Formula Dé
Formula Dé Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Driver's Code
Each player is both a driver and a race steward; they must ensure that all players follow the rules of the game, and make the appropriate number of stops in the corners. Players should remember that this is a game, and all players are here to have fun.
Contents
- 1 Game Board with 2 Grand Prix tracks (one printed on each side) - the Grand Prix of Monaco and the Grand Prix of Zandvoort, Holland.
- 6 Gear Dice these colored dice represent the 6 gears of the cars.
- 1 20-sided black die for use in collisions, damage, etc.
- 1 Basic Rule Book that contains rules for one and two lap races.
- 1 Advanced Rule Book for even more excitement and 2 or 3 lap race rules.
- 10 Cars & 10 rear spoilers in 5 colors, representing the 5 teams.
- 10 Gearshifts in the 5 team colors, to show the gear used for each move.
- 10 Dashboards in the 5 team colors, with spaces for the Gearshifts (a different die is used for each gear) and state of the vehicle (race sheet).
- 1 Pad of Race Sheets for 1, 2 or 3 lap races. Each sheet fits into the dashboard and shows the state of different parts of the vehicle: tires, brakes, bodywork etc.
- 1 Pencil with eraser to keep track of damage and repairs to your car.
Set-Up
Choose which track you will use. Unfold the two halves of the board and put them together on a table. Now each player must choose a car and a spoiler. Now take a dashboard that matches the color of your car, and a gearshift that matches your spoiler. Place the cars on the board on the pits corresponding to the body color of the car.
Place a race sheet for a one lap race (marked with a "1 lap" icon) in each dashboard.
Write the driver name and team names on the appropriate spaces on the top of the race sheets.
Put the gearshifts on the yellow triangle symbol marking 1st gear.
If there are two cars on the same team, then they must have rear spoilers in different colors so that players can tell them apart.
You are now ready to begin the race. However, before starting, you need to know the three basic rules of FORMULA DE.
The Three Basic Rules
1. Gearbox and Movement
Gearbox
A car has six gears. Each gear uses a different die. The numbers on the faces of each die indicate the number of spaces the car must move. The higher the gear, the faster the corresponding die will move the car (see the movement table adjacent). When accelerating, a driver may only upshift one gear at a time; for example, you can shift from 1st to 2nd, but not 1st to 3rd. When decelerating a driver is only allowed to downshift up to 4 gears; for example from 6th to 2nd, but not from 6th to 1st. However, the more gears you downshift, the more you will wear out your car as you will see below.
Note: When rolling the yellow die for 1st gear, the result is shown at the top of the pyramid.
| Gear/Die | Spaces |
|---|---|
| 1st | 1 to 2 |
| 2nd | 2 to 4 |
| 3rd | 4 to 8 |
| 4th | 7 to 12 |
| 5th | 11 to 20 |
| 6th | 21 to 30 |
Movement
As in life, a car starts in 1st gear, changes into 2nd and so on, up to 6th, in order to increase speed. On their turn each driver must proceed as follows: first the driver announces the gear that they will use, then positions the gearshift in the appropriate space on the dashboard, and rolls the die for that gear. The driver then moves their car the number of spaces shown on the die. At the end of this movement the car is said to have "stopped" (of course the car is not stopped, it is actually zipping along at speeds of 200+ miles per hour).
On each new round of play the drivers take their turns according to the order of the cars on the track, starting with the leader.
Example: Car A is in first place, but car B passes car A during B's turn. B is now in the lead, and will move before car A in the next round.
Note: When two cars are equally far forward on the track, the car in the highest gear moves first. If the two cars are in the same gear the car that arrived first moves first.
The black die is used to determine damage from various course events (see One Lap Race section below).
| Damage | |
|---|---|
| Black die | 1 to 20 |
2 - Course Rules
Cars are moved along the three lanes of the track, following one set of rules in the corners and another set of rules in the straights. Cars are never allowed to jump over one another, or to reverse, or to drive in the wrong direction on the track.
Corners
a) In order to negotiate a corner (or series of corners) a car must make at least as many stops as are shown on the yellow flag at the entrance of the corner. These stops can be made in any of the spaces marked for that corner. If the mandatory number of stops has been made, the car will leave the corner without damage on its next turn. If the mandatory number of stops are not made, refer to the overshooting section that follows. To help players better plan their route through corners, the lengths of the longest and shortest routes through the corner are shown in the white box under the yellow entrance flag: L = the longest route, C = the shortest route (C because short in French is "court").
b) The red and white striped borders mark the corner spaces.
c) The red lines across the track mark the beginning and end of each corner.
d) In corners, and on the two large black arrows at the entrance of each corner, cars must follow a route marked by the arrows. A car cannot change lanes unless there is a choice of arrows to follow when leaving the space.
Straights
Straights are the section of the track between the corners and are marked with white borders. When moving along a straight a car can change a maximum of two lanes in a single turn.
Zigzagging (Switching back and forth across lanes) in a straight is strictly forbidden. You cannot move out of a lane and then back into that lane in the same turn, unless you are passing another car or you are avoiding an obstacle (e.g. Advanced Rules, section 6: Road Holding; Dangerous Spaces).
