Had the opportunity to run a small demo game of Gaslands for a friend recently. It made me realize two things:

1. It’s been years since I last played.
2. The game is still fun.

We ran a Death Race–I find it’s the best new person scenario. The objective is to cross the finish line, which takes the focus off shooting and puts it where it belongs: movement. The beauty of Gaslands is the movement system. You select a template and move your car to the end of it. The available templates are based on your current gear (speed). The catch is that once you pick up a template you’re locked to it, so you may find yourself selecting a turn that isn’t quite sharp enough or a straight that takes you too far forward.

It’s a fun dynamic that played out excellently here. My opponent had a car run forward considerably (not even in the screenshot above of the second and third place cars) but lost control at the last second and failed to ever make it across the finish line.

No, instead at the end of several wrecks and some well aimed shooting, the car in last place won the race. That’s the yellow car above. Note the two wrecks ahead of him: they were second and third place before a disastrous rear end collision ended both of their careers.

It was simple, fun, and done in less than two hours including chatter. Gaslands isn’t a game that will occupy you for months, but pound for pound it’s some of the most fun I’ve had hobbying and gaming in a rather compact and accessible package. It’s also deeper than you’d expect, with a ton of customization options buried away in its ruleset. You have guns, upgrades, perks, and teams that can all work together to modify your car. My only issue is it gets to be a lot of information. I tried making single cards for cars with all the rules on them… it failed. I had to resort to an FFG like system of a main card with attachment cards.

Visible here in the bottom right you’ll see the minimum: a car card (in orange) and a weapon card on each (in grey). It’s not terrible–it’s just that some weapons, equipment, and even perks have a fair amount of explanation as well as some tracking and stats. A simple dashboard that just lists out your capabilities will leave you reaching for your book from time to time for clarity.

Of course you can ignore all that. Stick to limited upgrade and just your core vehicle and it’s really not a lot to remember. This is a game that will readily scale to your needs. I guess what I’m saying is if you have around $40 (rules + dice and templates, which I strongly recommend) to spare and a desire to kitbash and paint some hotwheels, you really can’t go wrong with some Gaslands in your life.