Rev On The Red Line: DIRT & DUST

I’ve been demoing games, off and on, through the Envoy Herald program for just about ten years now. I love demoing games, especially when it’s a game I enjoy and I’ve developed a patter that can get a table of new gamers playing the game in minutes. 

I saw that Envoy was scheduling demos of Dirt & Dust, the new deck building / racing game from Albi. It was one of the top games on my GEN CON preview, mainly because I love racing games but also because I dig deckbuilder+ games. When a designer can use the deck building mechanic in a new twist, that’s always something I want to check out.

So I signed up, and to get ready, I thought I’d take it out for a spin using the included solo rules. I’m two games in, and the trajectory is looking pretty good. Or the engine is humming nicely. Whatever racing metaphor you like, insert here.

I’ve played a bunch of racing games in my cardboard career, but this one is certainly unique. It’s designed by Petr Čáslava and puts players in the driver seat of a rally car racing to the finish line. Understand, though, that the “race” is pretty abstracted — it’s represented by a series of cards (five in the trial sequence, ten in the rest of the races) instead of a physical track. 

In pretty typical deck building fashion, players start out with a small deck of cards that can give you money (represented by wrenches, but are useful for other things too) and traction (useful for a lot of different things, including scoring points on each section of the race), and special powers. 

But there’s a market of cards that are even more powerful, and the game comes with two different decks that you can use individually or even mix and match (so long as you have a certain set of cards). 

In the solo game, which is how I’ve played it so far, you are racing against the Ghost Driver, one of the simplest, most streamlined, and well done solo-bots I’ve ever had to use. Each turn, the solo player will roll the ghost driver’s dice (if the driver has any that round) and then those dice will have pips that score points or add popularity to the Ghost Driver’s track. 

Playing the solo-bot is that simple – and the only other thing you need to know is that players can “cover” the dice score that the Ghost Driver has by using one of their own dice that exactly matches the pips on the Ghost Driver’s die. If the Ghost Driver rolls a die that isn’t going to score much, maybe you ignore it, but those rounds where the Ghost Driver rolls three dice and all of them are scoring big points, that’s where the tension comes in. 

And that’s because the game cleverly … err … throttles your ability to act during each round. You only get three dice, and those dice are needed to cover the Ghost Driver’s dice, as well as trigger the cards that you play on your track. Of course, there are ways — mostly from card play, but also from having more popularity — to get more dice, but it’s been pretty tough so far to get more than one or two extra dice.

I’m okay with that. There is no embarrassment of riches in this game. I always have the feeling that I’m “revving on the red line” (as that old Foreigner song went) and living a little bit dangerously to try and get some extra bonuses or points or manipulate my dice rolls. 

I’m ready to teach the game in a couple of weeks, especially because there is an active community on BGG’s forums for this game that have answered the few questions I had. 

I will warn players that the tutorial scenario is very helpful to learn the rules (and shortens the game dramatically at a time when you need it, as new players will struggle with five cards in hand, three dice, and a myriad of choices) but it’s not especially engaging or representative of the game. It’s a good teaching lesson, but move on as quickly as you can to your first race with a longer track. Having a full ten track segment scenario is way better, trust me. 

Since my initial play of the tutorial scenario, I’ve played through half of the tracks with two of the characters (Sofia Fernandez and Harry Jordan). I keep coming back to these two decks, because Sofia focuses on traction and canceling out bad rolls, while Harry helps you with deck building and rolling big numbers. I like both of those strategies, so I’ve been drawn to play those characters in each of the games.

As I’ve ridden farther down the road of Dirt & Dust, I’ve really enjoyed the intentional set up of the tracks. The designer noted that early in the development, he considered randomizing the stage cards for more variety. But variety isn’t always a good thing. He notes — correctly in my mind — that having pre-set stage cards (there are 5 1/2 sets in the box) can really highlight unique experiences on the rally, and even help the designer mimic real world races. (And obviously, it’s pretty easy to put out more content for the game if it does well, in the form of bonus rally tracks and drivers.)

I’m glad this one caught my eye enough to seek out a demo copy. If you are in Lafayette in a couple of weeks, hit me up at Anubis Game & Hobby for a demo race, or maybe even a full one if we have time. I have yet to play this multiplayer, but I’m hoping to do so this weekend.

I don’t think this one *replaces* Heat or Downforce for me, but honestly, it doesn’t resemble those games at all (much like they don’t resemble each other) and will easily find a place on my shelf to solo. I’m still not much of a solo player, but when it’s the right kind of puzzle like Vantage or Dirt & Dust, I’m in.

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo

** A complimentary copy of the game was provided by the publisher as part of the Envoy demo program. **