Old School Car Wars

We only had calculators back in the day. We did not have Excel, spreadsheets, computers, cell phones, or the Internet. We designed these cars by hand. Columns of numbers down a sheet of paper, sums and totals, points of armor, notes on weapons and accessories, and a grand total at the bottom, making each design fit into a cost and weight budget.

Pencil, paper, and imagination to create dreams.

The tables were covered with maps and counters. We laid large sheets of posterboard over the maps to ensure the counters weren't disturbed and picked them up carefully and slowly each day. We wanted to return to the game as it was tomorrow.

The games went on for days, with the story of each car a little plotline running through a massive battle with 12, 24, or even 200 cars on the board. By the end, the wrecks covered the battlefield, and those tough, lucky, or smart enough survived. The battles took hours to complete, 30 seconds of play, or days for massive battles. We had lists of who went next and handled them down the line. Special counters to track conditions like fire and lost tires.

This was the long summers in a poor Appalachia household with no Nintendo and no Internet, as they did not exist at that time. The Atari 2600 was a dead console, and there was nothing to do but go outside or play Car Wars all day.

We played Car Wars all day.

This game is in my blood.

Every other game faded away. AD&D and Mystara died. New games paled in comparison. There was no BattleTech, nor was there Warhammer. Just Car Wars, Star Frontiers, and a little West End Game's Paranoia. We made our own roleplaying game to go with Car Wars, a Traveller variant that seamlessly meshed with the board game.

We had pencils, paper, colored pencils, and magic markers to make our counters and maps. We covered poster boards in huge maps, laying out our grids and planning the maps with rulers, drafting tools, and drafting French curves. Inking and coloring them. those hand-made maps took weeks to plan and create, but they were ours and cool.

I still have them.

It also helped set me up for a lifetime of learning in science, math, engineering, and creative problem-solving. It taught me the value of seat belts and the importance of driving slowly on dangerous roads. It taught me how to be aware at night, how to drive defensively, how to be responsible and budget for the things I want, and how to deal with adversity. It taught me how to know when a battle can't be won and to bow out before things get too bad.

The honor of accepting a surrender. And expecting the same mercy in return. And when to know there would be none.

This was life.

And life was Car Wars.