The Dinosaur Fights gamebooks are a series of fighting games with a strong focus on brutality, which is often omitted from works of fiction. Each volume contains a violent encounter between two dinosaurs that have actually clashed in the past. These prehistoric creatures had such incredible offensive capabilities that it only took a few strikes for them to defeat their opponent, making the game last mere minutes.
Every volume is divided into books 1 and 2. The player can choose either, depending on which dinosaur they would like to control. The premise of each book is that you use a soul time-portal (or STP) to send your spirit back in time and have it haunt a dinosaur awaiting a deadly encounter with another.
The simplest way to play the game by yourself is to pick any book and start reading from section 1. From there you simply make choices on how to attack. This kind of solo play has you avoid the use of any game rules or journal entries.
If you would like to try a two-player game, you would need to have both books 1 and 2 in either volume (and of course, a friend to play with). Tyrant vs. Three-horned is a well-balanced fight where you and your opponent will gradually unlock the moves used by your dinosaurs, starting with two and eventually having four at your disposal. You also have the option to wait before choosing your attack. By comparison, the moves used in Sail-back vs. Shark-tooth vary depending on whether the Shark-tooth has managed to flank their enemy. In that volume you have a “David vs. Goliath” scenario: the Sail-back appears to be more powerful, but the Shark-tooth can inflict five different types of damage – surface, focus, internal, spinal and bleeding.
If you want to experience a two-player game rules system on your own, you can play versus a simulated opponent (or automa). There are two different automas in each volume. In Tyrant vs. Three-horned you have either a focused automa, whose programmed pattern of attacks has it use moves that are more likely to be successful, or a berserker automa, whose attack pattern revolves around the intent to deal as much damage as possible. In Sail-back vs. Shark-tooth, on the other hand, you are introduced to two different characters which you may challenge to a dinosaur fight, and whether they are focused or would go berserk is up to you to guess.