Final Lap: the card game

Final Lap: the card game is a standalone card game that challenges up to 6 players (can be played solo) to lead their team to victory in the racing championship. A challenging card game with a great balance of skill and luck, and lots of interesting card combinations. Average play time is around 10 minutes per race, with the players deciding how many races they want to play in order to decide the championship winner, allowing Final Lap to be played as a time filler, or an entire evening of entertainment.

Players each manage a racing team of two cars and compete in a number of races through to see who can accumulate the most championship points and become the champion. In each race players need to correctly manage their hand of cards, reaping the biggest rewards possible from their good cards, and reducing the negative imapct suffered from their bad ones, to ensure the cars in their team score as many championship points as possible.

Championship points are only scored in a race by the cars that finish in the top 6 positions. At the beginning of each race the cars are laid out in the reverse finishing order from the previous race. Each player is dealt a hand of cards and during a race a player must use all of the cards in their hand. As a car finishing in last place will ensure that it begins qualifying in the following race in first position, it is therefore beneficial for cars to finish as low as possible in a race if they do not finish in the top 6 positions, which results some very interesting and tactical game play.

After the cars are laid out in order at the beginning of a race, and players have received their hand of cards, qualifying will take place. Certain cards can be used during qualifying or during a race. If a player uses a card during qualifying to improve the qualifying order of one or both of their cars, they will discard the card and draw a random card to replace it. Since players must use all of the cards in their hand during a race, they will need to evaluate whether they can afford to use such cards during qualifying as it may result it them drawing a very bad card as a replacement.

During a race players can have their cars take pit stops. When a car takes it pit stop it allows the players to discard a card from their hand without having to play it, which acts as an outlet to remove bad cards from a players hand. Pit stops need to be managed effectively as they can only be taken by cars that require them, and any cards not discarded through pit stops must be played even if they have severely negative consequences for your cars.

Excellent hand management is crucial in this game. After you receive your hand of cards you need to formulate a race plan, working out how to get the most out of the cards you’ve been dealt. Adaptability is also key, being able to change a race plan or abandon it altogether as interactions with other players may not go as expected.

Final Lap is a hugely flavourful card game, with a whole range of racing events covered by cards, including qualifying, pit stops, crashes, oil spills, spin outs, tyre punctures, yellow flags, team orders, defensive lines, slip streaming, car setup, racing strategies, repairs and mechanical problems with engines and gear boxes.