How to play
- Deck and boiler. Each player has a deck of 18 cards: twelve pace cards (three each of 1, 2, 3 and 4), Coast (speed 0), Dash (speed 5), one ember card and three jolt cards. Your boiler holds 6 embers. You draw a hand of 7. Your cart starts in gear 1.
- Shift and plan. Each round, choose your gear: the same, or one or two up or down, from 1 to 4. A shift of one is free. A shift of two costs 1 ember. Then put that many cards face down. Everyone plans at the same time, and a sent plan is final. You cannot play an ember card.
- The reveal and the move. All plans turn over at once. Your speed is the sum of your cards. Carts move one at a time, the front cart first. A cart moves that many spaces. Each space has two spots, and a cart takes the inside spot if it is free.
- Jolt cards and the flip. A jolt card adds a flip. Turn over cards from your deck until a pace card shows. Its number adds to your speed. Every other card that you turn over goes to your discard pile.
- Pluck. The last cart gets pluck. In a race of 5 or 6, the last two carts get it. Pluck gives 1 free extra space and 1 more cool.
- Stoke and cool. Once a turn, you may stoke. Pay 1 ember, make one more flip, and move that many spaces. In gear 1 you cool 3 embers. In gear 2 you cool 1. To cool is to move ember cards from your hand to your boiler.
- The wake. If another cart is on your space or on the space just ahead, you may ride its wake. You move 2 more spaces. The wake does not count as speed. You cannot ride the wake across the finish line.
- Bends and skids. Each bend has a limit on its plate. If you cross it faster than the limit, pay 1 ember for each point over. Paid embers go to your discard pile, and they come back into your deck later. If your boiler cannot pay, your cart skids. It pays every ember and spins on the grass. It goes back before the bend, takes jolt cards, and drops to gear 1.
- Discard and draw. When all carts have moved, you may discard any cards that are not embers or jolts. Then you draw up to 7 cards. If your deck runs out, your discard pile is shuffled into a new deck.
- A choked hand. If your hand has too few cards to fill any gear you may choose, your hand is choked. You play your cards, your cart does not move, and your gear drops to 1.
- Laps and the finish. A cart finishes when it crosses the line at the end of its last lap. The first cart over the line wins. The race goes on until every cart has finished.
- Veteran carts. At some tables the bot seats are veteran carts. A veteran cart has no cards and no boiler. Each round the game turns one veteran card for all of them. Each veteran cart reads its own column: a top speed and a bonus. Far from a bend, it drives at its top speed. It can stop just before the line. Near a bend, it drives the limit plus its bonus. It never skids. The bot level sets how fast they are: easy adds 0 to every top speed, medium adds 1, hard adds 2.
- Racing alone. You can race alone. Pick the bots, choose a stage with veteran carts, and race 2 to 5 of them. You win when your cart finishes first. At the end, the game says what place you took.
- The Workshop. At some tables each player drafts 3 upgrade cards before the race. They replace Coast, Dash and the ember card. Each card has a speed and one or two symbols. A symbol can cool embers, shed jolt cards, or change a bend. Two cards cost embers to play.
- Sky and road. At some tables a sky card changes the weather for the whole race. Three road tokens change three bends. Everyone sees them before the first plan. A token can change a limit, add to the cost of going over it, make a stoke free, or lengthen a wake.
The tracks
| Track | Laps | Bends | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Millpond Loop | 1 | 3 | Short and kind. The first race. |
| Long Common | 2 | 3 | Fast. Long straights and one tight hairpin. |
| Kilnhill Twists | 2 | 4 | Technical. Three bends in a run, then a hairpin. |
At the online table
- Tap a gear on the dial. Then tap that many cards in your hand. Tap Set off when the plan is ready. The chalk mark on the road shows where your plan stops and what the next bend costs.
- When it is your cart's turn, the buttons offer Stoke, Extra space and Ride the wake, and Done ends your choices.
- On a phone the road shows the way ahead of your cart. Tap Circuit to see the whole track.
- On a keyboard: G and L change the gear, 1 to 7 lift a card, Space sets off or draws, T stokes, P takes the extra space, W rides the wake, D is done, F shows the circuit, M turns the sound off.
- The plan has a 30-second timer, and other steps have 20 seconds. If time runs out, the table plays a safe move for you.
- An empty seat is taken by a bot, always marked as a bot.
Questions
- Why can I not play an ember card?
- An ember card is not a speed card. In gear 1 or gear 2, you cool it back into your boiler. In other gears, play your other cards.
- Why did my cart stop short?
- Both spots of the space were taken, so your cart stopped on the first space back that has a free spot.
- Why did I skid?
- Your speed was over the limit of a bend, and your boiler did not hold enough embers to pay for it. Check the limit on the plate before you set off.
- What does the wake count for?
- It moves you 2 spaces, but it is not speed. A bend that you cross in the wake is still checked against your speed.
- How long is a race?
- A race on Millpond Loop takes about 10 minutes. A race on Long Common or Kilnhill Twists takes 30 to 45 minutes with 4 players.
Why it is fair
A secret seed shuffles every deck. You see its fingerprint when the game starts. You see the seed when it ends, so you can deal every deck again and check it. Verify a game.