All this week, we’re bringing you a deep dive into the awesome new tabletop game Thunder Track.
[This post was sponsored by Alec Ramsey and Lee Johnson.]
Thunder Track is an expansion of the already-popular Turbo Rally, with dozens of new cards, and new layers of strategy. This is a complete game, playable by 2-10 people (or teams), for ages 10 and up. You can use your own toy cars (like Matchbox or Hot Wheels) as playing pieces, and even customize them with 3D-printed weapons!
Thunder Track is sponsoring GeekDad all this week, so each day we’re going to feature a part of the rules and images from the cards, to get you all excited about backing the project.
GAMEPLAY
Use any small toy car as your racer. Start your car in front of the first card in your lane. To begin play, the first player flips over the first track card in their lane. Move cars according to the directions outlined in the card descriptions below. The race is finished once all players have crossed the finish line. The player or team who collects the most first place trophies through the course of five races is crowned Thunder Track Champion. In case of a tie in individual or team play, a 6th race is used as a tie-breaker.
TEAM PLAY
As an alternate to individual play, players may choose to form teams at the beginning of a tournament. Players maintain their own lanes but help out teammates as they race for trophies together. The team with the most trophies at the end of the race wins.
TURN PHASES
PHASE 1: ATTACK
Players may use weapons to attack from any On-Track position. Fire as many rounds at as many On-Track opponents as you choose. If you are not in an On-Track position at the start of your turn, skip to the Flip phase.
PHASE 2: FLIP
Flip over the next card in front of your current track position. If you are Off-Track from taking previous damage skip to the Move phase.
PHASE 3: RESPOND
The player whose turn it is goes first in playing RPMs or using any special abilities appropriate to enhancing or countering the flipped track card. Opponents are each given the opportunity to respond to all played cards one at a time in the order of player’s turns. Once all Responses have been finalized the player can then make their move.
PHASE 4: MOVE
Advance your car to the next position. If moving onto a live track, move your car according to the final result of all responses. Responses take effect last to first. If the final move requires you to flip another card, repeat steps 2-4 during your turn until all moves have been made, ending your turn.
If that doesn’t sound like a trunk-load of fun, then I don’t know what does. Make sure to jump over to their Kickstarter project page to see more details, read the FAQ, see what the folks who have already backed are saying, and more!
[GeekDad Sponsored Content Notice: this post was sponsored by the creator of the product. It is GeekDad’s ethical and legal duty to notify our readers when we run sponsored content, but while we are either getting paid for a post (it’s one of the few ways we have to generate revenue to keep the site running) or have received review samples of the products we write about, we work very hard to only bring you sponsors and products that we ourselves would be interested in.]
This looks a lot like the old ThunderRoad game from Milton Bradley. Is it very different?
I haven’t played Thunder Track, but the original Turbo Rally Card Racing is a pure racing game, you make a ‘track’ of cards. Using your hot wheel as the playing piece, you flip over the next card and advance that many spaces. On top of that, there are hazards and card you can play on yourself or others to help you win. Being the first to the finish line is the goal. Thunder Track adds a combat spin to the original race game.
Similar in theme, although Turbo Rally/Thunder Track is a racing game, where you try to be the first to the finish line. You build a ‘track’ out of the cards and move along the cardpath to the finish line. The original Turbo Rally was a pure race game. Thunder Track adds combat elements.
sorry for the double post. When I hit submit the first time, my browser crashed.