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Ubergeek
United States
Camas
Washington
Be Happy in your Game!
I spent 100 Geek Gold and all I got was this lousy overtext message!
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Junkyard Races reviewed by Walt Mulder 9/04/04
Being a racing game fan, a photo of this game from last year’s Essen crop caught my eye. So with a bit of research I discovered that Junkyard Races is designer John Yianni’s latest game from Genfourtwo. His other well-known game is Hive, which still remains one of my favorite abstract strategy games. Let me start off by stating this game falls just short of my “solid 7” category for racing games. There’s both good and bad to be picked at so let me get started.
First and foremost, this game will be a mixed bag for automotive racing purists. It’s more of a Lunatix Loop meets Wacky Races kind of game. It does has the flavor of the TV show "Junkyard Wars" where you race around getting parts to build your contraptions. In this game, you have a cart to race around a junkyard of different terrain, picking up parts that will improve your cart and finding traps and weapons that you can place to slow other players down. Each completed lap earns you a cola bottle top, and you trade in two of those for a cola bottle. The first player to earn three cola bottles wins the race.
The board is nice and thick with no ridges or valleys but more on production later. A track of hexagonal spaces populates the board winding its way over mud, grass, and tarmac. A stream runs through the middle of the track that can only be crossed at certain spots or by jumping a washed out bridge in one location. Strategically placed on the board are two pit stop lanes where you can go to add or exchange parts on your cart. There are a few other features on the board such as an icebox that has dumped an ice area onto the track creating a hazardous area, and a bypass road that may save you some time if you have the right type of tires. Situated about the track are spaces on which junk tiles or part symbols reside. During the course of a race, carts will pass over these and collect the specific junk tile or part.
Each player has a card depicting their cart on which they will place their acquired parts once mounted. The parts are numbered and will only fit into certain positions. The numbers will come into play when rolling for damage to see if a part is eliminated through certain traps or attacks. As mentioned, passing over a track space with a parts symbol lets you draw three parts cards and keep one. Some junk tiles also have a part symbol and may be traded in for a random part as well. This provides a good balance for acquiring what you need with the luck of drawing something you may want to just trade away. For example, two left tire assemblies for grass tires won’t do you any good, but maybe you can trade one away with someone who has two right side assemblies.
Players collect the junk tiles they pass over. They are found face down strewn about the track and get replace via player movement die rolls. The backs depict items from weapons and traps to useful items like fuel for specialty engines and planks for crossing water. This is where the layers of tidbits begin to pile on. There is a wealth of dastardly items to be obtained such as missiles and bombs, oil slicks, logs and snow banks which block track spaces, spring and pit traps, glue and acid traps, and time bombs to name a few. These items are placed as desired around your cart before moving in the hopes of annoying your opponents. Some care should be used however since they stay on the track until triggered or rendered useless and might very well still be there the next time you come around again. Along with junk tiles, you collect parts by crossing a hex with a bolt on it. Parts range from tires for mud and grass, to turbo and jet engines, and items that will help you defeat certain traps. For example, mud tires add extra movement to your die roll when starting from mud, bomb catchers may defeat bombs, and magnifying glasses will make your missiles fly farther.
There is a trading aspect to the game where you may trade as many parts and junk tiles you want at any time with other players. This may help you get the parts you want to get by certain traps before you place them. Cart parts however may only be attached or exchanged when stopped on a pit stop space. There’s a lot to keep up with between parts, traps, what does what, and when. But it’s exactly all this wackiness that gives the game its character. We’re not talking about a serious motor sports simulation by a long stretch.
Movement is accomplished by rolling up to three green 6-sided dice under normal conditions. The type of terrain your cart is on or specific parts attached to your cart may modify this. Having the right combinations of turbo or jet engine and the right types of fuel may also modify movement. This will give you extra red or white dice to add to your roll. There’s potential to shoot around the track nearly two full laps if you had all the correct items. The possibility of this happening is slim but in team races, it does encourage trading the right parts combinations with your partner to make this likely. Usually in a 6-lap race you don’t start getting the right combination of parts until after the 3rd lap. Dice rolling as a movement mechanism may put off some players but there is room for planning. Unlike standard races that keep going one direction, there’s opportunity in this game to drive in circles along wide portions of the track. The stream acts as a one-way barrier to prevent you from driving around entirely in the wrong direction. There are times you may want to loop around within an area to pick up a junk tile that appears behind you, or perhaps position yourself to better terrain depending on the types of tires you have mounted. You may even want to back out of certain situations. There are also times it might be better to roll fewer dice to ensure you stop in the pits where you can exchange parts rather than press on with another lap.
