Range Edition

Five sports on eight arenas. Every pitch here is a flat plot the terrain law levels out of a real mountain range — the same arithmetic that raises the summits on the races page, told to hold one height inside a square. The stands, the floodlights and the tyre walls are built from the same boxes as the cars.

The ball games

Two a side. Drive through the ball to strike it; get behind it to aim. Your team mate and both opponents play properly — they pick the ball nearest them, and whoever is closest attacks while the others drop back between it and their own goal.

• Car Ball Two a side and one big ball. Drive through it to strike it, get behind it to aim, nitro for a hard shot. Your team mate and both opponents play properly. first to three, or the most in three minutes
• Car Ball: Two Balls The same pitch with two balls on it, which is twice as much to watch and half as much order. first to five
• Hover Ball The pitch is a lake. The ball floats, the craft hover, and the whole thing slides. the only arena whose floor is water

The ring, the derby, the track

• King of the Ring Eight cars inside a white circle and no damage at all — only shoves. Hit them square and hard and they fly; cross the line and you are out. last car inside wins
• The Demolition Derby Eight cars, no guns, eight hits of bodywork each. Flanks and tails take full damage and noses take half, so keep yours pointed at trouble. last car moving wins
• The Speedway Three laps of an oval the ruler sequence wobbles — three bulges a lap, so three different corners. Off the tarmac you keep 42% of your speed. three laps against pace cars
• The Midnight Circuit The same race on a longer, wider ring, after dark. three laps
• Gate Rush Five identical karts and one gate at a time. Be first through it and the next appears somewhere else. most gates in sixty seconds

And the cars are addresses, not a list

A car here is three numbers. The ruler sequence picks its class from the first — half of all addresses are a saloon, one in sixty-four is muscle, one in 128 a wedge, because that is simply what the sequence is. A hash at that address picks its proportions inside what the class allows. The paint and the trim read two more addresses of their own. Nothing is stored: there is no table of cars, and the same address always gives the same car.

And the shape decides how it drives. A long car is heavy and turns worse, a wide one turns better, a tall narrow one rolls — so what you are looking at is what you are driving, which is not true of most games.

• A wedge Rank 7 — one address in 128. Low, wide and the quickest thing the law makes: 40.4 m/s and it bites where everything else slides. car-3j-1d-10-x
• A van Rank 4 — one in 32. Five metres of slab, 26.1 m/s, and the most roll of anything: being tall and narrow is what earns that. car-f-c-e-6
• Muscle Rank 5 — one in 64. A long bonnet, a short deck and a Kamm tail. Quick in a straight line and wide in the corners. car-v-h-h-u
• A pickup Rank 3 — one in 16. An open bed at waist height and a cabin standing out of it, on the biggest tyres here. car-gn-5q-3m-0