11 Mar 2010
Review of Robo Rally
Robo Rally is a board game by Wizards of the Coast, and is published by Avalon Hill. This game can be played with 2 to 8 players, from ages 12 and up. I’d say 10 and up, just because I know that kids are a lot smarter than we make them out to be. I always played games with my family that had age categories much higher than my age. Not the 18+ ones, of course.
Robo Rally is a lot of fun. Basically, you start by selecting one of the many different playing courses. If you’re new to the game, you may want to choose one that’s not too ‘busy’ looking. Everyone is a little robot, and you get handed cards each round from which you have different movements.Every robot shoots lazers, and depending on where you are on the board, you may get shot and take a damage hit. There are nine or 10 damage hits before you lose a life. Each robot has 3 lives. The point of the game is to get to the randomly placed flags the quickest. You can choose how many flags you’d like to play with, or can follow the rules based on the number of players you are.
The challenge is that your view is from the top and you have to plan 5 moves for each round, so you have to picture your robot moving all sorts of ways on the board. On top of this there are obstacles, such as conveyor belts, holes, or other lazers among others, so you have to strategically plan your moves, because after each card is played; if you’re on an obstacle it’ll move before your next card gets played.
I won’t explain all the rules, but have to say that this game is a ton of fun, and has the perfect balance of skill mixed with random events.
Every time you play it’s a different experience, and when you mess up on your movements, it’s hilarious, because your robot will end up in such a far off place that wasn’t anticipated, making it that much more difficult to get ahead.
There are also some special skills cards that you can acquire, that will give you some extra robot powers that might let you be invisible to the elements, or shoot two lazers at your opponents.
Definitely a game that you should add to your collection.
Enjoy!
~Darleya~