Chef Boyardee Dinosaur Kit

Here is an item I was happy to finally get my hands on.  There were a lot of household products in the 70s and 80s that had some elaborate activity packs or games for kids.  This is a pack "Compliments of Chef Boyardee" with a scene of dinosaurs on the outside.  I'm not sure if you had to send in coupons or labels to get this, but it was a surprisingly elaborate set of die-cut designs.

Unpacking this was a lot of fun.  And don't worry, I got a second one that I can keep untouched.  But games and toys are meant to be played with.  So we had fun punching out the dinosaur scene.  It had two vertical folds, so it was meant to stand up and be the backdrop for whatever scenes we felt like staging with the cardboard dinosaurs.  

There were two cardboard dice that you punch out and fold, and with very clever use of tabs and slots, they held together well.

I wouldn't expect any world-class deep strategy game in a kid's activity pack, but the game was enjoyable enough.  There were no rules printed anywhere, but it was pretty obvious: place the diecut 3-d bits on the map (they were actually a bit too big and can be skipped), stack the tiny photo cards on the places that say "Place Cards Here", and you start at the Start space.  Roll the one die that you folded a few minutes ago.

Since the other die said whether or not you succeeded in taking a photo, it's clear that when you land on a photo space, you roll to see if you take a photo card.  And with 5 different cards, one can assume that the first player to snap all 5 photos is the winner.  There are some funny spaces on the bard where you are asked to make dinosaur sounds or "make a face like you just saw a dinosaur."

This was a treat to find and play after hearing some vague mentions of it over the years.  We had a fun build, then played it twice with some fussing over what direction we're supposed to move in.  We were definitely entertained for the count.  Having the dino diorama as the backdrop was a nice added touch.