Card Game Review: Street Rod

Rev your engines an hit the road. Street Rod is a new card game from Gaudete Games which recreates the classic 1989 DOS game of the same name and has launched of Kickstarter.

It’s the summer of 1963 and you have an eye on Becky Sue. Too bad she’s in love with the king, the best racer in town. But if you defeat him, you know you’ll win her heart. What say you put your time and your bucks to good use this summer. You’re a good grease-monkey and a better driver. Buy an old crate, soup it up, and cruise down to Bob’s Drive-In. There’s always some action there. Some real action: racing. You know you can beat half of those twerps already. And if you can raise some quick cash and buy a better rod, you can beat the rest. You know with the right car you can beat the king. Then you’ll have some cash and Becky Sue!

In Street Rod, you’ll use cards to construct your car into a hot rodding speed machine. You have $500 to spend, split between a car, tires, carburetor, engine, etc. Each piece you put on your car will increase its statistics, helping you race. At any point, you can challenge other racers (depicted as cards), or other players to race, and each car is better or worse on different kinds of roads.

You have no idea how powerful your opponent’s car is, as you keep the cards in your hand. It isn’t until someone is challenged that their cards are revealed. This makes it vitally important for the other players to keep an eye on every race, whether or not you’re actually a part of that race, because otherwise, you won’t know what you’re facing off against in the next race. Between any race, you’ll be upgrading your car further, trying to overthrow “The King,” the best racer in the game.

I really like this game. It’s quick and straightforward. You work your car up in power as you move toward overthrowing The King as the best driver around. There was a short-lived CCG back in the day based on the Initial D anime, where you built cars and race them. I really enjoyed it, and this game feels very similar.

The art is great too! It takes art from the classic game, while the card design also feels straight out of the DOS era. I love it.

If you’re a fan of the golden era of video games, this is definitely a Kickstarter to check out. A small, compact game you can carry in your pocket and take off to race with your friends anywhere.

A copy of Street Rod was sent to Dice Monkey for review.