Daytona 500 (<PERSON> 1990) is a combination gambling game and resource management game. This is a true gem, and you don’t have to be a NASCAR fan to enjoy it.
I am a fan of gambling games like Manila and The Really Nasty Horseracing game and I put this game on par with them. There is a really interesting mechanic where all the cards you get for the round you have at the start and then you bid on the car or cars you own for the race. You have to really decide how valuable a car is and plot revenge of someone who stole “your” car. Those types of emotional attachments are near and dear to gaming for me and Daytona 500 does that well.
The game begins with a board depicting the famous Daytona 500 race track being laid out. Each player then receives $300,000 from the bank as starting capital. Separate the 6 Bidding Cards, and the “9” Movement Cards from the rest of the deck of cards. Then the deck of 36 movement cards is dealt to the players. All the cards are dealt, being that it is the magical 36 card deck with 2-4 players in the game. Each of these cards has from 1 to 6 of the cars in the game represented on it or a white “Wild Card”. The number for each of the colors indicate how many spaces that car will be moved when the card is played. Once all players have their cards, the bidding for car ownership begins.
The dealer takes a deck of 6 cards, each with a depiction of one of the colored cars in the game and shuffles them. The dealer then turns over the top card, revealing the first car up for auction. Beginning with the player to the right of the dealer, bidding begins. Bidding can be of any amount as long as the bid is at least $10,000 and is not more than the bidding player can afford. A player can pass on the bidding, but that player is then out of the bidding for that car for this round. The bidding progresses to the next player to the right. The highest bidder wins, pays the money to the bank, takes the colored car model of the car they bid on and places it on the #1 Pole Position on the Start/Finish line, and places the Bidding Card they just won face up in front of them to show which car they own for the round. The player also takes the “9” Movement Card of the color of the car they just won. 597
The next Bidding Card is turned over and bidding begins, starting with the player to the right of the last winning bidder. This card will placed in the “2” spot of the Start/Finish Line. Bidding continues like this until all 6 cars have been auctioned, and all 6 spaces on the Start/Finish line have been filled. If a player is without a car when the last car comes up for auction, that player must purchase the car for $10,000. In a 3 or 4 player game, a player may not own more than 2 cars; while in a 2 player game, no player may own more than 3 cars. If for a reason no one wants to purchase a car and is not forced to buy a car as stated above, the car is still placed in the numbered spot as normal. The “9” car for this car is out of play for this round. It still participates in the race.
Once the auction is over, the race begins. The player who owns the #1 Pole Position Car, plays first. Play will continue in a counterclockwise fashion after that. A player must do the following on their turn:
Play a Movement Card: The player must play a Movement Card from their hand. The cards depict from 1 to 6 of the colored cars in the game on them or a white car which is effectively a “Wild Card”. Each of the cards also has a number in a circle of each of the cars depicted. This is the number of spaces that the particular color of car must move. On a card with multiple cars on it, the order from top to bottom of the cars is the order that the cars must be moved. If a white car is on the card, then any color that is not depicted on the card (or just any car if a single white car card is played) may be moved.
Move each of the Cars: Following the order on the cards, each car is moved in turn. Each car must always move the full number of spaces, or as many as possible if blocked. Cars may move diagonally and must always move forward in a counterclockwise manner, never directly to the side or back. A block occurs of a car cannot move forward (either straight forward or diagonally forward). In this event, all remaining movement points are lost and the next car on the card is moved if any. 214