Top 5 Racing Games

Everybody loves a good race, right? Whether it’s a foot race on the playground as a kid, watching the Indy 500, or even playing a board game, a race is always a fun time! Unless you come in last I suppose… that’s probably not super fun…

While there’s a few ways you can interpret “race” this list looks at a few of my favorite race games where players or other elements of the game rush from a start to a finish, instead of racing against a clock/timing elements. Let’s check them out!

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5. Camel Up

Theme: Camel Foot Race; Desert
Other Mechanics: Dice Rolling; Betting
The Race: In this game, camels move around the board based on dice rolls matching their color. Players are challenged to bet on which camel they think will come in a triumphant first, and which will come in the defeated last.
Why I Like It: While in this one players aren’t directly racing (because camels are not assigned to specific players) it definitely gives you that intense feeling of rooting for a winner and maybe even hoping one camel, who might be trailing, can make a comeback! The addition of the betting elements makes the game much more high stakes because if you bet too early and get it wrong, you’re gonna have a bad time!
Learn More – BGG

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4. Tales & Games: The Hare & The Tortoise

Theme: Fables
Other Mechanics: Betting; Bluffing; Hand Management
The Race: In this game players have 2 secret animal cards (they may be the same or different) and these are the animals they are betting on to win the race! No animal belongs to one single player, so all players are trying to get the ones they are betting on to the end first, without making it too obvious so that other players can’t try to thwart their progress! At the end players score points based on the ranking of the animals.
Why I Like It: I think it’s neat that all players move all the animals, and since it’s based on cased you have in your hand, everyone has a chance since opponents may be forced to move the animals you bet on. It’s also interesting that all the bets are secret because you may be rooting for the same pair as someone else! It’s a cute little game that’s great for all sorts of gamers.
Learn More – BGG

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3. Sonic the Hedgehog Battle Racers

Theme: Sonic the Hedgehog video games
Other Mechanics: Hand Management; Simultaneous Action Selection; Variable Player Powers
The Race: For this game, players take on the role of one of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog characters (the retail version has 4 to choose from, but the Kickstarter version, shown here, has over 20!) and they, well, race! Players choose action cards simultaneously and execute them according to their numbered initiative. In the true fashion of Sonic games, players are beating Badniks and collecting rings along the way, and can lose those rings just as easily. The player with the most rings at the end wins!
Why I Like It: While it may not always seem super fast-paced, because there is some planning involved in the action selections, zipping around the map is super fun! These types of video games aren’t really my forte, but I felt like I really got the vibe of them in this board game, and have been able to really enjoy it. You can also increase your speed quite a bit, so you can move really fast sometimes in one turn, which is pretty dang cool!
Learn More – BGG

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2. The Quest for El Dorado

Theme: Treasure Hunting
Other Mechanics: Deck Building; Grid Movement; Modular Board
The Race: Players are expedition leaders racing to find the city of gold: El Dorado! They start off with some basic cards that may help them explore farther, and must use them to buy better cards to build a strong deck that will lead them to victory! The first player to reach El Dorado is the winner.
Why I Like It: I love deck building games and this is one of my favorites. The race element is simple, your cards help you move across the map, but it works really well and is lots of fun. Players can often stay really neck and neck throughout the race, which adds a nice touch of tension to the game.
Learn More – BGG

1. Automobiles

Theme: Auto Racing
Other Mechanics: Bag Building; Hand Management
The Race: Players compete in a number of laps in an auto race for the gold! Players start off with some basic cubes in their bags and need to buy a solid combination of those available in order to maneuver across the lanes, earn special abilities, and, of course, increase speed. The first one across the finish line wins!
Why I Like It: This bag building game really embodies “building up” to something big. Turns get intense as players collect more cubes to move faster and try to time special abilities just right for some epic moves. This one really gets players into the spirit of racing and as a friend of mine once said, “It’ll change your life!”
Learn More – BGG

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