Robo Rally

To set up the game, players first select a racecourse from the rulebook, such as 'Dizzy Highway' on page 16, and arrange the game boards accordingly. Each player then chooses a robot figure, receives a personal player board, a unique deck of programming cards matching their robot's color, and five orange energy cubes. Players shuffle their programming cards and place them face down on their personal board. The five energy cubes are placed in the energy reserve section of the personal board. The six special programming cards (black background) are placed face up near the main board. Damage cards (Spam, Virus, Worm, Trojan Horse) are separated into four piles and placed face up. The upgrade cards (yellow background) are shuffled, and a number equal to the number of players are drawn and placed face up in a row next to the board, with the remaining cards forming a face-down deck. The sand timer, checkpoint tokens, and remaining energy cubes are placed within reach of all players. The priority antenna is placed on the small starting board as indicated in the rulebook. Players then place their robots on any white starting space on the small board, with the robot's arrow pointing towards the main board. The player closest to the antenna has priority and will move first.

The primary objective of Robo Rally is to be the first player to navigate their robot through all the designated checkpoints on the racecourse in numerical order. Players must reach each checkpoint with an exact movement to claim its token. The first player to collect all checkpoint tokens, following the correct numerical sequence, wins the game.

A round in Robo Rally consists of three main phases: Upgrade, Programming, and Activation. In the Upgrade Phase, players can purchase one upgrade card (yellow or red) using their energy cubes, following priority order. Yellow cards are permanent, while red cards are temporary and discarded after use. In the Programming Phase, all players simultaneously draw nine programming cards from their personal deck. They then secretly choose five of these cards and place them face down in the five register slots on their personal board, planning their robot's movements for the round. Once a player places their fifth card, they immediately flip the sand timer, giving other players a limited time to complete their programming. If a player fails to program their robot within the time limit, they must discard all cards in hand and randomly fill their empty register slots. The Activation Phase involves activating robots and board elements in five registers, one at a time, based on priority (closest to the antenna moves first). Players reveal and execute the card in their current register slot, moving their robot, pushing other robots if they enter an occupied space, and activating board elements like conveyor belts, pushers, and gears. After all robots have moved for a register, board lasers fire, and robots fire their lasers, dealing damage to the first robot in their line of sight. This process repeats for all five registers.

Scoring in Robo Rally is straightforward: players earn checkpoint tokens by successfully reaching a checkpoint space with an exact movement. Checkpoints must be touched in numerical order (e.g., checkpoint 1, then checkpoint 2, and so on). When a robot lands on the correct checkpoint, the player takes the corresponding checkpoint token and places it on their personal board. The game's ultimate winner is the first player to collect all the required checkpoint tokens in the correct sequence.

The game concludes immediately when a player's robot successfully reaches the final checkpoint in the correct numerical order. That player is then declared the winner of the Robo Rally. If multiple players reach the final checkpoint in the same round, the player with priority (closest to the antenna) among them wins.