Food Delivery Racing Game

I like it! Though, of course, dice hate me, so I'd be frustrated by bad rolls. (Ironically, on those few occasions when I'm unusually lucky in games, I feel badly about winning due to luck.)

Here's a small tweak that might mitigate the luck, somewhat.

Rather than just purchasing upgrades at stores, each round there is a single upgrade available, which is flipped up from a deck as the round starts. Players roll simultaneously and each see what each other rolled, but not how they apportion their dice. Then they apportion the dice in secret, with a simultaneous reveal. Players are encouraged to lie about how they are apportioning their dice during the secret part, for bluffing, etc.

Two dice are as you described, for movement and defense. But the third die is just a bid on the one upgrade item available. Whoever bid the highest gets it, and others have simply wasted their bids. However, if there's a tie, then the tiebreaker is the player who moved the LEAST, where you consider not only the die they applied to movement, but also any penalties or bonuses they might currently have.

This gives a slight advantage in picking up the item to any player who is currently operating with a movement penalty (due to damage from earlier rounds), or who has just rolled badly.

The whole approach of having only one upgrade item available strengthens the strategy of just ignoring upgrades and putting your best die rolls into movement (going for a quick win). This makes for an interesting dynamic, especially for the 3-player game.

[If you can get your two opponents both fighting over the upgrades and always spending their best rolls on bidding and still wasting some, your zerg rush will likely win. If both your opponents are just trying to race to the top, you can pick up all the items, sometimes even with only your second-best roll, and you win that way, too.]