In all cases, when moving in a straight, drivers must follow the shortest possible route (in number of spaces) to the next corner. Drivers are not allowed to change lanes in order to "force" themselves to pass another car or cars.
3 - Wear Points (WP)
During a race a car suffers wear on five major parts, to which are attributed a certain number of Wear Points (WP). The number of WP for each car in a one lap race is shown in the adjacent table. These WP allow some control over the six problems that cars encounter during the course of a race. Each driver uses their WP according to their own race strategy. The driver decides which components to risk wearing out and which to conserve. When each WP is used it must be crossed off the race sheet.
| Part | WP | Race Events |
|---|---|---|
| Tires | 4 | Overshooting & Blocking |
| Brakes | 3 | Braking & Blocking |
| Fuel | 2 | Over-Revving |
| Bodywork | 2 | Collision |
| Engine | 2 | Engine Damage |
Starting Grid
Before the race the positions of the cars on the starting grid must be determined. To do this each driver must roll the black die. The lowest result takes 1st place (pole position). The next lowest roll is 2nd on the grid, etc. In the event of a tie, the tied players roll again against each other.
One-Lap Races
1 - Starting the Race (Black Die 1 or 20)
Are you ready? Pay attention, the lights are about to turn green! Will you make a terrific start or a bad one? Before rolling 1st gear each player rolls the black die to find out how they started. If the driver rolls a 1 or a 20, consult the rules below. All other results of the black die roll have no effect, so players roll the yellow 1st gear die, and move accordingly.
Roll = 1: Bad Start
The engine has stalled, or the driver was not paying attention and has missed the start. The driver misses their turn and stays in place on the grid. The driver must wait until their next turn and then drive off normally in 1st gear. The driver does not have to roll the black die again to start on the next turn.
Roll = 20: Flying Start
The driver timed the light perfectly and the car pulls away like a rocket! Don't roll the 1st gear die, just move the car four spaces. The driver may shift lanes to avoid other cars in accordance with the rules. On the driver's next turn the driver will be able to shift into 2nd gear.
2 - Overshooting a Corner (Tire Points)
Any time a car moves through a corner without making the required number of stops, it has gone through too fast and overshoots the corner with a screech of tires! For every space the car overshoots the corner, the car loses one tire point. In a one-lap race the car is eliminated if it loses more than four tire points.
Important: If a driver does not make any stops in a corner that requires two stops, then the driver is automatically eliminated. If the corner requires three stops then the driver must make at least two stops, or the car is eliminated.
When overshooting a corner a driver must obey the following three rules:
- If in the same turn as overshooting one corner a car arrives in a new corner, this does not count as a stop in the new corner.
- A car must carry on its movement in the same lane in which it left the corner. A car can't change lanes when it's skidding!
- If a car is blocked by another car (or cars) when it is overshooting, the car cannot pass it (that would require changing lanes). This car is now in a blocking situation (see 4 - Blocking below).
Spinout
When a driver crosses off their last tire point, the driver's car spins out! The car stays in the last space it reached when spinning out, and is turned around to face the opposite direction. On the driver's next turn the car is turned back to the right direction, and must start off again in 1st gear. From now on if that car overshoots a corner by one space, and only one space, it will spin out again. If it overshoots a corner by more than one space, it is eliminated.
Note: If a car ever overshoots by more spaces than it has tire points remaining (including the spinout space), that car is eliminated.
3 - Braking (Brake Points)
A driver can use brake points at any time to avoid moving the entire number of spaces rolled on the die. When overshooting a corner, a driver can choose to brake in order to save tire points. A driver can reduce tire point losses by combining them with brake points. For each brake point used the driver moves the car one space less than the result on the movement die. When a car loses its last brake point it can still continue to race; however, if the driver needs the brakes again, they are not there.
4 - Blocking (Brake and Tire Points)
Blocking occurs when a driver's path is blocked by one or more other cars. If a car is unable to pass the cars in front of it and therefore is unable to use up all of that driver's movement, this driver is considered "blocked". After having moved the car as far as possible, the driver calculates the number of spaces that would remain to be moved if the track had not been blocked. Using the table below the driver determines the car's brake and tire point losses.
Note: If a car has insufficient brake or tire points to avoid a blockage, or it is prevented from moving seven or more spaces, the car crashes and is eliminated. When a car is eliminated by blocking, the car in front is hit by the car that was eliminated, and automatically loses one bodywork point. If there is a choice of cars for the blocked driver to hit, roll the black die to randomly determine which car is hit.
| Spaces | Brake Points | Tire Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Elimination | Elimination |
5 - Over-Revving (Fuel, Brake and Engine Points)
When a driver downshifts more than one gear, the driver is said to be over-revving their car. The number of gears the driver downshifts determines the number of points of fuel, brakes and engine that are lost by the car (see table below). When a car loses its last fuel point it continues the race but can only downshift 1 gear at a time. If a car has lost its last point of brakes it can no longer downshift 3 or 4 gears. If a car has lost its last point of engine, it can no longer downshift 4 gears.
