FORMULA D
Asmodee - 2008
picture from BoardGameGeek.com
Formula 1 is the fastest motorsport in the world. Drivers need to be physically capable of experiencing drastic changes in G forces while maintaining the mental awareness that comes along with driving at insane speeds. Dexterity, endurance, reaction time, no one attribute trumps another, all are important when it comes to Formula 1. One wrong move could mean the difference between a podium finish and last place or even death. Board games, on the other hand, are not life and death. “Fast” is a word that would probably never be used to describe anything when it comes to board games. Dexterity could come in handy but really board games are pretty accessible to people with disabilities, so it’s really not all that important. Endurance? Games like Twilight Imperium can be 6-10 hours long so endurance is definitely important but no one would say it’s the same as driving an F1 car. So how in the world do you make a game that accurately represents the feeling of driving an F1 car? Well, somehow, Formula D comes kinda close!
Formula D is one of those games that I bring to a game night and immediately draws attention. The rules for a race or simple, first to cross the finish line wins, and most people want to see how that works in a board game. Once I open the box and people see the little gear box and the cars there’s a good chance we’re playing right then and there. The mechanics are simple and familiar enough to pick up in the first game but complex enough to warrant coming back to. First, each person selects a car. They then collect their gear box. This is how you keep track of your car’s damage and which gear your car is in. After determining the starting positions, it’s time to race. Everyone starts in first gear, as you do when you’re driving. Each gear has a specific die associated with it. In first gear you have a 4 sided die but the only numbers on it are 1 and 2. You roll the die and move that number of spaces. At the start of your next turn you can choose to shift up or shift down. When you shift up from 1st to 2nd gear the die changes to a 6 sided die with values of 2, 3 and 4 printed on its sides. When you shift from 2nd to 3rd gear you now are allowed to use the 8 sided die with values 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 printed on the side. You could potentially shift all the way up to 6th gear that is a whopper, a 30 sided die with 21-30 on each side.
When I’m teaching new people the rules the first question is always, “Why wouldn’t I just try to get up to 6th gear and blast all the way to the end? Why would I ever want to shift down?” Each corner in the track is marked with a red outline and a number. Your car is required to end its turn within the red outline at least the number of times as noted on the board. If you’re feeling dangerous you can blast right through a corner without stopping but if you end your turn too far outside of the corner, something like 4 spaces beyond the corner, you could potentially crash and burn. If the corner requires you to stop more than once and you don’t stop at all then you definitely crash and burn. In order to win you need to plan carefully, be mindful of the other cars in the race, and pick your spots where you put the pedal to the metal. It honestly does a really great job of recreating the sensation of being in a race.
Unfortunately, Formula D suffers from being an excruciatingly long game. The excitement is lost when you enter the late stages of the game and it feels like it’s just dragging its feet and taking forever. The problem stems from players counting out spaces before rolling to gauge the risk/reward of rolling the bigger die. “What happens if I try to go with 4th gear… 1, 2, 3, 4… no that won’t work. What about 3rd gear… 1, 2, 3, 4…” If you have a full compliment of 10 players this can cause the game to drag on for hours. If you’re playing with two or three people it’s not a big deal if all three are trying to take their time to find the optimal move but beyond that it can really kill the atmosphere of being in an intense race.
To adjust for this my friend and I came up with a house rule. When it comes to your turn you have only a few seconds to decide on your gear and roll. This keeps everyone focused on the game. They are forced to mentally calculate the optimal move while watching where the other cars end up. This, I believe, is how you achieve even a fraction of the pressure real F1 drivers feel when racing. I’ve done this method in a 7 player game with great success. The game still takes a bit of time to complete but with everyone locked in and rolling often you don’t feel like it takes forever.
Since I often play with new people it’s rare that we play with the full rule set. Each gear box has two sides, one is basic damage and the other side has damage tracks for specific parts. There are rules for weather, hazards on the track, and there are rules for racing more than one lap and utilizing the pit stop. On the opposite side of the board there’s a street racing map that has a whole additional rule book where drivers have special abilities. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game and I’ve owned it for years. The basic rules are still so good that we haven’t really felt the need to spice things up.
It’s a big box, it draws the eye, but an even bigger draw is when you open the thing and dump out all the little cars. The track map is gorgeous to look at and is easy to read. The rules make sense for what actions you’re performing so players feel comfortable after the first corner. Because of the accessibility it’s often in my bag when going to see friends. The box is dinged up from travel but I think that’s the ultimate sign of a good game. A game with a brand new looking box probably doesn’t get much play, but a game with a box that looks like its been through war is one that hits the table frequently. If you don’t have one of those on your shelf, maybe you should take a look at getting a copy of Formula D.