds, and down in the middle of it all a tyrannosaur is taking his tea. It is the calmest place prehistory ever produced, give or take one soft club.
The game here works the way it does everywhere in Catchmemeow: a happy crowd fills the valley, and the two of you are looking for the one special critter hiding in it. Nobody can lose. A miss is just an excuse to look again, slower — which is honestly the best way to look at dinosaurs anyway. Keep those little fingers curious, too, because this valley has secrets tucked between the ferns, and tapping the right spot is its own small triumph.
What to look for in Dino Land
Dino Land hides six treasures of its very own. Most are rare, which means they blend into the crowd like they've been practicing since the Jurassic — and one is fleeting, so keep an eye on the sky. (The usual roaming friends, like Penny the Pug and Schrödinger's Kit, may wander through here too.)
- Tea-Rex — the politest tyrannosaur in prehistory. Tiny arms, big cup, enormous dignity.
- Cave-Cat — a Stone Age kitty with a soft club who invented the wheel and then napped on it.
- Ptero-dlactyl — the fleeting one. It screeches across the clouds for eight or ten seconds and then swoops away, so tap fast.
- Velo-cat-raptor — lightning-quick around the ferns, then suddenly, profoundly sleepy. Clever girl.
- Bronto-Bow-Wow — a very good caveboy who dug up the very first bone and then, of course, buried it again.
- Stega-Snoozeus — a drowsy dino-pup snoozing in the fern beds, wearing his bone like a trophy.
Tips for grown-ups
A few things we've learned playing this one with small people:
- Point out the long-neck brontosaurus and play big-and-little: her neck versus the raptor's legs, the pterodactyl versus the clouds.
- Dinosaur words are gloriously roar-able. Try "bron-to-SAUR-us" in slow syllables, then let your kid roar the last one.
- Borrow the Tea-Rex ritual: one polite roar, then a pretend sip of tea. It makes a surprisingly good wind-down before bed.
- Split the sky-watching job — one of you spots the Ptero-dlactyl, the other taps. It's only around for a breath or two.
One more thing…
Real tyrannosaurs had arms about the length of a grown-up person's — attached to a body as long as a school bus. So Tea-Rex's teacup struggles are, paleontologically speaking, entirely fair. Enormous dignity really was his only option.