Tips automobiles

For the rules of Automobiles, see GameHelpAutomobiles.

1-Minute Strategy Read

Focus your first several turns on sculpting the content of your bag. This means adding cubes you want, and removing ones you don’t.

Which cubes are most desirable depends on the situation (see Card Set Strategies to learn more). In general, look for the most desirable cubes among the blue and green cubes.

Buy enough purple cubes to keep wear under control. If you don’t know how many that is, buy 3. (You’ll get a feel for how many your situation calls for with experience.) Remember drafting can help you manage wear.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking a cube that could sometimes be helpful is automatically desirable. Remember each time you draw a mediocre cube, it could be preventing you from drawing a more desirable cube. (For example, yellow cubes often bog down one’s bag more than they help.) Remove undesirable cubes as you can.

If you happen to be playing the First Game Card Set, you can get more tailored tips in that section.

Cube Analysis

Maintenance Staff

Effect: Remove any number of cubes from your active pile. Then remove up to twice that amount from your discard pile.

Like many yellow cubes, Maintenance Staff is often useful in the early game for sculpting one's bag, but it's seldom useful once one is racing.

When sculpting your bag, look for opportunities to use a single Maintenance Staff cube to remove many 3rd gear and 4th gear cubes from both your active and discard piles at once. Doing so costs $2 in purchasing power, but that can be worth it due to increased purchasing power in subsequent turns. (Even if you eventually want 3rd gear and 4th gear cubes, you likely don't want them during the early game when purchasing power is paramount.) When you have such an opportunity, decide which is more important: increased purchasing power in future turns, or the opportunity that additional $2 gives to buy a cube now that might be depleted by the next time it's your turn.

Once you have otherwise sculpted your bag to your satisfaction, Maintenance Staff is typically of little to no use. Sometimes it's of limited use when you have cubes that rely on a variety of colors in the discard pile. In these situations, keeping 1 or 2 yellow cubes can be prudent. In rare cases when wear is unmanageable through other means, Maintenance Staff can help. But in general Maintenance Staff is inferior to other techniques for removing wear. Therefore, you typically want to remove most or all Maintenance Staff when you're ready to transition to racing in order to avoid drawing useless cubes.

Mechanic

Effect: Place 1 other cube from your active pile into your used pile. Then remove up to 2 cubes from your discard pile.

This is a less powerful variation on Maintenance Staff. As such, it's less common to be used to remove 3rd gear and 4th gear cubes, though that can still be a valid use.

Maintenance Staff could be useful for introducing a new color into the discard pile when one has cubes that rely on a variety of colors in discard. However, this is rare.

Other than these points, Mechanic can be analyzed in much the same way as Maintenance Staff.

Crew Chief

Effect: Draw cubes until you draw 1 non-wear. Then remove all wear from your discard pile.

Crew Chief is the most forgiving cube in terms of removing wear. Even so, experienced players can still let wear get out of control even when they have access to Crew Chief. So be careful to buy enough before they are depleted. In fact, consider depleting it yourself to disadvantage opponents. Because Crew Chief replaces itself with a non-wear, it will not dilute your active pile as a non-productive cube (other than edge cases, such as situations where you don’t want to trigger a restocking of your bag).

Crew Chief limitations:

• if the cubes remaining in your bag are all wear, or if your bag is empty, Crew Chief will be incapable of removing any wear.
• Crew Chief can’t remove anything other than wear.

Pit Team

Effect: Remove up to 3 cubes from your discard pile. Then gain 1 new cube costing less than, or equal to, the total cost of the removed cubes.

Pit Team is remarkable for 2 reasons. First, with a cost of $1, Pit Team is particularly susceptible to depletion in games with more than 2 players. If you can, be sure to buy enough before opponents can deplete this cube. Be careful about depleting this cube yourself, as its low cost makes it easy for your bag to be too dense with Pit Teams, thereby diluting your movement cubes.

