RoboRally

About this board game

RoboRally is a programming and racing board game for 2–8 players, with games lasting about 120 minutes. Each player controls a robot competing to reach a series of checkpoints in numerical order across a hazardous factory floor.

At the start of each round, players simultaneously fill their robot’s registers with facedown movement cards. Speed matters: players who do not choose quickly enough must place cards randomly in their remaining registers. Once all selections are made, the cards are revealed one register at a time, creating a race full of carefully planned maneuvers, sudden collisions, and unexpected complications.

Movement cards can turn a robot 90 degrees, move it forward or backward, and perform other actions. Cards resolve according to their numbers, with the highest number moving first. A well-planned route can still go wrong when another robot pushes yours off course, leaving no opportunity to reprogram the cards already chosen.

• Factory hazards: Industrial lasers, pits, and moving conveyor belts can damage or reposition robots.
• Robot combat: Robots fire lasers after movement, while collisions and factory elements create further danger.
• Damage system: Damage can fix movement cards in place, and enough damage can destroy a robot.
• Flexible races: Boards can be combined in different ways, with races arranged to be shorter or longer.

Players must adapt as the factory shifts beneath them and rival robots interfere with their plans. The first robot to claim every checkpoint in the correct order wins, while some games may award points for tournament-style play.

Originally released in 1994 and reprinted by Avalon Hill in 2005, RoboRally combines simultaneous planning, programmed movement, and chaotic factory hazards into a race where precision and dirty tricks can both lead to victory.