Titan Race - A White Mason Board Game Critique

It's been a busy few weeks for The Teege and I, and it began with a new source of intrigue. March saw the inaugural board games night event in Aroma, the coffee shop and cocktail bar so close to our hearts - and Mr Mason and I were joined by a fine consortium of compatriots in bringing both simple and complex tabletop play to this most welcoming of venues. Yet as the evening unfolded, it was a comparatively recent game, Funforge's 'Titan Race', which piqued our particular interest.

Chanced upon in the local specialist emporium, this simple jaunt - be the first mythical being to win the titular race - turned out to be a surprisingly nuanced and entertaining caper. Titan Race packs six copyright-friendly figures from legends and folklore together, each riding an almighty mount, and each specialising in their own weaponised means by which to turn the odds back in your favour.

The characters are fun, each pandering to a choice geek demographic - your humble writer was enamoured with the goblin pirate piloting a steampunk robot crab, while The Teege honoured his ancestry in electing for a yeti-riding Norse demigod. Other racers, like the dragon-critter-riding knight and the cultist atop a Lovecraftian monstrosity, each bring their own unique mythos and mayhem to the table.

Each character has access to a unique weapon - a yeti ice punch, a life-sapping dark power, an arsenal of traps to deposit on the track - to further flavour this mad scramble for the finish. In a twist almost like the arcade videogames of yore, Titan Racer has an intriguing mechanic for players who stray beyond the confines of the themed boards that define its racetracks. Indeed, leave the right hand side of the board, and your character appears on the left, as though circumnavigating the tiny world it represents. This opens up a surprisingly deep well of tactical play, which is further reinforced by the power-ups obtainable during play.

These weapons arise if you pass over specified areas of the board, similar to the hovering question mark boxes of Mario Kart games. They range from invulnerability (no lava shall thwart you!), through to specialised weaponry, and even to a summonable portal that The Teege used to devastatingly victorious effect.

So far, so fun. Each board has its own quirk - the ice world contains slippery regions that can help or hinder movement, the pirate island has spaces which incur the wrath of the local corsairs - and the idea is that tight, impactful races in which each player jostles for position whilst crashing, diminishing rivals' hitpoints and coming out on top, ought ensue. And while racing from the bottom to the top of the board in three laps sounds fun, we opted for the optional 'Grand Slam' rule, linking three board-worlds together for a multi-terrain challenge.

However, what sets Titan Race apart above all else is its use of dice. Indeed, the six bundled cubes of chaos contribute anything from straight-out sprints to swerving, trap-laying combos - and each face of the die also has a colour corresponding to a given character.

During a game of Titan Race, players take as many dice as there are players on the board, then roll to create a collective 'pool' of options. The first player in turn order chooses which of the available moves, as presented on the dice, best befits his racer, before the remaining players take turns to pick the remaining options. Furthermore, if you pick a die with the same colour as your player character, you can heal a hitpoint - a vital boon, lest you miss a turn if entirely knocked out. The penalty for full hitpoint depletion may seem mild, but take it from us - missing but a single turn in Titan Race can cost the game entirely. That said, downed players can still pick a die from the pool to thwart advantages otherwise offered to other players, lending a wry strategy to proceedings.

The Teege's Verdict of Titan Race is one of simplicity. It is a superb game, and I would recommend this to new gamers and established tabletop players alike. The idea of Mario Kart in a board game is probably the closest example we could find, and sums up the enjoyment that was created when playing said game (sorry to our buddy Nick for my punching you back to the other side of the lake, but The Teege won)! I give this a 4/5 stars and wait for the second round to begin!


We had a sensational time with Titan Race, to the extent that it's become a surprising hit with our board game community, and a growing favourite among our collection. Were your scribe to muster a complaint, it would merely be that he wants more - more weapons, more racers, more boards to trample through, and more mayhem! 3.5 / 5 Stars to a zesty new game, already packed with promise - but so ideal to become so very much more.

So if you chance upon Mr White and Mr Mason in the wild at a board game event, why not take us on in a race?

Just don't let The Teege near the interdimensional portal...