Cycling Party Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Elements
• Junior version
  • Starting the stage
  • Gameplay in flat section squares
  • Entry in mountain squares
  • Procedure in mountain squares
  • Sprinter
  • Water bottles
  • Arrival at the finish line
  • Withdrawals
• Senior version
  • Stage definition
  • Role selection
    • Sprinter
    • Climber
    • Rouleur
    • Flat domestique
    • Mountain section domestique
    • Lanterne rouge
  • Special throws
• Master version
  • Create a tour
  • Stage definition
  • Team selection
    • Team leader
    • Sprinter
  • Obtaining mountain and intermediate sprint points
  • Arrival at the finishing line and obtaining regularity points
  • Stage management
  • Other software options

Introduction

Cycling Party enables players to build a number of different circuits, thanks to its movable hexagon pieces. The circuits will be formed by using several different hexagons. Each hexagon is divided in turn into three squares. Each square symbolises one kilometre of the race. The changes in the relief of the road and the different events that occur will be shown using indicators placed at the kilometres agreed to by the players at the beginning of the race.

This game comes in three versions: junior, senior and master. The junior version is designed for children aged between 10 and 14, while the senior and master versions are for people of all ages. The junior version is the simplified form of the senior version and the senior version is the simplified form of the Master version. Therefore, if you want to learn how to play at a higher level, first you will have to know the rules of the previous versions.

Games can last between one and two hours, according to their characteristics.

Elements

The game consists of the following elements:

• 54 landscape hexagon pieces: these can be combined in many different ways to form the game board.
• 1 start hexagon.
• 1 arrival hexagon.
• 40 Counters/Cyclists:
  • 36 Counters/Cyclists: Distributed in 6 counters for each of the 6 teams, each numbered from 1 to 6.
  • 4 Counters/Cyclists: Leaders of the different categories in multiple stage tours:
    • Yellow: overall leader.
    • Red polka dots: best climber.
    • Purple: intermediate sprints leader.
    • Green: points classification leader.
• Indicators for the board:
  • 24 mountain pass entry and exit indicators: Their colour and design vary with the category.
  • 12 kilometres indicators: These indicate the kilometres that have been covered in the race.
  • 12 time indicators.
  • 3 kilometres to finish indicators.
  • 5 intermediate sprint indicators.
• Indicators for players:
  • 30 Water bottles: 5 per team.
  • 18 Sprints: 3 per team.
  • 6 Flat section attacks: 1 per team.
  • 18 Mountain attacks: 3 per team.
  • 12 Double throws: 2 per team.

Junior version

The junior version is the introductory version to the world of "Cycling Party". This version contains the most basic characteristics and regulations of this board game. It is considered that this version is ideal both as an initial contact with the game and as a game for players of between 10 and 14 years of age.

Starting the stage

First, the number of players is defined (from 2 to 6), the teams that each player represents and the number of cyclists that will take part in the race (5 or 6 per team). Likewise, the stage will be defined between all the players who will decide on the length of the stage and the squares that will represent flat or mountain sections.

Throughout this manual, a 200 km stage with two mountain passes, the first from square 50 to 60 and the second from 110 to 120, will be used as an example. In order to show this, mountain indicators will be placed in squares 50, 60, 110 and 120. You should take into account that squares with indicators are mountain squares; in other words, in the case of the first mountain pass, both square 50 and 60 will be mountain squares and therefore the mountain pass will be 11 km long. Moreover, every 25 kilometres an indicator will be shown at the current kilometre point in each stage.

Once the stage has been defined, this is built up using the hexagon pieces, beginning with the "start" hexagon, on which all the rider counters will be placed. The rest of the board will be made up with the remaining hexagons in the order chosen by the players. Once the stage as far as the finish has been completed, a finish hexagon will be placed and after this a number of extra hexagons, as this is the area where the stage winner will be decided. Once the stage has been built, the different indicators will be placed in accordance with the race characteristics established (indicators at the initial and final kilometres of mountain passes and kilometre indicators). It should be taken into consideration that the hexagon pieces consist of three squares, each one of which represents 1 km and that 6 counters/cyclists can remain in each square (1 from each team), and that the remaining counters can be piled on top of counters from the same team.

