Thunder Alley (board game)

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Thunder Alley
Game data
author Jeff Horger, Carla Horger
graphic Rodger B. MacGowan, Kurt Miller
publishing company GMT Games
Publishing year 2014
Art card-based racing game
Teammates 2-7
Duration 90 minutes
Age from 10 years on

Thunder Alley is a board game for two to seven players that was published by the US publisher GMT Games in 2014 . With the help of cards, similar to card driven war games, each player moves his cars forward on the racetrack and tries to overtake other cars in order to reach the finish line first. Various driving maneuvers can be used to move his own and sometimes also the opponents' cars. Since the participating cars depend on the number of players, their number and the duration of the game is the same every time, it is about 90 minutes.

Theme and equipment

Thunder Alley is a card-based stock car racing game in which players drive their cars printed on counters along a racetrack. Depending on the number of players, each player receives up to six cars that he has to move alternately. Each route is divided into several fields. With the help of different cards it is possible to move yourself and partly also the cars of your fellow players either forwards or sideways, at the same time these cards show damage that the player has to accept to his cars. In order to be able to remove these again, you have to make a pit stop at the end of the lap and thus lose contact with other cars. As soon as a player reaches the finish line after a predetermined number of laps, all other cars are assigned their places in the order of the last lap and victory points are allocated accordingly. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins the game. In addition to two game boards printed on both sides, on which a total of four different racetracks are available, the game material consists of the following components:

  • 42 double-sided auto counters
  • 7 player boards
  • Player aids
  • 84 racing cards
  • 26 event cards
  • 1 rulebook
  • numerous counters to show car damage, orders and extra points

Game flow

Each player is assigned a color and, depending on the number of players, is given three to six cars, which are set up alternately on the starting positions. In addition, each player receives racing cards that are played out one after the other by the players. The number of cards depends on the number of cars a player moves and is one more than you have cars. With each card you can move each car once, the last card can be kept or discarded. A driving maneuver that is carried out on one of his cars is printed on each card. In addition, damage may be shown that also affects the car and is recorded with a corresponding counter on the player board. The player has to weigh up which card to play on which car, in the later game he has to think above all, because the damage counter remains and he has to take the risk that his car will drive slowly due to the damage suffered or even break down and be eliminated . In addition, there are two numbers on each racing card, the large one indicates the number of spaces the car will drive forward in the race, the small one indicates the number of spaces the car will drive forward when it comes back from the pit stop. Cars move in a closed row with the cars of the other players, especially at the beginning. It is in the interests of the players not to tear the group apart too much at the beginning, so that one also benefits from the movements of the other players and is taken along. Only towards the end do you try to tear the field apart so that your own cars reach the finish line first. You drive yourself or parts of the group together with four different driving maneuvers: Draft moves, pursuit moves, solo moves and lead moves.

1. Draft moves

With the draft move you move your car and all cars that are closed behind you and in front of you in a row by as many spaces as the card shows.

2. Pursuit move

With the Pursuit Move you move your car and all cars that are closed in front of you by as many spaces as the card shows.

3. Solo move

With the solo move you move your car alone, without anyone else, in order to escape the field and perhaps reach the goal alone at the end of the game or to be able to catch up with the main field. These cards tend to have the most movement points.

4. Lead move

With the lead move you move your car and all cars that are closed behind you by as many spaces as the card shows. At the end of each round an event card is drawn. This card also determines who the event hits. It can then happen that all players who have already suffered a certain damage (e.g. tire damage) have to accept another.

Extensions

Several expansions have appeared, under the name Thunder Alley: Expansion Tracks , two additional game boards with five additional racetracks appeared in 2015. With the expansion Thunder Alley: Crew Chief Expansion , released in 2016, it is possible to remove certain strategies during the game, which then affect his team's cars. Also earned The Dice Tower in 2017 published a mini expansion with eight additional cards. An expansion was announced for 2018 under the name Thunder Alley: Race Day Legends . This will be published by Nothing Now Games , the designer couple Jeff and Carla Horger's own publishing house.

A thematically similar game was published in 2016 under the title Grand Prix , also by Jeff and Carla Horger. The rules of the game are slightly different and the game does not depict a stock car racing, but a Formula 1 race. An expansion was also released in 2017 under the name Grand Prix: New Track Pack with two additional game boards and four more race tracks. All Thunder Alley and Grand Prix racetracks can be played with both games, just like those from the expansions.

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