Gamehelpheat

Playing a Round

“Heat: Pedal to the Metal™” is played over several rounds. Each round all players ALWAYS complete 4 steps marked *.

The remaining steps (4-8) are all situational and only sometimes apply to your turn. All players complete steps 1 and 2 at the same time (do them in order, but without waiting for each other). Then, starting with the frontmost car, closest to the Race Line, complete steps 3 through 9. Once a car has completed step 9 and ended their turn, proceed back through the positions completing one car’s turn at a time. Repeat this sequence until all cars have finished the race (check the number of laps on the board for the track you are using).

• 1* Shift Gears
• 2* Play Cards
• 3* Reveal and Move
• 4 Adrenaline
• 5 React
• 6 Slipsteam
• 7 Check Corner
• 8 Discard
• 9* Replenish Hand

Shift Gears

First, check which gear your car is in, and decide if you want to leave it there or shift it one gear up or down from that position.

Note: You can choose to shift your gear up/down two positions, but doing so will require that you pay one Heat

Play Cards

Your current gear determines exactly how many cards you play from your hand. 1st gear means you must play 1 card, 2nd gear is 2 cards, and so on.

In this step you can play all types of cards except for Heat cards. Keep the 1-4 played cards facedown in your own Play Area.

Reveal and Move

Reveal the cards in your Play Area, then add all values together to determine your Speed. Values from Upgrade and Stress cards (see below) contribute to that total Speed. Move your car forward by exactly that many Spaces on the track. Always put your car on the Spot closest to the Race Line if available.

Cars never prevent you from passing through them, even when it looks like the race track is blocked. However, if you would end your move in a Space where there are cars on all Spots, then you are blocked and must put your car in the first Space with a free Spot behind the cars that blocked you (as close to the Race Line as possible).

If there are 2 cars next to each other, the car closest to the Race Line is considered ahead for all purposes.

Adrenaline

1-4 cars Only applies if you are the last car to move this round

5-6 cars Only apples to the two last cars to move this round

Adrenaline helps the last player each round. It is not really a step of its own, but gives that player extra symbols they may use in the next step (React). They may move 1 extra Space while adding 1 to their Speed value and/or gain 1 extra Cooldown.

Note: Adrenaline cannot be saved for future rounds.

React

In this step you get to activate symbols you have access to in ANY order you want.

In the core game you have access to symbols from your current gear (Boost and/or Cooldown) and Adrenaline if last. Each symbol is activated and completed individually.

Cooldown

Cooldown is an important aspect of the game because it allows you to take a Heat card from your hand and put it back in your Engine (so you can use the Heat card again). The number in the Cooldown symbol indicates how many Heat you can move in this way. You gain access to Cooldown in a few ways but the most common is from driving in 1st gear (Cooldown 3) and 2nd gear (Cooldown 1).

Boost

Regardless of which gear you are in you may pay 1 Heat to boost once per turn. Boosting gives you a + symbol as reminded on the player mats. Move your car accordingly, you may still be blocked.

Note: + symbols always increase your Speed value for the purpose of the Check Corner step.

Adrenaline

May use your +1 Speed and/or 1 extra Cooldown

Heat Cards

As you race around the track you should use Heat to drive faster on straights and in corners. As a consequence, Heat cards will move from your Engine to your discard pile. Later on they will be shuffled into your draw deck and each your hand. The only way to get Heat cards out of your hand and back into the Engine is to cool down, typically by shifting to lower gears. This cycle means the same Heat card could be used several times during a race, depending on how fast you use it, draw it and cool it down again. Heat cards can never be discarded or played from your hand. They effectively reduce your hand size by filling it up with useless cards.

Paying Heat

Every time you are asked to pay 1 Heat, you must take 1 Heat card from your Engine and move it to your discard pile. If you do not have a Heat card available, you cannot choose to Boost. If you went through a corner exceeding the Speed Limit and do not have enough Heat to pay, you spin out.

Shifting up/down 2 positions

If you want to move your Gear pawn an extra step up or down (e.g. between gears 1&3 or 2&4) during step 1: Shift Gears, you have to pay 1 Heat immediately. As everyone shifts gears at the same time, just announce you are doing it, pay the Heat and move your Gear pawn accordingly.

Cluttered Hand

In rare circumstances you can get stuck with so many Heat cards in your hand that you don’t have enough playable cards for the gear you’re in. If this happens, use as many playable cards as possible and cover the difference with Heat cards. In this case, your car does not move this turn. Instead, when you reveal your played cards, immediately move your Gear pawn to 1st gear, place the cards that are in your Play Area in your Discard pile, and skip straight to step 9 (Replenish Hand).