The Anatomy of Racing Games: What Makes a Great Race

Racing games are the least common denominator of board games. Candyland (1949) certainly isn’t a well-respected game nor are other roll-and-move games. However, there are also plenty of modern racing eurogames which are great. I’ve got quite a few of them in my permanent collection, including Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Cartagena (2000), Fast Flowing Forest Fellers (2008)The Quest for El Dorado (2017), and Snow Tails (2008).

So what makes the difference?

I think six different attributes contribute to great racing game play — elements that have largely appeared since the eurogame explosion of the ’90s. I’ve listed them here in decreasing order of importance. Great racing games don’t usually have all of them; in fact, that’d probably be too much! But the really good racing games tend to feature several of these attributes, particularly the higher ranked ones.

1. Tactical Movement

The heart of any great racing game is a thoughtful tactical movement system. And, if you’re thinking about bad racing games, they’re probably bad because they don’t have tactical movement. In Candyland for example, you draw a card and then move according to what’s shown. Other simpistic games have you roll dice or flick a spinner and then follow its dictates. There’s no meaningful choices.

Good racing games are a far cry from these.

The basic formula for good tactical movement is that a player has some resource at the start of a turn, whether it be a die roll or a hand of cards, and he gets to choose which of several ways to use it, to maximize his advantage for that round of play.

Formula Dé (1991) and Automobiles (2016) could be among the most simplistic of racing games, because they both focus on running cars around a track. But they both demonstrate how that simple play can involve tactical depth. Formula Dé embeds its tactics in its curves, which require a certain number of rounds of play to negotiate; while Automobiles has faster and slower tracks, which you can enter based on the cubes you draw. In these cases, the tactics might be heavily influenced by luck, but meaningful choices still accumulate from turn to turn and ultimately determine the outcome of the race.

The more options you offer, the more complex the tactics get. In Snow Tails you can control your speed and your direction by the careful play of cards; and in Cartagena you can choose to go forward or to fall back in order to acquire more resources. Reiner Knizia’s The Quest for El Dorado offers an extremely wide array of choices, because you can go in widely different directions, depending on which sorts of terrain you’re best equipped to cover.

Overall, the point is: tactics provide choices and give players the opportunities to get ahead (and drop behind) based on their clever play.These tactics are embedded in the terrain of the racetrack, and how it affects movement.

Tactical Obstacles. Great tactical play often involves obstacles. Sometimes, these obstacles are implicit to the tactical movement rules: a curve in Snow Tails or Formula Dé is an obstacle, as is an expensive hex in The Quest for El Dorado. However, obstacles can also be sometime extra, like the baby saplings that you can plow through on some Snow Tails boards.

Tactical Variety. We think of racing games as simple, because you go from point “A” to point “B”, but they don’t have to be. Spaces in races can have any sort of bizarre effect, creating fun variability. Fast Flowing Forest Fellers has spaces that move the racing lumberjacks around, showing how special spaces can be integrated directly into the racing gameplay. Optional pit stops are another example of tactical variety built into a race track. You wouldn’t want to go too far, ‘lest you left the core gameplay of races behind, but tactical variety — where spaces do more than just count how far you’ve moved — is great.

2. A Bit of Luck

The second most important aspect of great racing games is luck. Most races have it, whether it be card play, dice rolling, or cube drawing. There tend to be two big advantages to this gaming attribute.

The first advantage is pure excitement. Provided that there is meaningful variation in the results you get, with both good and bad results, a player can be thrilled or disappointed when he sees the random result.

The second advantage is brinksmanship. If a player can put himself in a situation where he does great or horribly based on his random result, then he has the opportunity to take a chance. Automobiles offers a great example of this: a player can stay out in a very dark lane, hoping he draws his dark cube, or he can move into a more central lane, losing some speed, but having more options available

Certainly, Hare & Tortoise (1973), the first-ever SdJ-winning game, shows that you can create great racing games without randomness. But, you’ll probably have a harder road to walk. (Or run.)

Controlled Luck. There’s a caveat here: the luck should be controllable. If not, you’ve just got a random game, like Candyland, which luck entirely determines the winner. Every great racing game with luck instead controls it in some way. In Formula Dé you choose your gears. In The Quest for El Dorada and Automobiles you build your decks (or bags). In Snow Tails and Fast Flowing Forest Fellers you choose from a small hand of cards, and you have your own deck, so you can make choices based on what’s still left.

3. Player Interactivity

Almost every racing game has at least a simple level of interactivity: players can usually block each other. This simple rule is surprisingly powerful because players are now purposefully getting in each others’ ways.

Some games go further. Faster Flowing Forest Fellers and RoboRally (1994) are both notable because they allow players to push each other around, forcing interactions with tactical obstacles and special tactical spaces. Clearly, this higher level of interactivity isn’t as important for racing play, as most games don’t go this far.

Game Tactical Luck Interactivity
Candyland (1949) None. Card draw. No control. None.
Hare & Tortoise (1973) Choose how far to move. Choose when to drop back. Spaces have special powers. None. Blocking.
Formula Dé (1991) Choose to stay inside or outside of track. Turns have restrictions. Dice roll. Choose die to roll. Blocking.
RoboRally (1994) Program orders. Spaces have special powers. Card draw. Play some of several. Pushing.
Cartagena (2000) Choose cards to play. Choose when to drop back. Spaces have different costs. Card draw. Choose to draw or play. Blocking Improves Movement!
Around the World (2004) Select cards. Select special powers. Choose cards to play. Spaces have different costs. Card draw. Choose a connected card and power. Competitive Draft.
Fast Flowing Forest Fellers (2008) Choose cards to play. Spaces have special powers. Card draw. Play one of several. Pushing.
Snow Tails (2008) Choose cards to play. Turns have restrictions. Spaces have penalties. Card draw. Play one of several. Blocking.
Automobiles (2016) Choose cubes to play. Spaces have different costs. Cube draw. Build your bag. Blocking.
El Dorado (2017) Choose cards to play. Spaces have different costs. Card draw. Build your deck. Blocking.