Note: Downshifting 5 gears is not allowed.
| Number of Gears Downshifted | Fuel | Brakes | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 gears (eg.: 6th to 4th) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 gears (eg.: 5th to 2nd) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 gears (eg.: 6th to 2nd) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
6 - Collisions (Black Die 1 = 1 Bodywork Point)
When a car finishes its movement on a space beside or behind (but not in front of) one or more other cars then there is a risk of collision. To find out if a collision occurs and one or more cars is damaged the drivers concerned each roll the black die for their own car.
If a driver rolls a 1, their own car is damaged and loses one bodywork point. When a car loses its last bodywork point it crashes and is eliminated from the race.
Note: The driver who causes the collision (the one that moved next to the other car or cars) rolls the black die last. If that driver causes the elimination of one or more other cars then their own car will automatically lose a point of bodywork for each car eliminated, without rolling the black die.
In the adjacent example the driver of car A risks collision with cars B, C and D. The procedure followed is:
- The drivers of cars B, C and D each roll the black die once to determine if they have collided with and been damaged by car A.
- If any of the three cars is eliminated, car A loses 1 point of bodywork for each eliminated car. If none are eliminated, the driver of car A rolls the black die three times to check whether the car has been damaged by cars B, C and D respectively.
7 - Engine Damage (Black Die 1 to 4 = 1 Engine Point)
When a driver rolls a 20 when moving in 5th gear, or a 30 in 6th gear, the car's engine is pushed to its limit. After moving the car the driver must roll the black die to test the engine's condition. Additionally, all other drivers who are in 5th or 6th gear at that time must also do the same. This simulates how well their mechanics did their jobs. Drivers who roll a 1 to 4 must lose one engine point from their car. As soon as a car loses its last engine point the engine blows up and the car is eliminated.
Two-Lap Races
For a two-lap race place the appropriate race sheet into the dashboard. The car's wear points are increased to the figures shown in the adjacent table. Rules 1 to 7 remain the same but cars now have more wear points to use.
In a two-lap race it is possible to make a pit-stop at the end of the first lap to replenish used tire points. No other wear points may be replaced.
| Part | WP | Race Events |
|---|---|---|
| Tires | 6 | Overshooting & Blocking |
| Brakes | 4 | Braking & Blocking |
| Fuel | 3 | Over-Revving |
| Bodywork | 3 | Collision |
| Engine | 3 | Engine Damage |
Pit-Stops (Black Die 1 to 10 = Quick Stop)
If drivers wish, they may stop in the pits and change tires to recover their lost tire points. Each driver must use a pit stand that matches their car color. To get to the pit stands, cars must take the single pit lane leading into them. The car's pit stand can only be entered and exited through the two pit lane spaces marked by the arrows in front of their pit stand. The rules for braking, blocking, collisions, over-revving, and engine damage do not apply in the pits. If a car is blocking you, you can not pass because there is only a single lane. You must wait behind it but you do not suffer any penalty for not being able to move your full amount.
Entry Procedure
Cars can enter their pit-stop space in any gear! They must roll a number that is high enough to actually move them into their pit stand. Landing on the arrowed space in front on the pit stand is not enough. However, it does not matter if their movement roll exceeds the number of spaces needed to arrive exactly in their pit stand. Once in the pits the driver immediately regains any previously used tire points, and may attempt to exit the pits on the same turn.
Exit Procedure
When exiting their pit stand the driver must exit in exactly the same space as they entered the pit stand. As soon as a driver has replaced their tire points the driver rolls the black die to find out how quickly the pit crew have worked. The result is as follows:
- 1 to 10: Quick Stop. Super! Your ace pit crew didn't waste any time... The driver divides this black die roll by two (rounding up) and immediately moves that number of spaces out of their pit stand. The 1-5 space quick exit is considered to be in 4th gear regardless of what gear the car entered the pits in. On the driver's next turn they may change gears normally.
- 11 to 20: Slow Stop. Ouch! Your pit crew did not sleep much the night before... The car is stuck in the pits until the next turn. The driver can then leave the pit stand in 4th gear, or lower.
Note: When there are cars in the pits and on the race track at the same time, the turn order for the cars is as follows: 1st move the cars that are on the track, but have passed the pit entrance. Then move the cars that are in the pit lane. Then move the cars that are in the pit stands. Finally, move the cars that are on the track, but have not yet reached the pit entrance.
Finishing the Race
The winner of the race is the first driver to completely cross the finish line. Landing on a space that straddles the line does not count as finishing. The race ends when all drivers still in the race have crossed the line.
A Game by Eric Randall and Laurent Lavaur
Rules by: Laurent Lavaur, Eric Randall and Duccio Vitale. English translation by: Daniel Steel and Kevin Jacklin. Edited by: Ron Magin & Cáit Ní Dhochartaigh. Paste-Up: Guillaume Rohmer / Studio Nexus. With thanks to the members of the Formula Dé List Group.
The authors would like to thank all those who have supported them from the start.
A Eurogames game published by Jeux Descartes, 1, rue du Colonel Pierre Avia, 75503 Paris Cedex 15 - France.
Distributed in North America by: Eurogames / Descartes - USA, Inc., P.O. Box 953, Phoenixville, PA 19460.