Auto Racing: Plaay’s Red, White, & Blue Racin’
Like many of their other games (Soccer & Hockey for example), Plaay’s auto racing game is based on highlights rather than moment by moment action. Therefore, game play is very different. Instead of moving each racer around a track, which is very time consuming when dealing with 30 or 40 racers, the game focuses on turns that represent a handful of laps. A racing purist might have objections about the game play design, but the results speak volumes for an entertaining game where the top racers are usually the ones battling it out, but there’s almost always a surprise racer who through luck (either their good luck, another’s bad luck, or a combination of both) is racing at or near the front. It makes for exciting races, while producing realistic seasons. It’s based on NASCAR, but because of the game engine, any style of racing can be played. There are homebrews from other gamers of Indy cars, a world championship of real life and fictional drivers, kart racing, and someone has even made Roman charioteers.
Like with most of their other games, Plaay offers season sets, all-time greats set, and a fictional world. Sets include track cards as well as driver cards. As usual, you’ll find me immersed in the fictional world of SCRAM.
The first season of SCRAM is 2012 and that’s where I begin. I’m old school, so no playoffs. The champion is the driver with the most points at the end of the season. Seasons generally consist of 32 races on a schedule that comes with the set. The scoring system is mostly based on finishing position with 1 point for finishing 43rd (last) up to 42 points for finishing 2nd. One additional point for each place. 1st place gets 45 points. A bonus point is awarded for pole position, most laps (turns) led, and for each driver leading after a lap (turn). 48 points is the best a driver can get in a race. Being old school, there are no automatic qualifiers. Racers have to make the starting 43 or they miss out. Sets have around 60 drivers, so a bad qualifying can result in 0 points for that event and really hurt a driver’s seasonal standings.
Beginning in 2013, Plaay started offering a “B” series of drivers. Originally, it was a free download of just 8 or 16 drivers and not every year had a “B” series. As this set has grown in popularity, Plaay has started offring a full “B” series to go with the regular series as an add-on. So, 2021, 2023, and 2024 have full “B” series available too. I wish to incorporate the “B” series somehow. I just haven’t figured out how just yet. I’ve considered making my own “B” series cards to ensure each season has at least 16 drivers for a level of consistancy. However, I’m hesitant to add my own driver cards.