A game by Eric Randall and Laurent Lavaur

©2011 PLAY MACHINES

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 2 PLEASE READ FIRST
Aim of the game Game material
FORMULA D is a car race. The aim is to win a race The following material is used for the basic game:
(of one lap) and be the first to cross the finishing 1 game board with the round circuit of Monaco
line. There are all sorts of risks involved and you 6 dice symbolizing the 6 car gears
have to anticipate what will happen during the 1 black die to determine car damage or other
course of the race. You must decide on your strat- unpredictable events
egy, trust to luck, keep to the rules and always keep 1 instruction book containing the basic rules
an eye on the technical condition of your car. 10 Formula 1 cars in 5 colours symbolizing 5 dif-
ferent racing teams

In the basic game the cardboard tab is placed

on the plastic dashboard as follows. Marker indicating the wear points
(set to 18)

Gear stick

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 10 dashboards
10 “gear stick” pieces Car A is in front of car B.
10 markers for car wear points (WP)

3
A

B
Basics
The gears

The cars have 6 gears, each gear has its own

die. The numbers on the dice tell you how many Same position: If two cars on the track are level
spaces to move the car. The higher the gear you with each other, the driver with the highest gear
choose, the faster and further the corresponding plays first.
die will allow the car to travel (see movement
table below). You are not allowed to skip gears
when accelerating (e.g. changing straight from 1st
to 3rd gear). You are allowed to skip 1, 2 or 3 gears A
when braking (e.g. from 6th to 4th or from 4th to 1st
gear); however there is a penalty for doing this
(see page 6).

Gear Die Movement (Number of spaces)

1 1 to 2
2 2 to 4
3 4 to 8
4 7 to 12
5 11 to 20
6 21 to 30
Car A is in 3rd gear, and car B is in
2nd gear. So car A plays before car B.
B
Note: When the pyramid-shaped die is rolled,
use the number at the top.
If both cars are in the same gear, the car nearest the inside
Driving with reference to the next (or current) corner plays first.

As in real life the car starts in 1st gear. Then you

shift up to 2nd gear and so on up to 6th gear, in Car A and B are both in 3rd gear.
order to move as fast as possible. When it is a Car A plays before car B.
driver’s turn he announces which gear he has B
chosen, moves the gear stick on his dashboard
accordingly and then rolls the die which cor-
responds to the chosen speed. He then moves
his car forward the number of spaces indicated
on the die. When the move is finished the car
“stops”. This notion is important especially in the
corners (see page 6).

Order of play: In each round the drivers play

according to their car position on the track.
Example: During a round of play car A overtakes
car B which was in 1st position. When the next
round starts, car A, now in 1st position, will play
A
before car B.

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 Driving code

4
The cars drive in the track lanes. Different driving
codes apply to corners and straights. It is gener-
OKAY!
ally not allowed to go over other cars – they must
be driven round. Driving backwards is also not
allowed.

Driving code in the corners While driving on a straight, a car

To drive through a corner a car must stop a mini- may only change two lanes.
mum number of times (indicated in the yellow box)
within the limits of the corner. After the requisite
number of stops, the car may proceed and exit the

FORBIDDEN!
corner on its next move.

To make it easier to drive through the corner, the driver

should consider the indicated number of spaces. The
number in the green box refer to the longest path, the
numbers in the red box refer to the shortest path.

The red-white markings show the corners or chicanes.

The red lines indicate the beginning and end of
the red-white markings for the three lanes.
The arrows indicate the only authorized routes
cars may follow, before and in the corners.
„Zig-zag“ driving on a straight is not allowed. A car
may not change lane and return to the same lane.

OKAY!

„Zig-zag“ driving is allowed when overtaking another car.

Driving code on the straights Wear points (WP)

Straights are the portions of track between cor-
ners. Depending on the length of each straight, They reflect the capability of the car to stay on the
cars may need several rounds before entering the track and survive events during the race. Each car
next corner. has 18 WP at the beginning of the race. The players
Important: The manoeuvre must be completed use these points to survive various incidents and
using the smallest number of spaces possible. risky manoeuvres.

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 for 1st gear and moves his car forward according to
Preparation for play the number rolled.
Number rolled: between 17 and 20 – great
The race is held on the Monaco circuit. The two start! The player makes a fantastic start. He moves
halves of the game board are spread out on the his car forward 4 spaces immediately, although he 5
table side by side. Each player is given a car, a dash- is still in 1st gear. The car can change one or two
board and a gear stick. The scorecards are not used lanes to avoid other cars. The driver may shift to
in the basic game. The selected gear is marked on 2nd gear in the next round.
the dashboard with a (“gear stick”) piece.
Each player places a marker near the value 18 – this
shows the WP of his car. Overshooting
If a car passes through a corner at the end of its
turn without making the required number of stops,
The general wear points (WP) and the gear
it overshoots the corner. The number of spaces the
stick are the only parts of the dashboard that
car overshot the corner by is deducted from the
are used in the game for beginners.
car’s WP as a penalty.

The car loses 3 WP.

Gears Car WP

Gear stick

Important: A car is eliminated from the game

when it has no WP left.

Start formation

Every player rolls the black die in order to deter-

mine the starting position of his car. Whoever rolls
the highest number gains pole position. The other
cars are positioned in decreasing order accord-
ing to the numbers rolled. In the case of a tie, all
involved players re-roll the die.

