Regulator Rally
| Regulator Rally | |
|---|---|
| |
| Designer: | Hubbub (here Sylvan Steenhuis, Wieger Jonker and Kars Alfrink) |
| Year: | unknown |
| Players: | 6-20 |
| Stuff required: | 3-5 objects, stopwatches and whistles. |
| Crew required: | 3-5, depending on the amount of groups. |
| Preparation: | Five minutes. |
| Time required: | 30 to 90 minutes, depending on the time you have. |
| Place required: | The city streets with a start and finish point. |
| Activities: | Running, writing, designing |
| This is a playable game - it's finished, tested and ready to play. | |
 | |
Regulator Rally is a race in which you move an object from A to B. Because the object cannot be touched, players need to create additional rules to allow them to achieve their goal. The game is partially inspired by nomic.
Rules
The game is played with 3-5 teams, each consisting of 2-4 players. Give each team a number.
The goal of the game is to race your object to the finish line (any object will do, we used wooden cubes). The only set rule of the game is that you cannot touch the object. Set out a route through the city, picking a start and a finish. Anywhere between 500 meters and 3 km will do, depending on how long you want to play. You can always pick another finish in-game.
The game is played in rounds, at the start of each round every team creates one rules card. These cards describe a rule that allows players to either move the object or sabotage the other teams. Each card will be used by each team at the same time, so think carefully! The cards are usually made up out of a title, an illustration, and the rule.
Make a copy of the card for every team and mark them with your team number.
At the start of the round, every team should have a deck of 3-5 cards, depending on the number of teams. Once the referee blows his whistle the round starts. With every whistle the referee will also shout a number referring to the card number that will be used that round. After 30 seconds the referee will blow his whistle again and shout out the next number. Once all the cards have been played, a final whistle immediately ends the round.
The team now in first place receives four points, second place receives two points, third place gets one point. To ensure the game remains ‘all to play for’, bonus points can be rewarded for random achievements. After all, it’s about having fun, not winning. Once the points are awarded all teams will move up to the team in 1st position where the next round will commence. Take some time to create new cards and start the new round. Rinse and repeat until the finish is reached.
Suggestions
- Instead of having the cards affect a single round, you could have all the cards affect everyone at the same time. This way players will make cards that don’t only affect the object, but also the way players interact with each other and with their environment. In this case you should play in two-minute rounds.
- Create restrictions at your convenience. Aside from "don't touch the object" you could add rules such as "no communication is allowed" or "as long as the block is moving, the players stand still". Adding rules will naturally increase the difficulty and stimulate the creativity used in the creation of the cards.
- Take some more time to create the objects used. As you can see we used custom made cubes with colors in our final playtest. This added to the experience of the game in that people will more easily do something for a random object that is obviously part of a game than for, for example, a shoe. Also, of course, package-like cubes spread out through the streets tend to draw attention.
Video
Video footage of the game as played by Hubbub:
