RoboRally® is a board game originally published in 1994 by Wizards of the Coast (WotC). It was designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of the card game The Gathering®. The game and its expansions received a total of four Origins Awards. RoboRally was rereleased in July 2005 under the Avalon Hill label.

Gameplay

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In RoboRally, players assume control of one of many "Robot Control Computers" in a dangerous widget factory filled with moving, course-altering conveyor belts, metal-melting laser beams, bottomless pits, crushers, and a variety of other obstacles. The goal in a game of RoboRally is, apart from survival, to be the first to reach a pre-designated number of checkpoints in a particular order. However, the real difficulty in RoboRally is movement, which is accomplished with the randomly dealt program cards.

The program cards specify movement, such as move forward one, turn left or U-turn. The cards have to be arranged by the player in the specific manner they wish the robot to move. Each player receives up to nine cards each turn. They use five of the cards to specify their robot's movement for the given turn, playing each card face down into one of five available "registers". All robots move simultaneously, each player revealing each register in turn. Robots attempting to move into the same space at the same time are resolved by priority numbers printed on the cards. Players with damaged robots receive fewer cards: with one point of damage, the player receives eight cards, with two points, seven cards, and so on. When a player's robot takes five or more points of damage, its registers become "locked," keeping specific program cards in play until the robot is repaired.

Robots can also carry optional weapons and devices, which add to the carnage and mayhem. These devices can cause additional damage, allow robots to move differently, affect the movement of other robots, and disrupt opponents' plans in other ways.

The original metal pieces in RoboRally were designed by Phil Foglio, who also did the artwork for the game.

Editions and expansions (with board names)

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• RoboRally (WotC editions): Basic boards (6), unpainted metal miniatures (8), movement cards, option cards, and counters.
  • Cannery Row
  • Cross
  • Exchange
  • Island
  • Maelstrom
  • Pit Maze
• Armed and Dangerous (WotC, 1995): Additional boards (6), additional option cards, and counters.
  • Chasm
  • Circuit Trap
  • Coliseum
  • Flood Zone
  • Gear Box
  • Laser Maze
• Crash and Burn (WotC, 1997): Additional boards (2)
  • Blast Furnace
  • Machine Shop
• Grand Prix (WotC, 1997): Additional boards (3), with randomly selected reprinted basic boards on the backs.
  • Back Stretch
  • Canyon
  • Pit Row
• Radioactive (WotC, 1998): Additional boards (3)
  • Pinwheel
  • Reactor Core
  • Shake ’N’ Bake
• Origins ’99 (WotC, 1999): Additional board (1), only given to finalists in the championship tournament.
  • King of the Hill
• RoboRally (Amigo, 1999) and (999 Games, 2000): Basic boards (4), prepainted plastic bots (4), movement cards, counters.
  • A   (Pit Maze)
  • B   (Exchange)
  • C   (Cross)
  • D   (Cannery Row)
• Crash & Burn (Amigo, 2000): Additional boards (4), prepainted plastic bots (4), option cards.
  • E   (Island)
  • F   (Maelstrom)
  • G   (Machine Shop)
  • H   (Blast Furnace)
• RoboRally (Avalon Hill, 2005): Double-sided boards (4), docking bay board, plastic bots (8), movement cards, option cards, plastic flags, and counters.
  • Docking Bay   (a double-sided starting grid, one-third the size of a regular board)
  • Chop Shop   (with Island on the back)
  • Spin Zone   (with Maelstrom on the back)
  • Chess   (with Cross on the back)
  • Vault   (with Exchange on the back)
• A large number of additional boards and elements are available via Internet communities, created by fans of the game.

In Europe (German by Amigo, and Dutch by 999 Games), a different series was released. It incorporated a few rules changes and fewer components to make the game simpler. The damage and life tokens are larger and thicker than those of the original American release. The movement cards are color-coded. Forward (Move) cards have blue arrows, Backward (Back Up) cards have red ones and Turn cards yellow ones.

The Avalon Hill edition also changed the cards. The new Move cards have only an arrow in the corner instead of the number with the arrow, which means you have to look at the full face of the card to distinguish them. It also has larger counters. Character sheets were introduced to track damage, life counters, power-down status, and program cards. Each sheet also contains a copy of the turn sequence for reference. The graphics have been redesigned to make the functionality of board elements clearer. The rules were also simplified to remove the concept of virtual robots.

External links

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• Wizards of the Coast's RoboRally home page
• General information site about RoboRally
• FAQ, and printable boards for RoboRally
• Site where you can play games based on RoboRally namely Robo Runner, Robo Recon and Robo Arena

Origins Award winners | Science fiction board games

Robo Rally | Robo Rally