Author Topic: Formula D (Read 5778 times)

danisthirty · « **on:** December 17, 2015, 06:47:23 AM »

Over the last 3 or 4 months, my colleagues and I have been playing a board game in our lunch hour once or twice a week. None of them will play Carcassonne with me so we've been experimenting with lots of different games, some of which have been better than others (Bohnanza being my least favourite of them all so far).

One game that we all seemed to enjoy playing was called Formula D. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic at first as I didn't like the theme (this being car racing) but once we got started and I began to understand the mechanics I really enjoyed it.

In Formula D, each player controls a racing car which is placed on a huge track split into squares (3 lanes and about 300 squares all the way round the track that we played – apparently there are dozens of tracks though). Each player also has a dashboard with a gear stick and damage indicator. With each turn, you can choose to change up or down a gear before rolling a dice that corresponds to the gear that you're in. As you go up through the gears it becomes possible to go further with each turn as the number of faces on the dice increases along with the minimum and maximum number that it is possible to roll. If you ever manage to get into top gear (6th) you get to roll a 30-sided dice which is practically a ball!

The challenge of the game though, comes from the fact that there are a number of corners on the track. You cannot simply drive through these corners as you would on a straight, but must ensure that you stop within them (i.e. that your turn comes to an end within the highlighted area) the required number of times as determined by how tight the corner is. Some require you to stop once, others twice and still others, but fortunately only a couple, require you to stop three times within the corner before you can safely carry on. Leave a corner without making the required number of stops and you take damage (or can blow up completely), but sometimes it's worth taking a little bit of damage by not switching down a gear when you know you should if this then means that you're able to reach a higher gear on your next turn and accelerate away from everyone else. Or try to catch up with them as was usually the case for me...

Ultimately it is all about rolling dice, but there was some strategy to it as well and I really enjoyed it even though we never got round to playing it according to the advanced rules! Apparently it's best in larger groups though (it is good for up to 10 players), which means it isn't something I will be getting to play at home with MrsDanisthirty. Worth looking out for if you're part of a gaming group that would have time and sufficient players to try it out though.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2250.0

Paul · « **Reply #1 on:** December 17, 2015, 07:46:29 AM »

This is kinda spooky as I saw a review for this game just yesterday. I'll post it here later when I get home.

It is mentioned in the review as well about the dice rolling.

danisthirty · « **Reply #2 on:** December 17, 2015, 08:23:51 AM »

Cool. If you have the people to play it with (and the money to buy it - it's quite expensive) then definitely do it! It's worth it just for the D30 (top gear) although this is quite dangerous to use during the game as a roll of 30 is almost certainly going to send you right through any upcoming corners and take a lot of damage for it...

Paul · « **Reply #3 on:** December 17, 2015, 08:51:18 AM »

Here is the review!

Bixby · « **Reply #4 on:** January 04, 2016, 07:02:52 AM »

This is a great game for league play. We are just gearing up for our 8th season of league play.
http://forums.saskgames.com/index.php?topic=5286.0

danisthirty · « **Reply #5 on:** January 05, 2016, 05:39:19 AM »

Quote from: Bixby on January 04, 2016, 07:02:52 AM

This is a great game for league play. We are just gearing up for our 8th season of league play.
http://forums.saskgames.com/index.php?topic=5286.0

Excellent! That sounds like a lot of fun considering the large number of tracks that are available for it. How many races do your leagues consist of?

Bixby · « **Reply #6 on:** January 05, 2016, 07:36:23 AM »

A season consists of six races.

Entry fee for the league is $20 (Which all goes to charity) and a Six pack of beer to the prize pool.

danisthirty · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2016, 03:21:04 PM »

Since Formula D was such a popular choice among my gaming colleagues and I, we played it again today during our weekly lunchtime gaming session. The game was as much fun as it always is, even though we're still not brave enough to play by the advanced rules. I do have some photos to share though:

We all got off to a decent start and were very bunched up after the first couple of corners. I was the yellow car and was especially pleased with myself.

This was a big moment for Richard as he accelerated out of the 3-stop corner in a high gear and quickly caught up with the rest of us.

This was about as good as it got for me. I lost my impressive lead when my next roll didn't get me as far as the next corner since I then had to slow right down in order to avoid blowing up my engine! This was when Richard and Lex slipped past...

Lex, John and I still had Richard in our sights (kind of), but David had managed an impressive comeback to keep himself in the game.

With the final corner out of the way, we all knew that Richard was going to win.

Unfortunately John used up the last of his damage points coming out of the penultimate corner and so blew his car up! But fortunately he ended up on a luxury yacht and sailed off into the sunset (according to him - we couldn't find anything in the rules to back this up)

Lex came second and I came third. Technically Richard finished ahead of us but tragically crashed into a block of flats (we're not sure how this happened either)

Paul · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2016, 08:49:47 PM »

Lovely photos, Dan!

Imagine playing similar game with Super Cars II style from the Amiga computer game. It had Turbo boost jumps, front and rear missiles, mines, armour plates, jumps (over trains) and more.

danisthirty · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2016, 09:38:05 PM »

Quote from: Paul on February 16, 2016, 08:49:47 PM

Lovely photos, Dan!

Imagine playing similar game with Super Cars II style from the Amiga computer game. It had Turbo boost jumps, front and rear missiles, mines, armour plates, jumps (over trains) and more.

Thanks! That sounds a bit like playing with the advanced rules (apparently you can play with guns anyway) but we haven't felt ready for them yet.