Experience the thrill of car racing in your own living room. Race around a famous speedway, vying with other cars (and players) to be the first across the finish line. Players use the cards dealt them to decide which cars to bid on. Playing cards moves the cars around the track, with the first car past the checkered flag taking home the biggest purse. Easy to understand, Grand Prix is a great family game. Winner of "100 Best Games of 1996" by Games Magazine. Players are dealt a hand of cards which have movement numbers for one or more of the cars. When a card is played, the cars are advanced the number of spaces indicated in order from top to bottom. However, if the track is blocked, then that movement is lost, so the idea is to use the cards that help your opponents (which you'll likely have to play eventually) only when they won't be able to take advantage of the movement.

In this fast-paced and colorfully designed game, you'll invest in a stable of Formula 1 race cars and then strategically move them around your choice of the Detroit or Cleveland courses depicted on the large double-sided folding board. Cards played by you and your opponents allow some or all cars to move every turn. Three-lane straightaways narrow into two lanes or--yikes!--extremely tight single-lane curves, which can block all laggards. Or play a "switch" card and hijack an opponent's moves. If you're blocked, you're stuck until the pileup clears, but cross the finish line and you're in the money: 200 thou for first to take the flag, down to 10K if you sputter in last. The owner with the most money after three races wins. The Cleveland course looks to have more multilane straightaways, while the Detroit side of the board contains some unusual single-lane pipe joints. The maneuvering and finesse are up to you. --Tony Mason