Looking for some variety in your RoboRally games? Try one of our weekly variants.

The Button

The player whose robot began in Docking Bay 1 starts the game with "The Button." This is any convenient object that is easily recognizable and easily passed from player to player -- a Rubik's cube, a Chewbacca action figure, or a travel alarm clock all work equally well.

The Deal

Each player is dealt five Program cards ("the hole"). Four more are dealt face-up near the board ("the flop").

Programming

Players use their five hole cards plus the flop when programming their robots. Anywhere you want to use a flop card, leave the register empty.

After all programming is done, the player with The Button looks at his registers. If his first register is empty, he keeps The Button. Otherwise, he passes it clockwise. The first player with an empty first register keeps it. If no one has an empty first register, then the first player with an empty second register keeps it, and so on, until The Button stops somewhere (someone is bound to have an empty register). In other words, the first player who needs The Button gets to hang onto it.

Executing Programs

When completing registers, robots that intend to use flop cards for that register move before robots that have Program cards on their registers. The player who holds The Button declares which flop card he's using and executes his action. He then passes The Button clockwise to the next player who will need it, who declares which flop card he's using and executes his action, and then passes The Button clockwise, etc. If only one player needs a flop card during this register phase, he still passes The Button clockwise to the next player who will need a flop card in the next register phase. The only way a player gets to hang onto The Button after using it is if he's the only player who will need a flop card during the next register phase, or he's the last player to need a flop card this turn (in which case he probably will still need to pass it at the end of the next programming phase).

Flop cards don't need to be preselected! You get to choose your flop card at the moment you need it, based on the situation on the board.

Players with programmed registers, however, have the opportunity to trump a flop card. After a player announces which flop card he's using but before he executes the order, any player whose register is programmed with a Program card can butt in and perform his program first (usually to push or avoid being pushed). For purposes of trumping, Program cards are considered to have higher priority numbers than flop cards regardless of their printed priority numbers.

The same flop card can be used any number of times during the turn and even during a single register phase.

Damage

As robots take damage, they lose Program cards as usual. After taking five points of damage, the player will be dealt no more cards and can only use flop cards for programming. If an empty register becomes locked by damage, it remains empty, and the robot does nothing on those phases -- it can't choose a flop card to fill a locked register.

RoboRally Variant 1: Two-Minute Turns
RoboRally Variant 2: Secret Options
RoboRally Variant 3: Pac-Man
RoboRally Variant 4: Dream Team
RoboRally Variant 5: Rotating Boards
RoboRally Variant 6: Course Layout 101
RoboRally Variant 7: Course Layout 201
RoboRally Variant 8: British Beagle
RoboRally Variant 9: The Cube
RoboRally Variant 10: Texas Hold 'Em
RoboRally Variant 11: RoboClue
RoboRally Variant 12: Round Robon
RoboRally Variant 13: RoboRummy