The Great Balloon Race Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Summary
• Game Setup
• Object of the Game
• Balloon Movement
• Bumping
• Winning the Game

Game Summary

Eight hot air balloons are in a stiff competition to travel across Europe. Players are secretly trying to get their three balloons across the finish line first to earn the prize ribbon. Players will sabotage their fellow competitor's balloons by bumping them into unfavorable wind currents, lightning strikes, or even by deflating their balloons. They're forecasting a light and airy racing game with just a slight chance of treachery.

Game Setup

• Each player is dealt one of the eight balloon cards face-down. Each card pictures three colored balloons, the ones that you must secretly move across the finish line to win.
• Place all eight balloons on the compass at the bottom of the board.
• Choose a starting player.

Object of the Game

To win, players must get all three of their balloons to reach the finish line during their turn. This means that they will only be able to claim victory if:

a) all three balloons have already finished the race at the beginning of their turn OR

b) during their turn, their third balloon crosses the finish line

Balloon Movement

• On a player's turn, roll the die and move one of the eight balloons according to the die result.
• The balloon chosen does not have to match one of the balloons on that player's card.
• The first space with an arrow on it should be counted as "1."
• A balloon starting its movement on a space with an arrow pointing backwards must move in that direction.
• If a balloon lands on the "Lightning Strikes" space, it returns to start and the player's turn ends.
• If a balloon lands on a "Sunshine" space, the player rolls again, once again choosing any balloon to move. This process can be repeated as many times as possible if landing on multiple "Sunshine" spaces.
• If a balloon lands on a "Deflated Balloon" space, it may not be moved again until all seven balloons advance beyond it. However, a balloon on a "Deflated Balloon" space can still be bumped.

Bumping

• A balloon landing on a space occupied by another balloon bumps it, now occupying that space.

• A bumped balloon is moved in the same direction of the balloon that bumped into it, to the next empty space on the board. A balloon may move multiple spaces if there is a line of occupied spaces on the board... perhaps even all the way to the finish line (the prize ribbon) - See below for Rule Interpretation -

• The original German rule states, "...the other balloon must be displaced onto the nearest empty space in the direction shown by the arrow"... being somewhat vague, there are 2 basic interpretations of this text:

  1. The balloon is bumped in the same direction as the active balloon (or the "bumping" balloon).
  2. The bumped balloon should go in the direction of the arrow on the space that it currently occupies.

  The 1st interpretation seems to be most widely used. The 2nd interpretation is generally avoided because the rules fail to clarify how a player would move a balloon on a "Deflated Balloon" space (it has no arrow).

• Note: Although a balloon bumped to a "Deflated Balloon" or a "Lightning Strikes" space suffers the associated penalty, any balloon bumped to a "Sunshine" space does not give an extra die roll. Only by landing on a "Sunshine" space with a die roll can a player get this bonus.

Winning the Game

The finish line does not have to be reached by exact count. The player that advances their three colored balloons (in any order) past the finish line wins. Play may continue to determine 2nd and 3rd place if desired.

Note: The rules recommend this game for 2-6 players, but if players can move quickly enough it can be enjoyed by up to 8 players... either way, the game plays best when it's fun, light and fast moving.