Game play will be this afternoon, but overnight I gave the "Bonus Box" deck several revisions.

40 card deck. All actions are free actions.

4 each of:

Focus - Assign one focus token to your ship.

Evade - Assign one evade token to your ship.

Boost - Discard to perform a boost action. Cannot be used during combat.

Barrel Roll - Discard to perform a barrel roll action. Cannot be used during combat.

Shield - Assign one shield to your ship.

Target Lock - Gain a target lock on one ship at range 1-3.

Hit - Add one hit result to your dice roll.

2 each of:

Ion - All opponents receive 2 ion tokens.

Critical Hit - Add one critical hit to your dice roll.

Stress - Enemy ship at range 1-3 receives one stress token. If spent after the planning phase, it does not effect the current movement.

Weapons Disabled - Enemy ship at range 1-3 receives a weapons disabled token. Cannot be used during combat.

Tractor Beam - Enemy ship at range 1-3 and in arc receives a tractor beam token. Cannot be used during combat.

Proximity Mine - Drop one proximity mine token.

Edit: Remove double post

Nice! Let us know if it's as awesome as it sounds.

I got to play last night, but not sure when I'll get a chance to write it up. J-bot wanted to replicate stock car racing. We used Z-95's that can take 5 pts of whatever. Only one zero point upgrade. We could take as many EPT's as we wanted. This was to show how it's driver skill that wins, not the better ship. It was pretty fun.

Personally, I like the Mario Kart cards instead of X-wing upgrades. Makes it feel more like Mario Kart. I can get it if you want it more like racing, but I prefer the Mario Kart version of racing.

I am starting to think that there might be separate decks for where you place in the pack. The first place guy gets only bananas and green shells (that he can fire backwards). The middle gets the normal stuff. The last place...maybe if behind by a bunch...gets all the really good cards. That's the bullet, squid, lightning, etc.

I got to play last night, but not sure when I'll get a chance to write it up. J-bot wanted to replicate stock car racing. We used Z-95's that can take 5 pts of whatever. Only one zero point upgrade. We could take as many EPT's as we wanted. This was to show how it's driver skill that wins, not the better ship. It was pretty fun.

Personally, I like the Mario Kart cards instead of X-wing upgrades. Makes it feel more like Mario Kart. I can get it if you want it more like racing, but I prefer the Mario Kart version of racing.

I am starting to think that there might be separate decks for where you place in the pack. The first place guy gets only bananas and green shells (that he can fire backwards). The middle gets the normal stuff. The last place...maybe if behind by a bunch...gets all the really good cards. That's the bullet, squid, lightning, etc.

I have to test the stock car variant with my children. I have 5 Z95s, only 2 have the same look - and that I am probably going to change anyways

Here is the Figure 8 fleshed out with some obstacles and ships:

https://imgpile.com/i/Xlf5l

Here's the track we used last night:

I am starting to think that there might be separate decks for where you place in the pack. The first place guy gets only bananas and green shells (that he can fire backwards). The middle gets the normal stuff. The last place...maybe if behind by a bunch...gets all the really good cards. That's the bullet, squid, lightning, etc.

Someone feeling a bit trolly or just out for some hilarity could however deliberately hang back and annoy the leading ships with this solution?

Managarmr, have you played much Mario Kart? That's a common strategy, and totally valid.

I'm with heychadwick in preferring the Mario Kart flavoured pick-ups, and the separate decks allows the lightning bolt, bullet, etc to serve the same function in giving the back runners a chance to catch up.

A little action on the figure 8:

https://imgpile.com/i/X602j

Certainly a bit too tight. BR doesn't add a lot to the pile on such a skinny track. 4 ships is probably too much for these size tracks.

That quad turret track looks simple yet hilarious.

I just finished a practice game with three ships and everything but turrets. The TIE/sf got a lead by the end of the first lap and the other two were too busy blowing each other up to catch him. He was only at 1 Hull, though, so the right card or shot at the right time could set him back. Instead, he clipped a wall 2/3 of the way to a check point and got moved back quite a bit, giving the other ships a chance. They had their own mishaps, however, which resulted in the TIE/sf finishing his 3rd lap just as the others were crossing the second checkpoint. Turrets probably would've helped keep him in check, since he was at 1 Hull for a long time, then only 2 Hull at the finish.