 

4. Strategic Planning

Though racing games excel at offering tactical options each round of play, they also tend to support strategic play where you can simultaneously make choices that will affect the overall course of the game.

Sometimes these decisions are just extensions of the tactics, with players looking ahead several turns. In AutomobilesFormula Dé, and Snow Tails, players have to slightly adjust their tactical movement based on the strategy of what’s coming ahead. Of them, Snow Tails has the most strategic depth, because players must leave their dogs and brakes in position where they can move in the directions that they need to in the future, and they also have to assess how many dents they’re willing to take (which may give them a strategic advantage, but will reduce their tactical choices in future turns by decreasing their hand size).

Many other games have strategic choices that cleverly interact with other game systems. This is what tends to make a great game: systems that elegantly and effortlessly interact. So in Automobiles and El Dorado players create their tactical choices through the strategic bagbuilding or deckbuilding.

5. Variable Boards

Even with their tactical choices and their strategic play, racing games can get repetitive because they fundamentally are about trying to get from point “A” to point “B”. The best-loved way to combat that is through variable boards, which change what point “A” and point “B” look like from game to game. Formula Dé really kicked this idea off with its endless series of board expansions. However, the much more popular choice is to dynamically construct a board from parts, as is done in CartagenaEl Dorado, Fast Flowing Forest Fellers, RoboRally, and Snow Tails.

However, we’re clearly down to the “less” important categories of game attributes here, because Around the World in 80 Days and Automobiles are two examples of totally set game boards.

6. Variable Powers

Finally, racing games can be interesting if different players and their vehicles have powers that are variable from play to play (and perhaps from player to player) … but this is a choice that’s not usually taken. Automobiles does this at a global level, because cubes have different powers in different games. Cthulhu 500 (2004) is a rare game where the players have vehicles are actually different at start.

Game Strategy Variable Boards Variable Powers
Candyland (1949) None. None. None.
Hare & Tortoise (1973) Manage resources to manage where you land on future turns. None. None.
Formula Dé (1991) Manage speed to manage future curves accurately. Different race courses. None.
RoboRally (1994) Manage programming a few turns in advance. Place specific tiles to form board. None.
Cartagena (2000) Manage cards and meeples to enable good moves forward. Manage future resources by falling back. Place random tiles to form board. None.
Around the World (2004) Collect cards to support good moves. None. None.
Fast Flowing Forest Fellers (2008) Manage movement to plan for future turns. Place random tiles to form board. None.
Snow Tails (2008) Manage speed and direction to manage future curves and other obstacles accurately. Place specific tiles to form board. None.
Automobiles (2016) Build bag to support future play. None. Cube powers vary.
El Dorado (2017) Build deck to support future play. Place specific hexes to form board. None.

 

Conclusion

Clearly what makes a great racing game is a great design, but these attributes are also a strong start. Try beginning with a clever, interesting, and controllable tactical movement system and go from there.

Obviously, I omitted any number of great racing games in this article, because as usual I focused on some of the ones I know best (and a few other notables). However, I also purposefully omitted others like Streetcar (1995) WInner’s Circle (2001), and The Downfall of Pompeii (2004) because they aren’t pure racing games. More about them in four weeks.

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9 thoughts on “The Anatomy of Racing Games: What Makes a Great Race

  1. Another classic racing game is Speed Circuit. Racers design their own cars based on the track. Turns are written simultaneously, so it’s about outguessing your opponent. It’s a low-luck game with very little die rolling.

    Tom Cleaver

  2. Variable Powers – The newer version, Formula D, now has an advanced play style where each person has a different driver. The driver does two things – each starts asymmetrically with different tires, gear boxes and such. They also each have a special power during the race – nothing over powered, but enough to be a twist.

  3. Seriously though, this was a great article. I’ve always been a fan of race games and have thought about the genre a lot over the years and could not find fault with any of the premises here.

    One thing I would add for certain games is simulation value. For games that are modeled on real racing activities (Formula De, Flame Rouge, Championship Formula Racing, Snow Tails) there is an element of wanting a realistic game. Many players are drawn to the board game as a fan of the real life sport or just want to feel like that is the activity they are engaged in. I guess it is a very specific form of applying the games theme.

    But like all themes, you can’t apply it exactly. We are not building a 1:1 scale model of the real sport here. So there is a push and pull between game play and simulation.

  4. Another strength that struck me when replaying El Dorado last night was catch-up mechanisms. I think they’re particularly important in races where it’s really obvious who’s ahead or behind. So El Dorado slows down leaders slightly with its barriers that only they have to deal with. Snow Tails gives a straight-away bonus that’s dependent upon your position in the race. Neither of these is overpowering, but they’re each a little something that gives the first player a penalty or a later player a boost.

    • As always, I write about what I know and have been able to play. But, yes, bicycling games are an interesting subgenre of racing games, as they often have intriguing mechanics related to sticking with the pack (which tends to go the catch-up mechanisms that I mentioned above, but in a way much more related to “reality”).

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  6. I recently got the Fast and Furious game; it’s basically a ‘more modern’ Formula Dé, but I like how it changes things up according to your theories. Instead of dice, gears are now represented by a deck of cards, with some strategic cardplay involved; each car has a driver and gets ‘upgrade points’ they can spend differently before the race; and instead of FD’s multiple tracks, it only has two… but it has a ‘start’ and ‘finish’ cards that can be placed anywhere, so you can race different tracks each time you play. That’s changes to four of your six categories. I think it works, but the game never really took off around here.

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