Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Objective

Be the first driver to cross the finish line after completing the required number of laps.

The Basics

Each player manages a personal deck of Speed cards and a pool of Heat cards. Speed is determined by the cards you play each round — and how aggressively you push your engine. Heat cards are the price you pay for going too fast: they clog your hand with dead weight. Manage your heat, hit your corners clean, and you'll podium. Ignore it, and you'll spin out.

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table. Each player takes a player mat, a Gear pawn (starting in 1st gear), and their 12 Basic Speed cards plus 3 Starting Upgrade cards. Shuffle these together with the Stress cards printed on your track setup card, then deal yourself 7 cards as your starting hand. Place Heat cards face-up on the Engine space of your player mat (usually 6). Cars are placed randomly on the starting grid. The number of laps and corner speed limits are shown on the track.

Round Structure

All players perform Steps 1 and 2 simultaneously; Steps 3–9 are resolved one car at a time, starting from the frontmost car.

1. Shift Gears — Decide whether to stay in your current gear, shift up one, or shift down one. Shifting two gears in either direction costs 1 Heat card from your hand to your discard.
2. Play Cards — Play a number of cards from your hand equal to your current gear (1st gear = 1 card, 2nd = 2, etc.). Cards are placed face-down. Heat cards may not be played this way.
3. Reveal & Move — Flip your played cards, sum their values to get your Speed, and move your car exactly that many spaces. If your destination is fully occupied, you are placed in the nearest open space behind the blockage.
4. Adrenaline — The last car (or last two cars in a 5+ player race) gains bonus symbols: +1 space of movement and/or +1 Cooldown, usable in the React step.
5. React — Activate any symbols on your played cards in any order. The two core symbols are Cooldown (move Heat cards from hand back to your Engine) and Boost (flip the top card of your deck; if it's a Basic card, add its value to your speed and move further).
6. Slipstream — Optional. If your car ends its move adjacent to or directly behind another car, you may move 2 spaces forward. Slipstream does not count toward corner speed.
7. Check Corner — If you crossed any corner lines this turn, compare your total Speed against each corner's Speed Limit. For each corner, pay Heat equal to the excess. If you can't pay all owed Heat, you spin out: your car is moved back to the first open space before that corner, you take 1–2 extra Stress cards (depending on gear), and your Gear pawn drops to 1st.
8. Discard — Optionally discard unwanted cards from your hand (not Heat or Stress cards).
9. Replenish Hand — Move all played cards to your discard pile, then draw back up to 7 cards.

Key Cards

• Basic Speed cards — Values 0–5; the core of your deck.
• Stress cards — Shuffled into your deck at setup; when played, they flip the top card of your deck and add a random value (1–4) to your speed. You don't choose what you get.
• Heat cards — Start on your Engine. Paying Heat moves a card from your Engine to your hand; they count as 0 speed but take up hand space. Cooldown symbols move them back to the Engine.
• Upgrade cards — More powerful cards with special symbols; some start in your deck, and more can be added in advanced Garage mode.

Key Rules

• Speed from Boost and Adrenaline counts toward corner speed limits; Slipstream movement does not.
• You can never browse the discard pile — only the top card is visible.
• If your deck runs out mid-turn, shuffle your discard pile into a new deck immediately.
• The car closest to the Race Line (the inside edge) is always considered ahead in a tie.

Advanced Modules

The box includes optional modules for expanded play:

• Garage — Before each race, draft Upgrade cards to customize your deck with unique abilities.
• Weather & Road Conditions — Track-specific tokens that modify corner limits or restrict certain actions.
• Championship — Link multiple races into a season with persistent standings and between-race upgrades.
• Legends — AI-controlled cars that fill empty slots for shorter player counts.

At the Table

Race around the track, managing speed and heat. Too slow and you lose position; too fast and you spin out.