The two Z-95s had an insanely fun and dramatic finish, though. The Rebel one had Engine Upgrade, but was pretty far behind after a bad explosion then respawn. The Scum Z just tried to fly his best and race for the finish line before the Rebel caught up. The Rebel picked up Triple Red Shells, using one to shoot the TIE through a wall, but it wasn't enough to kill it and he couldn't make a follow-up shot after hitting a Banana. With two shells left, though, he had just enough damage to kill the Scum if he caught it. Rebel pulled up behind Scum about 2/3 of the way through the track and knocked his shields off with the first shell. Next turn, he fires the last shell and... the Scum had picked up the Super Horn, which can counter any Shell card! He was still alive and still in it! This also left him far enough ahead that he just might squeak over the finish line before the Engine helped Rebel pass him, even with Rebel cutting through a Proximity Mine which left him at 1 Hull. Scum was taking a couple moves to round the last turn, while Rebel picks up the last item... and it's a Star, letting him cut the corner through a Banana and in front of Scum, to Boost over the finish line just in front of him!

If that's not awesome, I don't know what is. I still have some tweaks to make, but so far Mario Kart X-Wing is a smashing success.

Tips for building a ship: build a racer, not a fighter. The Scum Z had great offense, which helped him keep one ship in check, but he could do nothing about the runaway leader. I would probably swap his missile for a cheaper one to add Vectored Thrusters. Because, on that note, your ship must have Boost, Barrel Roll, or Both. You simply can't keep up, especially after a respawn, without them. Finally, durability is more important than attack power. No matter how many times you shoot a ship down, it will come right back, but if you can take a few extra hits, that's a few extra turns without being knocked out.

Also, action economy is extremely difficult to come by, so be prepared to throw a lot of unmodified dice.

it's been a blast. My students really like it and those that aren't even that interested in space fights think the racing part is fun. It's also easier to handicap myself.

I got to play last night, but not sure when I'll get a chance to write it up. J-bot wanted to replicate stock car racing. We used Z-95's that can take 5 pts of whatever. Only one zero point upgrade. We could take as many EPT's as we wanted. This was to show how it's driver skill that wins, not the better ship. It was pretty fun.

Personally, I like the Mario Kart cards instead of X-wing upgrades. Makes it feel more like Mario Kart. I can get it if you want it more like racing, but I prefer the Mario Kart version of racing.

I am starting to think that there might be separate decks for where you place in the pack. The first place guy gets only bananas and green shells (that he can fire backwards). The middle gets the normal stuff. The last place...maybe if behind by a bunch...gets all the really good cards. That's the bullet, squid, lightning, etc.

I think it could run easy with just 3 decks, 1st, last, everyone else. From there you can tweak the percentages for what shows up, obviously blue shell is only a last place item then give that deck a higher % to draw the "catch up cards" lightning, etc. While 1st place has the higher % for the "hold off cards" stars, peels, etc. Everyone else has Those cards at the lowest % draws and things like mushrooms and reds at a slightly higher % draw.

Personally, I like the Mario Kart cards instead of X-wing upgrades. Makes it feel more like Mario Kart. I can get it if you want it more like racing, but I prefer the Mario Kart version of racing.

So we ran two identical races last night,40 point builds with no restrictions, one with the X-Wing style bonus deck, and the other with the Mario Kart style. The course was the same twisty course I have previously posted. Caveat going forward: we are are very spikey casual group.

The first game was with the Mario deck and it was fun, but the power ups overshadow most of the flying. They are balanced against each other, but the luck of the draw helps a lot more than skill of the player.

The second game showed that using the bonus boxes plays more to the idea of gaining incremental advantages and using those little tweaks to position and dice modification to eke out a victory.

Mario-style was fun, and it will get played again. However it seems like it leads to blowout wins. Great in a beer and pretzels situation.

X-Wing style is very grindy. The games run longer but they are not very swingy. Good for teaching flying.

In both cases, the tank builds do well. Shooting ahead with an interceptor is still viable in X-Wing style, but the lack of shields is too weak against shells and the like. I still put money in T-70s in smaller point builds. JM5K in larger point values.