Second, Pit Team is extremely poor at removing wear (as well as other undesirable cubes). One might think Pit Team limits you to removing 3 undesirable cubes, but often it's even worse, limiting you to removing only 2 at a time. This is because it forces you to add a cube to your bag, and desirable cubes often get depleted.

The upshot is that Pit Team makes drafting particularly important in order to avoid accumulating much wear to begin with. In fact, an effective strategy in some situations is to not take on any wear at all (by always drafting and not having any cubes which add wear), thereby eliminating the need for Pit Team in the first place. If on the other hand you choose a strategy that takes on wear, and you are playing with drivers, consider choosing a driver which helps manage wear. Conversely, you likely want to avoid drivers which reward you for accumulating wear (namely drivers 01 and 07).

Crate Motor

Effect: Move up to 3 spaces on any 1 color. Then after your End Phase, each other player in a lower position than you may move 1 space on any color.

Beware of always advancing as far as you can when using Crate Motor. To see why, suppose you use 3 Crate Motors to catch up to the race leader, and you pass her by 1 space. However, she will now be able to advance 3 spaces, putting her 2 spaces ahead of you. However, if you had stopped in a segment behind her in the same space, she will not benefit from your Crate Motors, and you are essentially 0 spaces behind her. Even if no segment in her space is open and you had to stop 1 space behind her, you would probably prefer to be 1 space behind the leader rather than 2.

Crate Motor shares a lot in common with Boost, and so does their analysis. That is to say, when you buy a Crate Motor, it's instructive to look at what advantage it gives you over buying a regular gear cube. A quick analysis suggests Crate Motor needs to let you advance 1 space to stay even with the gear cube that could have been in its place, and it needs to let you advance a 2nd space to give you the same reward it gives your opponents. Finally, it needs to let you advance a 3rd space to give you any advantage at all. So its net advantage to you over a regular gear is 1 more space, not 2 or 3.

But more thought reveals it's not that simple for several reasons. Crate Motor lets you move on any color space, so it will often be better than a particular gear cube, because a particular gear cube will sometimes be unplayable. Also, any opponents ahead of you will not benefit from your use of Crate Motor, so your net advantage compared to playing a gear cube really can be 2 spaces.

On the downside, you won't always have 3 spaces of the same color to move on, which reduces Crate Motor's value, and may make it worse than a regular gear cube because it lets others advance.

In the end, Crate Motor's versatility of being playable on any color space, and not always letting opponents advance, make it a powerful and desirable cube. You will probably want as many of them in each draw as possible. Because it doesn't generate wear, a card set with Crate Motor may make a small bag strategy desirable.

Diesel Engine

Effect: Gain 2 wear. Move up to as many dark gray spaces as you have dark gray cubes in your discard pile.

Diesel engine might help you crush your opponents, or it might be more trouble than its worth.

Situations favorable to diesel engine are:

• tracks with unbroken strings of dark gray spaces (Daytona and Talladega);
• races with fewer opponents so there's less chance that an opponent blocks your dark gray path;
• short races, and/or races with effective pit cubes so that wear doesn't become overwhelming.

Conversely, diesel engine's effectiveness can be hampered by:

• tracks with limited consecutive dark gray spaces;
• races with more opponents as there's more chance that an opponent blocks your dark gray path;
• long races, and races with ineffective pit cubes, because 2 wear per engine use can add up over time.

A game in-between these extremes requires your judgement as to how much you want to make use of diesel engine.

If you do decide to use diesel engine, keep in mind it requires 5th gear cubes to be powerful. So when pursuing a diesel engine strategy, keep an eye on the number of available 5th gear cubes so that you get enough before they run out.

Players pursuing a diesel engine strategy may often end their turns on 5th gear spaces. So if you're not the only player pursing a diesel engine strategy, consider having sufficient 4th gear cubes in order to pass (and depending on the track, perhaps a few 6th gear cubes as well).

Hybrid Engine

Effect: Gain 1 wear. If you have more blue cubes on your player sheet than in any other player's discard pile, move up to 2 spaces in any 1 color.

