Stats:
No. of players: 2-11
Amount of time to play: 90-120 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 5-10 min

Grand Prix is a board game that reenacts a Formula 1 race. You have a team of two cars and score VPs for finishing in the top ten and based on your entire team’s placement.

Grand Prix Rules Description:

Grand Prix is the younger sibling of Thunder Alley. Developed by the same designers and published by GMT it has a lot of similarities. It uses many of the same mechanics and rules. If you have never played Thunder Alley you should read my overview and review here. Most of this post is going to focus on the new things introduced in Grand Prix.

One big difference is NPC Cars, which are added to the track if you do not have the full player count. These come in two flavors some are on your team and some are completely neutral. Anyone can move the neutral ones but only you can move NPC cars on your team. These can help you maneuver your player cars into higher positions, but the NPC cars do not score for you.

Another new concept is conditional linking. When you use Solo or Lead Movement you can choose to stop link cars you push at any time during movement.

It only ever costs one movement to move forward, even if you need to push cars. And if you displace a car next to you and it has nowhere to go it moves forward. You also gain a close call token. Close call token cannot be repaired and only come into play with certain events.

Pit stops have changed too. Now wear tokens have a duration value. This makes changing tires easier than fixing the transmission. So you move further back the more things and complicated things you fix when you pit.

At the end of the game you score VPs for your two player cars that finish in the top ten and the player with the most VPs wins. If you tie, the player with the car closest to first wins.

Quick Review of Grand Prix:

Grand Prix is a lot like Thunder Alley and that is not a bad thing. The gameplay is still fun and even cleaned up a bit. It doesn’t feel entirely different but is a fun racing board game.

Like its predecessor this game has really nice components. The tracks look nice and the cards are of good quality. My one complaint is that the backside of the car tokens is not dark enough. So you can get confused about which side the cars are on but you do get used to it. The rules are detailed, well-written and full of examples too.

The NPC cars are an excellent addition to the mechanics. It lets you maneuver your main cars more than once a round. And you must decide which cards to use on them and which to use on your cars. They have no play sheet and do not collect wear tokens, so they are good for putting those harsh wear cards to use.

It is also a nice perk that the tracks are compatible with both Grand Prix and Thunder Alley. I am not sure you need to own both but it is a nice benefit to add variety to your game.

Some of the new elements help negate the randomness in Thunder Alley, but luck is still a factor.

If you are looking for a fun racing board game you should give Grand Prix a try. If you own Thunder Alley I am not sure you need to pick this game up. If you are thinking of getting one or the other, I’d go for Grand Prix.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6