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So I was hanging with some casual gamers over the weekend and had a bunch of Hot Wheels with the vague intent to play some version of Car Wars. But like I said...casual gamers, and I figured after a beer or two the turning key would be that little but complex. I knew I could come up with a lighter alternative that worked well in group settings.
When I got home I brainstormed up Flickin' Cars With Guns (yeah, inventive title ).

I had a few goals in mind:
1. Can be played on a standard kitchen table (even one covered with plates and bowls)
2. Minimal tracking and completely paperless (no record sheets, etc.)
3. Fast and repeatable
4. Easy for everyone to learn
5. Can be played drunk

I'm pretty happy with the result, and would love to hear what people think of the game. I ended up with a 2-page ruleset (intent is to print it back-to-back on a single sheet).

How it Works
Basically each person gets a car, in this case little $1 Hot Wheels, which is considered armed and dangerous in the game. Everyone sets up on the table, and take turns flicking their cars.
You get 2 flicks per turn, and the flick can make contact anywhere on the car. So you could flick the left side to try to turn right, then flick the back to try to go forward. Crashing into obstacles or other cars reduces your Armor (health), which is tracked using a single six sided die.
After either flick you can shoot at an enemy. I think I came up with a nifty mechanic for this, since if you roll greater than or equal to the number of inches on 2D6 you hit. So if the target is 5" away you need 5+. 10" you need 10+. Over 12" and you can't even shoot, so accurate flicking is important. A hit reduces the targets Armor by 1. Starting Armor is 6 so between the shooting and the crashing it goes fast.
There are some extra rules for what happens if your car is flicked or get pushed off the table. Variants to make it a drinking game, or have droppable objects (like crumpled paper to represent oil).
Simple game, so simple rules.

Definitely has been fun to make though, and I really like the mass appeal of a dexterity game. I'm hoping to play it with a larger group soon, since I think half a dozen friends smashing Hot Wheels around would make for a riotous time.

Rulebook!
Now the important part, a link to the PDF! Flickin' Cars With Guns rulebook. I'm mostly looking for any feedback on the overall idea, or on specific wording/grammatical stuff in the rulebook itself.

Physical dexterity games have a proud tradition.

Yeah I haven't tried making one before, but I had fun with this! I figured it'd be a good approach for reaching those non-gamer friends, since everyone has at least heard of Jenga (and the like), so the concept shouldn't be too foreign.

Plus I'll use any excuse I can to have grown adults pushing around toy cars.

The new Rampage game involves flicking discs, it seemed fun.

And Pitch Car is fething cut throat at my old FLGS (mostly because it was who had to buy the winner's drinks and the first round).

Looks cool. Might have a go myself.

 Alfndrate wrote:
And Pitch Car is fething cut throat at my old FLGS (mostly because it was who had to buy the winner's drinks and the first round).

Yeah I saw Pitch Car (and Flick Racer) when I was researching dexterity games with cars. I didn't like the requirement of having expensive wooden tracks though, which is why I went for the more free form "just play amidst whatever crap is on your table" approach.

My wife asked "Should I move the chip bowl?", haha.
"No, no, it'll be a perfect centerpiece!"

 bosky wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
And Pitch Car is fething cut throat at my old FLGS (mostly because it was who had to buy the winner's drinks and the first round).

Yeah I saw Pitch Car (and Flick Racer) when I was researching dexterity games with cars. I didn't like the requirement of having expensive wooden tracks though, which is why I went for the more free form "just play amidst whatever crap is on your table" approach.

My wife asked "Should I move the chip bowl?", haha.
"No, no, it'll be a perfect centerpiece!"

Haha, I wasn't suggesting this as a detriment to your game, just my experience with dex games Might I suggest doing for something other than hot wheels though? I've flicked enough of those die cast cars in my day, and they can really make your fingers sore.

I do like the idea though OP

Oh don't worry I didn't think you were saying it as a detriment at all.

