Extreme Race: Card Game (Review)

About Extreme Race: Card Game, from BoardGameGeek:

Extreme Race: Card Game is a fast-paced set collection game for 2-6 players where you're competing to assemble race car parts and speed ahead on the track. Inspired by the challenges of desert rally racing, players must strategically collect matching sets of car components while sabotaging opponents with mismatched parts. On your turn, you'll take all cards of one type from either a checkpoint (containing 3 face-up cards) or from the Bivouac - a central area where unwanted cards accumulate. When you take cards from a checkpoint, remaining cards move to the Bivouac. If you're brave enough to take 4 or more cards from the Bivouac, you'll receive 3 bonus garage cards as a reward, keeping one and adding two to the Bivouac. The scoring system creates an interesting push-your-luck dynamic. Even-numbered sets of identical parts (2, 4, 6 cards) score positive points equal to their total value, moving you forward on the track. However, odd-numbered sets (1, 3, 5 cards) score negative points, moving you backward! This means collecting 4 tires (value 1 each) moves you 4 spaces forward, but collecting 3 tires moves you 3 spaces back. Car parts have different values: Cockpit (5), Engine (4), Brakes (3), Shock Absorbers (2), and Tires (1). Higher-value parts offer bigger rewards when collected in pairs, but also bigger penalties when left as odd sets. This creates tough decisions - do you grab valuable engines that might remain incomplete, or play it safe with lower-value tires? Each round ends when all checkpoints and the Bivouac are empty. The player with the fewest points keeps one card for the next round and starts play, gaining a strategic advantage. The race continues across multiple rounds until someone crosses the 100-point finish line on the circular track.