This is a powerful cube. It does carry a risk that it will be unplayable when an opponent has more in their discard than you have on your board. But if you avoid that risk by not buying it, an opponent who took that risk will likely dominate you. Therefore, buy it, and buy as many as you can to minimize the risk that it will be unplayable.

Resist adding much in the way of other cubes to your bag. If you dilute your bag too much with other cubes, you’ll draw fewer blues on average, and increase the chance that they won’t be playable. Even if they are playable, you’d rather have more blues to play than fewer.

Rotary Engine

Effect: Gain 1 wear. Move up to as many white spaces as you have unique colors in your discard pile.

Moving on tiny white spaces might not seem enticing at first, but if you can often have upwards of 6 or more colors in discard, Rotary Engines can be very powerful. So when Rotary Engine is available, you will likely want to load up on it. If you do, you will also want to purchase a variety of other cubes to give it power. However, you will not want to buy too many other cubes so as to not dilute your draw of Rotary Engines.

Rotary Engine pairs well with cubes and drivers that help you keep a variety of cubes in discard (such as Nitro and, to varying degrees, drivers 04, 09, and 10).

Boost

Effect: Draw up to 3 cubes. Gain 1 wear for each cube drawn. All other players may draw 1 cube.

Typically, Boost gives you 1 cube up on your opponents, not 2 or 3.

Why only 1? Boost needs to draw 1 cube just to replace itself and pull its own weight. But it also lets opponents draw 1, so it needs to draw another to keep up with opponents. Finally, it needs to draw a 3rd cube just to give any advantage at all.

Still, being up a cube can be very helpful. But you’ll take on 3 wear to do this. You’re also running through your bag faster, which is undesirable in some situations.

So, how desirable Boost is (or whether it’s even desirable at all) depends on the other cards, and one’s driver if used.

Remember that Boost lets you draw 1 cube at a time, and lets you decide whether you want to draw another (up to 3 per Boost). Drawing 1 at a time is helpful in situations where the cube you draw could determine whether it's worthwhile to draw another.

Driver Analysis

All driver abilities can be helpful, and all are optional.

Driver 01

Effect: Decline phase: For each wear gained during your Decline Phase, move up to 1 light gray space.

bag cycle: neutral
empty refill control: none

Driver 02

Effect: Action phase: Place 1 cube from your discard pile into your active pile.

bag cycle: neutral
empty refill control: none

Driver 03

Effect: Action phase: Place up to 3 cubes from your discard pile into your bag.

bag cycle: lengthens
empty refill control: yes

This is the only driver capable of lengthening the bag cycle.

Driver 04

Effect: Buy phase: Draw up to 3 cubes at once. For each cube drawn, choose one: remove it, place it in your active pile, or put it back into your bag.

bag cycle: shortens
empty refill control: yes

Driver 04 has the most buying power of any driver, which makes it desirable when multiple players are competing to buy the most cubes of a particular kind. Driver 04's buying power comes not only from adding cubes during the Buy phase, but also from removing cubes with weak purchasing power.

Driver 04 can be used to avoid refilling the bag with wear that is gained on turns which trigger a bag refill, as follows: plan ahead so that the turn which triggers a refill has no more than 2 cubes left in the bag. Then use the driver ability to draw enough cubes to trigger a refill. As this happens during the Buy phase, any wear earned during the current turn has not yet been discarded, so they are not used as part of the refill.

As of April 2023, more BGA games are won with driver 04 than any other driver. However, that doesn't mean that driver 04 is best for your situation. Some card sets may favor other drivers.

Driver 05

Effect: Buy phase: Remove any number of cubes from your discard pile. Pay $1 for each cube removed.

bag cycle: neutral
empty refill control: none

As of April 2023, fewer BGA games are won with driver 05 than any other driver. However, that doesn't mean that driver 05 is not the best driver for your situation.

