VOLT – Robot battling fun!

Volt board game — VOLT is a fun robot-battle family board game.

How good are you at programming robots?

Are you ready to take on your buddies in a battle of bots to find out?

Well, now you can test your robot-programming prowess in Volt: Robot Battle Arena.

Volt is a fun board game where players use colored dice to program their robots to score points by landing on certain locations and knocking out the other robots.

Players simultaneously choose how they want their robot to move and shoot. Then everyone reveals their commands and the battles begin. After multiple rounds, one robot commander will be victorious.

Will it be you?

Check out Jaden’s video review to learn how to play Volt and to find out why he enjoys it.

Can the whole family enjoy Volt Robot Battle Arena?

Volt is a great family board game.

Even though the recommended age on the box is 13+, younger kids can definitely enjoy Volt as well. In fact, Volt is a great board game for developing young minds.

It’s not a game for toddlers. But kids 6+ will enjoy trying to get their robots onto the target spot or knocking out the other robots.

Every round of Volt requires good thinking skills.

Programming your robot to have it go where you want while at the same time guessing where the other players may move and shoot is a great mental exercise. Then even after figuring out where you’d like to move, you have to figure out the timing of it. Do you move first and then shoot or shoot and then move?

But that’s not all.

Because the dice resolve in the order of Red, White, Blue, players also need to set the right colored dice on their selected spots so their robot does what they plan.

All that thinking in a game is great for kids because they won’t even realize they’re developing their mind. They’ll be so focused on their objective that they’ll just play. And their mind will be clicking the whole time.

Of course, in our family, it’s the boys that are drawn to Volt. Mom and Brooke haven’t played Volt, nor do they seem interested in giving it a shot. Too bad for them. But lucky for us we have 4 boys (myself included) in the family because 4 players is the best amount to play with.

How much luck is involved in Volt?

Volt is a strategy board game through and through.

There really isn’t much luck at all.

Even though the game has a bunch of dice, there’s only one die that introduces luck to the game. That’s the die that determines which numbered spot robots need to land on to capture a victory point. But all the other dice are just used for programming robots – not being rolled but rather strategically placed.

So in the whole game, there’s only one luck-driven die to be rolled whenever a new victory point needs to be placed on the board.

And we don’t consider what others do to be luck driven. So if your robot is shot or pushed by another robot, that’s not because of bad luck. That’s simply because your opponent planned it that way.

Out-guessing or out-planning your opponents is all part of the fun.

How does Volt compare to RoboRally?

RoboRally is one of our favorite family board games. And when we first heard of Volt, our natural inclination was to compare the two games.

We’re very glad we gave Volt a chance because they’re definitely different games. And that’s a good thing because now we have 2 robot race/battle games that both provide their own, unique game play.

We’ll list just a few differences.

To get the best understanding of the differences between the two watch both our Volt video review and RoboRally video review.

RoboRally really is all about racing. Getting to the checkpoints in the right order is the only way to win. But in Volt, you can also score points and win by knocking out the other robots. And when you score a point by landing on a victory point spot in Volt, the next target spot moves and then everyone rushes at the next spot.
RoboRally requires programming 5 phases at a time and maneuvering around cogs, conveyor belts, pits, and lasers. And the options players have for programming those 5 phases are dependent on the cards drawn. In Volt, all options for movement and shooting are available every turn. Choices aren’t limited based on card draws.
Directions for robots in RoboRally depend on the way the robot is facing. In Volt the movement is all related to the player board orientation. Thus, in Volt players don’t have to do that extra mental figuring in which way to turn.
While RoboRally requires a lot of thought for maneuvering and calculating, it’s also a matter of doing the best with the situation you’re in (cards you’re dealt). Whereas, Volt is more strategic in game play with less luck involved.

So in the end, which game do we like the best?
It depends.

Yes, that’s a valid answer because it really does depend what type of game play experience we’re in the mood for.

If there’s just 3 or 4 of us and we want to go at each other with lots of attacking, we’ll play Volt.

If we want variety, more things to maneuver around, and are up for more chaos, we’ll pick RoboRally.

At least we have the option to make that choice.

Get both!

How does Volt score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Volt is a fun board game that scores high on our “let’s play again” game meter. It’s super easy to set up and play. Games also don’t take very long (30 min) so it’s easy to play a second time right after.

It’s especially tempting to dive into another game when someone (let’s not name names) doesn’t even go for the victory point spots but just stays on the outskirts and shoots down the other robots for points… ☺

Playing a third game in a row, however, isn’t something we’ve done simply because we’re ready for a mental break by that time.

Thanks Nazca Games for a great family board game of robot battles!