At that moment, each player will roll two dice for each one of his riders and each race will move forward the sum of the values of the dice rolled on their behalf. Before rolling the dice, each player must say aloud which of their riders they are rolling for and should the player not indicate any name, his turn will be considered invalid. When all the riders have had their turn, the race will be considered as having begun.

As of this moment, the dice will be rolled first by the rider in first position followed by all the other riders until the one in last place has rolled his dice; at this point the turn will end and a new one will begin. The rider placed in first position will throw first (this may not be the same one as in the first time) and then all the riders placed behind until the last one has thrown. This system will continue successively until the stage has been completed.

Gameplay in flat section squares

As defined in the example stage, there are three flat sections: from 0 to 49, from 61 to 109 and from 121 to 150. Therefore, once the first throws have been made, the riders will be located in the first 12 kilometres (6+6, maximum throw), in other words, in flat section squares.

When a rider is in a flat square, he can be in three different situations: in a peloton, following a wheel or on his own.

• Peloton: Formed when there are 5 or more riders in two empty squares.
• Paceline: A paceline is formed by 2, 3 or 4 riders. These riders must all be in the same square. A paceline will be formed when there are not sufficient riders around to form a peloton.
• Breakaway: A rider who is alone in a square and does not form part of a peloton, is a breakaway.

Three possible starts are shown below. An explanation is given of how the turn will be in each one of them:

• All the riders are in a peloton.
• A peloton made up of 20 riders.
• A peloton made up of 5 riders.

Second start:

• The green number 2 is a breakaway.
• A paceline made up of three riders (red 1 and 5 and blue 2).
• A peloton made up of 12 riders.
• A peloton made up of 6 riders.
• The purple number 3 is a breakaway.
• A paceline made up of two riders (green 5 and red 4)

The throws for each rider on flat sections are made by rolling two dice and the value obtained is the sum of the values of both dice. However, throws on flat sections depending on the situation of the rider:

• Peloton: This has an initial pace of 5; in other words, if no one throws in order to increase this, all the riders will move forward 5 squares and the turn is lost. If a player decides to roll dice with one of the members of the peloton, he indicates the rider aloud (if not, the throw is invalid) and throws. There can be two consequences:

  • If he gets between 5 and 9, the rider sets the pace. Among all the riders that have got between 5 and 9, the highest number is taken and that sets the pace of the peloton. Therefore, this will be the number of squares that all the members of the peloton will move forwards whether or not they have rolled their dice.
  • If he gets 2, 3 or 4, he gets a puncture and if he gets 10, 11 or 12 he escapes: In both cases, the rider ceases to form part of the peloton and rides at a completely different pace. The player will count as many squares as the value obtained.

  N.B. If a group of riders form a pelotón at the beginning of the turn, they will be treated like a peloton until the end of the turn. Example: if in a 5-rider peloton one of them rolls the dice, gets a 12 and counts the corresponding 12 squares. Although now the peloton only has 4 riders and therefore there are insufficient riders in order to form a peloton, these 4 riders continue to be treated as any other time until the next turn.

• Paceline: In pacelines, two dice are rolled for each rider who forms part of it (the name of the rider must be indicated out loud beforehand), but rides at the pace of the highest throw provided that the difference between throws is not in excess of 3. For example:

  • Pacelines made up of two riders:
    • The first rider gets a 10 in the second a 7 -> The first rider sets the pace so that both go at 10.
    • First rider 10, second 6 -> The first at 10 and the second at 6.
  • Paceline made up of three riders:
    • The first rider gets a 10, the second a 7, the third a 4 -> The first rider sets the pace so that all three go at 10.

Based on the third start example, a complete first turn will be emulated. Remember what the start situation was.

