DOWNFORCE (2017)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-6	20-40 mins	Rob Daviau Justin D. Jacobson Wolfgang Kramer	Restoration Games

With games like FORMULA D and HEAT: PEDAL TO THE METAL already in our collection, you’d think maybe we don’t need another racing car game to chase after our attention.

But, DOWNFORCE has something the other two don’t in the form of a bidding and betting mechanic.

Instead of each player having a car only they can move, DOWNFORCE lets all players move all cars.

At the start of the game you all bid on the six cars. But you have to be careful, because what you pay now will get taken out of your winnings at the end.

After that, players are putting down cards that could let them move anywhere between one car and all of them.

But the key is that the cars must be moved in the order that they are on the card.

This gets important because, while you may own one or more race cars, you can still win if someone else does well.

This is due to the betting mechanic. There are three lines on the track, and as soon as the first car passes it, everyone makes a secret bet on which car they think will come first.

Going forward, this gives you incentive to focus on the car you’ve bet on, which may not be the same as the car(s) you own from the start.

It’s a different spin on a racing game, and can take new players a while to grasp the concept.

It’s not an A to B sprint. Instead you evaluate a constantly changing board state. That’s not to say it’s complicated. It’s just not as simple as “car in front good, just go fast”. You time car movements to block and hinder cars, and the lead can change quite a bit with everyone’s competing priorities.

Like many games, while it’s playable at two, it just works better at higher counts. With less players you control more cars meaning it’s easier to manipulate any complications.

Overall DOWNFORCE earns its classic status. It doesn’t drag on and is relatively simple for new players, but has variability and tactical depth to make sure it doesn’t get stale.