Full disclosure: I know nothing about the world of velodrome racing (aka indoor cycling); other than they ride bicycles, really fast, at angles that would make a mountain goat sweat. But the brightly colored artwork for Spokes, the new release from Radical 8 Games, drew me in. And while you might not be able to judge the game by its cover, you can guarantee that it will get my attention.
I don’t know anything more about the sport after several plays of Spokes, but I can tell you that I had a lot of fun. Let me tell you about it!
The track is calling. Are you ready?
In Spokes, 1-6 players speed around an oval track, trying to be the first to complete 3 laps. You accomplish this by moving along routes, composed of colored bars (spokes), initially placed randomly on the track. Move as far as you can on a single color, before ending your turn.
Each player has a personal board that guides and restricts your movement for a turn. On your turn, you move the spoke marker cube on your player board one, two, or three places clockwise.
Then taking the spoke you moved past, swap it with a single leg on the track along a route available to you. Let’s take a look at some examples.
After preparing your route, move your marker as far forward as you can. The only rules are that you can’t go backwards. You can even move through other players, as long as you can move past them. But since no two player pieces can occupy the same space, if there’s ever a time when you might stop on the same space, you would instead stop on the space behind that player, and flip your slipstream board to the active side. Now on a future turn you can slipstream through a single leg of any color, along your route. Let’s look at some examples.
Once a player has finished their 3rd lap, the race immediately ends, and they claim the winner’s laurel.
Bent Wheel or a Smooth Ride?
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I broke out Spokes for the first time. Upon opening the box I was presented with a double layer which allows the randomly placed spokes to recess. The brightly colored artwork carries through to the board, which is a delight to look at. The components feel old-school, with simple wooden pieces…those spokes look straight out of my copy of Agricola All Creatures Big and Small.
But it’s the game play that deserves discussion. I’ve played this now with 3, 4, and 6 players; the latter single player instead of in teams of 2. While I think the 4 or 5 player option is your best bet, it was surprisingly fun at 6.
There are a number of considerations to be had in Spokes. Because you use your spoke marker cube to determine which color you’re picking for replacement, you have to look ahead to the next possible route to help guide your decision. Sure you could move 1 extra leg now, but if you hold back slightly, that pink route might open up on your next turn.
What adds to the decision space is that every other player is making the same calculations. Luckily, player boards are public. So you can scan the table to see that no one around you is able to access yellow, which is what you’re aiming for next.
The biggest hurdle to your future movement are the pieces you’re picking up now. If you want to move forward along white, you’re probably going to pick a white piece from your player board to play on the track, perhaps picking up a green along the way. But if next turn you also pick up a green to replace a blue, you could quickly find yourself limiting your choices.
One thing that’s also worth considering is that if you set yourself up to move 8 or 9 legs, another player could and will use that same route, and move past you. So you’re constantly scanning both the track and the boards of other players to make sure you’re not leaving an 8 lane freeway.
Spokes doesn’t have any outstanding weaknesses, and the play time on the box is pretty accurate. If you enjoy optimization puzzles and / or enjoy cycling, then Spokes is definitely worth your while. Give it a shot.
