Car Wars is a combat board game developed by Steve Jackson Games.

Overview

In Car Wars, players assume control of one or more automobiles, which may include any motor driven vehicle, such as motorcycles or semis. The vehicles are typically outfitted with weapons (large guns), souped-up components (heavy-duty wheels, nitro injectors) and defensive elements (armor). Within any number of settings, the players then direct their vehicles in combat.

Car Wars had many scenarios available and the system allowed for players to make their own. The objectives of scenarios varied: sometimes the only objective was to make it successfully through a harrowing gauntlet, other times the victor would compete in an arena to win a virtual cash prize with which to upgrade their cars. Many game sessions consisted of players taking their cars through many successive arena-style scenarios, upgrading their cars between each round.

History

Car Wars was first published in a small ziplock-bag format in the early 1980s. The game won the Charles Roberts Origins Award for Best Science Fiction Boardgame of 1981.

Within 10 years, the game had attained enormous popularity and was available in a series of increasingly more expensive and well-developed editions. At the height of its popularity in the late 1980s, it was available as a computer game, Autoduel, published by Origin Systems.

The game's popularity waned during the 1990s, and in response to slipping sales the publisher all but ceased support for Car Wars. The last official Cars Wars material for the original game appeared in the Pyramid electronic magazine (an article detailing Sonic Cannon, by then-Line Editor S. John Ross).

The world of Car Wars, Autoduel America, was developed for roleplaying games using the company's GURPS system. The GURPS worldbook has seen two editions. A series of expansions for both the GURPS version and boardgame version, the AADA Road Atlas and Survival Guides, was published in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In 2001, Steve Jackson Games released an entirely new version of Car Wars, streamlined and re-imagined for a fresh audience. The new game's unusual marketing — scattering the game across several redundant products — met with mixed responses, and the game's popularity has continued to wane, but the 2001 products are still in print.

A fan club, the American Autoduel Association (AADA) supports the game and provides structure for tournaments. Membership in the AADA has waned along with the game's sales.

Car Wars (both boardgame and RPG version) was translated in French by Croc.

Legacy

Car Wars inspired a computer game in the late 1980s. Autoduel was released by Origin Systems for several home computers of the era. It boasted a subset of the features of Car Wars.

See also

• Battlecars
• Mad Max
• Roadwar 2000

External link

• The official Car Wars site