Driver 06

Effect: Car phase: At the end of the Car Phase, move 1 space on any color.

bag cycle: neutral
empty refill control: none

Driver 07

Effect: Decline phase: For each wear gained during your Decline phase, draw up to 1 additional cube during your End Phase.

bag cycle: shortens
empty refill control: yes

Driver 08

Effect: End phase: Before drawing, remove up to 3 wear from your player board.

bag cycle: neutral
empty refill control: none

Driver 08 is useful for both big and small bag strategies. For small bag strategies, driver 08 removes the need to draft each turn, as long as black spaces are avoided.

Driver 09

Effect: End phase: After drawing, draw up to 2 more cubes.

bag cycle: shortens
empty refill control: yes

Driver 09 can be a strong choice for a small bag strategy as more cubes allows for a longer reach to draft behind distant opponents.

Driver 10

Effect: End phase: After drawing, discard any number of cubes. Draw cubes equal to the number you discarded.

bag cycle: shortens (but without the usual downside; see below)
empty refill control: yes

Driver 10's ability is unique in that although it shortens the bag cycle, it can always keep some cubes in discard, which mitigates the downside of bag refills.

Concepts

bag cycle
Some cubes and driver abilities can lengthen or shorten the number of turns between bag refills. This is related to bag size (big vs small); see below.

big bag vs small bag
Some situations lend themselves to a big bag; that is, ones with sufficient cubes for 3 or more turns before a refill. Card sets with cubes that rely on discarded cubes for their power tend to fall in this category. Other situations call for a small bag; that is, one that refills every turn. A small bag lets you draw your most powerful cubes every turn, but requires care to minimize wear (or ideally, gather no wear.) See the Squeaky Clean analysis for an example of why one might want to pursue a small bag strategy.

depletion
Since cubes are limited, be sure to buy needed cubes before they are depleted. Furthermore, you can attempt to deplete a supply before opponents get the cubes they need.

empty refill
Some cubes and driver abilities can allow you to arrange for your bag to be empty when it gets refilled. This is helpful when you have cubes that rely on the discard pile, because otherwise you can miss out on a chance to use such cubes.

Card Set Strategies

How to shape one's bag varies greatly based on the card set, track/racing season, and driver (if used). Your game's card set may not be listed below, but understanding strategies for various card sets will likely help you develop a strategy tailored to your specific card set.

Broken Down (Car Chief, Suspension, Pit Team, Diesel Engine, Boost)

This card set offers several intriguing options: Suspension, Diesel Engine, and Boost are all potentially desirable. But what characterizes this card set most is Pit Team's extremely limited ability to remove wear. If your game consists of few laps, you might be able to finish it before wear becomes a significant burden. More typically, however, a good strategy will be centered on how to keep wear from becoming a significant portion of your cubes. To keep wear from accumulating, plan to draft most (if not every) turn. Also, be very sparing in your use of cubes which add wear (which Suspension, Diesel Engine, and Boost all do). In fact, a winning strategy can consist of having nothing but gear cubes and always drafting.

First Game Card Set (Manager, Suspension, Crew Chief, Hybrid Engine, Gearbox)

Hybrid Engine is very powerful, so buy them during your setup turn and on your standard turns. If your opponents are experienced, Hybrid Engines will be bought until they are depleted. If your opponents are not experienced, you may be the only one buying them while others are racing. In this case, keep buying engine cubes either until they are depleted, or until opponents are about 1 lap up on you. 3rd gear cubes, however, are not useful either for buying cubes, or for moving when compared to Hybrid Engine. So when a yellow cube is not useful for its buying power, use it to remove a 3rd gear cube. In a base 2-player game, experienced players may spend their first 7 (or so) turns sculpting their bag (mostly buying blue and purple cubes, and removing 3rd gear cubes) before moving on their 8th turn. (Using a driver from the expansion may shorten this time, as drivers can increase purchasing power.)

