Case study

J Racers Board Game

J Racers, an analog racing board game for 2 to 4 players with a flat illustrated track, power cards, rule book and 3D-printed tokens.

Graphic Design
Illustration
Interaction Design

Overview

J Racers is an analog racing board game I designed for Fundamentals of Game Design at MassArt in spring 2024. Two to four players roll a die to race three laps around a winding track, dodging hazard zones and using power and skill cards. I designed the board, cards, rule book and box, and 3D printed the car tokens.

Challenge

I wanted a game that car fans would enjoy without shutting out people who see cars as just transportation. The rules had to be simple enough to learn at the table, and the board itself had to show players where the risks are before they read a single rule.

Approach

I started with a hand-drawn cardboard board and paper cards so I could playtest early. Classmates played it and filled out feedback sheets, and their notes reshaped both the board and the gameplay. The final board is a flat, top-down track with pit buildings, spectators and a checkered start. Color does the explaining: red gradient corners, a blue water patch, a brown oil spill and sandy yellow zones send you back, while orange squares mark shortcuts and upgrades. Each of the seven cards gets its own bold color and line icon. The box and rule book share a red-and-black split with a line drawing of a DeLorean.

Outcome

The finished game includes the printed board, seven power and skill cards, a one-spread rule book covering track zones and card functions, a box design, and four car tokens printed at the MassArt Fab Lab. I playtested version two with my housemates and documented the process in a postmortem, including ideas like modular tracks for a future version.

Published May 10, 2024Tools Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesignView on Behance ↗