-
Are you competing other robots in a race to get to the finish line in the factory at the same time you run in each others path to knock them off course or on to a hazardous obstical?
I have a store here in my country that has it in stock on their website. I have never played a game with robots before. So Is this good?
I have one question; I see in the pictures that the board are made up of four large tiles. Is that all you get? for a game like this, it seems that it should have various tiles to make up the factory floor. but with only four to make the boardgame, Is Quality better than Quantity in this game?
-
Luke Stirling
Australia
Southbank
Victoria
-
The object is to be the first to touch all the flags on the board in a particular order.
The challenge is to program a route with the cards you are dealt each turn that both makes good use the cards you get, as well as being robust enough to deal with interference by other players.
The boards that come with the game constitute a great deal of variety. We rarely play with more than one board at a time, as that usually leads to a lively game that finishes in a reasonable time limit.
It's not a game that I would recommend to someone who only rarely gets to play with at least 4 other people, as it's not quite so interesting a game with 2-3 players.
-
James Newton
United Kingdom
Wiltshire
In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, my avatar is a scan of a hand-drawn caricature by cartoonist Jim Naylor which was done at my company's 20th anniversary dinner.
-
Just to add that the boards are double-sided, so you have 8 different factory-floor layouts even without putting them together. A quick calculation shows that there are 384 different selections of 2 boards together - and that doesn't count the differences when you rotate each board (some vary more than others in that respect). And then you can vary the number and placement of the flags to make a course easier or harder. So that gives a lot of variation and re-playability.
In my experience, putting more than 2 boards together makes for a long game (can be several hours), depending on the number of flags, and their placement. Also, a lot of the fun in this game comes from competing over the same space (robots bumping into each other, shooting each other, etc) so keeping the space small can be better for that reason as well.
-
Lori
United States
Durham
North Carolina
-
Isaac, if you get the latest edition of the game, you get four boards that are different on each side, so really eight different ones to choose from. The number of boards you use at a time depends on how many players you have and how long a game you want, but I definitely recommend starting small. You might think more boards would be better, but lots of boards makes the game longer than you might want, and also part of the fun of this game comes from the robots interfering with each other, and the less space they have, the more that happens.
-
Fraser
Australia
Melbourne
Yep that was 12 Power Grid maps back to back over two days. Worth doing, but possibly not in such a concentrated burst.
Ooh yes, now a little to the left - my nose is itchy. No, no the other left! Now what colour is 12 supporter badge going to be I wonder?
-
The object is to win.
To win you need to be the first robot to finish the course.
To finish the course you need to touch the flags in order.
To touch the the flags in order your robot needs to survive.
The other robots don't particularly want your robot to survive.
It's a fun game and can be very chaotic 
-
-
I must say, even with 2-3 players, it's still fun. I have only played with 4 or more twice.
the newest edition has a sand timer to help speed up the card programming (some people take too long ...) but as everyone has said, a lot of variety to the boards, cards are dealt out, and you also have special option cards for the robots to upgrade
I love this game, there's tons online to find ...
if you have active gamers and I think this game is worth it and shouldn't be a problem to sell later if you get tired of it (not thinking that is gonna happen)
and to answer your question, the quality is great!
-
Simon Lundström
Sweden
Örbyhus
Now who are these five?
Come, come, all children who love fairy tales.
-
Boardgamefreak2geek wrote: I have one question; I see in the pictures that the board are made up of four large tiles. Is that all you get? for a game like this, it seems that it should have various tiles to make up the factory floor. but with only four to make the boardgame, Is Quality better than Quantity in this game?
Quality is better than quantity, yes.
However, there are numerous places here on the web where you can find fan-made robo rally boards that are superior to many of the official ones. So you're not likely to run into a shortage of boards, provided you can access a colour printer.
-
-
scout13 wrote: I must say, even with 2-3 players, it's still fun. I have only played with 4 or more twice.
the newest edition has a sand timer to help speed up the card programming (some people take too long ...) but as everyone has said, a lot of variety to the boards, cards are dealt out, and you also have special option cards for the robots to upgrade
I love this game, there's tons online to find ...
if you have active gamers and I think this game is worth it and shouldn't be a problem to sell later if you get tired of it (not thinking that is gonna happen)
and to answer your question, the quality is great!
Kevin, you and Lori said there is a latest and newest edition to robo rally. which box version is that, is it the one released by Avalon Hill?
-
Simon Lundström
Sweden
Örbyhus
Now who are these five?
Come, come, all children who love fairy tales.
-
Yes, the latest edition of Robo Rally is by Avalon Hill.
The first and second editions were by Wizards of the Coast.
Then there is a German version, by Amigo.
-
Julian Clarke
Australia
Frankston
Victoria
www.unhalfbricking.com
-
Boardgamefreak2geek wrote: I have never played a game with robots before. So Is this good?
It is a classic game, which has been republished a few times, & has sold out several expansions.
Yes, it is good, though as with all games, not to everyone's taste.
-
Lori
United States
Durham
North Carolina
-
Isaac, you might find this extremely awesome and informative geeklist helpful. It's sort of a review, but also covers thoroughly the different editions and what components they have, with pictures.
-
Harold Tessmann III
United States
Michigan
-
paralipsis wrote: The object is to be the first to touch all the flags on the board in a particular order.
The challenge is to program a route with the cards you are dealt each turn that both makes good use the cards you get, as well as being robust enough to deal with interference by other players.
A good summary, but I think you left out one of the most important (and vicious) parts.
