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Set in the Roman stadium Circus Maximus, in Ave Caesar, players use cards to move their chariots around a quasi-variable track. The track itself has bottlenecks and lane-changing restrictions, which make the race interesting for the racers (very similar to Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix or Daytona 500). Players are required to race three laps, and they must stop to 'Hail Caesar' before they can finish (a pit stop). The game is light, but if you waste too many moves taking the longer, outside-routes on corners, you may not have enough movement to finish the race. Later, the game was revamped into Ausgebremst, with the most notable changes being modular boards and options to reduce the luck.
The Cafe Games/Pro Ludo edition has only 2 different tracks compared to the Ravensburger edition with 2 track variants on both sides of the board.
It was re-released in 2022 by DiceTree Games with deluxe components, new maps, and new variants (by the designer).
- Two-player head-to-head abstract with strong tension
- The dual-regions design keeps choices meaningful and replayable
- As an abstract game, it may not appeal to players seeking thematic, cinematic experiences
- region control and strategic placement in a Roman setting
- Ancient Rome
- strategic, region-focused
- Blitzkrieg
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Hidden information (screen) — Chips behind a screen inform two-front region control gameplay
- Two-region control — Players influence two regions via two-sided boards and two-sided chips
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's really different from chess
- it's different cards every time
- it's a really quick playing kind of tableau builder
- the art this is like a neon pinks and blues which I'm such a sucker for
- it's basically bug chess
- it's the same game again so you got air, land and sea you got three different theaters
- it's a two-player drafting game
- surrounding different regions of Rome and you're Pompey versus Caesar
- this is when you're talking about it being like a full game this fills your table
References (from this video)
- Exciting premise and enthusiastic early support from publishers
- Early positive reception when received as a review copy
- The reviewer notes they were harsher than they should have been
- team-based, social, and area-control-ish interaction
- ancient Rome political intrigue and empire-building
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Players compete for influence and control on a strategic board.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- reaching 5,000 that's that's huge we never thought we would get this
- this channel has given us the chance to meet people who watch
- we wanted to make what we were saying would be what we would be if we didn't get a free
- it's amazing that this stuff happens
- our world had been opened up to this whole other level of board games
- there's no 100% right answer