Fast & Furious board game is every bit as ridiculous as the movies

I’ll admit that I did not have great expectations for Fast & Furious: Highway Heist, the board game based on the major motion picture series. But, after spending some time with the game, I’m a bit stunned. Not only are the included scenarios a lot of fun to play, but the bits inside the box are top-notch. The budget-priced board game is every bit as ridiculous as the Fast & Furious films, and it really shows off the game design chops of developer Funko Games.

Highway Heist is a series of three minigames all built around the same set of core rules. Players take on the role of main characters from the Fast & Furious franchise — including Brian O’Connor, Dominic Toretto, Letty Ortiz, Roman Pearce, Tej Parker, and Han Seoul-Oh — each with their own special abilities. You can mix and match those abilities with four different cars, ranging from an American muscle car to an exotic supercar. Players can opt to be fast and nimble, running circles around the competition, or tanky brawlers able to take a hit and stay on the road.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

The fun really begins when players step out of the window and onto the roofs of their sports cars, and start leaping between enemy vehicles and their objective. Using tiny Cribbage pegs — not unlike the classic spouse and children markers found in The Game of Life — players can skip along vehicle roofs, bopping baddies along the way. If their own cars get wrecked, they can just hijack one of the many enemy SUVs on the road and keep on trucking.

The three included scenarios offer increasing levels of difficulty for players. Tank Assault is the most basic of the three, with players coordinating their attacks to do as much damage as possible to the M1-A1 before they run out of road. Semi Heist amps up the difficulty, with players needing to maintain position behind the big rig while teammates toss loot out of the back of the truck. The most difficult is Chopper Takedown, which introduces not one but two boss vehicles, including an armored sports car and an attack helicopter. The latter miniature is a delight, as it comes with a two-inch-tall flight stand able to loom right over other vehicles on the road.

It’s an impressive package for $29.99, with miniatures that are detailed on the top and bottom (and just begging for a decent paint job). If you’re a fan of modern board games and want to introduce them to the Fast & Furious fan in your life, I can’t think of a better way to do it.

Fast & Furious: Highway Heist is available directly from Funko Games and your friendly local game store. It’s also up for sale on Amazon and at Target stores nationwide.