Question 1: The circuit in Sebring, Florida, is universally recognized for:

• its clipper races on the lawn.
• its endurance test “The 12H of Sebring”.
• the absence of lighting in the night race “Night Crash”.

Question 2: In Formula D, how many different dice are used to illustrate the speed passages?

• 5
• 6
• 7

Question 3: Which famous and hell-bent expressway joins Chicago to Santa Monica?

• US.  Route 66
• Trans-Canada Highway
• Lincoln Highway

Bonus Question: How many copies of the Sebring/Chicago East Park Expansion are necessary to completely cover the roof of the Asmodee headquarters?  (whole numbers only)

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Don’t forget also to take a look at the new tracks included in the Sebring/Chicago Expansion…

In this adventure, AsmoMan and Attention (his charming assistant) will take part in a crash-test of Formula D.Sure, it’s not really serious, but whoever said we couldn’t play around with a game?

…. and like AsmoMan says: “Don’t try this at home! Well…the stunts at least….”

Download the “Shortcut” file by clicking here or on the picture above (PDF - 2.40 Mo)

RULES :

As soon as a car stops or runs over one of the three pressure plates, the “shortcut” opens. As soon as a car stops or runs over one of the three pressure plates again, the “shortcut” closes…

Closed “Shortcut”
All the squares marked with an arrow cannot be stopped in – they are considered to be impassable walls.

Open “Shortcut”
The squares marked with an arrow can be crossed, but the are considered to be part of a curve, even if one stops on the entrance or exit square without taking the shortcut, per se: A player who doesn’t want to risk it should avoid going through the squares in question if he doesn’t want to suffer the usual penalties!

The Sebring track (work in progress)

Stretching over almost 6 kilometers, the Sebring track in Florida alternates between straight stretches, quick curves and slow and technical turns. Plotted over a former military training camp turned into an airfield, this track has been a staple in North-America since the 1930’s. Each year, the 12 hours of Sebring take place there: an endurance race, whose slightly uneven course gives pilots the chance to test the resilience of their vehicle in the hot and dry Florida weather.

The second track of this expansion offers street racing fans the chance to drive wildly in the streets of Chicago - in the East Park area, to be precise. This track offers an urban terrain which alternates between curves and straight lines. This mad race in the heart of city traffic will give pilots a chance to drive along the impressive Aon Center, one of the tallest skyscrapers of the city, to cross the Lake Shore East Park and its three tightly woven lanes (be careful about collisions!), and then rush along the inner port before finally crossing two vertigo-inducing bridges.

Spa-Francorchamps

The best track ever released! Why? Because it’s on this track that tactics and tension were at their best - you had to take care when designing your car and it was imperative to take advantage of the faintest opportunity to get an advantage. A delight for the brain and a torture for the nerves! It’s with this track that I’ve had the most fun.

Suzuka

This is the first track I’ve ever won on in a Great Championship! A track, which required perfect mastery of the various parts of the game. It’s less tense than Spa, but still demands crucial choices and constant risk-taking to take the lead. Moreover, the chances of overtaking an opponent were greater, spicing up the race with multiple unexpected twists. It also happens to be the only “8″ shaped track out there, an original shape made of crossings and many curves.

Monterey (Laguna Seca)

This was the first interesting American track, with a harsh “double or nothing” aspect. I actually remember the near-mythical curve which has caused so many accidents, both in real life and on the board. This track demands a constant sense of tactical anticipation, and it’s really felt around the board! Laughter and sweat were present when the critical part of the track came up.

Buenos Aires

The main thing of interest on this track was its length. The mechanics of the cars would get roughed up and everything had to be focused on improving their endurance. To make things harder, the track was made for speed, and drivers would spend most of their time in 5th or 6th gear. To win, you had to find a way of combining both resistance and speed.

The Race City track will make you feel the shiver of a breakneck race in an urban decor filled with pitfalls. Beware the debris scattered throughout the zone near the abandoned factory! In the suburbs, avoid getting in the disgruntled neighbor’s sighting line - he loves to take potshots at the drivers’ cars and can cause serious damage to your vehicle. And most important, remember to keep your foot on the gas when driving past the police station, as the cops are watching closely.

With new rules and game mechanics, the Race City track offers fun and tense gameplay. From debris to narrowing of the track, learn how to avoid the obstacles scattered across the unforgiving Race City track, and head for victory!

Among the new innovations offered by Formula D, players will be able do discover the revamped Monaco track, whose graphics and illustrations have been updated.

Entirely remade according to the Formula Dé model, the Formula D board has been subject to many changes in its colors and backgrounds (reduction of the number of trucks and the density of the crowd in many key points of the track), greatly improving ease of play.

On the seaside, the squares representing the tunnel leading to the *chicane* have been greyed out, and the *chicane* can now be crossed in 9 squares instead of 10. With Formula D, the fans will rediscover the greatest racing boardgame of all times, in an edition you won’t want to miss!

Under which circumstances did the first Formule Dé see the light of day?

Eric Randall : In front of a coffee machine (smile). It was in 1988, in a printing company in which I worked with Laurent Lavaur. This is where he told me about his love for role-playing games. I told him about my passion for car racing. He told me he had written up some rules for racing, I asked him to see them. We went further, we thought up a game, and slowly, we made a prototype, a boxed set, in 1989 and went to see editors. Two years later, Ludodélires agreed to print 3000 copies, which sold in less than 6 weeks! The Formula Dé adventure was starting.

