Cthulhu 500 mixes Daytona, H.P.Lovecraft, and Card Playing mechanics to come up with a tongue in cheek game that should fulfill the role of a filler. I choose to play this because my daughters are a sharp 7 and a gaming 9 and this game was for 8 and up.

COMPONENTS
CARDS

The cards are split into two types...Vehicles...and Everything Else.

VEHICLES
Each vehicle has two cards...a marker card for the center board, and a player card with the cars stats on it.


The Marker Card has the Vehicle on one side, and a picture of the Vehicle in a damaged state on the flip side.

The Vehicle Player Card has the Car Speed, Car Mechanical Complexity, (both in boxes in the top left corner), and Word Indicators along the Top Edge (Driver), Side Edges (Mods), and Bottom Edge (Tires) for additional powers.

EVERYTHING ELSE

In the everything else category there are;


1) Action Cards
2) Spell Cards
3) Reaction Cards
4) Mod Cards
5) Crew Cards
6) Tire Cards

GRAPHICS and ART
The Graphic Layout on the EE cards is good. Most Everything Else cards in the Action, Spell, and Reaction types are in the form of signs you would see along the road. Nice Touch!

Mod and Tire card art is also very good. You can only do so much with the limited choice of tires offered, but it is well done. The Mod art has carbureators,oil cans, and fuel injectors with nice little Cthulhu touches. That being said some of the Mod artwork is unimaginative in combining the Cthulhu genre and car-racing. Batwings, Tank Tracks, and some others were just..."Oh well I need the modifier but the artwork is dull."

Crew artwork left me wanting more. It was more like Zombies and bugs than HP Lovecraft. When I think Cthulhu I think tentacled, slimey, reptilian beasties. There were some of those but not enough to merit the game name. Many Zombies, many fungi, then some regular type crew. I am compelled to say that the Fungi special ability had me at "Go."

GAME

At the beginning of the game each player chooses a vehicle. The vehicles vary a little bit on the two stats to choose from. Speed and Mechanical Complexity. The vehicle artwork (though good) has little to nothing to do with vehicle capabilities. On this point I was disappointed. It would have been nice to have each vehicle have a special ability that would be used in the game.

Players put their vehicle car markers in the center and then begin play.

On each players turn they can perform two Actions.

1) Play an Action Card
2) Make a Passing Attempt
3) Play a Crew Card Into the Pit
4) Make a Pit Stop
a)To add/change a set of tires
b)To add/change a driver
c)To add/change a modifier
d)To repair damage

Discard
After they have exercised their action options, or not, they may discard any cards in their hands.

Draw
Players may then draw up to two cards from the discard pile to replenish their hands.


THATS IT!!!
It is basically a game of Card Drawing and some hand management. Passing attempts and Repair attempts require dice rolls.

CHALLENGES
It is assumed that this is a race on a circular track. So that the car in the number one post is really chasing after the car in the last post.

What was challenging was remembering who lapped whom as the game progressed. This section of the rules may need to be reworked as game play and the checkered flag make this information essential to determine the winner, but confusing to track.

RATING on a

Art Work

Could have been edgier with the theme.

Rules

Easy to read and pretty thorough with examples.

Mechanics

Okay...not terribly complex or engaging. Too much luck for me.

Duration

I was looking for a 30-45 min. filler. This went for 90 with 3 players.

Game Play

Was hoping for more...but my daughters enjoyed it.

Overall

Having limited exposure to the Cthulhu theme, I still believe it is much more than what this game presents. The theme is allowed in the game, but is almost pasted on because of the limited nature of its expression. This game will see some play...but not terribly much.