Thunder Alley Published

Another game in today, and I'm trying to figure out what the heart of this game is. It's a real racing game, not a game where you're wagering on a race or anything like that. "This is me, these are mine" is fully realized. But running multiple cars simultaneously makes this a resource management play as well, and you have cost-benefit coming in due to you generally aiding other players on your turn as well. I don't dare make it a three category game.

I'll tell you this though, you owe it to yourself to try it once. It may not turn out to be your favorite, but I'll dare to say that I think it has changed the scope of the racing genre. New designers will take note of this one.

S.

Sag.

Are you going to make a single day at WBC? I'm not hearing a lot of difference between this and Gartin's Stock Car Championship game to wonder about how much of a "game changer" it could be...Gartin's game has been WBC tourney staple for better than a decade and a half now...

Never heard of Gartin's Stock Car Championship, so I could be mistaken. Looking at the card samples on BGG it does not look very similar, but that's not exactly an informed opinion.

I appear to be WBC-bound Thursday afternoon through Saturday afternoon.

S.

So at this point do I run out and buy? Or still wait a bit?

VonTush wrote: So at this point do I run out and buy? Or still wait a bit?

Good question. I'll be interested in seeing the answers you get from others.

S.

Sagrilarus wrote: Never heard of Gartin's Stock Car Championship, so I could be mistaken. Looking at the card samples on BGG it does not look very similar, but that's not exactly an informed opinion.

I appear to be WBC-bound Thursday afternoon through Saturday afternoon.

S.

Cool. Haul this thing up [or actually--I'll probably just buy a copy at GMT's booth to see for myself. I always end up spending money up there like I printed the stuff myself anyway].

I'd like to try this; I'll bring SCC along, too; and perhaps one of us will come away informed.

(Considering the volume of beer I tend to consume there, I suspect it will be you....)

I'd say buy it. I'll be bringing my copy to WBC as well.

Definite buy. One of the best games of 2014 so far.

Not getting this one. As far as stock car-themed games go, the excellent Daytona 500 continues to molder on my shelf, averaging - at best - one play every three years. It's interesting; while my game collection supports a few dozen pew-pew space laser battle games, the racing game is a subgenre that's only capable of warranting a couple of titles. If we want racing, we play Rush 'n' Crush 90% of the time. It more than satisfies the itch. If we want to mix it up with a little more dice-chucking, we'll bust out Formula De. Between those two games - as well as a great stock car-themed game that never gets played - there is no void for Thunder Alley to fill.

I'll add another personal, subjective, inarguably petty reason why I won't be picking up Thunder Alley. As someone who originally hails from the heart of NASCAR country (North Carolina), someone whose first job was working at a racetrack in his teen years in the late '90s, and is a recovered former racing fan, I'm a touch miffed that none of the four tracks included in the game are set in the Southeast. Instead: California, Ohio, NJ, fucking Spain? I'll spare y'all the profane rant about the long heat-death NASCAR has experienced since it began abandoning its country-fried southern roots in an ill-fated attempt to take the "sport" "national," but suffice to say, the fictional locations of these imaginary tracks somehow manages to rub old wounds.

On a positive note, I checked out the Project 500 page for Title Chase Basketball and I'm pretty stoked. If I saw a copy of the rules I'd probably pledge right away.

Oh, Mr Inferno, look at the shapes of those tracks not the names used to avoid litigation.

Pocono, Watkin's Glen, Daytona, ( the squat Oval one I'm not sure) those are all old school tracks.

The game is good. I recommend it.