I am a HUGE fan of RoboRally.  I have said many times in the past that it is my favourite board game ever.  It has everything I love about games.  It is fast, simple, crazy and most important of all LOADS of fun.

RoboRally is board game designed by Richard Garfield ,most famous for designing the hugely popular and trend setting CCG Magic: The Gathering (I don’t really understand why people love M:TG so much…). It is the game of Robots racing around their factory after closing time.  It was originally published by Wizards Of The Coast in 1994.  WotC really supported the game and released several supplements.  The game and it's supplements won 4 Origin Awards.  The game was re-released in 2005 by Avalon Hill and this is the version I own and the one I am talking about here.

You get a lot of stuff in the box.  8 plastic Robot miniature (in the original WotC game the Robots were pewter…and lovely), 8 plastic Checkpoint Flags, 110 Program cards, 116 tokens, 4 double sided Factory Floor boards, The 2 sided Docking Bay board, 2 factory Floor Reference Sheets, 8 Player Program Boards, a 30 second sand timer and a full colour Rulebook.

The aim of the game is to navigate your Robot around one of the tracks going to all the different Checkpoints.  There are several different obstacles in your way, Conveyor Belts, Lasers, Pits and of course the other Robots.

The first step is to choose what track you want to race on then, each player chooses what Robot they want to control from the 8 in the box (Spin Bot, Twonky, Twitch, Zoom Bot, Trundle Bot, Hulk X90, Squash Bot and Hammer Bot if you were wondering) and decided their starting positions on the Docking Bay.  Then it’s time to start the Race!

Each player is dealt 9 program cards.  These are the card control the robots movements.  Each card has an action on Forward One, Turn Left, Turn Right, Back Up etc.  Once every player had been dealt their 9 cards they choose the 5 programs they want their Robot to do this turn in the order they want them to do them on their Program Register in front of them. Once all the players have placed their 5 Program cards face down in front of them all the players turn each card in order and move their robots simultaneously according to the Program Cards they have just revealed.  Once they have moved their robots the board elements take effect.  If a robot is on a conveyor belt it moves along that belt, if it is in a laser it takes a point of damage etc.  Once you have worked out where you robots should be at the end of the turn and after the board elements move on to the next card until you have turned them all face up.

Your robots can collect special items to help them along the way as well, certain squares on the board let you draw a card from Options Deck that contains special items and weapons for you to use on your way 

Once your robots have done their 5 programs then it is the next turn, deal out the program cards again, the same as before, 9 cards each but minus 1 card for each point of damage taken.  So if your robot has taken 3 points of damage you would get 6 program cards instead of the 9 program cards, limiting your options during the turn.

The game continues until one robot as touched every Checkpoint and wins the race!

It’s a pretty simple game, even if my write up above makes it sounds otherwise.  The best thing for me about RoboRally is how crazy it can get, one wrong card, one bad hand or one other robot pushing you in the wrong direction can throw your plans right out of the window!

If you like games that are about strategy and planning every move meticulously then RoboRally isn’t for you (go get a copy of Squad Commander off eBay) but if you like fast and furious fun with robots flying all over the place then you can’t really go wrong with RoboRally! It is also a perfect game to introduce your “non gamer” friends to the world of gaming!

ROB