What ties do you have with the player community and the French Formula De Federation?

E.R. :  We have close ties. It’s thanks to them that the game has remained so popular over so many years. I was still in contact with them to hear about what they thought of the new edition of the game, Formula D, made by Asmodee. They help make the game better, and are the best spokespeople for it through the master challenges they hold on a regular basis. I also congratulate them for these, and they are very vigilant and pertinent on the exactness of each rule explanation. Nothing escapes them. They were also very mobilized during the online game’s creation. It’s a complete participation to the life and improvement of the game.

The game hadn’t been in print for years. Tell us about the different steps which preceeded the release of the new edition, from concept to final product.

E.R. :  As early as 2006, with Asmodee, we were talking about a new edition of the game, with a broadening of the rules to allow other car racing styles. At the beginning of 2008, we started to think together about this new edition in terms of design and marketing. Croc and Philippe Mouret insisted heavily on the need to include a version that was more “Fast & Furious“, to take a second look at game elements like the dashboard, to include characters… We therefore needed to write rules to introduce these new elements of the game. This took us three months. Then we moved on to the graphic design part of the game which also took us three months. We’ve now started the production phase.

How did you get the idea of putting a street racking track in the game?

E.R. :  It’s an idea from the guys at Asmodee, who wanted to open the game to new styles of racing games which hadn’t been done until now. We can see an emergence of underground races, also popular in movies, which was interesting to try and adapt… Formula Dé had game mechanics which could easily adapt to this sort of race, just like any other sort, in fact. And the world of street racing offers an infinite choice of cars and any imaginary tracks we’d want to make… There’s one already on the back of the Monaco track in the base set, and there’ll be another one in the first expansion, which will be based on the streets of Chicago, and which’ll have a bridge under construction which will have to be jumped across… I’m really happy with the way the game turned out.

Finally, what do you see in the future for Formula D?

E.R. :  I see the future with a lot of optimism, the new direction in developpment and artistic design hint at a good result. We’ve already had some promising feedback from stores and players who’ve had a chance to see and try Formula D. I’m especially enthusiastic about adding to the history of Formula Dé with the Asmodee team, which is into it, creative and has great ideas to give new life to the game. I’m sure that old Formula Dé players will move on to Formula D, and that a new generation of players who were looking at the game from a distance will join us too, as this new edition will hit the right spots for everybody, as much for the Formula 1 fans as for the street racing fans. And the French formula Dé Federation is telling us we’re going in the right direction. It’s really encouraging.

Made for convention events, this track is a copy of the Barcelona track, at a size of 130% of the original track - what better way to fully enter the world of Formula D? Made by Philippe Masson (who had made the giant Sharur game board), the board measures 1,5 meters in length and has required over a hundred hours of work! Today, we reveal the secrets behind its creation.

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1st step, we take an extruded polystyrene block to make the base, on which we copy the outline of the track at the new 130% size. We etch the outline on the base using a heat-based cutter and then we start to paint the squares of the track.

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The buildings are made out of cardboard. On a harder note, the piles of tires used to secure the tracks have required the fabrication of a mold (a strip of wood) in which acrylic resin was poured. The VIP tents next to the stands have been sculpted out of extruded polystyrene.

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We then place the first bumps (still in extruded polystyrene, of course).

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To simulate the crowd on the stands, we’ve glued shards of quartz which will later be painted one by one in a myriad of different colors.

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We then give texture to the raised areas, by gluing sand to the curves and very fine pieces of quartz to imitate the grass. These crystals are actually more regulat and solid than the usual flock. Being solid is vital for this kind of board, as it will be shipped around and will be used quite often.

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We start to paint the base colors of the track’s scenery.

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We finally paint all of the track’s elements, and add a few effects (washes, glazes, drybrush) to give the track the full extent of details to bring it to life.

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The Barcelona track is reserved for France and you can see it at the Asmodays - the Game Caravan. Other giant tracks of the sort are being made (by the famous Team Toulouse) such as Interlagos, the Sao Paulo track in Brazil. A copy of that Brazilian track will be shown in France, Germany, Spain and in North America. Look for the exhibition dates to come and meet other F1 champions on these tracks!

Formula D also offers amateurs of street racing a chance to choose their pilot of choice between various characters, each with their own special ability:

- With her manga doll look, Li Tsu Sin is so cute that any opponent overtaking her on a straight line reduces his speed by one square, spent trying to look at her.
- A pro of drifting, Jack Owens can change his movement by one square more or less in curves. Each drift costs him one Tire Structure Point.

- Once per game, Stanley Washington can get angry at the music played by his radio and toss it out on an opponent car in an adjacent square. The chosen opponent loses a SP of the type shown by the black die.
- A young genious, Dimitri Tzarof owns a one-of-a-kind car. When checking for an engine breakdown, he loses an Engine SP on a die roll of 1-3.

- Julian “Frogger” Marcellin can re-roll the black die on the weather condition table, and only slides one square instead of three when he stops in a curve when raining.
- Jenny Slivers gains 4 SP instead of 2 when she crosses the finish line.

- Montoya Cadena can get a bonus of 3 extra squares each time he uses nitro.
- Derek Manson makes any opponent bumping into him roll the black die twice instead of once.

- Diane Montfort always goes first if there’s a tie in positions and when rolling the black die to determine her position on the starting line.
- When he drives over debris, Temana Matahi only loses a Road Handling SP on a result of 1 or 2 on the die roll. Once per track, he can also leave behind him a debris marker.