Race Pace

Race Pace Rulebook

Table of Contents

Box Components

1 Game board, consisting of: A. Circuit information, B. Leaderboard, C. Tyre Degradation bar, D. Board radio buttons (action field), E. Tyre information, F. Weather forecast
Double sided cardstock Player boards (8 x Race Team, 8 x Driver)
1 Finish token (double sided)
2 Box Box tokens
4 weather tokens (double sided)
2 Out of order tokens
14 Race Pace penalty tokens
1 Fastest lap token (Campaign mode)
8 Action tokens
8 Leaderboard tokens
8 x 6 Tyre tokens
8 Skill tokens
8 x 6 Driver tokens
8 Race Pace Markers
8 Tyre Degradation (TD) markers
8 Race cars
1 Start player card (cardstock standee)
1 Fastest Lap card (cardstock)
7 double sided circuit cards (14 circuits)
15 Weather cards
16 Race Situation I cards
16 Race Situation II cards
1 Reference card

Game Setup

1. Prepare Circuit

G. Place a Circuit Card on the game board.
H. Place the Finish Token on the Lap Track with the proper side up (A or B) on the lap number indicated on the Circuit Card.
I. Place the Box-Box tokens above the Tyre Degradation Bar at the numbers indicated on the Circuit Card.
J. Randomly pick the number of Rain Cards as indicated on the circuit card. Remove the other Rain Cards from the game. Add all Sun Cards to the selected Rain Cards. Shuffle this stack of Weather Cards and place the stack face-down next to the board.

Shuffle the Race Situation I and II Cards and make 2 stacks next to the Weather Cards, face-down.

Draw the first 2 cards from each deck face-down (but keep them in the game). Draw the 3rd card face-up.
If the Weather Card shows dry weather, 4 Sun-Tokens are placed on the weather forecast on the board. If the card shows rainy weather, the Sun and Rain-Tokens are placed as displayed on the card.

2. Prepare Player Boards

K. RACE TEAM: The player who most recently drove a car, is the first to select one of the 8 available Team player boards (left part of steering wheel). Rotate clockwise until everyone has a Racing Team.
L. DRIVER: The last player to select a Team, is the first player to select a Driver (right part of steering wheel). This player also receives the Start Player Card. Slide the Team and Driver parts together to form a steering wheel. Take all tokens of your driver. Rotate counter clockwise until everyone has a Team and Driver.
M. Place 6 Driver Tokens on the white base positions of the six bars on your steering wheel.
N. Count your base RP (standard 1, plus possible bonus from PU, AER and SKI). Place your Race Pace (RP) Marker on that RP number at the top of your steering wheel. Example: Orange Motors with Dutch Speed starts with 3 RP: 1 base RP + 0 RP (MEC level) + 1 RP (PU) + 1 RP (AER) + 1 RP (SKI).
O. Determine starting grid. The grid position is determined by the sum of the Team number (O1) and the Driver number (O2) on the steering wheel. The player with the highest sum starts on Pole Position. In case of a tie, the player with the highest driver number is ahead.
- Place your Car on the corresponding position on the starting grid of the Lap Track.
- Place your Leaderboard Token on the Leaderboard.

3. Select Tyre Compound

All players select a tyre to start the race with.

Place the selected Tyre Token in the "Current tyre" field.
Place a Tyre Degradation (TD) Marker on the Tyre Degradation Bar on field "0".
Check the weather forecast in combination with your tyres. The selected tyre might result in a change in RP based on the weather. If needed adjust the RP marker on your steering wheel. For example: with dry weather, the base RP of Dutch Speed increases by 1RP if he starts on SOFTS.

How to Play

Improve Your Pace and Win the Race

During the race, situations will occur that change the course of the race. From your position at the pitwall, it is your job to anticipate or to react to these situations: select the right tyres, improve the car mode, instruct the driver to enter the pit or to stay out, to use the Boost system, etcetera. With each lap your car and driver will improve, increasing the Race Pace. But so does the competition. Do you have the best strategy to win the race?

The Race Pace (hereafter: RP) is the number of laps that your driver can make in a game round. Your RP is based on a standard RP of 1, plus RP from your power unit, aerodynamics, driver skill, from tyre compounds, race situation cards, actions you select and penalties you incur. Check the Reference Card to see where you can gain RP or what limits your RP.

The gameplay is simple: select an action for your driver in each game round and thereby gradually improve your RP. Count the RP (number of laps that your driver can make this game round) and move your car across the track with that RP. The first who crosses the finish, wins!

Game Round Overview

Step 1 - Turn the top Weather card and Race Situation I and II cards
Step 2 - Select 1 of the 11 actions on the game board. The player with the Start Player Card starts. Rotate clockwise until every player selected an action.
Step 3a - Apply your action and adjust your RP marker on your Player Board for changes in your car setup, driver setup, effects from actions, race situations, changes in tyres, weather conditions, use of driver's special skills or RP tokens.
Step 3b - In turn, based on the positions on the Leaderboard, move your Tyre Degradation Marker on the Tyre Degradation Bar and your car on the circuit forward with your RP.