Start
Corner with 2 stops: If the car has made no
Before engaging 1st gear, every player rolls the black stops, it is automatically removed from play.
die to see how successfully he can start. Corner with 3 stops: If the car has made no
stops, or only one stop, it is automatically removed
Number rolled: 1 – poor start. The player has stalled from play.
the motor of his car. He cannot engage 1st gear and so When coming out of a corner the car may not change
he has to wait till the next round. Then he can start in lane, but must stay in the same lane. If the move
1st gear without having to roll the black die again. ends in another corner, this stop does not count for
Number rolled: between 2 and 16 – normal the new corner. If the car is blocked by another car,
start. The player can start normally. He rolls the die he cannot drive round it and has to brake.

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 Braking
A player may use his WP at any time to avoid hav-
B A
6 ing to advance the full number of spaces shown
on the die. In this way he can control his progress
better, for example when the lanes are blocked by
other cars.

3 C

The driver of car A provokes a collision risk with the cars

B, C and D. Procedure is as follows: The players of cars B,
C and D each roll the black die once to see whether they
collide with car A. Subsequently the driver of car A rolls
the black die three times – once each for the cars B, C
The car must move forward 3 spaces. The driver and D – to determine whether he collides with them.
decides to move only one space to avoid colliding
with another car and therefore loses 2 WP.

Motor damage
Changing down If a player rolls a 20 in 5th gear or a 30 in 6th gear,
this puts a strain on his engine. After his car has fin-
A driver can skip one, two or three gears when ished moving he must therefore roll the black die
changing down, however this wears out his gear- to test whether his engine has withstood the strain.
box. The number of gears skipped equates to the All players who are driving in 5th or 6th gear at this
number of WP his car loses as a result. Note: It is not moment must also roll the black die. If a number
possible to skip four gears (from 6th to 1st gear). between 1 and 4 is rolled, the corresponding car
loses 1 WP.

Collision
Finish
Whenever a car ends its move on a space next to
or behind one or several cars, there is a risk of col- The player whose car passes the finishing line
lision. A driver in this situation must roll the black first has won the race. The race ends when all
die to see whether there is a collision or not. If he cars have crossed the finishing line, in order to
rolls a number between 1 and 4 his car loses 1 WP. enable ranking.

NOW YOU KNOW ENOUGH

TO PLAY YOUR FIRST GAME

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 Two-lap race Entering pits

For players who have already played several sin- To enter the pits it is sufficient to roll the minimum
gle-lap games. number required or higher using the die correspond- 7
ing to the selected gear. The car receives all 18 WP
Whoever crosses the finishing line first after two back and awaits his next turn to start from the pits in
laps wins the game. Players may make a pit stop 4th gear (maximum).
between the first and second laps to regain the WP
points they lost during the first round. The rules for changing down gear, collision, brak-
ing and engine damage do not apply in the pit lane.
Overtaking is not possible as it is a single lane. Driv-
Pit stop ers have to be patient and wait until the car ahead of
them moves forward, regardless of selected gear and
At the end of the first lap a player may decide to with no effect on the WP.
make a pit stop to regain all the WP he has lost.
There is no speed limit in the pit lanes. It is also not Cars in the pit lane must wait for their turn, until the
necessary to roll the exact number needed to reach cars on the circuit between pit exit and entry have
one’s own pit. had their turn.

Pit for
green car

Entry/exit zone for green car

The cars must follow the only lane which leads to the pits. The two
pit entry and exit spaces are marked by two arrows each.

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 RULES FOR ROAD RACES
8 If you would like to use the GT cars and the circuit the black die. If he rolls a number between 1 and
for a street race, but have not yet found the time to 4 he loses 1 WP. It is possible to avoid damage by
read the extended version of the game rules, you changing lane (see “Driving code on the straights”).
should not hesitate: you can start playing straight
away using the basic rules with only a few adjust- Police station
ments, which are explained below.
There is a speed limit
in force in the whole
Drivers and their cars town, but it is great fun
tearing past the police
In the basic rules for road races, the drivers and cars station. Every time
only differ in appearance. The values and symbols a driver crosses this
on the score cards are not taken into account. How- line his speed must
ever, a driver may use his nitro fuel injection once be recorded (e.g. the
a lap having rolled the gear die. This gives him a number shown by the
movement bonus equivalent to the gear he is in at gear die, multiplied by
that moment (1 space in 1st gear, 2 spaces in 2nd gear, 10). When all drivers
etc.). This bonus must be used completely. have crossed this line,
The player then places a damage marker on the the fastest driver gets
designated space on the score card. 2 WP (maximum total
points: 18 WP). In the
case of a draw, the first
City circuit driver to have passed
the police station
The games have some special features. Please receives the bonus.
therefore read the following sections.
Tunnel
The engines are howling …
The spaces underneath the tunnel are not naviga-
The residents find the noise ble. When a car leaves a space with a tunnel sym-
of the cars extremely annoy- bol it is placed on a space with the same number
ing and complain about on the other side of the tunnel.
it. Now and then a hot-
tempered trouble-maker
decides to take pot shots at
the cars driving past his win-
dow. The drivers of all cars
which finish up in this zone
after their turn must roll the
black die. If the result is 11 or
more, the car loses 2 WP.
A car on space 2 continues
Danger zone its move on space 2.

The danger zone is the area

of the circuit which is in
particularly bad condition Checkpoint!
and is therefore dreaded by
all drivers. All black spaces If two laps are to be completed on this circuit, each
are treated as spaces with car receives 10 WP when it crosses the finishing line
damage markers. If a car for the first time (maximum total points: 18 WP).
lands on one of these
spaces, the driver must roll
A game by Eric RANDALL and Laurent LAVAUR
©2011 PLAY MACHINES
Translation: Birgit Irgang

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