Joyride: Survival of the Fastest is all about just that.

Can you get ahead and not get turned around?

Do whatever it takes to beat your opponents through the gates and to the finish line, whether that be through skillfully weaving your way around the track or bashing your opponents out of the way to claim victory.

Sometimes the fastest route to the finish line is through everyone else!

Joyride: Survival of the Fastest Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

Players will roll their dice (numbered 1-3) and assign them to their player board to move their car. The higher the gear a player is in, the more dice they roll but they can’t turn as many times.

Dice are not just assigned to a mat and then rerolled, some can be locked in place to use on future turns.

While moving, you may move into other players which will spin them around making it difficult for them to stay on track on their turn.

When passing through some gates you can gain equipment to use or weapons to drop and shoot.

When the car is damaged, dice are locked in places on your board reducing your dice pool and restricting some actions you are able to take.

How do you win?

There are a few numbered gates on the board, the player that gets through them all first in the correct direction and in order is the winner.

Main Mechanisms

Dice rolling dice placement and a nice bit of racing.

USP

Racer/Shooters are quite common, mostly in video game form but there are a few board games too. I have Apocolypse Road on my shelf and I’ve owned and played quite a few more.

Theme

Not sure if there is a story here or not, but I hope there is more to it than “people race rather aggressively for a bit”.

Setup

Board out, cars out, gate tokens out. I’m sure there is a scenario book or something with suggested placement for gates.

Components & Artwork

I played a prototype and UK Games Expo so I’m not going to comment too much. I like the chunky wooden cars though.

Ease of Teaching

it is easy to teach. As with any racing game the turning and movement rules need time to sink in. I would also say I found the locked/unlocked dice and where they go next a bit tricky. but that’s just me! I’m not a table learner, I’m a rulebook learner 🙂

Similar Games

I mentioned one already but things like Rush n Bash, Bat Race, Titan Race and Road Kill Rally all do the racer shooter thing.

Joyride: Survival of the Fastest Review

Positives

A good fun tactical racing system.

Having “spinning your opponent” as a thing and not just focusing on pure damage dealing works well and is thematic.

The person that demoed the game was my “Demoer of the weekend, UK Games Expo 2023” 🙂

Negatives

Keep in mind this is based on a short one-lap demo of an early version of the game.

2 players on a small board didn’t give me much of a chance to get stuck in. We both picked up weapons but they were both situational and were never used. The gate tokens move easily on the board.

Summary

One to look out for when the Kickstarter is live.

Jesta ThaRogue