NASCAR Champions Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object and Contents
• Game Assembly
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • On Your Turn
  • 1. Roll and Arrange the Dice
  • 2. Choose 3 Dice to Play
  • 3. Follow the Directions on the 3 Dice
    • Moving Cars
    • Drawing and Playing Cards
• Sponsor Cards
• Ending the First Lap
• Starting the Second Lap
• How to Win
• Game Play Example

Object and Contents

Object: Collect the most money after two laps.

Contents: Gameboard, 7 two-piece cars, 7 markers, 7 Driver cards, 5 Sponsor cards, 5 Shift Gears cards, 25 Checkered Flag cards, 5 dice, label sheet, poster.

The First Time You Play: Figure 1 shows a 3-player game ready for play. Refer to it as you assemble and set up your game.

Figure 1 callouts: Red Line, Sponsor Cards, Checkered Flag Cards, Shift Gears Card, Driver Card.

Your Poster: On the cardboard platform is a poster with photos and stats of all 7 drivers. To save your poster, carefully tear or cut along the perforations.

Game Assembly

Assemble and label the cars. Carefully remove the car halves from their runners. Discard waste. Snap each of the car halves together, then label each car as directed on the label sheet. See Figure 2.

Label the markers and dice. Apply labels to the markers and dice as directed on the label sheet. See Figure 3.

The chart below shows which driver has which car and marker.

Driver	Car	Marker
Dale Earnhardt	Black #3	Black #3
Ward Burton	Black #22	Black #22
Mike Skinner	Blue #31	Blue #31
Dale Jarrett	Blue #88	Blue #88
Jeff Gordon	Red #24	Red #24
Bobby Labonte	Green #18	Green #18
Kenny Wallace	Yellow #81	Yellow #81

Game Setup

Important! Always play with 5 cars, no matter how many players are in the game. Each car in the game must be a different color. Never use both black cars or both blue cars.

1. Choose your driver. Decide which 5 cars will be used in the game. Place the extra black car and blue car out of play. Then choose one of the 5 cars as your own, to race in the game. All players do the same.
2. Place your marker. Take the marker that matches your color car. Place the unused markers out of play. Then place your marker on the blue START space inside the track. All players do the same.
3. Set up the cards. Divide the cards into 4 separate decks: Driver cards, Sponsor cards, Checkered Flag cards, and Shift Gears cards.
   • Sponsor cards: Shuffle the deck and place it facedown on the checkered flag on the upper right corner of the gameboard. Note: In a 2-player game, each player draws a Sponsor card now.
   • Checkered Flag cards: Shuffle the deck and place it facedown in the green area inside the track.
   • Shift Gears cards: Take the card that matches your car color and place it faceup in front of you. All players do the same. (The card text reads: "At the start of each lap, turn this card over.")
   • Driver cards: Remove the 2 Driver cards that match the unused cars, and place them out of play. Set the remaining cards aside for now. You'll use them to determine where each car starts on the track.
4. Place the cars on the track. Shuffle the 5 Driver cards and place them facedown. Draw the top card. The matching color car gets pole position! Place the car on the gameboard track space marked "1." Now draw the next Driver card, and place the matching color car on the "2" track space. Do the same with the remaining cards until all of the cards have been drawn and track spaces 1 through 5 are occupied. Place your Driver card faceup in front of you. All players do the same. Place any unused Driver cards out of play.

How to Play

Each game consists of two laps around the track. During the game, you'll move your car and other cars along the track, toward the Finish Line.

The player closest to pole position goes first. Play then continues counterclockwise.

On Your Turn

Follow these 3 steps on each turn. Each step is explained in detail below.

1. Roll all 5 dice, and arrange the dice in numerical order.
2. Choose 3 dice to play.
3. Follow the directions on the 3 dice. This ends your turn.

1. Roll and Arrange the Dice

After you roll all 5 dice, place them in order from 1 to 5. Each die will show either a solid color or a checkered flag.

• Solid color dice direct you to move the matching color car ahead on the track, the number of spaces on the die.
• Checkered flag dice direct you to draw a Checkered Flag card. The number on a checkered flag die indicates when you'll draw the card.

2. Choose 3 Dice to Play

Check out the 5 dice you rolled. Choose 3 of them to keep. Here are some tips to help you decide:

• Keep dice that match your own car color, so you can move your car ahead on the track.
• Keep checkered flag dice if you can; most cards in the deck are to your advantage.
• Any dice you keep of another car's color should be the lowest numbers possible. You don't want to move those cars ahead, unless you're sponsoring them. (More about sponsors on page 5.)

After you've chosen your 3 dice, set the other 2 dice aside. Place your 3 chosen dice in order, from lowest number to highest number. This is the order in which you'll follow the directions on them.

Rerolling the dice: If you don't like your die roll, you can use your Shift Gears card to reroll the dice. Just turn your card over, then reroll all 5 dice. Important: You can only use your Shift Gears card once per lap, so try to play it at the right time!

