Lazer Ryderz is a trackless racing game for two to four players that combines light, push-your-luck mechanics with area denial and strategy elements. Each player chooses a Ryder – the Galactic Waveryder, Lazer Shark, Super Sheriff, or Phantom Cosmonaut – and constructs their lazer paths with pre-formed punchboard pieces. These pieces can be placed according to the gear the player is currently in, with straight pieces, soft-angled turns, and hard-angled turns. Each of the four players has their own special ability that can be used to enhance their strategies. Their goal is to tag three Power Prizms to open the Portal and teleport to their next location. But, just where did this colorful game come from?

Anthony Amato and Nicole Kline of Cardboard Fortress Games created Lazer Ryderz from a love of TRON, tabletop wargames, 80s movies, and Saturday morning action cartoons. Originally, Anthony’s idea was to create the game with a deck of 52-cards to keep it easy to print. The game had actions on one side and arrows on the other. Players would use actions, and then place the cards, face-down, to overlap the arrows and create a line across the table.

The idea was to emulate the TRON Light Cycle scene, where players could cut one another off, or use actions to avoid each other – or possibly bump the other players off course and force them to crash. But, it was also an attempt to remove the complexity and high cost of wargaming while keeping the feeling of planning your movement ahead of time. This would all be played directly on the table, incorporating the space as the board instead of using a formal one.

They debuted the early prototype of the game at UnPub 5 in Baltimore, playing it on different sized tables and even a large section of the floor. While that version of the game didn’t pan out, they received a lot of helpful feedback, and opted to shelve it for a while. They ended up returning to it a year later, with a last-minute “Eureka!” moment. They decided to try using pieces similar to the movement pieces in X-Wing and making the goal to drive over and “tag” points instead of just trying to eliminate your opponents. Two days before UnPub 6, the two frantically cut the prototype out with little time to spare before the event started.

With a few tweaks, the game was not just playable, but also fun and exciting! Anthony and Nicole had maintained the creative vision to use the table as the playing field and avoid having a formal board, while still allowing the players to have meaningful and strategic decisions. The game has great table presence that drew interest from many playtesters, so the duo were busy running it the entire weekend, and Chris Kirkman from Greater Than Games approached them about publishing it on the final day. Two weeks later, at the PAX East Unpub booth, Christopher Badell and other members of the company played it, and they signed on to the game.

From there, it was a whirlwind. Anthony and Nicole had so many ideas for characters and backstory, and worked with Greater Than Games to bring those ideas to life. Each character is based on cartoons, attitudes, and fashion from the late 80s/early 90s. That overconfident space surfer, the Galactic Waveryder, is a mix of cheesy beach movies and the art of Hajime Sorayama. The Lazer Shark and Super Sheriff were inspired by both the musician Savant and Saturday morning action cartoons like Galaxy Rangers, Saber Riders, Silverhawks, and Street Sharks. The Phantom Cosmonaut is right out of an episode of Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Scooby Doo, or any other weird 80s science fiction trope. Each one has their own backstory, motivations, and unique powers, all of which come together in a sort of light-hearted space opera.

After an extensive search, Jennifer Closson from Greater Than Games hired the artist Blood+Chrome to render the art for Lazer Ryderz. He was able to capture the smug attitude of the Waveryder, the awesome power of the Shark, the commanding presence of the Sheriff, and the eeriness of the Cosmonaut. Combined with the VHS-style box (replete with silver “stickers” and an aged look), the original feeling that Anthony and Nicole were going for truly started to come to life. Greater than Games even brought their audio team of Trevor Casterline and Jean-Marc Giffin to bear to create a spot-on synthwave soundtrack.

Having never worked at this level with a publisher before, Anthony and Nicole weren’t entirely sure what to expect from Greater Than Games. They were given more creative input than they expected, and enjoyed the direction Blood+Chrome went with the art, as well as how Greater Than Games developed the packaging. It was also fun to work on worldbuilding for the universe, since they hadn’t put as much thought into the backstories of each character as GtG generally does with their Sentinels of the Multiverse world. Giving personalities, motivations, and histories to each of the characters was exciting, new territory.

While making the game and showing it was enjoyable, Anthony and Nicole wondered how fans of Greater Than Games would receive it. This was a much different game than they had published before – what would their fans think of it? Thankfully, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and Anthony and Nicole have had a great time not just demoing the game, but interacting with both fans of Greater Than Games and Cardboard Fortress Games. Seeing the fans’ reactions to the premise and some of the more unexpected rules during the initial demo has been a delight. The goal was to create something enjoyable and light, something that would be fun and zany, but still challenging and strategic.

Developmentally, there were a few challenges that Anthony and Nicole worked through with Greater Than Games. Balancing the powers of the characters took some testing, with some obviously more powerful than others. Stretch goal characters and their powers were also tested out prior to the Kickstarter to see which ones worked.

Lazer Ryderz will be available in the summer of 2017 to rent – um, rather, to own! You don’t need to be kind and rewind it – you can buy it in its special edition VHS tape box with all the pieces pre-punched out. You’ll be able to relive all of those mornings watching 80s cartoons. And, don’t forget to put on the soundtrack while you play it!