Soapbox Derby 2012

The heat is on! In this fast and furious card game, four teams of rambunctious racers steer their homemade soapbox derby cars toward the finish line. Every turn is timed, so think fast and get out in front of your wily opponents. But watch out for those potholes, oil slicks and pesky squirrels or you'll be digging out splinters from the ditch!

Soapbox Derby features a deck of 45 cards, with four soapbox racers on each card in different configurations that represent race positions (i.e., first, second, third, fourth). There are three face-up card stacks that represent stages of the downhill course, a face-down draw deck, and two face-up cards next to the main draw deck for card options during play. Each turn a player chooses one of two face-up option cards, or one random from the face-down stack, and chooses one of the three open race stage stacks on which to play the card. Placing a card on the first stage stack has no special effect on the race, but placing a card on the second stage stack allows a player to choose one card from the first or third stage stacks and take it out of the race and back to the "pit" - the two option stacks next to the main deck. Placing a card in the third stage stack forces the player to swap the position of that stack with the first or second stack.

The race is timed - three minutes for each heat. Then players score points for the positions of their racers when time runs out. Three heats decides the winner!