Mini Demolition Derby
Game Rules
http://www.giolongoni.eu
Available translations: Italian, English

 

Version: 2.1 - November, 8th 2009.
Author: Giovanni Longoni - gio.longoni@libero.it

Copyright (c) 2009 Giovanni Longoni. You are free:
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Material

A kit for playing the Mini Demolition Derby contains:

  • The toy cars: 25, in 5 different colors.
  • The track: i. e. the game board.
  • The lives: 27 (orange) 5-lives-counters and 60 (yellow) one-life-counters
  • The bombs: 27 (black) counters.
  • The walls: 6 (wooden boxes).
  • The dice: 2 classic 6 faces dice.
  • Rules: a printed copy of these rules.

Suggestions for drawing a track and finding the needed material:
http://www.giolongoni.eu/MDD/rules/en/other-info.html
(1 e 5 cents coins for lives; Lego or matchboxes for walls; beans or pasta for bombs, etc.)

Freely downloadable pdf files for printing track and toy cars for a copy of MDD micro edition:
http://www.giolongoni.eu/MDD/MDD-micro/MDD-micro_en.html

 

Introduction

In its basic version the Mini Demolition Derby is a game of chance, like for example the Bingo: anyone has the same chances to win since his first match. The game is suitable for any age, from 6 years on. Children between 6 and 14 years old particularly enjoy it.
It's better to have at least one player with a 3 or 4 matches experience, that can act as a master: he moves the toy cars, solves any doubt and answers questions that less experienced players will for sure ask.

 

Preparation

The toy cars are grouped in 5 teams of 5 toy cars each , based on their color. Each child chooses a team. If there are less than 5 children some of the teams will be independent: anyone can roll the die for those, the master or whoever happens to hold the die at that moment. If the children are more than 5, some of them will share the same team, rolling the die in turn. Here is how to prepare the track for the race start:

  • The 25 toy cars are placed on the track in 5 rows of 5 toy cars each.
    It does not matter very much which toy cars you put ahead: for them it will be easier to arrive first, but also to be bumped and eliminated. You can place the toy cars at random, or you can place one color in each row, as in the picture: by moving the colors to the left from one row to the the one ahead there are less chances that toy cars of the same team bump each other in the first turns.
  • 7 lives, one 5-lives orange counter and two 1-life yellow ones, are placed on each toy car.
  • The 6 walls can be placed at will, with some constraint: horizontally so that each of them occupies 2 cells; they are not adjacent to each other or to the track's borders; they are at least 5 cells ahead the first toy cars. I suggest a placement similar to the picture: each lane of the track has at least one wall, but the two near the borders.
  • The bombs (black counters) can be placed at random. Put 20 to 25 of them, at least 5 cells ahead the first toy cars, at most 3 per cell.

Qualification

In the first part of the race, that is also the longer one, the first 10 toy cars that reach the finishing line get through to the finals.
The first toy car that rolls the die is the leftmost in the first line, then the one to the right and so on until the fifth toy car. Then it's the second line's turn, always beginning with the leftmost toy car. When all of the 25 toy cars have been moved, the second turn begins: again, the order is based on current positions of the toy cars. First the more advanced toy cars and, in draw case, the leftmost ones. Note that in this way, due to overtakings and eliminations, the order in which the toy cars move changes at every turn, but in any case each toy car makes always one and only one move in each turn.

How does a toy car move:
the number of moves is equal to the rolled number. The first move is different based on the number itself: 1 or 2: to the left; 3 or 4: straight; 5 or 6: to the right. The remaining moves are all straight.

With each move, sideways or forward, a toy car can (see also the Examples section):

  • Get on a bomb: the bomb is removed and the toy car loses one life.
  • Exit the road (to the left or to the right): it loses 2 lives and does not move sideways.
  • Bump into a wall: it does not lose any life, but it does not move.
  • Pass the last row of cells with its fore wheels: it gets through to the finals.
  • Bump into another toy car: this is the fun of the game. The bumped toy car loses one life, is shifted in the bump direction and undergoes the consequences of the cells it reaches: if in the cells there is a bomb, it loses another life; if it exits the track it loses 2 more lives; if there is a wall it does not move, nor does the bumper; if it reaches the finishing line it gets through to the finals; if it bumps into a third toy car, then also this one loses a life, gets shifted, and so on.
  • Note: also the toy cars of the same team, if bumped, do lose lives.

Finals

Only the first 10 toy cars that pass the finishing line get through to the finals. When the tenth toy car gets through, the others are eliminated.
Sometimes less than 10 toy cars get to the finals: in this case only the toy cars that were not eliminated get through to the finals. Bombs and walls are not re-positioned. No lives are restored at the beginning of the finals. Bombs and lives left from qualifications are kept. The qualified toy cars are placed in the red positions, based on the arrival order (see figure), so that the first arrived ones have a certain advantage over the others.
Not only surviving is important, now, but also being fast: who reaches the finishing line first wins the match. Then you can go on with the 2nd and 3rd placement, and so on.
Now you know all the rules to play the MDD. Some examples and variations follow.

