Custom TRON Light Cycles Board Game and Playset

In honor of the TRON: Legacy DVD release, I wanted to show off my custom TRON board game and play set. I got the idea for creating a TRON board game from Terrainaholic on YouTube, who is working on TRON-inspired gaming terrain. I decided to make a board game/playset for me to play with my kids (not for sale, sorry).

Sorry in advance for the quality of the pictures. My camera didn't do great in the pitch-dark.

Construction:
- The board is made from two pieces of smoked acrylic, which I etched on an Epilog laser cutter at my local Tech Shop. The grid was originally supposed to be edge-lit by LEDs, but the tint in the acrylic kept the light from penetrating. So, I taped off and painted the grid with blacklight-reactive paint.
- I cut the light trails out of fluorescent orange and blue acrylic, also on the laser cutter.
- I bought the TRON vehicles and Recognizer carrying case. I modded the carrying case a bit to include rows of blue and blacklight LEDs. I am in the process of repainting the vehicles with blacklight-reactive paint.
- I'm still finishing the carrying cases for the light trails, one of which is in the video. These were made of wood, also on the laser cutter.
- Everything is sitting atop a giant lazy susan that I made for gaming.

The Game:
- We're still experimenting with the rules, but the basic game goes like this:

Pieces:
- 6 light cycles, 3 orange and 3 blue
- Orange and blue light trails (could be cardboard, about 6 of each) - 2", 4", 8", 12"
- a 1" grid playing mat (gaming mats work)

Rules:
1. Each team takes turns moving a cycle.
2. You have to start with a 2" light stream. You can accelerate or decelerate one size up or down on your next turn (2"-4"-8"-12").
3. At the end of your move, you have to turn your cycle in the direction you will be moving on your next turn.
4. If you run over a light line, you explode and are removed from the board, along with your light trail.
5. The lines behind you either stay in place (classic mode) or disappear after five segments (new mode)

A more advanced game uses dice:
1. Each cycle has a current speed in inches.
2. You don't turn at the end of your move. Instead, you make turns in the middle.
3. Within your speed distance, you can make any number of turns on your turn, after moving in 2" increments. So, if you're speed is 8", you can use two 2" segments and a 4" segment, for example.
4. Turning is not automatic. You have to roll two 6-sided dice and add the results together. To make a successful turn, your roll has to equal or exceed a value based on your speed:
- Speed 2: 3 or bettter
- Speed 4: 5 or better
- Speed 8: 7 or better
- Speed 12: 9 or better

If you fail, you can't turn. You have to continue in the direction you were going for at least another 2" before you can try to turn again.

Of course, you can always use your imagination and just play. Anyway, let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts on the game. Hope you like it.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Tron
• board game
• playset
• light cycle
• tron cycle
• laser cutter
• custom
• diy
• tron legacy

[rainybayart]

This looks great!

Another possibility for the game mechanics might be along the lines of Wings of War. Each player secretly chooses a move—accelerate, decelerate, turn left or right—from a list of possible moves, and then everyone reveals their actions simultaneously. It makes it feel more like everyone is acting at the same time, because you wouldn't necessarily have time to react and think about what the other person is doing before you decide yourself.

[kingtemp]

@rainybayart That's a brilliant idea, rainybayart! It would add some drama to the game. I think I have a good way to keep track of the moves as well. I'll get some blank dice and put the options on the dice. That way they could also serve as an AI if you want to play the game solo and roll for the "computer".

[kingtemp]

Awesome dad! Rock and roll the house!

[starbase101]

What thickness acrylic did you use? 1/8 or 1/4?

[starbase101]

This is very awesome. What size did you make the board, and how are the light trails attached during play? (Do they just set balanced on the board?)

[DarkAngel63725267]

Wow!

The game looks great, music is nice

Where did you get the music?

[MultiWeirdTV]

Are you sure you dont want to sell it or can you make more and sell those?

[ChrisHCollier]

Very nice.

[Japenet]

@VladmyreHunt You're in the ball park ... or should I say game grid. I don't know what Kingtemp's outlay was for this (it would certainly bring down costs if he had easy access to a laser for cutting/etcher), but I do know that we priced out several over the top "shiny" options when I was working on my Light Bikes set — including both florescent acrylic and electroluminescent wire for the grid — with totals coming in from $450 to $580 and more.

[VladmyreHunt]

@mckillbot5000 id say if he made these for general sale they would cost at least $500

[VladmyreHunt]

the dice version of the game makes more sense as it is random and collisions would happen more than a user being able to acknowledge the light lines and turn to avoid them, nice board mate!

[AwesomeSciFi]

I think I want to make one.

To decide on the trail segment size, you would have to roll the dice.

It would be sweet if you could jump. This would require a modification to the rules so that if you get a 6 you get a jumping segment.

[Japenet]

speedrally.

net

for those playing along at home