Reality Shift: Deluxe Review

boardgamequest.com:

Reality Shift: Deluxe is a unique 3D racing game where players try to move their magnetic Light Bikes and hack the Track to their advantage to be the first to reach the finish space.

I don’t know about you, but my life seems like I’m in a never-ending race. Be the first to the register, get ahead of that slow driver (they’re all slow drivers), or try to get a cookie before my kids devour them. You’d think since I always feel like I’m racing that I would avoid racing games. WRONG!!! I’m always willing to play a racing game and it’s great if I win but even if I don’t, I always seem to have a blast with this genre.

This brings us to today’s review of the unique 3D racing game from Apollo Games: Reality Shift: Deluxe (there is also a base game just called Reality Shift), where all players can hack the track and change it to try to make the best path to the finish line. Reality Shift: Deluxe is a racing game that plays around 30 minutes and is designed for 2-5 players.

Reality Shift: Deluxe set-up will vary depending on what game track you use: either a basic 3×3 grid of 9 Cubes or one of the deluxe Tracks using 9 to 12 Cubes. No matter the track the starting and finish Cubes are usually on opposite sides, and each has specific setup rules of which side is face up. Each player selects a color and receives the corresponding Light Bike miniature and matching Reference Card and is dealt 3 Action Cards.

The starting player will roll the speed die and if their Light Bike is not on the track place it on any visible green icon on the starting Cube. A player may perform the following actions in any order on their turn:

During movement if a Light Bike’s path is blocked before their movement ends or if it passes through another Light Bike’s space, they crash.

If a Cube is moved and crushes a Light Bike (or crashes as noted above), it’s removed from the Track and respawns at the start of their turn at either the Starting Cube or a numbered Checkpoint if collected during the race.