Hairpin Racers
Copyright 2024, designed in 2004, Phil Leduc
Hairpin Racers is a two-player, diceless, racing game which combines aspects of Backgammon and No Dice (1987). Players’ racers zoom along a twisting racetrack while blocking, passing and bumping their opponent’s racers.
Components
Hairpin Racers requires the following components:
10 race car tokens (referred to as racers); two sets of 5, here red and black.
1 rectangular grid 3 x 6 racetrack with barrier lines that create a double hairpin track, eighteen spaces long.
Paper and pencil for keeping track of laps completed.
Optional: A pair of 6-sided dice, preferably one red and one black, for use during set up and/or for tallying laps.
In these rules, forward movement is from the player point-of-view, which means towards the player’s finish line moving right, left, and right, along the racetrack. Players move in opposite directions.
Setup
Players sit on opposite side of the racetrack facing the longer edges. They place their five racers in the five spaces nearest their starting line. The racers will move along the S-curve from their starting line towards their finish line. The board loops. The finish space is adjacent to the start space! A print and play race track file, Hairpin Racers Racetrack.pdf or Hairpin Racers Racetrack v2.pdf, can be downloaded from Game Files.
Symmetric Setup
Track Loop
In the Track Loop figure, the red racer has a total of three racers in its column and so can move three spaces (if not blocked). Here the red racer can move over the finish line, increment the lap counter, and move two further spaces pass the start line.
Game Play
Red moves first. Players take turns moving one of their racers towards their finish line.
If possible, a player must move a racer. The following three conditions must be addressed in the order given:
If a player has a racer in the pit (in hand, see Bump the Racer below), the player must re-enter it onto the racetrack by placing the racer into the space nearest his or her start line that is empty or occupied by one or more friendly racers. Play then passes to his or her opponent.
If a player does not have a racer in the pit, any friendly racer may be moved using the following rules.
Move Count - A racer must move forward as many spaces as there are racers in its column (three vertical spaces). All racers, friendly or not, are counted. When moving the contents of intervening spaces are ignored. The destination space must be one of the following:
Empty
Occupied by one or more friendly racers.
Occupied by one opponent racer, in which case that racer is "hit". The moving player then has two options. The player may
Bump the racer - The player may bump the opponent’s racer, sending it temporarily to the pit. Just hand it to your opponent who must reenter it immediately, or
Pass the racer - The player may pass the opponent’s racer by moving forward to the next empty or friendly-occupied space.
Hit Available
One of the red racers at f2 can move and hit the black racer at d2.
Hit and Bump
Give the black racer to the black player who must immediately play it to the first empty or friendly occupied space on his or her track. Red then moves again!
Hit and Pass
Leave the black racer where it is and jump over it and any consecutive black occupied spaces to the next empty or friendly occupied space.
Over the finish line - A racer scores one point for lapping the track and then finishes its movement by re-entering at the player’s start line space and continuing to move. Note that a racer may not move over the finish line, if the space where it would end its movement has two or more opponent racers in it. See Track Loop figure above. The first player to cross his or her finish line five times (or three times for shorter game) wins the race. Any racer can score, even one that has previously passed the finish line.
If a player is able to move any racer, he or she must do so. Play then passes to his or her opponent.
3. Block Rule - If a player is unable to move because opponent stacks of two or more racers block all his or her options, the player loses his or her turn. See Impasse Rule below for when both players are blocked.
Block Example
In the Block Example figure, all Red's racers are blocked. If it's Red turn, the red racers at a1 are blocked by the black racers at e1 and the red racer at c2 is blocked by black racers at b2. Red loses a turn and will lose another when Black moves d2 to e2, and another when Black follows up with e2 to e1, and yet another when Black move e1 to b1!! There's even more to come... Black will win the game by lapping over and over again!!!!
Impasse Rule - If both players are blocked, the first player blocked may move any one racer forward to the next available empty or friendly-occupied space. Player turns then continue.
Impasse Example
In the Impasse Example figure, Black has just moved a racer from c2 to d2. Red is unable to move and loses a turn. Black is then also unable to move and an impasse is reached. Red was first to be blocked and so gets to move one racer to the next forward empty or friendly-occupied space. Here, Red may move b1 to c1, or f2 to e2. The former is the better move because Black remains blocked and Red can move again with c1 to d1. This will unblock Black who must move d2 to f1 but then Red will bump the racer at f1.
Game End
The game ends when one player crosses his or her finish line five times (or three times for a shorter game) with any of his or her race tokens.
Variants
The following rules are optional and may be used individually or in any combination.
Setup
Random Setup - Each player rolls a die five times to place each racer onto one of the starting five spaces of his or her track. Sixes are rerolled. It is likely that some spaces will be assigned multiple racers and the final setup will be asymmetrical.
Movement
A racer can move forward up to (equal to or less than) as many spaces as there are racers in its column.
Limit the number of bumps that a player can use during a game to the number of laps needed to win the game. If a player exceeds this number, he or she is disqualified and loses.
Objective
Demolition Derby - A player wins by bumping (not passing) five opponent racers or more by agreement.
Copyright (c) 2004, Phil Leduc
Please note that for now these game rules not be duplicated and distributed via the web. All rights are reserved. Those that wish to program or sell this game in any form should contact the author at philleduc.pled@gmail.com for permission or a license to do so.