3. Follow the Directions on the 3 Dice

Now follow the directions for each of the 3 dice, in order from left to right. For each die, you'll either move a car or draw a card. The following sections explain the rules for both. Also see page 6 for a game play example.

Moving Cars

Cars move counterclockwise space by space around the track, toward the Finish Line. Here are the rules for moving cars:

• A car can move in a straight line or diagonally. A car cannot move backwards or sideways. See Figure 4 for an example.
  • Figure 4 caption: If directed to move 3 spaces, the red car can move in either of these 2 ways.
• Only one car can occupy each space. A car that can't move because other cars are in adjoining spaces is blocked. Figure 5 shows an example.
  • Figure 5 caption: The blue car can't move straight ahead or diagonally, so it is blocked.
• You can't move a blocked car, or a car that has finished a lap. However, you can choose such cars on your dice and not move them, as a special strategy. See the box below.
• You can't move a car that's facing backward (because of a spin or a crash). However, you can use a matching-color die to face a car forward instead of moving it. Note: Never use a die to face a car backward - only a Spin Out or Crash card can do so.

NOT moving a car can be good strategy! Sometimes you'll deliberately want to choose a die for a car that can't move. By doing so, you'll avoid having to choose another die that may move an opposing car way ahead, or even across the Finish Line!

Drawing and Playing Cards

Most cards you draw will either help you, or hinder an opponent. After drawing a card, immediately follow the directions on it, then discard it faceup next to the drawpile.

Exception: Sponsor cards are kept for the rest of the lap. See SPONSOR CARDS, below.

Follow all car movement rules when moving a car by card directions. This means that if you're directed to move cars, you can turn around a spunout or crashed car instead of moving it. You can also choose a blocked car to avoid moving it.

Sponsor Cards

Each player gets a Sponsor card as soon as the first car crosses the red line on the track, located just past the upper right corner. Note: Some Checkered Flag cards are also Sponsor cards, so some players may end up with more than one Sponsor card.

Special 2-Player rule: In a 2-player game, both players get one Sponsor card during game setup, and an additional Sponsor card when the first player crosses the red line.

As soon as the first player crosses the red line, that player draws one Sponsor card from the deck. Every other player then draws a card in counterclockwise order. Place your Sponsor card facedown and keep it secret from your opponents. Sponsor cards change your strategy, since you'll collect extra prize money if your sponsored car finishes in the top 3!

Ending the First Lap

The first car to cross the Finish Line is placed on the gold 1st Place symbol for the 1st race (lap), inside the track. All cars that finish afterward are placed on the remaining gold symbols in their proper order. (After the fourth car finishes, the fifth car can immediately be placed on the 5th Place symbol.)

Scoring: Tally up your prize winnings by adding up the earnings below. All players do the same.

• The prize money on the symbol your car occupies.
• Any additional winnings for sponsored car(s) finishing in the top 3.

After you total your winnings, place your marker on the appropriate blue space. All players do the same.

Starting the Second Lap

In the second and final lap, the 5th place car gets pole position (track space #1). The 4th place car starts on space #2, and so on.

Turn any facedown Shift Gears cards faceup again. Keep your Driver cards, but shuffle all of the Sponsor cards and place the deck facedown on the right checkered flag corner of the gameboard. Reshuffle the whole Checkered Flag deck and place it facedown in the green area.

The rules for the second lap are the same as for the first. When all 5 cars finish the lap, the game is over. Players tally up their winnings for the 2nd race (lap) and add that amount to the first lap's amount for a grand total.

How to Win

After both laps are scored, the player with the most money is the NASCAR Champion! In case of a tie, the player who finished closer to first place in the second lap wins.

Game Play Example

It's the beginning of a 3-player game. Player 1 (red car) won pole position, so he goes first.

Player 1 (red car) rolls these 5 dice (shown in the printed illustration).

He keeps his best die, the red 4, and also keeps the 2 lower-numbered opposing colors, the blue 1 and yellow 2.

In order from left to right, he moves the blue car one space; the yellow car 2 spaces; and his own red car 4 spaces. See the box at right.

Player 2 (black car) rolls these 5 dice (shown in the printed illustration).

She keeps the black die and the 2 checkered flag dice.

She first moves her black car one space, then draws a checkered flag card. The card says "Move any 2 cars 3 spaces each." She chooses her black car and the last-place yellow car. She moves her black car but not the yellow car, since it is blocked. Then she draws a "Spin Out" card, and chooses to turn the red car around. See the box at right.

Player 3 (green car) then rolls these 5 dice (shown in the printed illustration).

He keeps the green die, the checkered flag die and the red 5.

He moves his green car one space. Then he draws a "Back Burner—move the last car 7 spaces" card, and moves the yellow car. Finally, he uses the red 5 to turn the red car around. (He chose the red die so that he could do this, rather than move the black car.) See the box at right.

The example's Red, Black and Green Player's Turn diagrams (Move 1, Move 2, Move 3) are illustrations; see the printed instructions.