Players: 3-6
Playing Time: 30 minutes
The Components
Hurry'Cup comes with a small set of attractive components:
The Board: The board is constructed with one rectangular "starting" location and 36 hexagons, which can be put together as you see fit. They're all printed on linen-textured cardboard and feature simple, cartoon-style drawing. A few different icons, such as bonus chip spaces and speed limits, are easy to make out.
The Dice: A set of six wooden dice in six colors, along with a little plastic dice cup which is used to roll them (and which generally does a decent job of keeping the dice from landing on each other). There's also a seventh, natural wood dice, which is used for "acceleration".
Pawns: More wooden bits. These six large pawns match the colors of the six dice. It's good that they're large, because they're the things you're wildly grabbing for.
Other Cardboard Bits: Everything else is produced in the same linen-textured cardboard as the board. These includes 18 trump chips and 6 bonus chips, each of which gives a player special powers over the course of the race. They're all printed as cardboard disks.
The cars are also printed on cardboard, though you get little plastic bases to hold them up. They show a variety of cute vehicles, most looking like they were built in the 1950s or so.
The components of Hurry'Cup are all good quality and generally attractive. I've given them a "4" out of "5" for Style: well done.
The Gameplay
The object of Hurry'Cup is to be the first person to complete the race course.
Setup: The race track is laid out, with 35 hexes going between the starting board and the finish line. Six bonus chips are placed face-down on designated spaces on the track. Second chance trips are placed near the board.
A number of fuel tanks (dice) equal to the number of players are placed in the dice cup. The pawns of the same color are placed on the starting board.
Each player gets a race car (which also goes at the start) and a set of three trump chips--one road ace, one nitro, and one horn.
Rolling the Dice: Each round of play begins with the first player rolling the dice, then removing the dice cup from atop them. Next, all the players wildly grab for the pawn that matches the dice they want to use for that turn; whoever gets the pawn will get to use the dice, while other players may get less desirable ones.
Moving Your Car: Play now continues in counterclockwise order from the first player.
On his turn, a player gets to move a number of spaces forward equal to the die he selected (1-6). However, there's a catch. Many spaces have a maximum km per hour that you can go. You determine your km/h by rolling the "accelerator" die, then multiplying it by your "fuel tank" die.
For example, if you grabbed a fuel tank with "2" and rolled a "3" on your accelerator, you're going 2x3 = 60 km/h, which is slow enough to traverse most hexes. When you reach a space that you can't travel on because of your speed, you stop before it.
Second Chances. If you don't go anywhere on your turn, you take a Second Chance token. It'll allow you to reroll your accelerator on a future turn.
Red Lanterns. If you were in last place on the previous round, you get to play a red lantern token, which moves you 1 space ahead before you roll.
Using Special Chips: Besides the common "second chance" and "red lantern" chips, you also have an opportunity to use several other chips during the game. You start off with a set of three trump chips (Horn, Road Ace, Nitro), and you can gather other bonus chips which you land on them during the game.
- Horn: This is played before the dice are revealed. You get first pick of the pawns before the mad scramble.
- Road Ace: This is played before the accelerator dice is thrown. You move your car based on the fuel tank (die) you took, with no concerns about speed limits.
- Nitro: This is played after you move your complete fuel tank value (without getting stopped by a speed limit). You move one extra space.
- Bonus Chips: These do a variety of things, such as letting you catch up, take short cuts, and drop oil behind you.
Winning the Game: First player to the finish line wins.
Championship Rules: These are variant rules that score you based on your final position; you can thus play multiple rounds of Hurry'Cup and sum up the results.
Relationships to Other Games
Hurry'Cup is a die-based racing car game. This is a field with a lot of competitors, the most notable of which is Asmodee's own Formula D.
Hurry'Cup is lighter and more random than a lot of its competitors, making it a long filler in the category.
The Game Design
Hurry'Cup is a pretty random game, where the rolling of the accelerator die can make or break your gameplay--even if you grabbed an appropriate die for your upcoming roadway.
With that said, it does have some interesting elements.
First, the grabbing element adds a lot of visceral excitement to the game. With it occurring every few minutes, that keeps things going.
The choice of which fuel tank to go for also adds a substantial amount of risk-reward. You can go for a higher value fuel tank, but doing so can substantially decrease your odds of being able to move at all.
(I'll note, however, that I think the speed increments just aren't granular enough, perhaps because of the multiplication. There were many cases where a "4", a "5", and a "6" were all just as bad speedwise. Similarly the difference between a "2" and a "3" isn't that big for a low speed limit.)
Finally, I'm impressed by the several catch-up mechanisms, including the red lantern and the "second chance" chip which are very organically built into the game. They decrease the randomness just a smidge, and keep the game more interesting for everyone.
However, with all that said, Hurry'Cup is low, chaotic, and overshadowed by the dice rolls. It'll appeal most to casual gamers, but only earns a "3" out of "5" for Substance: average.
Conclusion
Hurry'Cup is a fairly random game of car racing. It includes a few interesting elements, including a real-time grabbing element and some simple risk-reward decisions that will keep players hopping.