You start off getting nine (so far as I can tell—I haven’t played in forever and can’t find my copy) cards, of which you place five face down at the beginning of the round. You then run five phases in which all players reveal and resolve the card in the corresponding slot at (mostly) the same time. After the five phases, you discard and begin another round with decision making. The nasty part: the players’ robots have lasers, as does the factory deathtrap floor, and these lasers damage any robots they hit. As you take damage, you get fewer cards and get stuck leaving some of your played programming cards in their slots. Sure, that U-turn made sense when you played it four rounds ago, but then you got shot and maybe it didn’t help so much in the subsequent rounds. You can find repair tiles on the killing floor or spend an entire round repairing, but playing it safe doesn’t get you to the objective any faster, does it?
-
Benjamin Grey
United States
Minnesota
-
ellephai wrote: Isaac, if you get the latest edition of the game, you get four boards that are different on each side, so really eight different ones to choose from. The number of boards you use at a time depends on how many players you have and how long a game you want, but I definitely recommend starting small. You might think more boards would be better, but lots of boards makes the game longer than you might want, and also part of the fun of this game comes from the robots interfering with each other, and the less space they have, the more that happens.
I've found that it's not so much the number of boards that you use that determines the length of the game, it's the number of flags and (more importantly) where you put them. If the flags are out in the open and easily accessible, then the game goes quickly regardless of how big the play area is. If they are all tucked away inside gauntlets of pits and conveyor belts...it can slow things down a bit. Same thing goes for orientation. A game where the boards are arranged
[][][][] with flags arranged [1][2][3][4]
goes faster and has less interaction than
[1][3][2][4]
As for robot interaction...any flag setup that encourages you to retrace your path to reach the flags accomplishes that. Larger boards do space the robots out a bit and you are more likely to have a moment to shut down and repair, but you'll be back in the thick of it soon enough.
Starting small is best to start, but don't be afraid to add boards as you get experienced. I like 2-4 board maps arranged in either a line or a dog-leg pattern, a nice diversity of board elements that still allows a reasonable amount of player interaction. (Usually 4 flags. Odd numbered flags on one side, even numbered flags on the opposite boards.)
-
Shemp Fill-in: Chan?
United States
Fountain Valley
California
Which way did I go?
Pick a card.
-
churchmouse wrote: Just to add that the boards are double-sided, so you have 8 different factory-floor layouts even without putting them together. A quick calculation shows that there are 384 different selections of 2 boards together - and that doesn't count the differences when you rotate each board (some vary more than others in that respect).
How are you getting the number 384 *without* counting rotations of the boards? With 8 different boards, two on each physical piece of cardboard, there are 48 combinations of 2 boards. If you count the rotations of the two boards, that gives 768 arrangements of just two boards. And we haven't even factored in where the flags are placed!
If you use all four board pieces in a 2x2 square, that's only 16 combinations of boards, but 6 different ways they can be ordered, and 256 ways they can be individually rotated, for a total of 24576 different arrangements! And that doesn't include arranging the boards in a straight line (49152 arrangements), or an L-shape (98304), or a T-shape (98304), or a zig-zag (48152).
So that's a total of 319,488 different arrangements of four boards, not including the flag placements or number of flags, nor the starting location or "starting board".
When you've finished playing all of those configurations, post again and we'll help you figure out what to do next.
-
James Newton
United Kingdom
Wiltshire
In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, my avatar is a scan of a hand-drawn caricature by cartoonist Jim Naylor which was done at my company's 20th anniversary dinner.
-
Phil Fleischmann wrote: churchmouse wrote: Just to add that the boards are double-sided, so you have 8 different factory-floor layouts even without putting them together. A quick calculation shows that there are 384 different selections of 2 boards together - and that doesn't count the differences when you rotate each board (some vary more than others in that respect). How are you getting the number 384 *without* counting rotations of the boards? With 8 different boards, two on each physical piece of cardboard, there are 48 combinations of 2 boards. If you count the rotations of the two boards, that gives 768 arrangements of just two boards.
Apparently by doing the quick calculation so quickly that I calculated the wrong thing! 
Your calculations look much more sensible.
-
Shemp Fill-in: Chan?
United States
Fountain Valley
California
Which way did I go?
Pick a card.
-
churchmouse wrote: Phil Fleischmann wrote: churchmouse wrote: Just to add that the boards are double-sided, so you have 8 different factory-floor layouts even without putting them together. A quick calculation shows that there are 384 different selections of 2 boards together - and that doesn't count the differences when you rotate each board (some vary more than others in that respect). How are you getting the number 384 *without* counting rotations of the boards? With 8 different boards, two on each physical piece of cardboard, there are 48 combinations of 2 boards. If you count the rotations of the two boards, that gives 768 arrangements of just two boards. Apparently by doing the quick calculation so quickly that I calculated the wrong thing! Your calculations look much more sensible.
Pobody's Nerfect, indeed.
And I wish Pobody would get here soon and pick up his Nerfect. I'm tired of storing it for him.
-
-
The object of the game is to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
-
James Newton
United Kingdom
Wiltshire
In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, my avatar is a scan of a hand-drawn caricature by cartoonist Jim Naylor which was done at my company's 20th anniversary dinner.
-
Phil Fleischmann wrote:
Pobody's Nerfect, indeed.
And I wish Pobody would get here soon and pick up his Nerfect. I'm tired of storing it for him.
Actually I was thinking of asking you to store my Maths degree as well - it's obviously wasted with me.
On the other hand, as my mother always said, "I am a mathematician not an arithmetician". Maybe I should stick to x's and y's and leave sums with numbers to those who can cope with them. 
-
Shemp Fill-in: Chan?
United States
Fountain Valley
California
Which way did I go?
Pick a card.
-
Exactly! We do the *real* math - algebra, calculus, etc.!
Arithmetic? The actual answer? Pfff! That's for calculators!
-
|
|