As for the cars, the rules just suggest Hot Wheels, and are written with 3"x1" cars in mind, but alternatives would work...I just don't know of any Matchbox would have the same problem I guess. We tried Micro Machines but they tended to spin after going a few inches.
Maybe some kind of wooden car, if people can find them and have them on hand.

Just gotta get that finger nail callous built up, haha.

Ptich car is awesome . But the expense of the tracks is a major detriment (the only reason I've never gotten it). So the idea has merit, I think... it all depends on how well it gets implemented.

Well the implementation is pretty much done, so check out the rulebook I linked to and let me know what you think!

This looks fun. Do the Droppables just cause a collision?

I think you could make a really fun "Twisted Metal" version of this game by adding weapon options.

I also really like using real currency (preferably $100) instead of pips ont eh dice for armor.

The intent with the Droppables was to make them as open as terrain is. So if you drop a rock and a car hits it then it'd count as a normal collision. If you drop crumpled paper, a handful of sand, a napkin, etc. it just inhibits a car's movement naturally. There aren't specific effects per droppable beyond how the cars physically interact with them.

I am considering an expansion to the core rules that adds weapons and an item system. Basically each player chooses their weapon at the start of the game.
The item system would be represented by standard playing cards put face down on the table. If someone drives over it they get to keep the card. The cards correspond to various effects. Sort of like driving over "powerups" in Mario Kart or even the Death Race movie.

 bosky wrote:
The intent with the Droppables was to make them as open as terrain is. So if you drop a rock and a car hits it then it'd count as a normal collision. If you drop crumpled paper, a handful of sand, a napkin, etc. it just inhibits a car's movement naturally. There aren't specific effects per droppable beyond how the cars physically interact with them.

I am considering an expansion to the core rules that adds weapons and an item system. Basically each player chooses their weapon at the start of the game.
The item system would be represented by standard playing cards put face down on the table. If someone drives over it they get to keep the card. The cards correspond to various effects. Sort of like driving over "powerups" in Mario Kart or even the Death Race movie.

That's a really fun idea. And if you wanted to eventually produce a product out of this, it could be along the lines of making cool cars (that maybe don't hurt as much to flick, like made out of that softer PVC Reaper does its Bones in), and printed cards with the "power ups." The game could still be played with hot wheels and playing cards, and you could have the playing cards matched to your custom-designed "power up" cards, so folks could always play the game without buying any of the specialized products for it.

Anyhow, this is a fun idea, and thanks for sharing!

Yes the printable cards are exactly the idea I was going for. So you could still fall back to normal cards, or you could do the handier cards with the name and effect right on them.

For pain of flicking it's not actually as bad as a person would expect, because you aren't flicking as hard as you can for distance. Most of the time you're gently flicking the car to try to avoid a collision or get into a perfect spot.

Anyway I converted my brainstorm notes I wrote on the train commute this morning to some electronic notes:

The aforementioned expansion pack needs a name! Right now I'm tending towards naming it "The Scenic Route". Any other suggestions?

Weapons
Some rough ideas on weapons. They aren't fully balanced, but the idea would be that they are all equal. I tried to keep some important rules in mind when thinking these up, namely that I still don't want to have to track anything (so no applying damage-over-time or other negative effects to enemies).
Names are just pulled out of a hat and not set at all.

Machinegun - 2D6, 1 damage, <2 jam, 12+ crit
Shotgun - 1D6, 2 damage, <1 jam, no crit
Railgun - 2D6, 1 damage, <2 jam, no crit, hit all in forward fixed
Flamer - 2 attacks, 1D6, 1 damage, <1 jam, no crit
Buzzsaw - 2" range, 3 damage, no jam, no crit
Rotary - 4D6 pick highest 2?
Precision Rifle - 1D6, 1 damage, no jam, 4+ crit
Turret - 2D6, 1 damage, <4 jam, no crit, 360 degree arc
Catapult - 2D6, 1 damage, <2 jam, no crit, leave rock where target was hit
Lightning - 2D6, 1 damage, no jam, 10+ crit, can only shoot after second flick (charge up)
Rocket - 2D6, 1 damage, <2 jam, 12+ crit, hit all in 3" (roll for each? or all based on one roll?)
Sniper Rifle - 2D6, 1 damage, <2 jam, 10+ crit
Rifle - 3D6, 1 damage, <6 jam, no crit
Slugger - 2D6, 1 damage, <2 jam, 12+ crit, knockback 3"