• The green number 2 is a breakaway.
  • He rolls two dice, gets 6, goes to square 18 (12 +6).
• A paceline made up of three riders (red 1 and 5 and blue 2).
  • 1 red, gets a 9.
  • 5 red, gets a 3.
  • 2 blue, gets a 7.
  • 1 red and 2 blue go at 9, move to square 20 (11+9).
  • Red 5 goes at 3 and moves to square 14 (11+3).
• A peloton made up of 12 riders.
  • The pace of the peloton is 5.
  • the manager of the black team decides to throw with his rider 5 and gets a 7.
  • The pace of the peloton is 7.
  • The manager of the purple team decides to throw with his rider 5 and gets a 6.
  • The pace of the peloton is 7.
  • The manager of the blue team decides to throw with his rider 5 and gets an 8.
  • The pace of the peloton is 8.
  • All the managers with riders in the peloton that have not been thrown are in agreement with the pace.
  • The 12 riders move forward 8 squares, some go at 17 (9+8) and others go at 16 (8+8).
• A peloton made up of 6 riders.
  • The pace of the peloton is 5.
  • The purple 1 throws and gets a 4, loses the pace of the peloton and goes to square 9 (5+4).
  • The black 1 throws and gets a 12, loses the pace of the peloton and goes to square 18 (6+12).

The next turn will begin with the following situation:

• A paceline made up of two riders (red 1 and blue 2)
• A peloton made up of 19 riders.
• A paceline made up of two riders (green 5 and red 4).
• The purple number 3 is a breakaway.
• The purple number 1 is a breakaway.

Entry in mountain squares

There are throws that combine a flat section and the start of a mountain pass. The entry into a mountain pass causes a drop in the pace of the race as two flat squares are the equivalent of one mountain square, and therefore this will have to be taken into consideration. Once the throw is made within the mountain pass, the numbers given by the days are counted in a different way, as explained in section "Gameplay to follow in mountain squares".

As shown in the example stage, the flat squares go as far as square 49. Bearing this in mind, we will show an example of a group of riders entering the mountain squares.

• A peloton of 10 riders cycling at a rate of 9.
  • Purple 5 and blue 1. 1(49) + 2(50) + 2(51) + 2(52) + 2(53) = 9. To square 53.
  • Blue 5, red 2 and Black 5: 1(48) + 1(49) + 2(50) + 2(51) + 2(52) + 1(53) = 9. To square 53.
  • Purple 2 and green 3. 1(47) + 1(48) + 1(49) + 2(50) + 2(51) + 2(52) = 9. To square 52.
  • Black 4, green 4 and purple 1: 1(46) + 1(47) + 1(48) + 1(49) + 2(50) + 2(51) + 1(52) = 9. To square 52.
• A peloton made up of 5 riders. The black 3 has fallen back at a pace of 4; the rest at a pace of 8
  • Black 3: Normal flat throw; 43 + 4 = 47. To square 47 and its next throw will be a flat throw.
  • The rest: 1(44) + 1(45) + 1(46) + 1(47) + 1(48) + 1(49) + 2(50) = 8. To square 50.
• The purple 4 is out on his own at a pace of 11.
  • Purple 4: 1(42) + 1(43) + 1(44) + 1(45) + 1(46) + 1(47) + 1(48) + 1(49) + 2(50) + 1(51) = 11. To square 51.

Procedure in mountain squares

In mountain squares there are no pelotons or pacelines. Therefore, all the riders will be on their own. It is necessary to point out that when a rider finds himself in a mountain square, he cannot form part of a peloton.

The accompanying illustration shows a remarkable situation. At first sight, you might think that you are looking at a peloton, however, the purple 4 is in a mountain square and cannot therefore form part of a peloton. In this case, the situation is as follows:

• The purple 4 in the mountain.
• A paceline of three riders.
• The black 3 on the flat.

When a rider at the beginning of the turn is in a mountain square, he will roll only one die and as many squares will be counted as the value of the die rolled (each square has the numeric value of the die again). Once the rider manages to leave the mountain section by means of these mountain throws (in this case, as of square 61) he will go back to the normal procedure for flat squares.

