Review: TINY TURBO CARS is a bit lost in its frantic fun

When it comes to board games, the racing genre is extremely difficult to make fun, engaging, and exciting without becoming silly and random. Almost every other genre of game or activity has great board game counterparts with the exception of racing games. Tiny Turbo Cars introduces some very unique mechanics to the world of tabletop gaming, and it feels as chaotic as racing RC cars would be, but it falls short of the mark of neither high-level complexity nor easy-to-engage mechanics.

Gameplay is simple enough, string a series of commands into your gamepad and let your car take its programmed course. This is done by players literally moving around a puzzle of movement command tiles until they are satisfied with the order of movements and actions. The player who takes the smallest amount of time to choose your set of commands moves the car first while the other players follow. There are various actions that help players to move further, move side to side, attack other players and repair cars.

Each player is assigned a car with a unique ability. These skills can range from better movement options to not being affected by some negative game effects and many other things. The base game comes with just five different cars, which feels pretty sparse for up to four players. There are many small expansion packs that have loads of other options for the car, but it’s surprising to see so few options in the base box. The different cars, different track sections and movement options culminate in a beautiful and fairly fast-paced game that takes players through a fun race with friends.

However, I wish there was a little more finesse and strategy to the overall racing and course planning. Sometimes things get really hectic and you can be given a bad gamepad where sliding tiles can get physically stuck, making it time-consuming and difficult to move tiles. I understand this is definitely a party type game and meant for fun and silliness. But dealing with so many rules and rough game pieces for the lack of depth in the game can end up with an unrewarding gaming experience.

If you want a unique game with mostly good racing mechanics, this game can really throw a group of friends into some fast-paced and fun chaos. But the complexity of the rules and the physical problems of moving the puzzle around the gamepads to program your car seem a little more frustrating than fun. I highly recommend checking out the video link above which shows a full game session. It’s easy enough to determine if the game would be a good fit for you and your group of tabletop players just by seeing how the game works and its pacing.