Robo Rally
For the past week a board game that’s owned my heart and soul is one that surprisingly went out of print and has only recently been resurrected from potential oblivion. Robo Rally, back from the dead, sports new boards, new gaming pieces, and new factory elements meant to create an ever-changing, treacherous environment that your robot must successfully navigate if it wishes to not only survive, but emerge triumphant.
The rules of Robo Rally (.pdf) are quite simple; Players program their robots to make a minimum of five movements per round, with the ultimate goal of being the first one to touch a given number of positioned flags in a specific order. Your robotic buddy must avoid falling off the side of the board to its certain doom, plunging down pits to a gruesome death, and being damaged with either static lasers or shots fired from other users robots.
What’s unique about Robo Rally, and what sets it apart from other games, is that all players move their pieces at the same time. The savvy player will use this to his or her advantage by savagely tracking down other players and damaging them with vicious laser attacks, or pushing them into unpredictable and destructive situations.
The game comes with four two-sided boards which can be combined to make intriguing and ever more challenging gaming environments each time you play. And the more people on the board at the same time, the more opportunity for chaos!
Easy to learn and a grip-full of fun to play, Robo Rally is an addictive classic that has that rare ability to sink its claws into anybody fortunate enough to play it. Variations of gameplay can be tracked down online if you want to up the danger factor, speed up, or even slow down game play.
On my scale of 1 to 10, Robo Rally gets an “A”.
Robo Rally game board in action...can you feel the tension? 
Player with one of his three lives spent
Robo Rally game piece, just after capturing the first flag
Damage Tokens and Life Tokens
A Robo Rally game piece waiting to be programed
A layout of the various game boards
Similar things have been done in software (C Robots) and in hardware (Battlebots), but I suppose a board game is more accessible. The board game is like a very low-tech virtual machine.
We play a board game called Dungeon Seige. We being me and my 11 year old son. He is no competition for me. I crush him every time. (insert evil laugh)