Embedded Files
Copyright 2024, designed in 2004, Phil Leduc
The Loews Hairpin Bend at Monaco's Grande Prix racetrack
www.eurosport.com/formula-1/sports-greatest-wonders_sto1826304/story.shtmlHairpin Racers is a two-player, diceless, racing game which combines aspects of Backgammon and No Dice. Players’ racers zoom along a twisting racetrack while blocking, passing and bumping their opponent’s racers. The first to lap the track five times wins, but do not be too aggressive as bumping leads to disqualification and loss.
Components
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.
Paper and pencil for keeping track of laps completed and cars bumped off the track, or alternately, two pairs of 6-sided dice, preferably one red and one black.
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
Setup
Players sit on opposite sides 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 track 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. A Ludii script, Hairpin Racers v4.lud for Ludii player (1.3.13) is also available in the Game Files folder.
Symmetric Setup
Game Play
Game Play
Red moves first. Players take turns moving one of their racers.
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:
Cruise - A racer may move forward to the next empty or friendly-occupied space and may pass over any intervening opponent-occupied spaces. Or,
Charge - A racer must move forward as many spaces as there are racers in its column. 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, passing over any intervening opponent-occupied spaces.
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 that is charging 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 below. 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.
Track Loop
In the Track Loop figure, the red racer has two choices. It may cruise-move to its next empty space, one space right to f3. Or, the red racer may charge-move three spaces because it has a total of three racers in its column. Here the red racer can move over the finish line, increment the lap counter, and move two spaces pass the start line.
Game End
Game End
The game can end in two ways.
A player wins by crossing his or her finish line five times (or three times for a shorter game), or
A player loses if he or she bumps five (or three for a shorter game) opponent racers.
The game can not end in a draw.
Variants
Variants
Setup
Setup
Random Setup - Roll a die five times to place racers onto the starting five spaces. Both players use the number rolled and count spaces from their start line. For example, if a 2 is rolled, Red will place a racer on b1 and Black a racer on e3. Sixes are re-rolled. The final setup will be symmetrical.
Objective
Disallow bumping, for a faster game.
Demolition Derby - A player wins by bumping five opponent racers. This game may draw if neither player is able to bump any opponent cars. This variant is not fully tested with cruising in effect. See the Hairpin Racers v1 sub-page.Originally, cruising was used only to break impasses when neither player could charge.
Copyright (c) 2024, Phil Leduc
Copyright (c) 2024, Phil Leduc
Please note that these game rules may 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.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse