Game: Pitchcar Mini Extension

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Von Cougar — 2008-04-21T13:20:17+00:00

A night impossible jump

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Von Cougar — 2008-04-21T13:19:02+00:00

Yellow catching up to Pink catching up to Green

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Verkisto — 2007-03-05T02:05:29+00:00

In real life, there's NO way I would have been able to get up enough speed to make the jump from that point....

Thread: Re: Landing on top of another car?

mudhoney — 2006-11-05T12:38:25+00:00

The rules state that if your car goes "off the track", then you have to put it back where it was before the flick.

A car that lands on top of another is technically "off the track", so has to go back to where it was before.

Thread: Re: Landing on top of another car?

Ronaldo — 2006-11-05T05:35:51+00:00

Funny, I was just thinking about that yesterday as it has happened to us before. The way handled is basically: no reason for them to bother addressing this in the rules, then no reason for us to bother fixing it. In other words, we just leave it there and on its turn, the car underneath just takes a regular flick hoping the car on top doesn't get out of the track.

BTW, we use the Carabande rules, so, if a car is turned upside down, instead of acting as if it went out of the track, we just leave it there and on its next turn the only action allowed is to be flipped back up again.

Thread: Landing on top of another car?

Yollege — 2006-11-05T05:20:21+00:00

Believe it or not, we had 2 instances tonight that had a person landing on TOP of an opposing car. I didn't see anything in the rules for this. We just set it down next to the car underneath.

Any clue on how we should have handled this? Thanks.

Thread: Re: Pitchcar Mini Extension - tracks are a different thickness?

agent easy — 2006-07-07T22:56:50+00:00

They are all finished on one side only. They were purchased at the same time a few days ago.

Thanks for the input!

Miguel

Thread: Re: Pitchcar Mini Extension - tracks are a different thickness?

Psauberer — 2006-07-07T20:46:45+00:00

Does your set have black on both sides of the track?

I believe that there was a difference in the regular PitchCar between first editions and later production that resulted in different thicknesses of tracks because the first tracks were "finished" on both sides.

I don't know if the same thing is true of PitchCar Mini.

Thread: Re: Pitchcar Mini Extension - tracks are a different thickness?

Phytoman — 2006-07-07T19:58:17+00:00

Overall, most of my track pieces fit well together with the main set although I do have a few pieces which are slightly different. I live with it although a nuisance and just figure it is "part of the action" to know which ones will give the bump.

Thread: Pitchcar Mini Extension - tracks are a different thickness?

agent easy — 2006-07-07T12:29:28+00:00

Hi,

just purchased Pitchcar Mini + Extension. It looks like fun, but for whatever reason my extension pieces are a different thickness than the basic set. Obviously, this causes problems because it's virtually impossible to go from one track to the next without flying off the track!

I'm assuming my problem is an isolated case, but I thought I'd check here just to see.

Anyone else have this issue?

Thanks,

Miguel

Thread: Two races

daw65 — 2006-04-22T03:10:16+00:00

Everyone arrived at just about the same time, so we immediately had six players. I had just gotten a new game that I wanted to introduce to the group, so without asking I just pulled Pitchcar Mini out of my bag and started setting up.

Five of us started by placing our cars in a staggered start, with Danielle in the pole position (Heather was taking care of Kyle at this point). She promptly flicked off the track, so was placed back at the start, but we all coped by passing her and getting into the first turn. She tried to get back to the front, but after the first two turns came the first jump, and that just did in her track position. Everyone else passed her there and continued on while she struggle to jump it safely.

Dave and Jim was able to cruise through the S-curves after the first jump and pull out to the lead. They swung around the back turns and hit the second jump with little problem, and eventually reached the start/finish line 1-2 at the end of lap 1. At this point Heather exclaimed she wanted to play, so we put a sixth disk behind Danielle, and she joined in.

Rich wasn't too far behind the two leaders, and again used the troublesome first jump (this time troubling Jim) to pass and get to second place. He was finding all the right gears, apparently, because he was able to pass Dave at the second jump. But Dave was able to pass again in the second S-curves, and started the final lap in the lead again.

Meanwhile, Danielle and Alice were struggling with their flicking technique. The eventually settled on a reverse-flick, where the flicked their cars towards themselves rather than flicking away from themselves. It gave them greater control, they felt, though at the cost of much less distance. Meanwhile, back by the leaders, Dave cleared the first jump and the first S-curves, but struggled in the chicane, allowing Rich and Jim to catch up. He held them off through the second jump and the second S-curves, but toward the finish line Dave started choking. First he flicked off the track, and then he flicked his car right on top of the finish line. Well, winning requires completely crossing the line (or, at least it did for us), so Jim had his opportunities to pass, but he was unable to get close enough to make that passing flick. Dave completed the race in first, with Jim right behind him. The other finishers, in order, were Rich, Heather, Alice, and Danielle (who didn't finish on the lead lap).

With one race under their belts, everyone wanted to try a second time, so we started again. We decided to go in reverse order of finish in the first race, meaning Danielle started again, and Dave was the last to go. Jim, from his fifth position, was able to thread his way through the cars in front and take the lead with a fine performance on the first jump. With that, he was off. Everyone else just kept getting in each other's way, and slogged their way over the jump, the first S-curve, and the chicane. It was a perfect time for Jim to build a huge lead. The second jump had other ideas. Eventually he got across, but in that time Heather was able to make her way out of the pack and pass him just before completing the first lap. Jim and Heather would pass the lead back and forth throughout the second lap.

Dave, meanwhile, was continually being blocked by Alice and Danielle, whom he had taken to referring to as the Malachi Brothers. The three of them were so far back that Jim ended up lapping them. Dave was able to finally get past the others, and re-pass Jim to get back onto the lead lap. But they were already into the final lap, which left little time for Dave to make up ground.

On the third lap it became obvious that there were three races: Jim and Heather were racing for first; Dave and Rich were competing for third, and Alice and Danielle were fighting for fifth. The first race lost its tension when Heather, trying for a passing move, jumped the track, and gave Jim some extra breathing room. He was able to work his way around the track and finished in first. Heather, though, was never threatened from behind, and held onto her second place slot. Dave and Rich were next, fighting for third. Dave hit the second jump first, but Rich managed to use his jump to pass Dave. Dave was able to quickly get through the second S-curve more quickly, though, and reclaimed third. It's a short shot from there to the finish line, and Dave was able to hold off Rich for third place. Alice followed Rich, finishing fifth, leaving Danielle on the track.

And after tallying up the points from both races, we found Jim was the winner, with 18 points after finishing first and second in the two races.

This is a really nice change of pace from our regular games. Rather than trying to buy lower, sell higher, build faster, dig deeper, etc., it's nice to disengage the mind sometimes and just flick little wooden disks. Of course, as with any physical activity, you'll get better with practice. I'll have to make sure to bring it to game night often.

Thread: Re: Pitchcar Mini Extension Review

puddnhead — 2006-03-15T16:06:31+00:00

I just got it and put it together last night. No experiences to report yet, but for the longest time I was puzzled about the rails, I figured they must have sent the wrong ones, since there were two that were not long enough as you point out. In the end it was only by looknig at the inventory of parts in teh instructions that I realized that, no, they intentionally sent two pieces that aren't long enough. That is REALLY annoying, for the amount of money you pay for this.

p.s. by the way, just looked at some sample track images at the Ferti site. Besides being useful for ideas, I think it also clearly shows that even Ferti should agree the wrong parts are in the box -- look at all the rails in the images, none of them are shorter than their slots:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ferti/mextcirc.htm

Thread: Re: Review

Ronaldo — 2006-03-08T00:27:35+00:00

The nice one.

Thread: Re: Review

Mikeg99 — 2006-03-07T15:04:08+00:00

Is it in a nice box or is it in a plain box with a printed sheet on top?

Thread: Re: Review

Ronaldo — 2006-03-06T04:56:03+00:00

I only know one extension.

Thread: Re: Review

Mikeg99 — 2006-03-05T19:02:56+00:00

Is this a review of the new extension or the older one?

Thread: GP of Venezuela

Ronaldo — 2006-03-05T05:17:24+00:00

This session report is to show my appreciation for the extension. At the end of our little party yesterday, people were still up for a game of Pitchcar. There were 6 of us and we allowed Jose (from Venezuela) to build a track for the first time. He made the race counterclockwise what made flicking slightly awkward (positioning the hand), plus some of the tracks placement, especially, the double pass curves made it extremely slow in some areas, plus the usual bumps and we were fast in naming it "Venezuelan GP". He wasn't offended and thought it was very funny.