A little action on the figure 8:

https://imgpile.com/i/X602j

Certainly a bit too tight. BR doesn't add a lot to the pile on such a skinny track. 4 ships is probably too much for these size tracks.

What kind of drawning pad is that? It is huge.

A little action on the figure 8:

https://imgpile.com/i/X602j

Certainly a bit too tight. BR doesn't add a lot to the pile on such a skinny track. 4 ships is probably too much for these size tracks.

What kind of drawning pad is that? It is huge.

As a teacher you unlock all kinds of really cool "school supplies" that other mere mortals can only dream of...and then find little to no practical use for. I've had a few over the years, mostly to draw maps for gaming.

Is it sad that I wish it was even bigger?

I'm a teacher as well, and these kind of pads are indispensable. Office Depot/Staples has them and each individual sheet is adhesive which helps keep it stationary on the table.

have people played this without a shooting option, just using the items from the box?

just wondering how it would go if that was the case.

like the idea of different draw depending on placing, you don;t want to be last and get a set of banana peels

This is a good question. Shooting is always on for us.

It does sound like shooting is almost a little too powerful... Like it does heavily dis-incentivise trying to take an early lead.

Does feel like the ability to shoot other players wants to be ...contained a little, I have an idea about that.

First; ditch the damage deck, make criticals not matter any more.

Second; I'd handle ship destruction like this (maybe not exactly like this (I would have to test) but most likely along these lines)

When a ship has taken lethal damage, assign it a stress or an ion token (attacker's choice) for every damage dealt to the ship over its hull value, assign it another token.

Make sure to modify the rules so that not all of the ion tokens are removed at once (you only remove the quantity required to ionize the ship that turn).

Any ship that has been dealt lethal damage recovers full hull and shields at the end of the turn.

Players can then voluntarily respawn at the last checkpoint, at full health & free of stress/ion tokens at the end of any turn.

Then finally, tweak shells to cancel all dice results and then cause stress + ion if they hit.

I don't know if that would completely fix the combat issue, but I do feel like scaling the effectiveness of conventional combat may ne the way forwards

A thing to consider on combat is the power of the actions. The guy out front can't shoot usually, so he is going to focus/evade or be at range three (for me,this is the argument from this morning, that the Mario style power ups consume the game). Regular shooting rules help mitigate the beating the leader takes. I strongly suggest playing at least one game with either the x-wing bonuses or none at all to see the power of these shells.

I prefer more xwingish stuff. The Mario Kart stuff is a bit too luck of the draw. Double ions happened in our last match and it was a blowout.

I prefer more xwingish stuff. The Mario Kart stuff is a bit too luck of the draw. Double ions happened in our last match and it was a blowout.

I found you have to tweak the rules for the Mario Kart cards a bit. If you have something that affects everyone, it only affects those people in front of you. Just like in Mario Kart. This way you don't have someone in front get a card like Lightning and use it to just keep his lead.

I looked up the odds of Mario Kart. It seems that things have been based on where you place in the race...up until Mario Kart 8. With the change of Mario Kart 8, it's based on your distance to the first place. So...there are two methods to try for. I did find the chances for items based on locations. It should be used as a guideline for how things go with various decks depending on where you place.

While I don't see the Bullet on that chart, I do think we could probably split things into 3 decks. You can play it based on position or based on distance.

1st Place

• 3 Banana's
• 3 Green Shells
• 1 Mushroom

Mid Players

• One of everything, except the Bullet

Last Place

• 1 Gold Mushroom
• 2 Bullet
• 1 Ghost
• 2 Star
• 3 Lightning
• 2 Blue Shell

I would change these cards:

Green Shell = You can also shoot it out the back with the same rules

Bullet = You get 5 free Boosts with any template, but as soon as you get into 2nd place, you stop. You do force a Barrel Roll out of the way.

Lightning = Only affects those in front of you.

Squid = Only affects those in front of you.

running this tonight, will post more about how it went tomorrow. Looking forward to this. Thank for the ideas everyone!

what was the result?

was fun had by all?

or some fun had by some?

some had all the fun?

or did all the sum have fun?