Formula Fun
Formula Fun Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Cards
The source prints the 14 car card faces as illustrations on page 2. They are described in the card rules below.
Components
- 1 game board consisting of 30 spaces along an oval racetrack;
- 18 small wooden cars in six different colours (with 3 or 4 players each player receives 3 cars; with 5 or 6 players each player receives 2 cars);
- 110 car cards with which the car is driven.
Setup
The cars drive the course anti-clockwise. Each participant in the race places their car on the chequered start space; the order does not matter at all. On space nine of the course, next to the chequered start space, one car from each participant is placed again, but in the reverse order of the first row.
With 3 or 4 players, one car per player is also placed on space eight of the course.
The cards are shuffled thoroughly and each player secretly receives 5 cards, which they take into hand. The rest of the cards are placed face down in the middle of the board as the draw pile.
The board has two specially provided places: one for the draw pile and one for the discard pile.
The Car Cards
The simple oval racetrack is divided into 30 spaces, each marked with a number from 1 to 10.
This number is also found on the car cards. It appears as a traffic sign that sets the maximum permitted speed (a black number in a red circle), and as a traffic sign that sets the designated speed (a white number on a blue background).
To move the car whose turn it is, the owner of that car places one of their cards on the discard pile.
If the number of the maximum permitted speed matches the number of the space the car is on, the car may immediately move forward that many spaces.
If the number does not match the number of the space, the designated speed must be followed and the car is moved forward that many spaces.
There are 14 different car cards. The designated speed is 3 on the cards with a maximum permitted speed of 2 through 10.
On the card with a maximum permitted speed of 1 the designated speed is, however, 10. This card therefore moves the car very quickly 10 spaces further. One should therefore be careful not to play this card when the car stands on a space with the value 1, because then the car moves only 1 space further.
On 4 cards no maximum permitted speed is indicated. For these cards the rule is that the designated speed must be used, regardless of which space the car is on. [Translator's note: the source names these cards only as "cards without a maximum permitted speed". From the card illustrations they are the blue 6, blue 7 and blue 8 cards, plus the turbo card. On the blue cards the designated speed is the large number shown.]
One of these four special cards is the turbo card, with designated speed "+5". This special card may also be played at the same time as any other card. One may even play two of these cards, so that the car can then be moved 10 spaces further.
If a turbo card is played together with another card, the car may always be moved 5 spaces further than without the turbo card.
If the turbo card is played alone, the car may therefore be moved 5 spaces.
In the full card supply there are 6 of these turbo cards; there are 8 of the other cards. (The source does not give a count per card type. With 14 card types and 110 cards in total, 6 turbo cards plus 8 copies of each of the other 13 types is consistent with the total.)
The First Race
The order in which play proceeds is determined by the position of the cars. The car in the lead plays first, then the second, then the third, and so on. If several cars are on the same space, the order runs from inside to outside each time. A car on the inside is therefore in a slightly better position than a car further towards the outside.
The game is therefore started by the car that stands on the inside of the start space. The owner of the car plays a card, that is, places this card on the discard pile; moves their car the corresponding number of spaces; and finally takes a card from the draw pile.
Note: As indicated above, by using the turbo card one may also play two cards at the same time. However, when a turbo card is discarded as an extra card, one may still draw only one card. This means that for the rest of the game that player has one card fewer in hand, so their choice is restricted to some extent.
When the draw pile has been used up, the discard pile is shuffled thoroughly and laid out again as the draw pile.
After the first car has started, the car in second position on the start space follows. Its owner plays their card, moves the car, and so it goes on, until the last car on space nine (or possibly even space eight) has also been moved.
A car that is moved is always placed as far towards the inside as possible. Cars that land on an occupied space must line up next to the car already placed there. Except at the start, at most 4 cars can therefore stand on one space. Should it ever happen that a car lands on a completely occupied space (a space that already holds 4 cars), then the car may move one space less far and must therefore fall back one space.
This restriction on moving explicitly does not apply to overtaking cars. One can therefore pass a completely occupied space of cars without any problem.
After all cars have been moved for the first time, the procedure is repeated, beginning with the car that is now in the lead. This procedure is repeated until, after a complete round of movement (every car has made its move), one or more cars have gone past the start space. (Reaching the start space is not enough; one must have passed beyond the start space.)
The first race is now ended. The car in last place is removed from the game and set aside.
The Following Races
From the second race a new starting position applies. The car that was in first place is placed on the first ten-space after the start. (This space is marked with a white 10 on a black background and is marked by a Formel Fun flag.) The car that was second is placed on the next space (the nine-space), and so on. Each car therefore occupies only one space.
As in the first race, the race begins with the car in first position. Its owner plays a card, moves their car, and draws a card. In this way all cars still taking part in the race are moved in turn. Naturally, it is a small advantage to be further ahead, since the distance still to be covered to the finish line is shorter. Of course, everything also depends on the cards one still has in hand.
Again, the car that finishes last in this race is removed from the competition. A new race then starts with one car fewer.
In this way the game develops until finally only two cars remain, which fight one last sharp duel to win the final victory.
Scoring
One could simply declare the winner of the last race to be the winner of the whole competition.
It is more satisfying, however, to let the positions of all races count. The player whose car was eliminated first receives 1 point. The player whose car was eliminated second receives 2 points ... and so on. The player whose car finishes second in the last deciding race (that is, last) receives one more extra point; the winner receives three extra points.
Example: In a race with 12 cars, the eventual winner receives 15 points for their car, and the second receives 12 points. The player who then has gathered the most points in total becomes the winner.