Thunder Road Vendetta: Carnival of Chaos Review
Thunder Road Vendetta was a game I have avoided for years because I always had the belief that, “I don’t like racing games.” Post GenCon 2025, after receiving the Maximum Chrome version of the game from Restoration Games for review, and I am a changed man: Thunder Road Vendetta is easily one of my favorite experiences in recent memory, and the Carnival of Chaos expansion only increases that love of the game.
A lot of the core mechanics in Carnival of Chaos are directly lifted from the base game. Please read our full review of that for a more indepth look at movement, shooting, slamming and more! (LINK)
Base Thunder Road Vendetta, along with the first few expansions, did revolve around a race track. Yes, you were shooting each other, smashing each other into walls, etc. but ultimately you were working towards a finish line. Carnival of Chaos tosses that idea out the window and trades it for a battle arena, where the goal isn’t to get to a finish line, but instead to collect as much scrap as possible.
Carnival of Chaos begins with players moving their cars from one of three entrances into the arena. Once in the arena, players can move forward straight, or turn to the right and left. Unlike in the base game, you will be turning around and around while in the arena, looking for other cars to slam into and to shoot. Many of the base mechanics from Thunder Road Vendetta are present here, including how slams are resolved, how movement happens, etc. While the game itself feels drastically different, teaching existing players isn’t that difficult.
Ultimately, everything you do in the arena is to earn scrap. Damage an opponent’s car? Earn some scrap. Destroy an opponent’s car? Earn some scrap. There are other ways to earn scrap as well – the arena is owned and operated by Turbo Tina, and Tina likes when things get crazy. There are a few spotlight spaces around the board, and if you end a round in one of them, you’ll get extra scrap!
One thing you won’t contend with in Tina’s arena is hazards – these are instead replaced with party favours, and when you collect those favours, you’ll either get a cool bonus ability to use, or sometimes even some additional scrap! While the hazards migh be gone, the randomness of Tina is not. After each round, a Turbo Tina card will be flipped and a number of different things will happen. Generally, these add chaos to the game, and while it might seem unfair, it definitely will create some great gaming moments for everyone around the table.
And with that thought I come full circle to an argument I made when I reviewed the Maximum Chrome edition of the game: Thunder Road Vendetta: Carnival of Chaos is only going to be fun with the right gaming group. Players that cannot deal with randomness or don’t like “mean” games are not the ones you want to bring along into the arena. Those people will be a drag on your overall experience. With the right group, any version of Thunder Road Vendetta is a hilarious, fun experience. You just need to be in the right mindset.
There is a ton of new stuff in the box. The super weapons are really fun, the randomness from the Turbo Tina cards makes each round feel different, and of course, the party favors are a nice addition to a game that generally just hands out destruction. There are two arenas you can battle in, and the game also includes player pieces for a 5th player (purple).
All that said, I like Carnival of Chaos because it is different. While the core mechanics from the base game are here – movement, slamming, damage, etc. – the removal of the race mechanic, and the introduction of new weapons and Turbo Tina cards makes this feel like a different game within the same universe. Honestly, I sort of wish this was a stand-alone game as I think there are plenty of people that might not want to destroy people while they race, and would rather do a battle royal style game instead. That being said, Carnival of Chaos is my new favorite way to play Thunder Road Vendetta.
Article By Adam Roffel