A bumping mechanism is also present to allow slamming into opponent carts, possibly forcing them into the stream or onto a trap. Things can get pretty nasty and it’s not a game that’s going to promote friendly intentions unless playing the team version. Good guys finish last in this race. That may put some people off so it’s best to get it out in the open now. If everyone isn’t laying traps and sniping at the leader, then you might as well be playing Formula De. Never miss an opportunity to hamper the opposition. Being dastardly in this game is part of the fun and should be expected.
That said, lets look at the negatives I encountered. The rules were woefully inadequate as written. There were more holes in them than the best Swiss cheese I’ve sampled. A simple FAQ would have been longer than the enclosed rules. In my first game, we found so many situations occurring that weren’t covered by rules that we quit in frustration. The rules were obviously written by someone familiar with the game for someone familiar with the game. In simple terms, they were not user friendly to someone knowing nothing about how to play. A game like this has to many things going on that it requires explanations for all the possible interactions and situations. The intricacies of the game simply weren’t transferred into comprehensible rules. I’ve never been one to be daunted by poor rules if there’s a good game to be found in the box, so please read on as there’s good news over the horizon. Through diligent communication with the designer a full rewrite and reformat of the rules has been accomplished and posted as version 2.0 at Boardgamegeek. In this reviewer’s opinion, it goes a long way to making this game more appealing. The new rules version lays out the phases of the game in a logical, easy to follow format and further explains in detail nearly any situation that may occur. A few of the original rules have been improved to expedite game play and some new optional rules have been thrown in as well. Again, all this was required, as Junkyard Races is not your simple roll-and-move ahead type of racing game. Chaos abounds in this game but it’s been said that out of chaos comes order, so hopefully now we have controlled chaos.
The game comes with four colored carts that resemble something made out of PEZ material. I want to eat them since they look like candy. They’re functional but I was hoping for something better. I originally mentioned that the board was good quality and adequate. The image sharpness and quality however could use improvement. I’ve seen better graphics on maps and boards from desktop produced games. It would have been nice to back-print the board with a second track layout enhancing the game value. The production run on the backs of the tiles does leave something to be desired. Some of the sheets have a slightly different hue on the back of them giving an uneven color scheme between tiles. Fortunately there are plenty of different tiles on each sheet so it’s still virtually impossible to guess which tiles represent hidden items when placed face down on the track. Apparently the production run was pre-paid for and cost was a factor in deciding not to have the tiles reprinted. This all speaks far worse of the production company they went with rather than the game company itself. These may appear as minor quibbles and do not affect game play, but they left me expecting better for my money. My final disappointment is that the game only supports four players whether as individual racers or as teams of two. An opportunity was missed by not making this game six or eight player capable. Racing games are the best venue for supporting many players. An entrepreneurial player will find some different cars to use and make a few extra player cards to allow adding a few more players. I think the game would probably work well with six players making cart part acquisition even more lucrative. I’m not sure what the designer intent was on the limit though in a game like this, a bit more chaos from a few extra players wouldn’t hurt any. I guess there’s always hope for a six-player expansion and new tracks.
The game clocks in at just over an hour with four players, which is fairly quick for a racing game. Depending on how much trading and trapping is accomplished; it could go a bit longer or shorter.
All things considered, the game play is still a fun ride. But if you’re a Eurogamer looking for multiple win strategies, you probably won’t find them in Junkyard Races. If you’re a die hard NASCAR or F1 racing aficionado, you probably won’t find much to get excited over either. There are decisions to be made such as when and where to place traps or how many dice to use, but luck of the parts acquisition and roll of the dice will factor into this a lot. There are no gears to shift and the dice rolling abounds, but my game group still enjoyed the game as it provided light fun without a lot of though requirements. One of our players says they have a sure fire strategy for winning that for me is a dueling gauntlet cast before me, so I’m sure this game will be getting more table time in the future. The updated rules are available on the web so, aside from this review, it’s always a good place to start in determining if this game is worth your gaming dollar.
Well in the background I hear the go-cart noise pushing about 68db on the Muldermeter for Junkyard Races, however it’s nothing to match the roar of real Formula or CART motor racing games. But for many, the demolition derbies hold more appeal. Like the window sticker says, “Your mileage may vary”. Cheers.
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Chad Hensley
United States
Farmington Hills
Michigan
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I enjoyed your review and just recently watched the video from the 2010 Essen where they were discussing the brand new reprint. It's funny to see how many of your suggestions made it into the reprint, from the double-sided board to eight players. Thanks for taking the time to review this game.
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