Examples

The red rolls 5. 1: to the right. The three cars on the right take 1 hit. 2, 3 and 4: straight. The yellow takes 3 hits. 5: straight. The yellow takes 1 hit, the green takes 1 hit and 1 bomb.

The red rolls 2. 1: to the left. The white takes 1 hit and exits the road. Neither car moves. 2: straight. The red rolls 2. The yellow has only 2 lives left. 1: to the left. The yellow takes 1 hit and exits the road: eliminated. The red does move. 2: straight.

The red rolls 4. The green has 2 lives. 1 and 2: straight. 2 hits. 3: straight. Green eliminated; the yellow takes no hits. 4: straight. The white takes 1 hit: not eliminated yet. The red rolls 1. 1: to the left. It bumps the green, that bumps the yellow, that bumps the 2 whites.

Examples (continues)

The red rolls 6. 1: to the right. Green eliminated; the whites do not take any hit. 2: straight. 3, 4, 5 and 6: straight. The white takes 4 hits; none moves.

Now some example of things that happen more rarely,
but, in case, it's better to know what to do.

The red rolls 3. 1 and 2: straight. The white takes 2 hits. 3: straight. The white takes 1 hit and gets through to the finals with 4 lives left. The red rolls 1. 1: to the left. The red does not move, but the other cars take 1 hit and do move.

The red rolls 6. 1: to the right. The whites take 1 hit; the yellow take 1 hit and exits the road; the green takes 1 hit and does move. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6: straight. The yellow takes 5 hits and 2 bombs.
 

Variants

Variant 1: awards
I have some coloured pawns that I use for other games drawn on the back side of my track. Sometimes I put a red pawn on the first toy car that takes at least 5 lives with a single die roll. If, thereafter, another one takes even more lives, then it takes the red pawn from the first. Awards: red pawn for who takes more lives (most violent hit, at least 5 lives). Green pawn for who bumps more toy cars (best hit, at least 3 toy cars). Blue pawn for who eliminates more toy cars in the match (terminator, one elimination is enough). Yellow pawn for the first bump of the match and for who preserves all of its 7 lives longer. A toy car does not gain an award if it evens the match record: the record must be overtaken. A toy car cannot receive more than one award in the same die roll.

Variant 2: cards (base)
At the beginning of the race give 10 cards to each team, taken at random from a deck of 108. Before rolling the die for a toy car, the owner can play one of his cards.

Spades card
if you dislike the rolled number, you can re-roll (once). 		Hearts card
choose a direction in which not to go (left, right, straight).
Clubs card
roll 2 dice instead of one, and choose the one you prefer. 		Diamonds card
if you want you can add or subtract 1 to the number you rolled.
Any suit king
restores 2 lives (you must play it before moving). 		Joker
you can play it as a card of your choice, or exchange it for 2 cards.

The left cards are put aside: when a player wins one of the Variation 1 awards he takes 3 more cards. Cards cannot be given or traded with other players.

Variant 3: cards (advanced)
The diamonds cards must be played at the beginning of a turn, before moving the first toy car. Unlike other cards, you can play more than one diamonds card at once.

Diamonds cards

 1 & 2 You will not lose lives for bombs and track exits in this turn.
3 & 4 You will not lose lives for bumps in this turn.
5 & 6 Bumps do double damage when you move in this turn.
7 & 8 One of your toy cars makes an extra move before the turn begins; you can also play a clubs, spades or hearts card with this one.
9 Teleport one of your cars behind an opponent's one (the 2 destination cells must be free).
10 Teleport one of your cars to the right of an opponent.
Jack Teleport an opponent's car in front of one of yours.
Queen Teleport an opponent's car to the left of one of yours.
King Restore up to 4 lives of one of your toy cars.

Variant 4: two dice
With two dice of different colors the first move's direction (left, straight, or right, red die) can be chosen independently from the number of moves (blue die). So, for example, a toy car could move to the left with a 6. The game is not much different, so I never use this variant. I don't know if it makes more frequent the funny bumps, the ones that involve many toy cars, but I don't think so.

Variant 5: 30 or 36 toy cars
I sometimes played with 30 toy cars (6 teams of 5 toy cars) and with 36 toy cars (only once, 6 teams of 6 toy cars). With even more toy cars the time required for a match would be a little too long. It's not necessary to draw a new track: se the figures. With 36 toy cars, put the last 6 behind the others, just out of the track.

It's better to let 12 toy cars to get through to the finals, instead of 10, by adding 2 places in the center of the second and fourth lines.

Variant 6: double track (never tried)
The idea is to draw 2 tracks that intersect in their last span, where also 2 or 3 square walls are placed, that occupy 2 x 2 cells. The toy cars of one of the tracks move first, then the ones on the other track, then the ones on the first track again, and so on. At the intersection the toy cars of one track, while moving forward, will bump the toy cars of the other track on their side, sometimes pushing them out of their track and causing a lot of eliminations.