Should there be several riders from the same team in the same mountain square, it will be necessary to roll as many dice as there are riders from their team (it won't be necessary to say the name of the riders) and after rolling them, one of the dice will be assigned to each cyclist. This decision is especially important as it allows the strongest riders (sprinters) to advance more. Taking the image as an example, and it being the turn of square 53, the possible throws might be as follows:

• The purple manager riders a die for the purple 5.
  • He gets a 2 -> the purple 5 moves forward to 55 (53+2).
• The green manager rolls a die for the green 3.
  • He gets a 5 -> the green 3 moves forward to 58 (53+2).
• The blue manager rolls a dice for the blue 5 and 1.
  • He gets 2 and 5; he will have to choose between one of these two possibilities without a strategic advantage:
    • The blue 5 moves forward to 55 (53+2) and the blue 1 to 58 (53+5).
    • The blue 1 moves forward to 55 (53+2) and the blue 5 to 58 (53+5).
• The purple manager rolls two dice for the purple 1 and 2 (sprinter).
  • He gets 1 and 6; he will have to choose between one of these two possibilities with a great strategic advantage:
    • The purple 2 moves forward to 53 (53+1) and the purple 1 to 58 (52+6). Not a recommendable decision.
    • The purple 1 moves forward to 53 (52+1) and the purple 2 to 58 (52+6). Recommendable decision.

Sprinter

In the junior version there will be a special rider, the Sprinter. The sprinter will be the number 2 counter in each team. His great skill resides in the fact that at a certain moment he can accelerate on flat section squares. This is especially useful in tight finishes with many riders grouped together.

• Sprints: During the stage, the sprinter will have 1 sprint with the following characteristics. Instead of rolling two dice as in a normal flat section square, the sprint can be made as follows: by rolling three, six-sided dice or one, twenty-sided dice. In each sprint, the sprinter will decide which of these two options he prefers. At the beginning of the game, each placer is given a sprint indicator which he will have to exchange before sprinting.

If the rider who wishes to sprint is in the peloton or paceline, he will have to do it before any rider in the peloton or paceline throws as his sprint may cause the group to break up.

Water bottles

Each team will have 5 water bottles per stage. With 1 water bottle, a counter/rider moves forward one flat square and with 2, one mountain square. Throughout the stage, the manager decides when and with which of his counters he wants to use his water bottles. At the beginning of the game, players will receive 5 water bottle indicators.

The use of water bottles are subject to a number of restrictions:

• No more than 2 water bottles can be given to the same rider in one turn.
• No more than 3 water bottles can be given in one turn to all the riders in the same team.
• A water bottle cannot be given to a rider once he has crossed the finishing line.

If a player wishes to move a rider from the last square in a mountain pass to the first square of a flat section, 2 water bottles will be required, while if he wishes to go from the last square of the flat section to the first square of the mountain pass, only 1 water bottle will be necessary.

If a player wishes to give water bottles to a rider in a peloton or paceline, this must be done before or after his turn, but never during the turn of a paceline or peloton to which he belongs. And if the player wishes to use the water bottles to bring the rider closer to a more advanced paceline or peloton, he will also need to give the water bottles before the future paceline or peloton throws.

In the example, one can see a paceline and a peloton arriving at the finishing line. The red team has 2 water bottles left and the player wants to use this so that the red 2 can join the purple 5 and blue 1 paceline. In order to be able to do this, the player will have to use the water bottles before the paceline makes a throw. On the other hand, this assignment of water bottles will bring about a considerable change in the race situation. After assigning the water bottles, the situation is as follows: one paceline of three riders (purple 5, blue 1 and red 2), the peloton disappears and a paceline of two riders appears (blue 5 and black 5) and another paceline of two riders (purple 2 and green 3).

Arrival at the finish line

The rider that crosses the line by the largest number of squares is the winner of the game. We should point out that squares in the finish hexagon do not count. Therefore, in order to finish the stage, riders have to clear this hexagon and count squares in the hexagon following the finish.

Should there be several riders in the most advanced square, there will be a tie-break.

• If the most advanced riders have reached the finishing line by means of a single paceline, the rider that set the pace of the paceline is the winner.
• If the riders have reached the finishing line in any other way, a die will be rolled for each rider in this square. The highest score will win the stage. Dice will be rolled as many times as it may be necessary in order to break the deadlock.

Withdrawals

Any player may take the decision to withdraw one of his riders from the race. This option may be taken at any time and will be very useful to liven up the ends of the stages once it is thing clear which riders have an option to win the stage and which have no possibility. Withdrawals may be made between one throw and another, in other words, once the last rider has thrown and before the first throws.

Senior version

The senior version is an extended and improved version of the junior version. As stated above, all the rules of the junior version are also valid for the senior version. Therefore, a knowledge of the rules of the junior version will be used as the starting point.

