This will be a very short review because there’s not much to say about PitchCar. If it wasn’t widely considered a classic dexterity game I wouldn’t have bothered to even play it, much less write about it. It is much more of a toy than it is a game, and an incredibly boring toy at that. I genuinely find setting up the game more interesting than the game itself. Truth be told, PitchCar is probably the most uneventful dexterity game I’ve ever played. I say that without an ounce of hyperbole.
PitchCar is a racing game you play by flicking wooden discs around a modular track. You can build said track with as many twists, turns, and straight-aways as you like. Once built, each player individually does a qualifying lap around the track to determine turn order. The fewer flicks you take to complete your lap, the better your position. This part is extremely boring at higher player counts for obvious reasons. Following the qualifying round is the real deal. Players take turns flicking their discs around the track, each aiming to be the first to complete three laps. This is only slightly less boring than the qualifiers.
If I was attempting to review this game from the perspective of a child, I might be more enthusiastic about it. But I’m not, because why would I be? PitchCar is a seriously uninteresting dexterity game compared to all the others I’ve played. Rhino Hero and Jenga both have way more tension due to their balanced mixture of meta-cooperation (“How high can we all get this thing?”) and standard competitive rules (“Whoever screws this up for everyone loses the game”). Dungeon Fighter can be laugh out loud funny and doubles as a great drinking game. The new Fireball Island has more going on than just flicking components around the board for a reason.
To be fair, PitchCar came out in 1995. To be equally fair, that doesn’t it make it any less boring. The most excitement you can hope for in a game of PitchCar is a good flick swinging you around a bend efficiently. Sure, there are optional rules that allow for blasting your opponents off the track, but all that really does is add a layer of annoyance on top of the tedium. PitchCar is just not an interesting game. Even if it was the only dexterity game in town, I wouldn’t want to play it again. There’s no reason to. Slot cars came out 80 years before this game, and those were way cooler. Hot Wheels are still a thing, and those are also way cooler. If some hidden magic is what led to PitchCar‘s lofty stature in the pantheon of dexterity games, I will openly admit I am blind to it. Because while I don’t hate PitchCar, I am utterly uninterested in it.
PitchCar gets a rating of TWO out of FIVE, indicating it is NOT RECOMMENDED.