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NASCAR: The DVD Board Game — Review
Remember that period in the 2000s when DVD board games were all the rage? Scene It? started the trend of integrating DVD challenges with dice-rolling board gaming. For a while, seemingly everything was being adapted as a DVD trivia game, from television shows to the natural world.
During that time, Specialty Board Games (SBG) Inc.–the company responsible for other TV show DVD games like CSI and The Apprentice–recognized the appeal of sports trivia and crafted an officially-licensed DVD game for NASCAR stock car racing.
Marketed as “the excitement of a real NASCAR event” in your home, thanks to real race clips and 5.1 surround sound, NASCAR: The DVD Board Game tested motorsport fans’ knowledge through 350 on-screen challenges in 15 categories.
NASCAR: The DVD Board Game Review
Publisher: Specialty Board Games, Inc.
Release: 2005
Box Dimensions: 2.5 x 10.5 x 10.5 inches
# of Players: 2 to 4 drivers or teams
Recommended Ages: 8 and up
Category: DVD trivia
Play Time: 30-75 minutes
UPC: 895193202009
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How to Play
As with any NASCAR-themed game, your goal is to be the first car to cross the racetrack’s finish line. Players’ car tokens progress around the game board by correctly answering questions posed by the DVD to all players. The subjects are diverse, ranging from team owners to official rules to specific events to track statistics. Some answers are required to be written down while others are shouted out. The game can be played individually or in teams (though answering or discussing timed questions as a team is difficult).
Along the way, players are required to detour to pit lane for a solo pit stop challenge, and comply with special spaces on the board.
Unboxing & Game Components Evaluation
NASCAR: The DVD Board Game includes:
- 1 double-sided game board track
- 1 DVD including 350 onscreen challenges
- 4 miniature stock car pawns
- 1 die
- 1 instruction manual
- 4 driver’s note pads and pencils
The best quality of NASCAR: The DVD Board Game is its appearance. All components, including the multi-colored plastic race car tokens, are exceptionally crafted. The colors and artwork on the double-sided board are dynamic and appealing. The possibility of two different race options with short or long tracks and track variations on the DVD itself consider the importance of replay value.
Similarly, a lot of effort was made in making the DVD itself, with exciting graphics, smooth transitions, high-quality footage, and adrenaline-pumping cinematic rock music.
The box insert it perfectly shaped and keeps all components in place without being damaged, which is important for a game with a delicate A/V disc.
The game’s box is overly wordy and a bit misleading–none of us playing the game (as most people who would be) weren’t dressed up in polo shirts and khakis. Perhaps we weren’t the target audience…
Review of Learning Experience
It’s easy to learn how to play NASCAR: The DVD Board Game thanks to the step-by-step video demo included on the disk, especially since the instruction booklet itself is heavily text-based and frustrating to comprehend without diagrams.
The gist of game play is fairly similar to other trivia-based DVD board games: select a category on the DVD, answer the question, and move your token. It’s a cyclical process that players will quickly catch onto through observation. The trickiest part of mastering NASCAR: The DVD Board Game is remembering requirements like the pit stops and tie-breakers.
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Review of Playing Experience
Let’s be clear: those “challenges” referred to all over the box cover are a marketing ploy to avoid calling NASCAR: The DVD Board Game a trivia game. But that’s what it is–NASCAR stock car racing trivia, pure and simple. There’s no skills testing other than fact recollection.
The material covered in NASCAR: The DVD Board Game might have been sufficient when it was released in 2005 but has little lasting appeal since it heavily favors the 1994-2004 time frame, rather than the extended legacy of stock car racing. This quickly dates the trivia and won’t engage NASCAR fans who aren’t well-read on that particular decade. And it’s certainly not ideal for passive fans who just enjoy watching the races.
Because of this, and because of how specific the questions are, even avid NASCAR fans will get stumped multiple times. While that does come with the territory of being a trivia game, 10 seconds was not enough time to think and respond, causing us to pause and read the answers during every challenge. These aren’t easy, off-the-top-of-your-head questions.
There are some things that, as a trivia game, NASCAR: The DVD Board Game does well. The written-down answers allow multiple players to be correct and move ahead at the same time–and when cars do move ahead, it’s a large distance like 6 or 7 spaces.
Most questions involve all players, rather than some DVD games (like Scene It?) which frequently force other players to sit out. And the prevalence of the multiple choice format allows non-expert players to participate by random guessing.
No matter how polished NASCAR: The DVD Board Game is as a product, it needs to be enjoyable to play, both upon purchase and years down the road. Otherwise, it doesn’t deserve a place on your game shelf. Too bad this DVD novelty game doesn’t have that longevity or broad appeal.
NASCAR: The DVD Board Game is available in limited quantities through online marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay.
Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.