Jogo dos Transformers

Jogo dos Transformers (in English, "The Transformers Game") is a board game by Estrela, made exclusively for the Brazilian market. It was released in 1985.

The game is based on Estrela's localization of the original Transformers toyline, featuring the Robocars as the protagonists. Following in line with the quirks of the first toys and merchandise released for said localization, it does not feature any factions or even directly named characters, with the four Robocars apparently being opponents in a fierce competition.

Gameplay

After picking their characters, each player will launch the dice and whoever scores the highest will start in robot mode. The robot mode player will then try to go after one of the red "Danger Zones" where they'll be able to score points, meanwhile; the remaining players will try to hunt them down. When someone reaches the robot mode player, they will enter the "Transformers Duel" mode and each will have to pick one of two cards (each card containing their characters' respective vehicles swerving either left or right) and launch them at the same time: if both collide, then the challenging player will lose the combat, meanwhile; if they perform a near miss then the challenger will take the mantle of becoming the robot mode player.

This loop continues until all the Danger Zone points are taken, with the collected points for each player being tallied to determine the game's winner.

Game board

The game board consists of a set of intersecting roads, with the starting positions for the characters being placed near the corners. The four included pawns - simply called "carrinhos" (little cars) in the instructions but identifiable by the art in the included cards - are:

• Volks / Bumblebee
• Camaro / Windcharger
• Carrera / Cliffjumper
• Sedan

Each of the pawns includes a unique sticker that can be attached to their underside, allowing them to "transform" into robot mode by being placed vertically.

Notes

• The game's box art features a few oddities:
  • A pair of Topspin clones are visible, even though Top Spin was not actually part of the Estrela version of the toyline. Salt-Man X - Top Spin's retool in the Brazil market - is also featured, although he does not show up in the game.
  • There's a spaceship shooting at one of the Topspins. Considering that this game is from before the concept of Transformers factions (or, really, even the broader Transformers war) was introduced to Brazil, it leaves the question of who exactly is shooting at them up in the air.
  • Finally, there's the elephant in the room: the choice to have the action be set on a warping, ancient-looking and yet oddly minimalist bridge, like something out of a surrealist painting. Brazilian board game illustrators in the 1980s were pretty avant-garde, we suppose.