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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

11 replies [Last post]
Wed, 04/26/2006 - 18:55
Julius
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Joined: 12/31/1969

On the way to work this morning, I was stuck door to door with everyone else during the long crawl towards downtown. I thought there has to be some way to make this fun - what better than a board game!

It would be a racing game of a most slow and annoying sort. You and the other players are co-woerkers stuck in traffic, and you are trying to be the first to make it to the coveted "best parking spot" at your work.

I imagine that somehow each turn one of the lanes creeps forward, and you are trying pick the best one. Play would consist of two phases - changing lanes (if you want) and inching forward.

Should there be a card element? two I could think of are:
"Road Rage" - prevent a player from changing lanes
"Blow up Doll" - get to use the carpool lane

What can you do with this?

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Wed, 04/26/2006 - 23:13
#1
larienna
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Personally, I would make it more from an higher level of point of view. I would use a map of the city and I would place token on many roads representing trafic. Now some random or planned elements in the game would allow player to move or remove some tokens. The goal would be to find the optimal path to reach your destination before the other players.

[Out of topic] : By the way, next time, you can always use a bicycle to avoid traffic, it's summer you know ( unless you live on the southern emisphere).

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Wed, 04/26/2006 - 23:56
#2
JeffK
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

My gut reaction is actually to keep this a short game (sort of like Milles Bornes or however the heck you spell that). I sense there will be lots of obstacles that players throw at each other, and I, personally, only find that sort of thing enjoyable for a limited amount of time. In a short, game, though, I usually love it. :)

Have you considered using on/off ramps as your goals rather than a parking lot? Maybe everyone has a different exit they need to reach (or the same exit)? Things like rubberneckers, semis, cell phone users, make up appliers and lane hoppers could be obstacles. Players could secretly play obstacles into another player's lane while players secretly chose which lane they attempt to get into (with a total of 4 possible lanes + exit ramp).

Ways to help yourself seems tougher, unless you want to resort to shotguns and hovercars. ;)

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 01:04
#3
Drwantanabe
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Your idea made me laugh out loud.

I think the aspect of different lanes speeding up would be good. Maybe have it be a four or five lane highway. You would have a long board and plastic cars. When cars ahead of you reach the end just bring them back to the beginning to represent more cars.

To determine which lane will go faster, have the cars in one lane start moving faster from the end of the board and have their increased progress move its way slowly back (just like in real life) so that you have to anticipate the faster lane.

Maybe the distance cars move forward is determined by how few cars are in that lane so if everybody moves to the faster lane, you will actually begin to move slower.

Naturally changing lanes (moving some up and some over) takes up more time (as opposed to moging streight forward) but works out better in the long run.

It's so fun to get carried away.

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 10:48
#4
Scurra
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Ah, I see someone else has stumbled across the queueing game - you know, the one where you arrive at the supermarket checkout and try to guess which queue is the best to join, knowing that the short one will have someone trying to pay with small change, the middle one will have someone who has forgotten something, the one with just baskets will have the cashier come to the end of their shift, and the long one is just, well, long...

I tried to get the idea to work in a game, but I never thought to apply it to a rush-hour racing game - excellent insight :-)

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 11:26
#5
Krakit
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Joined: 11/26/2011
Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Set up a tableu of 5 columns and 12 or so rows of cards face down. The backs of all the cards is a car seen from the sky.

Each player is given a car card of a different color. Roll a die to see who goes first. Each player then takes a turn placing a car at the bottom of the tableu, even under another player's card.

Each round you turn the car cards at the top of the tableu over to reveal an event. Such as this car just overheated or this car just exited the hwy.

Now everyone has the option of stayin in lane or changing to a lane to the left or right (unless they are already all the way over to one side or the other).

If you change lanes you get to maintain your position. So if your lane has four cards on top and the lane on the left has 8 cards on top, you get to merge into that lane below 4 cars and above 4 cars.

First to get to the top of the column wins.

Carl

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 11:28
#6
FastLearner
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

That's precisely the game that occurred to me last night when I went to bed. Freaky!

-- Matthew

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 13:22
#7
Julius
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Lots of great ideas - I was originally envisioning a long strech of highway (of course, not too long) - and the card suggestion is a fantastic way to represent this without actually having a gigantic board.

Larienna wrote:
[Out of topic] : By the way, next time, you can always use a bicycle to avoid traffic, it's summer you know ( unless you live on the southern emisphere).

I'm actually anti-bicyclist. I live in Portland, OR, and for some reason up here, owning a bicycle makes you part of some angry bicycle rights movement. It's like you get some liscence to ignore traffic laws.

Among other things, I think bicycles should have liscence plates. That way, when I see someone riding at 30 miles per hour down the sidewalk next to the school across the street, I can call the police and report the crime(s). If I tried that in my Jeep, I'd be arrested.

And no complaints about my Wrangler - It's better for the environment than your Hybrid:
http://www.auto123.com/en/info/news/news,view.spy?artid=59574&pg=1

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 14:00
#8
Hedge-o-Matic
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Scurra wrote:
...you arrive at the supermarket checkout...

I tried to get the idea to work in a game...

Me too! My supermarket game was more of a shopping-cart deathmatch sort of deal, but I think it still fits into the "Slow and Irritating Experience" genre.

Perhaps each player could have a player car, and a few "traffic" cars, allowing them to influence the traffic situation a bit, and cluttering up the board.

NPC cars could include:

-careless drivers (who could crash into whomever's in front of them, eliminating a lane)
-beaters (prone to breakdowns)
-cop cars (to pull over the careless drivers, as well as causing people directly in front of them either go slower, or try to exit as soon as possible, thus cluttering exit lanes as well)
-tow trucks (to tow wrecks and breakdowns)
-road ragers (who perform dangerous maneuvers in order to advance
-Ambulances (for crashes)
-Tankers with dangerous cargo loads
-car-carriers that people are afraid to drive directly behind

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 15:52
#9
FastLearner
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Julius wrote:
Among other things, I think bicycles should have liscence plates. That way, when I see someone riding at 30 miles per hour down the sidewalk next to the school across the street, I can call the police and report the crime(s). If I tried that in my Jeep, I'd be arrested.

I think you guys just need better laws or better enforcement. Here in Phoenix that would absolutely get you a ticket. Heck, riding on the sidewalk at all can get you a ticket in certain circumstances. Here bicycles are, for most laws, just like cars.

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 19:08
#10
DSfan
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Quote:
I think bicycles should have liscence plates.

Well ok, if we're giving bicycles liscence plate we should definitely give people plates too! Smack-dab on their behind! There are just too many people that use the roads for there jogging/running instead of the sidewalks right next to them.

Justin

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Thu, 04/27/2006 - 21:09
#11
larienna
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Idea for a bordgame based on rush hour traffic.

Quote:
To determine which lane will go faster, have the cars in one lane start moving faster from the end of the board and have their increased progress move its way slowly back (just like in real life) so that you have to anticipate the faster lane.

I was not seeing the problem this way because where I live, there is generally always a defined speed for each lane. They are called "Slow", "Fast", and "Out of my way". But I know that in europe, each lane goes at the same speed, so you need to do some slalom between cars to advance.

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