Games - F

Formula De - Manufacturer: Eurogames - Designers: Eric Randall; Laurent Lavaur - Year: 1997 - $27.95 AT FUNAGAIN GAMES*
Review by: Nathaniel Dragon - My Photos

When I first found out about this racing game, I still had the idea of a "Shoots and Ladders" type game, where you roll the dice and "race" around the board hoping to be the lucky one that wins. When I actually gave the game a shot, I found a pleasant surprise. This game uses skill. Careful planning, along with some luck, will help you win the game.

The game uses 6 different dice to represent gears, with the smallest die being 1st gear, allowing your car to move only 1 or 2 spaces, up to the largest die being 6th gear, allowing a move of 21-30 spaces! This game really makes you feel like you are controlling a race car!

In addition to tracking which gear your car is in, you also have a status sheet for your tires, engine, transmission (or fuel), body, and a couple other stats. During the course of the race you may run into problems, such as burning up your brakes or shreading your tires, so you may need to hit the pits. While in the pits you might also want to change the type of tire on your vehicle incase the weather turns to rain.

The basics start you off with a double sided board (2 different race tracks) which you can expand by purchasing other tracks to play on. The game also starts you off with simple 1-lap rules and gradually expanding to the full 3-lap game (although I have heard of larger variation for serious gaming groups). All in all, I have to say I am very impressed with this game and it has lots of room for expansion. I'd also highly suggest getting Circuits 3 & 4: Zandvoort II (Netherlands) and Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) to expand your track options.

Formula De - Manufacturer: Eurogames - Designers: Eric Randall; Laurent Lavaur - Year: 1997 - $27.95 AT FUNAGAIN GAMES*
Review by: Doc Folly - My Photos

Formula De is a very fun and exciting game to play. I was impressed with the realistic gameplay. The opportunity of changing and expanding tracks greatly improves the length of interest. Game difficulty increases with the number of players, due to higher possibility of collisions, but also increases the excitement. It was surprising to me that a racing board game could be this fun to play. I recommend playing with as many players as possible, so invite all your friends, and put your racing gear on!

Freight Train - Manufacturer: Mayfair Games - Designer: Alan R. Moon - Year: 1996 - $13.95 AT FUNAGAIN GAMES*
Review by: Jason Lapalme - My Photos

Interested in a strategy game that doesn't involve some sort of war or battle or is so multi layered that only PHD's need attempt. Then "Freight Train" may be just what you were looking for in a game. It has easy set up, simple rules, and enough variance to allow for multiple play without getting repetitive. The basic premise is simple, build the longest train of a particular type and earn points the one with the most points wins. The gameplay is broken into three rounds or "days" and each day you build your trains through drawing cards. The days get progressively longer but the random "end of line" card keeps things from getting predictable. One of the nice features of the game is the end of the round randomness thus if your playing with 2 or with 6, the maximum, the game play time stays realitively the same. Including set up a typical game can be played in 60 - 90 minutes with the options of house rules that can end the game after one round or include various scoring intricacies. The cards are detailed and clorful, yet they are still appealling to a wide spectrum of tastes and the gameplay itself, although based on trains, is still interesting enough that even somebody without the smallest interest in the area of trains should enjoy the game dynamics.