Circus Maximus is a chariot racing board game that was originally published by Battleline Publications in 1979, but is better known for the 1980 Avalon Hill edition.

Players choose teams of horses and drivers, and race their custom chariots around an oval track.

There are also rules for increasing point values of drivers and horses through experience, engaging in skullduggery against other teams, and recovering from injuries.

[1] Circus Maximus, designed by Michael Matheny, was originally called Chariot Racing when it was published in 1979 by Battleline Publications, a subsidiary of Heritage Models.

(Chariot Racing and a one-on-one combat game called Gladiator were sold together under the name Circus Maximus.

)[1] When Battleline was sold to Avalon Hill in October 1979,[3] the new owners published the two components of Circus Maximus as two separate games.

In the greatest movie traditions, you can outfit your cart with scythe blades and chop up your opponent’s wheels, or flog his horses to spook them or lash enemy drivers.

Shades of great sport, even if your chariot tips over and drags your driver to his doom under the thundering hooves of the other teams.

"[1] In Issue 23 of Games, R. Wayne Schmiltberger noted that underhanded tactics were necessary, writing, "skullduggery affects the outcome nearly as much as driving skill."

Schmiltberger noted "The lengthy rules should not be taken as a sign of complexity; many of them pertain only to the campaign version which requires a series of races and introduces the element of betting."

explained its inclusion: "There are a lot of very good racing games out there, set against a wide variety of interesting backdrops, everything from cavemen riding dinosaurs through Formula One racers on real-world tracks and on to spaceships hurtling through interstellar space.

[7] At the 1980 Charles S. Roberts Awards, Circus Maximus was a finalist in the category "Best Pre-Twentieth Century Game".