The Short of It: Formula D is an engaging, challenging and thoroughly enjoyable game that does a briliant job of actually simulating the realities of race driving without getting bogged down in rules and mechanics...it's fast and fun with plenty of risk and excitement. Which is what every armchair formula one driver could ever want really...
The Long of It: Ok...so you've finally made it to the end of the week and you're hauling yourself out of the office to head home for a well earned weekend - only to be held up on your way home by the city's traffic jams. Oh to be able to put your foot down and let it rip, leaving the week's frustrations in your dust! Well, Formula D scratches that itch and if you do total your car, well...at least no one dies.
The mechanics of Formula D are simple.
The mechanics of Formula D are simple.
You start out in first gear (as per the very cool gear box you can see in the photo there), rolling a four-sided yellow dice. Whatever number comes up on the dice, that's how many spaces you move. You move up the gears progressively and you role a different dice for each gear (so by the time you make sixth gear you're rolling a glorious 30 sided dice and leaving burnt tyre marks in a wake that ranges between 21-30 spaces). Simple right? Except for the corners and the mechanic for this is brilliant. Every corner has a set number of dice rolls, or stops, your car must make to complete the corner (ie a corner with a three means your car must 'stop' three times on it's way around the corner). Just as in real life, it forces you to break and drop down the gears to get round the corner. If you don't adhere to the limit you overshoot the corner and spin out. Judging how far you can push it on the corners is the art of the game.
For the first half of our race we were in a fairly tight cluster, with the lead cars swapping regularly. However that all began to change as we hit the main straight and Roland, our newcomer for the night, cashed in on all his beginner's luck to leave the veterans around the table in his dust. Drastic measures were required to put a stop to this immediately.
For the first half of our race we were in a fairly tight cluster, with the lead cars swapping regularly. However that all began to change as we hit the main straight and Roland, our newcomer for the night, cashed in on all his beginner's luck to leave the veterans around the table in his dust. Drastic measures were required to put a stop to this immediately.
And, if you're wondering why the yellow and white cars here are facing the wrong way, that was our brilliant plan - a masterstroke of driving I'd defy Michael Schumaker himself to pull off. Roland was way out in front, driving the picture blue car. My long-time gaming buddy Blaine and I looked at each other with the same evil gleam in our eye as we decided to deliberately overshoot the previous corner and gambling everything on a colossal dice role that took us both just out in front of Roland, causing us both to spin out right in front of him, blocking his way. It was superb. It was masterful. It was all class. It was the play of the entire evening. It was boyish, careless, irresponsible and reckless (one turn later my car exploded!), and it was wonderful. All the things you can't do in real life and we loved it. Sadly, it was also futile. Somehow, Roland managed to skid past us and continue on to win the race by leagues. He took a well deserved win, but the play of the night was proudly ours! (Although no one has asked me for a lift anywhere since that night!).
Formula D is a superb game and a total blast. It's fun and it's fast which is what a racing game should be! There's a whole other track with a set of 'underground' fast and furious style rules on the flipside of the board too. Plenty to keep you coming back for more.
If you're after a copy I recommend www.gamesandhobbies.co.nz.
If you do give it a go, drop a comment below and let me know what you think.
World Domination Collective: Saving the world one boardgame at a time!
If you're after a copy I recommend www.gamesandhobbies.co.nz.
If you do give it a go, drop a comment below and let me know what you think.
World Domination Collective: Saving the world one boardgame at a time!