This version is ideal for emulating single stage competitions such as classical bicycle races.

On the other hand, it should be pointed out that a great novelty of the senior version is the assignment of different roles in teams. Every rider will have a number of special characteristics that will be of varying levels of utility in accordance with the type of stage.

Stage definition

There are a large number of novel features to be taken into consideration before starting to set up the stage:

• There are four kinds of stages: flat, low mountains, medium mountains and high mountains. As their names indicate, these will range from lower to higher difficulty in their mountain passes.
• The number of mountain squares will not now be chosen according to the player's preferences but in accordance with the type of mountain pass. There are five kinds of mountain passes: steep slope, third category, second category, first category and hors category. The characteristics of the different mountain passes are as follows (the start and finish indicators are shown as pictures in the rulebook):

Pass	No. Squares
Hill	3
Third	8
Second	16
First	24
Hors	32

Each stage will have three or four mountain passes. The difficulty of these mountain passes shall be consistent with the type of stage selected.

In order to indicate the mountain passes, start indicator counter must be placed at the kilometre at which it is wished to begin the mountain pass and the end indicator of the chosen category must be placed at the kilometre where it is wished to end the mountain pass.

Role selection

As stated above, the teams are made up of 5 or 6 counters/cyclists Until now, we had only introduced the sprinter's role, but in the senior version every rider will have a role in the team and that role will provide him with special characteristics on the board. Therefore, the composition of a team will be as follows: a climber, a sprinter, a rouleur, a flat domestique and a mountain domestique. If the teams are made up of 6 riders, the role of the "lanterne rouge" will appear.

Sprinter

This is a role that already existed in the junior version, with identical operation, although in this version the number of sprints varies in accordance with the type of stage.

• Sprints: In flat section stages, the sprinter will have 3 sprints. In low mountain stages he will have 2 sprints, and in those of medium and high mountain, 1. Just like in the junior version, instead of rolling two dice as in a normal flat section square, the sprint can be done in two ways: by rolling three, six-sided dice or one, twenty-sided dice. In each one of the different sprints, the sprinter will decide which of these two options he prefers.

Climber

The climber will be the number 1 counter. In the case of a stage with difficult mountain sections, the climber will become the favourite for the victory with many advantages in the mountain squares:

• Magic five: In hors category mountain passes, if he gets a 5, he will be able to count 6 if he wants.
• Double throws: The first will occur in a mountain square. These throws allow a player to roll two dice and choose one of the values obtained for the climber. The climber will count a double throw in the first category mountain passes and two double throws in the hors category mountains. It may occur that the climber and a teammate find themselves in the same mountain square and the climber decides to use his double throw. The manager will then roll three dice 2 for the climber and 1 for the other rider), and will choose the two values that he likes the most for his two riders. The magic five and the double throw are compatible.

When a climber begins a first or hors category mountain pass, he asks for one or two indicators respectively. During the mountain stage, the manager may decide to use his double throws when he considers it the correct action to take and therefore lose one of his indicators. Whether he has used his double throws or not, when the climber completes the mountain section, the manager gives up all the indicators relating to double throws.

Rouleur

The rouleur will be the number 3 counter. The rouleur is a paceline specialist and therefore his presence in a paceline may be of great value. Moreover, he is capable of riding alone at a good pace.

• Minimum pace of 7: If the rouleur who is in a paceline or on his own gets a value of under 7, his pace will be 7.

• Difference of 4: As stated above, in order to join the different throws in a paceline, the difference between throws must be 3 or less. A rider may decide to join or not to join his throw with a difference of 4 or less. Example of a three-rider paceline:

  • Rider X, who is not a rouleur, gets an 11.
  • The rouleur gets a 3, but the according to the "Minimum pace" rule he goes at 7.
  • Rider Y, who is not a rouleur, gets a 3.

  On this occasion, the rouleur has a large number of options to choose from:

  • He uses a difference of 4 both upwards and downwards.
    • Rider X, Rouleur and Rider Y -> 11.
  • He uses a difference of 4 only upwards.
    • Rider X and Rouleur -> 11.
    • Rider Y -> 3
  • He uses a difference of 4 only downwards.
    • Rider X -> 11
    • Rouleur and Rider Y -> 7.
  • He does not use a difference of 4.
    • Rider X -> 11
    • Rouleur -> 7
    • Rider Y -> 3

Flat domestique

The flat domestique will be the number 4 counter. The flat section domestique will be ideal when he is in a peloton that wants to go at a good pace.