There 6 of us and all had a great time. Almost everyone led the race at least for a little bit. After 3 laps, 3 cars were in the final straight when the leader crossed the finish line and the 4th wasn't far behind. Negative highlight for the pink car that had to try about 6 times before successfully making the first jump. Positive, this funtastic game, and all the alternatives added by the extension that helps to make it hard to predict the outcome of a race until very late.

Thread: Review

Ronaldo — 2006-03-05T01:11:33+00:00

Components

Great quality, track pieces fit well together, the occasional bumps (unintentional uneven junction of 2 tracks that kick the cars out of the track) are still present. The only problem I have is that you have to cut some of the guardrails (actually, there are some instructions) so they will fit and there is one or two of them that will still be short and the little bits from the cut rails could be used to fill in. Kinda lame especially considering the overall quality of pitchcar mini.

Gameplay

The extension greatly enhances pitchcar mini. The double path curves call for tactical decisions, may require some extra skill to go through a narrower pass and give extra possibilities to overtake other cars. The chicane is many times a game changer since it gives a sizable advantage to the car to reach it first on each lap, "blocking" the other cars. The jumps require skill and, frquently, are game defining points. Some players can get stuck with failed jumps wasting several precious turns. Some players can be successful with conservative jumps just to see an aggressive player jump over several cars and turn a race in his favor after a successful long play during a jump.

Impression

The extension complements the basic game very well requiring more skill and bringing more tactical options and laughter to the races. If you have Pitchcar Mini and is wondering about getting the extension, I would highly recommend doing so.

Thread: Re: Using all the track pieces...

paulidale — 2005-11-06T08:59:37+00:00

I don't think so without a jump over a bit of vacant space. You end up with a single straight piece left over with jumps to track and the pieces simply don't have enough slop to integrate it. If you let the jumps cover the length of the extra straight, it should be possible to build a track using everything. It would also be really painful to play

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Phytoman — 2005-08-09T12:48:38+00:00

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Phytoman — 2005-08-09T12:48:38+00:00

Thread: Pitchcar Mini Extension Review

Phytoman — 2005-08-09T09:20:52+00:00

This is a review of Pitchcar mini extension. Basically the question is, as with any extension or module, is it worth it?

The extension package comes with 2 jumps, 2 straight pieces that have one straight edge (in other words, not the interlocking puzzle edge), 1 straight piece with curved narrow dividers in the middle, 4 curved pieces with narrow dividers that create those "bottlenecks," and the red plastic guard rails.

As with the basic Pitchcar mini set, the pieces are well made and fit nicely together. The extension set adds a different dimension to the game making it more strategic rather than just the "flic the car disk as hard as I can and hope it stays upright" method. In some cases, you must flic the car disk just a little in order to line it up nicely to pass through the bottleneck section. The extension pieces allow more complicated tracks to be made making the game more enjoyable in my opinion. One complaint in the original Pitchcar game seems to be from the plastic rails popping out and must be glued in. With my set, this does occassionally happen but very rarily and has not affected the game play because it usually happens only when someone adjusts the piece or hits it accidently.

One "inconvenience" that I have encountered is that for one track piece the supplied plastic rails are not long enough to fit completely around the curve. I corrected this by adding some of the cut rail pieces used for the other curves that I had to cut since for some curves the smallest rails are too large. This really is not that big of a deal and does not distract from the game or from the asthetics. In fact you can hardly tell that it was done and only has to be done once when you first buy the game. But, after putting the game away and setting it up again (if one wants to remove the rails and put the pieces in the original box) the cut rails must go in the same track pieces. This is a slight inconvenience that takes some time to fit the pieces properly.

So, back to the original question as to whether it is worth it? I would have to say yes. The advantage of making more complicated tracks far outweighs the minor inconvenience of the rail pieces.

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frarobertooo — 2004-12-30T15:40:35+00:00

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frarobertooo — 2004-12-30T15:40:31+00:00

I have cut in half some barriers in order to use them in the chicanes

Thread: Using all the track pieces...

frarobertooo — 2004-12-26T13:18:28+00:00

... is it possible to use all the tracks (base + estension) in a single circuit? Usually a straight piece or two curves stay out from my circuits.

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gonzo104 — 2004-11-29T12:58:50+00:00

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sifu-uk — 2004-11-14T21:18:29+00:00

Pitchcar Mini Expansion