What about the other cubes? Gearbox can be powerful, but it can undermine Hybrid Engine. Adding Gearboxes to your bag makes your bag less dense with Hybrid Engines, which will be a problem if you don't draw enough Hybrid Engines to be playable (that is, more than is in any other players' discard pile). The same reasoning goes for Suspension, so be cautious about buying these cubes. However, Crew Chief does not suffer from this downside, because when played, it replaces itself with a cube from the bag. Just be sure to play Hybrid Engines first if Crew Chief might re-bag your discard cubes and make Hybrid Engine unplayable.

Money, Money, Money (Car Chief, Tires, Pit Team, Rotary Engine, Boost)

This card set is defined largely by Pit Team and Rotary Engine (see these cubes' sections).

If you get only 1 or 2 Pit Teams, it will be particularly important to keep your bag no bigger than what's required to power Rotary Engine, because you will need to recycle the few Pit Teams you have as often as you can.

Rev’d Up (Car Chief, Aerodynamics, Crew Chief, Hybrid Engine, Boost)

As is typically the case when Hybrid Engine is available, buy as many as you can. You’ll probably want

your share of Crew Chiefs. Crew Chief should make Aerodynamics unnecessary.

Consider pursuing one of the following (you probably can’t pursue both):

• buy Boosts to help you add Hybrid Engines to your active pile. However, be aware that sometimes Boosts can work against you. For example, Boost may cause you to restock your bag, including bagging discarded Hybrid Engines that are needed to make your active pile Hybrid Engines playable.
• buy so many Crew Chiefs that some opponents can’t get their share to keep wear under control. However, because Crew Chief is so effective, be aware your opponents may only need a few Crew Chiefs.

Rinse & Repeat (Factory Support, Burnout, Pit Mechanic, Internal Combustion, Overdrive)

driverless races, and drivers with neutral or lengthened bag cycles
This card set offers many desirable options. Some experienced players will load up on Burnout; others will load up on Overdrive; many will buy a combination of both. But nearly all experienced players will try to get their share of Internal Combustion. Internal Combustion is powerful because it lets you trade a less powerful cube for 3 more powerful cubes from your discards, which lets the player get even more use out of Burnout and Overdrive.

Note, however, that these highly desirable cubes (Burnout, Internal Combustion, Overdrive) all add wear, and Pit Mechanic is limited in its ability to remove wear. This means you will want to get enough Pit Mechanics to keep wear under control, and it means you'll want to draft in situations where moving further is not worth the additional wear.

drivers with shortened bag cycles
Using a driver which shortens the bag cycle lessens the benefits of Burnout and Internal Combustion. In this situation a player might be justified in not pursuing red and blue cubes.

Squeaky Clean (Maintenance Staff, Camber & Toe, Air Jacks, Crate Motor, Adrenaline)

Notice that Air Jacks requires a variety of cubes in discard to remove wear. This makes Air Jacks tricky to use effectively. Maintenance Staff can assist with reducing wear, but it's not a good long term strategy because it must remove active cubes to be effective.

However, this set's standout cube, Crate Motor, doesn't gather wear. Also, you want to maximize the Crate Motors you draw each turn. Combining these facts suggest that one way to manage wear with this set is to draw enough Crate Motors each turn to draft and never take on wear in the first place, eliminating the need to own Air Jacks at all. And the best way to do that is with a small bag strategy (one with no more cubes than you can draw).

To pursue a small bag strategy, make as many of your cubes as you can Crate Motor. You'll need to remove starting cubes, which you can do with Maintenance Staff. lf that would leave you with fewer cubes than you draw, fill remaining slots with Adrenaline (which also doesn't take wear), and/or with whatever gear cubes are appropriate for your track. The fewer opponents you have, the easier it will be to get as many Crate Motors as you want. More opponents can make it harder; however, more opponents make it easier to find one to draft behind.

After sculpting your bag for a small bag strategy, you will have 1 useless Maintenance Staff cube left that you can't get rid of. However, it should be your only useless cube. If you're playing a season campaign, use your sponsor to get rid of that cube after the first race. Consider buying its replacement on your last turn of the first race.