• If a flat section domestique is pulling a peloton and gets a 10, 11 or 12, he will be able to choose either to go alone at the pace obtained or to set the pace of the peolton at 9. Moreover, if a flat section domestique is pulling a peloton and gets 3 or 4, he continues in the peloton, therefore, the only number to suffer a puncture is 2.

Mountain section domestique

The mountain domestique will be the number 5 counter. The mountain domestique is very useful if he accompanies other team mates in the same mountain square.

• As stated above, if several riders from the same team are in the same mountain square, as many dice as there are riders in the square will be rolled. Then the different values obtained will be distributed among the different counters. Should one of these riders be the mountain domestique and the difference between two throws be only 1, the mountain domestique may pull his team mate by one more square, equalling the next highest throw. Example, there are three riders (one of them the mountain domestique) from the same team in a mountain square. Therefore, the player rolls three dice and gets 5, 4 and 3. These would be the possible distribution of the values and their corresponding consequences:

  • Rider X -> 5, Rider Y -> 4 , Domestique -> 3. They are just as we have assigned them.
  • Rider X -> 5, Domestique -> 4 , Rider Y -> 3. Rider X goes to 5; Rider Y and Domestique go to 4.
  • Domestique -> 5, Rider X -> 4 , Rider Y -> 3. Rider X and Domestique go to 5; Rider Y goes to 3.

  It would be unusual, but the mountain domestique may also reject the option of taking a team mate one square forwards.

Lanterne rouge

The lanterne rouge will be the number 6 counter. Should the teams be made up of 6 riders, the sixth rider will be the lanterne rouge. The lanterne rouge has no special advantages or throws. He is a basic rider.

Special throws

In addition to all the comments made with regard to defining the roles of riders, in the senior version a series of new, special throws will appear.

• Attack: In each stage, each team has one attack. Therefore, every player is given an attack indicator at the beginning of the game.

  This throw is very risky and both its reward and punishment are very important. The attack can be used in each stage with the rider that the manager wants and may be made provided that the selected rider is in a flat square and more than 50 km from the finish line. To do this, an indicator will be placed on the board indicating the distance of 50 km to the finish line so that the attack may be used only with one rider that has not passed the indicator. Using the attack is not obligatory.

  The attack consists of rolling four dice instead of two. Two situations may occur:

  • That the 4 values obtained form double pairs: The rider's chain breaks as a result of forcing the attack and continues as the last rider in the race. At least he does not lose his turn and rolls his dice again as the last classified rider.
  • That the 4 values obtained don't form double pairs: The rider makes a dash after shifting down the rear gears and leaves the rest of the riders behind. The four values obtained are added.

  Should the rider who is going to attack be in a peloton or paceline, he will have to announce this before any rider in the peloton or paceline launches his own attack.

• Falls: A player can fall in any flat square whether he is in a peloton, paceline or on his own. When a rider gets two threes or two fours in his flat throw, he will have to roll the two dice again. In this new throw, two things may happen.

  • That the values from the dice are different: Nothing will happen and the rider will set a pace of 6 (3+3), in the case of two threes; and 8 (4+4), in the case of two fours.
  • That the values from the dice are the same: The rider falls. His fall causes both this rider and all the riders in the same square to lose a turn and not move forward. Moreover, the rider that causes the fall loses two squares.

Master version

The Master version is the most complete version of the game and is the favourite version among expert players of "Cycling Party". As in the case of the previous version, all the rules of the senior version are valid for the master version. Therefore, a knowledge of the rules of the senior version will be taken as the starting point.

This version is designed in order to emulate major tours. In fact, in the master version players do not race in stages but race tours consisting of as many stages as the players want. Moreover, not only will the winner of the stage be important. The winner will be the manager who obtains the most Cycling Party points. Cycling Party points are gained by obtaining stage victories and good results in the different classifications: individual, mountain, intermediate sprints, regularity and teams.

