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Funds: 300
Day 1
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About Fossil Foundry

Dig strata layers, assemble fossil skeletons and curate era-labeled exhibits in this free online paleontology museum game.

Fossil Foundry is a dinosaur fossil game about the real work of paleontology: reading rock layers, excavating specimens, preparing bones and assembling the museum displays the public actually sees. You play the curator of a small natural history museum, funding expeditions into a stratigraphic column where each layer preserves a different chapter of Earth history.

The dig site teaches stratigraphy by making you choose where to dig. Sedimentary rocks stack in order of age, so the Cretaceous layer near the top yields T. rex, Triceratops and Velociraptor, while progressively deeper strata reach the Jurassic giants, the first small dinosaurs of the Triassic and finally Permian synapsids like Dimetrodon, which lived before dinosaurs existed. Back in the lab, fossil preparation mirrors real prep work: rock matrix is cleaned away piece by piece and each bone joins a composite skeleton. Missing elements leave honest gaps, exactly how museums display real finds, because almost no specimen is ever complete.

Curation is where the science bites back. Every placard must name the correct geologic period, and accuracy drives your reputation just as it does for real institutions. Visitors pay by wow factor, rewarding complete blockbuster mounts, but expert audits will call out a mislabeled era the way critics exposed the Piltdown Man forgery. Balancing spectacular displays against scientific honesty is the daily dilemma of every museum director.

Key Science Concepts

What You'll Learn

Grade Level: Middle School, High School

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How to play

  1. Dig the Strata Arm Excavate and tap a rock layer. Younger Cretaceous rock is cheap; deeper strata need a dig camp first. The layer's era decides which fossils you can find!
  2. Prep the Bones Bones fly to the field crate and are cleaned in the prep lab queue. Each cleaned bone slots into its species' skeleton; duplicates become research funds.
  3. Mount Exhibits Once a skeleton has 2+ parts, tap its mount then an empty pedestal. Partial skeletons can open early with honest gaps, just like real museums!
  4. Label the Era Every exhibit needs a placard: Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic or Permian. Correct eras earn bonus wow. Wrong labels get called out and hurt reputation!
  5. Wow the Visitors Visitors pay admission by wow factor: big complete skeletons earn most. The Critic audits placards, and flash floods can swamp a dig layer until you tap to bail it.
  6. Expand the Museum Buy dig camps to open older strata, a gift shop to boost visitor spending and a prep tech for faster cleaning. Reputation low? Tap the Reputation bar for a press release.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fossil Foundry free to play?
Yes. Fossil Foundry is completely free to play in your browser. There is no download, install or account needed.
What grade level is Fossil Foundry for?
Fossil Foundry is designed for Middle School, High School students and works well as a classroom activity or homework.
Does Fossil Foundry work on phones and tablets?
Yes. Fossil Foundry runs in any modern browser on desktop computers, Chromebooks, tablets and phones in landscape mode.

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