Another option I'm considering is non-D6 dice, for all the RPGers out there. Adding in D4s, D8s, D20s, etc. would give a TON of variety to how weapons feel. For example:

Chaos - 1D20, 1 damage

Cards
The other idea is to use a standard deck of playing cards to spice up the game. Each card corresponds to an effect in a chart, so 4 of Diamonds would mean you look up #4 in the chart.
This would give me 10 options + face cards + aces.
The other approach is to split by number AND color. So you have Red 5 and Black 8. That gives 10 options per color, for 20 total + face cards + aces.
You might start with a couple of cards in your hand. No hand limit. Cards can be played at any time. Maybe I'll do different types for when they can be played, like "Interrupt", "Your Turn", "Opponent Turn".
Otherwise you put a few cards face down on the table. If you drive over them you add the card to your hand. Alternatively maybe you can draw a card if you get a critical hit, or kill an enemy, or even just 1 per turn.
I could see eventually having custom printable cards available with the name, type, effect, and flavor text. Saves having to look up on a chart, but means the game is that much more of a hassle to put together and get going.
Below are some preliminary card ideas. Some are overly powerful and are meant for the rarer aces or face cards.
Names are again pulled out of a hat:

Blessed - Make enemy re-roll 1 shooting dice
Big Shot - Add 1D6 to next shot
Nitro - Free flick in your turn
Scanner - Look at one opponent's hand
Heal - Recover 1 Armor
Espionage - Discard random card from one opponent's hand
Heatseeker - 1 damage to any car on 2+ on 1D6, regardless of arc or range
Stunned - Opponent must offhand flick
Slow - Only 1 flick by opponent
Suicide - Double damage to opponent if you crash your car into them
Malfunction - Opponent cannot shoot
Shell - Enemy with highest Armor takes 1 damage, cannot be used when there is a tie for highest
Ebrake - Put your car facing any direction at the start of your turn
Quickdraw - Shoot before either flick instead
Plate - Take no damage from a crash
Lucky Shot - Next shot has +2 crit chance
AP Ammo - +1 damage on crit
Thief - Steal 1 random card from opponent
Governer - All opponents must discard to 4 cards
Override - Flick opponents car
Close Shot - +1 damage at 3" or less (could also be a Variant?)
Uppers - Free extra turn
Downers - Skip an opponents turn
Safe - No opponent cards can be played this turn
Draw - Draw 2 cards
Draw All - Everyone can choose to take 1 damage to draw 1 card
Big Hand - Anyone with a hand size over 4 takes 1 damage
Stop That - Prevent enemy interrupt card (a further "Stop That" can be played on this "Stop That", etc.)
Rapid Fire - Shoot twice this turn
Slick - Move enemy D6" forward
Gearbox - Move enemy D6" back
Boost - Move yourself up to 3" forward
Brakes - Move yourself up to 3" back

I tried compressing the rules to a single page, instead of two. This looks pretty good and makes for a great handout to new players.
I chopped off the margins, decreased the font size, and cut out the optional rules. Instead I'll put all the optional rules (plus the card and weapon stuff talked about above) into a new, separate document.
Then it should be easier for players to print the core rules many times, and the optional stuff just once or twice when they are ready to shake up the basic gameplay.

Here's the link to the single page PDF: http://carswithguns.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/flickin-cars-with-guns_v1-0s.pdf

I've had some reports of the embedded PDF viewer in Firefox having transparency issues with the background, so you might need to open with something locally instead.