Downforce Board Game Review:

In the Downforce board game, you are a racing team manager, trying to buy the best cars and betting on the race’s outcome. Meanwhile, the driver tries to race ahead and cut off the other vehicles. The winner is the player with the most prize money and money from betting.

How to Play

The Downforce board game has 3 parts; auction, race, and betting. The game starts with the auction. This is where the 6 race cars are auctioned off to the highest bidder. Each car comes with a different power. These powers can range from making extra bets or a faster car. Each player will bet on the car and power by playing a card from their hand. Each card has some cars followed by numbers. Your bet is the number on the car whose color matches the car up for auction. The player who played the highest number gets that car. The amount they bet is subtracted from their score at the end of the game. Then each player takes the card they played back into their hand. The auction continues until all 6 cars have been auctioned in a way where each player gets at least 1 car each.

Next is the race phase. During this phase, you will be racing the cars to try and secure your victory. On your turn, play a card from your hand, then starting with the fastest car, and move the cars shown on the card to the given number of spaces. While this sounds basic, it becomes much deeper with a single rule, if a car can’t move forward during its turn, it can’t move at all. This allows you to use cards that would typically help your opponent.

The betting phase will happen during 3 checkpoints on the racetrack. Once a car reaches a checkpoint, each play will mark a check by one of the cars on their scoresheet. If you bet on a car that makes it into the top 3, you gain money proportional to its position ad how early you made a bet. Once everyone has made their bets, continue the race phase.

After all cars have crossed the finish line or all cards are played, each player calculates their score. Your final score is equal to the points you earned for your car’s placement, plus all bets you made, then remove any points you spent during the auction. The winner is the one with the most points. If there is a tie, the winner is the player whose car finished first.

Pros

The Downforce board game is very tactile. It’s fun to move the cars across the board. You naturally drag the car along the track in a way that you may not have done since you played with Hot Wheels as a kid.

This game has fast turns. Once you decide what you want to play with, you can quickly move the cars. It feels like an actual race because the game’s speed matches the racing rush.

Cons

This game has a lot of options, giving up to 18 different options at once. While this can be good, it leaves players prone to analysis paralysis as most options do close to the same thing but have hidden repercussions. If you struggle to make a decision quickly and accept the consequences, the game can grind to a halt.

The Downforce board game doesn’t have a lot of variety. The same power cards are used in every game, and you only get 2 track options. This makes the game not as fun to play several times in a short period.

Accessibility

Color Blind: This game is not tailored to the color blind. Do not buy this game if you have a colorblind friend who plays with you.

Reading: You will only need to read to understand your power card. But this can easily be explained during the auction.

Children: Children will love this game. You can pick which cards to play, and they will have fun pushing the cars along the board.

Who would love this game?

The Downforce board game is perfect for people who enjoy racing games. It is one of the few games that can deliver the racing experience with a pace that makes it feel like you are racing and cutting off the other drivers. This game is especially great for families. The movement of the cars will be fun for kids, with enough strategy to keep the adults interested.

Final Thoughts

The Downforce board game is an excellent game because of its simplicity and interactive strategy of trying to cut in front of other cars. All that, paired with mechanics that make Downforce actually feel like a race, makes Downforce a fantastic game. If you enjoy a nice friendly race of trying to go as fast as possible, Downforce may not be for you. But if you want the tension of cutting off other cars as you edge your way toward victory at break-neck speeds, you will thoroughly enjoy the Downforce board game.

If you would like to purchase the Downforce board game and support Tabletop Game Source, you can purchase it from Amazon here.

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