Rush Hour (board game)

Rush Hour is a sliding block puzzle invented by Nob Yoshigahara in the 1970s. It was first sold in the United States in 1996. It is now being manufactured by ThinkFun (formerly Binary Arts).

ThinkFun now sells Rush Hour spin-offs Rush Hour Jr., Safari Rush Hour, Railroad Rush Hour, Rush Hour Brain Fitness and Rush Hour Shift, with puzzles by Scott Kim. An iOS version of the game has been released in 2010 with both free and paid versions (the latter with more puzzles and features).

The Regular Edition comes with 40 puzzles in 1 split up into 4 different difficulties, ranging from Beginner to Expert. The Deluxe Edition has a black playing board, card box in place of the board's own card tray and 60 new puzzles with a extra difficulty: the Grand Master, which is harder than Expert. The Ultimate Collector's Edition also has a black playing board that can hold vehicles not in play and new way to display the current active card in a billboard like display. The Ultimate Collectors Edition also includes 155 new puzzles with some of them being from card set 3 and a white limo. The Regular Version includes a travel bag. Extra puzzle card packs (in addition to the 40, 60 or 155 cards included with the game) are also available. Also both the Deluxe Edition and the Ultimate Collector's Edition comes with all new shiny vehicles variant with the Ultimate Collector's Edition ones being slightly altered in design. Then in 2011, the board was changed to black, like the Deluxe Edition but with a card try and the cards was also changed to have new levels and design to match the new board color.

The board is a 6x6 grid with grooves in the tiles to allow cars to slide, card tray to hold the cards, current active card holder and an exit hole. The game comes with 16 vehicles (12 cars, 4 trucks) which each are colored differently and 40 puzzle cards. Additionally the cars take up 2 squares each and the trucks take up 3 squares each. Also all vehicles can only be moved within a straight line along the grid and they cannot be rotated. Lastly, the puzzle card shows which colored cars and trucks get placed on the board and where they should be placed. In addition to that, each card has a different level number. The higher the level number, the more difficult the challenge is.

The goal of the game is to get only the red car out through the exit of the board by moving the other vehicles out of its way. However, the cars and trucks (set up before play, according to a puzzle card) obstruct the path which makes the puzzle harder.

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Wikipedia