The great novelty of this master version is the use of management software to simplify the management of the game. In order to access this application, it will be necessary to go to the "Master Zone" of our website (www.cyclingparty.com) and create a user with the validation key that you will find in your game box. Once the user has been created, you will be able to access the system in order to manage your own tours. During the game, one of the participants will have the role of "Race Director" and will be responsible for managing the software by recording the results as they happen on the game board.

Create a tour

In order to create a tour the first thing you must do is to run the software application and select the "Start" option.

Next, a screen will appear on which you can select the characteristics you want for your tour (screenshot not reproduced).

If you press "Continue", you access the Cycling Party points definition screen.

On this screen, you will define how many Cycling Party points there are in play and how these will be won in accordance with the position obtained in the different classifications.

If you press "Continue", you will switch to the stage definition screen.

Stage definition

In the master version, there is an additional novelty in the way stages are defined, in addition to those mentioned in the senior version:

• The intermediate sprints appear: Intermediate sprints will appear in flat areas. Flat stages will have five intermediate sprints, low mountains will have four and those of medium and high, three. Intermediate sprints will be placed at the beginning of the stage and will be represented by means of the intermediate sprint indicator.
• In this version, the computer application proposes a model tour which includes all the characteristics of the stages (stage type, categories and length of mountain passes, intermediate sprints, etc.). As was seen in the last screen, when you create the tour you can select the number of stages and their characteristics (flat, medium mountain, high mountain, classic or long tour). In accordance with the parameters selected on that screen, one tour or another will be proposed. Therefore, the screen illustrated in the rulebook has the corresponding appearance.

As can be seen in the illustration, the players will have at that time the opportunity of personalising each one of the stages to their liking. Should the "Continue" option be chosen, the display will switch to the team selection screen.

Team selection

As stated in previous versions, teams are made up of 5 or 6 riders/counters and each one of them has a role in the team. However, some of the roles are slightly modified in the master version.

Team leader

He is the climber from the senior version. In large-scale tours there are always stages with very demanding mountain passes and usually have a determining effect on the individual classification. Therefore, the climber will now be called the leader. In addition to the climber advantages set out in the previous version, the team leader will be able to make mountain section attacks.

• Mountain attacks: Every tour has a specific number of mountain attacks (half the number of hors category mountain passes; it is the value calculated by the software). The leader can use the mount an attack in a hors category mountain pass. the mount an attack is based on rolling a 10-side die instead of one with 6 sites. The mountain attack cannot be combined with any other advantage (magic five, double throw, etc.).

Sprinter

This printer can use up one sprint in any flat square except in the last 6 km, if he is going to make a sprint with three dice, and in the last 8 km if he is going to make a sprint with a number 20-sided die. For this reason, the 6 and 8 km to the finish line indicators will be included in each stage.

These restrictions appear so that the sprinter cannot pass the time indicators in the master version (later on in the manual it will be explained what the time indicators are and why they are used).

To introduce the teams, riders and roles, the computer application officers a screen (screenshot not reproduced).

After seeing all the details and pressing the "Continue" button, the tour is completely defined and the game starts with the first stage.

Obtaining mountain and intermediate sprint points

Obtaining mountain and intermediate sprint points will depend on the rider's position when he passes through them. The rules for determining the position and corresponding tiebreaks are the same as the ones used in the junior version. The only variation here is that it is not necessary to get past the finish hexagon but the mountain pass close or intermediate sprint indicator. On the other hand, it is important to bear in mind that once the finishing line has been crossed water bottles cannot be given. However, this is possible once one of these arrivals has been crossed, as these kilometres belong to the stage. These water bottles can be decisive when obtaining a better classification in one of these arrivals.

The software is responsible for all of these game management processes and therefore it will be responsible for counting the mountain and intermediate sprint points, but at an informative level, the different points obtained in accordance with the different conditions are added.

	Hors	First	Second	Third	Hill	IS
1st	35	25	15	5	-	5
2nd	25	20	10	3	-	3
3rd	15	10	5	1	-	1
4th	10	5	-

Arrival at the finishing line and obtaining regularity points

The arrival at the finishing line in the master version is very different to that of the junior and senior versions. While in the previous versions it was only necessary to know who the winner was, in this version it will be necessary to know the position and time of each one of the cyclists.

