Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Hello there, First name / friend! Today I'm bringing you a newer set from our collection - you won't find this one on the must-have checklist! In Heat: Pedal to the Metal you are competing in a car race. 

Heat can be played with 1-6 players. It's VERY customizable, which is my favorite part! There's a basic rulebook and an advanced. We played the basic version once on each track to start. Heat comes with 4 tracks: USA, Italy, France, and England. Above is the USA board, which they recommend for your first game. 

 

To begin, you'll choose a car and take the basic cards that match. The cards are numbered 0-5 to indicate how many spaces you will move on the track. The track board will tell you how many heat and stress cards to start with. The heat goes in its own pile, the rest get shuffled up. You draw 7 cards to start and place your car in first gear. Randomly choose starting positions on the track. Now you're ready to start the race! 

Your gear will determine how many cards you will play.  The car has four gears and you can move up or down one gear each turn. If you move two gears, you'll have to take a heat card into your discard pile. But it's up to you which cards you want to play each turn. You can't discard your stress and heat cards, so you'll eventually have to either play your stress (which means you'll play the top card from your draw pile) or shift to 1st or 2nd gear to cool down. 

 

Just like if you're driving a car around a tight turn, you'll have to slow down, or you could spin out. You also have to make sure not to overheat, as this will cause more stress to your car.

 

While playing Heat, there will be a few corner checkpoints along the way. Below you can see a circle with a 3 and a circle with a 2. Your total speed while passing those has to be less than or equal to that number, or you will have to add heat to your car. You only get a certain number of heat cards (usually 6), so you have to be careful not to deplete your pile or you won't be able to complete the turn AND you'll add stress to your car.

 

There are a few other minor rules that I will let you explore on your own. It's really not too bad! It's categorized as medium light.

Like I said at the beginning, one of my favorite things is that you can easily customize this game. You can add extra ghost players. You can change the weather, making the game more challenging. You can choose your own upgrades. You can have a championship around the world. It really is a great game! 

 

Unfortunately, this one was a hot commodity! It's sold out in a lot of places. If you'd like me to let you know when it restocks, just ask. If you have a local game store, it may be worth asking them, too. 

If you see a game on the list that you'd love an email of, just let me know and I'll send it to ya!

 

What have you been playing lately?

Happy playing!

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