I first played The Hottest Race in the World (Shaunequest Games, 2005 - Edwin Wong) at Game Con 1, a board game conference in Malaysia. My first glance at the board didn't really cause me to think the game was much of a race - it was too simplistic, I thought. Still, however, I was easily cajoled into playing a game, and I found that I actually liked it.
The game is actually reminiscent to real racing in looks, as there are advertisements on the box and boards. Gameplay itself feels like a cross between that from Formula De and Ave Caesar. It's simple, allows players a decent amount of choices, and has little luck. There's a deck of event cards that add a certain deal of luck to the game; but they were too lucky for me, so I didn't use them, making the game that much more enjoyable for me. The Hottest Race in the World is a simple, fun filled race game that can be played in a short while.
Each player takes a dashboard, which has a track for tire wear (on which they place a counter at "6") and a place for a deck of movement cards, which they shuffle and place. One of two tracks is placed in the middle of the table, and four decks of cards (Special, Cornering, Braking, and Acceleration) are shuffled and placed in the appropriate piles. A deck of event cards is shuffled, with three being given to each player. Players place a counter on the starting spot of the race track and then customize their cars. This is done by taking, in turn order, one card at a time from the four decks, until they've reached twelve points. (Special = 3 points, Cornering = 2, and Braking and Acceleration = 1). Each player draws the top three cards from their own movement deck, and the game is ready to begin.
On each turn, starting with the race leader, players can choose if they want to play an Event card or pass. If one player plays an Event card, no one else can. Then, all players simultaneously play a movement card and may add one of the four special cards to it, if they like. Each movement card causes a car to move forward from one to five spaces. Acceleration cards can add up to five more movement points to this number, or double it. Braking cards can subtract up to three movement points from this number, or half it. Players move their cars the appropriate number of spaces, discard the cards played, and draw one more movement card.
Each corner space on the board has a number associated with it, from "1" to "3". If a players stops on a corner space, they're fine. If, however, they cross the corner, they must reduce their tire wear by the number indicated. If their tire wear goes to zero, then every time they pass a corner, they "spin out", which causes them to lose one turn. Players can use Cornering cards, which either reduce the amount of wear a corner gives or allows them to overshoot the corner by a certain amount of spaces. Players can also play special cards which do a variety of things, from allowing them to pass a car directly in front of them, to avoiding spin-offs, etc.
A race is three laps around the track. If, between laps, a player lands exactly on a the starting space, they may make a quick pit stop (which causes them to lose one turn, but puts their tire wear back to "6"), or a full pit stop (which causes them to lose two turns, but puts their tire wear back to "6", allows them to reshuffle their discarded movement cards back into their deck, and gives them one Event, Acceleration, Braking, and Cornering card.) A player must make one full pit stop a race; because if they run out of movement cards in a race, their car runs out of fuel, causing them to lose. The first player to finish three laps is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The cards are of good quality, plastic and easy to handle and read, although they all have to be punched out of sheets after the game is purchased. Each player has a different color deck which matches their tokens (cardboard wheels). The tokens were a little unimpressive on the track, so we replaced them with little cards, which were nicer to look at. The board is a folded piece of cardboard with a race track on both sides. The quality is okay, and there is plenty of room for the several decks on it. The board for each player is a little bigger than needed but does add a nice feel to the game. Everything is done up in bright orange and black colors, to add to the "hot" feel of the game.
2.) Advertising: As I said earlier, there are advertisements of Panglobal and other businesses on the boards, which would detract from the experience a little, I might think. On the flipside, however, the game was distributed to schools throughout Malaysia for free, so I'm willing to overlook this sponsorship - anything that gets games into schools is a good thing.
3.) Rules: The rules are only on four smallish pages, but they cover the game fairly well. The only problems we ran into were when we weren't sure how to resolve the Event cards, but we simply used common sense. The game was extremely easy to teach to people; the only people who had any problem at all, incidentally, were folk who were used to more complicated race games. Hottest Race is a much more simple, easy game than most race games.
4.) Tracks: The tracks are well designed and laid out, and each one has a different feel to it. Two only are included with the game, but if you go to http://www.pgi.com.my/download_brdgm_web.aspx, there are several more that can be downloaded. For me personally, the two included in the game are enough, as the game is almost a "filler" for me, thus I don't need to play it twenty times a year.
5.) Events: The event cards can really throw a loop into your opponent's plans or can be totally worthless. For example, in a three player game, I had a card that caused three colored cars to lose a turn - the three colors that we weren't using! In another game, an event card caused a player to move one extra space - right when they were at the end of lap two - causing them to overshoot the starting space and thus being able to refuel, putting them out of the race. If you don't mind swings of luck like this, you can probably stomach the event cards. The game does sort of balance them out by having only one event card played each turn and by the leading car's owner, but it's not enough for me. I've taken them out of the game (after having discussed it with the game's designer), and I've enjoyed it quite a bit more.
6.) Customization: Picking the cards at the beginning of the race is critical. Having a lot of acceleration cards lets you get ahead; but if you don't take the braking and cornering cards, you'll never be able to hit those curves correctly. I personally usually avoid the special cards, but I have seen other players use them quite effectively. It's not a huge customization, but the twelve points used when building your cars in the beginning of the game allows players to plan their strategy for the race.
7.) Curves: In this game, curves aren't as lethal as they are in other games (see Formula De). In fact, a player can blow through a whole pile of curves if they have enough tire wear points. But running out of tire points can be a devastating blow, as a player must make sure to hit every curve on the way out, or they lose a turn. I really enjoyed this simplification of the curve system; it was effective and didn't require players to count spaces like in other games.
8.) Luck: The special cards that a player draws when customizing their card adds luck to the game (as do Event cards, if you use them) but not enough that it's a big deal. If a player draws their low numbers from their movement deck, they can be sure to get their bigger numbers later on. The game is really a lot of tactical decisions (should I hit this curve coming up or not?) and long range strategy (should I take a pit stop after the first lap?). Luck is present, of course, but can be controlled. Some players complained about having to land exactly on the start space to take a pit stop, but I think that players have to take this into consideration when playing their cards, and save cards, such as braking cards, to help them hit it.
9.) Fun Factor: Even though the event cards have some wild swings of luck in them, they do add some fun interaction to the game. Other than that, it's fun to see how fast you can get around the track, and how you can best use the special cards in conjunction with your movement cards. The game can handle up to six players, and it doesn't hurt downtime much at all, because all players can move quickly and almost simultaneously. Hottest Race only takes about thirty minutes, and it's thirty minutes of involved fun.
For many people, getting a hold of a copy of the Hottest Race in the World is going to be a bit difficult, since it's currently only in Malaysia and perhaps Singapore. But if you have the chance to get your hands on a copy, I highly recommend it; it's a simple racing game that reminds me slightly of another favorite, Ave Caesar. It's probably not as good of a racing game as some of the more detailed simulations, but it's simple and fun. And in a racing game, that's all I want and need.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