Once the finishing line has been crossed, each turn represents one minute of difference. The riders that cross the finishing line in the same turn as the first counter, will have used 0 minutes. Those that arrive in the following throw will have used 1 minute and so on.

On the other hand, in order to determine the seconds employed, the time indicators are used. In each one of the 12 squares following the finishing line, the 12 time indicators will be placed. These indicators show 5 second intervals. The 55-60 indicator will be the one closest to the finishing line, the 50-55 the second, and so on.

In order to indicate the seconds of the arrival time, a last die is rolled. The 6 corresponds to the lowest value of the interval and the 1 the highest, taking a rider at the 10-15 interval as an example:

• Getting a 1 -> 15 seconds
• Getting a 2 -> 14 seconds
• Getting a 3 -> 13 seconds
• Getting a 4 -> 12 seconds
• Getting a 5 -> 11 seconds
• Getting a 6 -> 10 seconds

In the case of a rider/s that arrive at the finishing line in a peloton, those that are in the most advanced square will be responsible for giving the time to all the riders in the peloton. If they arrive in a paceline, the rider responsible for having set the pace of the paceline will be the first classified of the paceline and will also be responsible for giving the time to the entire paceline.

One of the functions of the computer application will be to count the times obtained by the different riders in the different stages and to calculate the individual classification. Another classification that the software controls is that of the team classification. To do this, it takes the time of the best three riders from each team per stage and calculates differences.

Moreover, the riders who have arrived in the first positions of the stage will obtain a series of points in the regularity classification. This point distribution depends on the arrival position and of the type of stage that has been raced and the values correspond to the following table:

	Flat	Low	Medium	High
1st	100	70	30	30
2nd	80	50	20	20
3rd	60	40	15	15
4th	40	30	10	10
5th	30	20	5	5
6th

At the beginning of each stage, the counters of the first riders classified in the different classifications will be placed: individual, mountain, intermediate sprints and regularity and the maillots informing us of their situation as leader in one of the classifications will be placed on the different podiums. The colours of the different podiums are:

• Individual: Yellow
• Mountain: Red polka dots
• Intermediate sprints: Purple
• Regularity: Green

In order to replace the four riders that remain on the podiums and are not on the board, four white counters are added to the race, painted with the colour corresponding to the leader of the classification they represent.

Stage management

In order to manage the different stages, the application will offer a screen (screenshot not reproduced).

It will be possible to gradually fill in everything that is happening on the board with regard to intermediate sprints, mountain passes and arrivals at the finishing line. Moreover, for hors and first category mountain passes, and the image will appear with two dice. When pressed, it will count the double throws. Once all these details have been entered correctly, it will be necessary to press "End Stage". In this way, the stage will be validated and the following stage will be shown.

A number of different options appear at the top, enabling us to manage the game:

• Advantages: This option manages the different advantages offered during the game. These are as follows: water bottles, sprints, attacks and mountain attacks.
• Stages: The characteristics of the different stages can be visualised. Initially, the current stage is shown. Therefore, this option is very useful at the beginning of the stage in order to know where and what signals must be placed on the board.
• Riders: In the case of any doubt or forgetfulness, it is possible to consult which riders they are and their different roles in each one of the teams.
• Classifications: The status of the different classifications is shown: individual, intermediate sprints, climber and teams.
• Cycling Party: It is possible to consult how the Cycling Party points would be distributed were the tour to stop at that very moment. If the tour has finished, this is the screen that indicates the final classification of the game.

As in this version a number of stages is managed, the withdrawal concept disappears as it will never be interesting to withdraw a rider from the following stages. Therefore, all the riders will have to finish all the stages.

Other software options

In addition to the tour start option, the main menu offers two more options:

• Load: A screen will appear allowing the player to load and erase tours. It must be remembered that the moment that the team selection screen has been accepted, the tour is created. On loading a tour, the stage management screen will be shown, allowing the player to filling in the active stage of the tour.
• Personalise: This is the way to maintain the database up-to-date at all times. In this option it will be possible to create, modify and eliminate both teams and riders. These modifications will not influence ongoing tours. They will only begin to be applied for tours created as of that moment. If this is the first time you have used the application, this will be the first screen to visit in order to introduce the first teams and riders.