#96: Thunder Road

Thunder Road

• designer: Jim Keifer
• publisher: Milton Bradley
• date: 1986
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 1520/6.6
• position on my top 100 in 2005: did not appear
• age: 10+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: out of print
• cost: used copies will be at least $20 and more likely $40-50... though I found mine in a thrift store for $2...

Milton Bradley was a little late in developing a game to cash in on the success of the Mad Max films... but when they finally managed to put it out, they did a wonderful job. Of course, by that time I was graduating from college & not paying very good attention to mass market games, so I missed out. I even missed out on the following commercial (sorry about the quality of the clip)...

Frankly, I'm not sure I would have paid attention to it at the time - I was too busy playing Axis & Allies and Fortress America to get distracted by a "kids game."

Thankfully, wisdom comes with age... and I've found Thunder Road to be one of the best 30 minute smash-em-up race games ever. (This from someone who used to play both Car Wars, Road Kill & Dark Future.) The rules are clean & easy to remember, the game plays quickly & there are a few opportunities to make tactical decisions - but since Mad Max is the inspiration, it's really about wrecking other cars, and you get to do plenty of that.

We usually play that ANY doubles roll allows you to flip a car up & keep moving, which makes the game last slightly longer... but, hey, we like it that way.