Step 1 - Turn Cards

The top Race Situation and Weather Cards are turned at the start of each game round. This step is not applicable in round 1, because this is part of the game set-up.

RACE SITUATION I AND II CARDS may result in safety car situations, make certain actions not interesting to select (unless your driver's XP is level E), affect your Power Unit (PU), Aerodynamics (AER) or Mechanics team (MEC), affect your tyre degradation or are simply race situations that you can avoid if your driver has the right XP level.

Please note:

The effects of Race Situation Cards are applicable after players apply their selected action. This means that you can counter negative effects by selecting the proper action.
When there are no cards left in a stack, the discard pile must be shuffled and re-used. Just like in the game set up: first draw the top 2 Cards face-down, and then draw the 3rd face up.
The Start Lights at the bottom of the Race Situation Cards are only relevant when you add Bots to the game. The color of the light corresponds with the color of the Bot driver. The number in the light is the specific Action that this Bot will play.

The Weather Forecast on the game board holds 4 Weather-Tokens at all times, indicating the weather conditions for the next 4 game rounds:

Dry weather is indicated with a Sun Token.
Rainy weather is indicated with a Rain Token.

After turning the WEATHER CARD, you adjust the Sun and Rain Tokens on the Weather Forecast as follows:

SUN CARD: The Weather Token in "Current round" is moved to "Round +3" with the sunny side up. The last 3 Weather tokens shift one field to the left.
RAIN CARD: The weather forecast on the Rain Card supersedes the current weather conditions. Change the weather tokens accordingly.

Step 2 - Select Action

Each game round, the start player is the first to select an action by placing his Action Token on one of the 11 action fields on the Game Board (see below). Clockwise, each next player selects an action. After selecting your action, immediately apply the effect and recalculate your RP.

The 11 actions:

Mechanics (MEC): 1 level up
Power Unit (PU): 1 level up
Aerodynamics (AER): 1 level up
Driver Skill (SKI): 1 level up
Driver Experience (XP): 1 level up
Charge EBS: EBS 1 level up and no tyre degradation this round.
Use EBS: Gain extra RP from your EBS level in this game round. Thereafter, your EBS level is reduced by 2 levels.
Defend: Drivers that overtake you, get a penalty token of -2 RP. You receive a RP token of +1 RP. All tokens must be resolved in the next game round.
Start: RP +1 this round and you may take the Start Player Token. You cannot select this action if you already have the Start Player Token.
React: After everyone selected an action, you may copy 1 action of any driver that is in front of you on the Leaderboard.
Box Box: Make a pit stop. This field can be selected by multiple players. Check the MEC bar on your Steering wheel for RP penalty or boost.

All action buttons have a number and 7 smaller lights above them:

Bot Action: The number is only relevant when you add Bots to the game, and corresponds with the applicable BOT ACTION indicated on the Situation Cards.
Tyre compound: The first 4 lights above the buttons indicate the TYRE COMPOUND that your car needs to have in order to be able to select this action: SOFT (red), MEDIUM (yellow), HARD (white), WET (blue). If the indicator is black (light is out), the action cannot be performed with that tyre compound.
Team Play: The first 2 lights on the right side of the action buttons ("A" and "B") are only relevant for the TEAM PLAY game variant. In Team Play, you must choose an action for one driver where the "A" light is green and for the other driver an action where the "B" light is green.
Safety Car: The most-right light above the action button next to the letters "SC" indicates whether or not the action can be performed during a SAFETY CAR situation (hereafter: SC situation). If the indicator is black (light is out), the action cannot be performed during a SC situation.

Please note:

An action button cannot be selected by more than one player in the same game round. Exceptions are the Box Box button or when playing the Team Play game variant.
The Defend action does not work against Jesús.

Step 3 - Move Tyre and Car

Count your RP, including effects such as situation cards, weather, tyres, etc. Based on the positions on the Leaderboard (1st place first), move your tyre token forward on the Tyre Degradation Bar as well as your car on the circuit with your RP.

FIRST: move your tyre marker.
THEN: move your car.

There is no limit to the number of cars in 1 lap space. Just stack them up!

Steering Wheel (Playerboard)

The STEERING WHEEL consists of 2 parts: a RACING TEAM part (left) and a DRIVER part (right). Slid together, they form 1 steering wheel, showing:

K. Team name, team number and team logo (left handle)
L. Driver name, driver number and driver photo (right handle)
M. The status of your Team and Driver on the 6 bars, which you will monitor with your 6 Driver Tokens.
- The starting status of the 6 bars on the selected Team wheel and Driver wheel are indicated a white colour (see GAME SET UP).
- You can level up your team/driver to level E by choosing the related action. Apply your action by moving the token upwards, or downwards if you are affected by Race Situation cards.
N. The Race Pace (RP) of your car (the 11 numbered circles at the top).
- Your RP consists of 1 base RP, plus RP from PU, AER and SKI, plus/minus RP from your tyres, and if applicable plus/minus RP from situation cards, pit stops, EBS and penalties.
- Check the RP Reference Card to see where you can gain RP or what limits your RP.
- Example: Team Orange Motors with Driver Dutch Speed has 1 base RP + 0 RP (MEC) + 1 RP (PU) + 1 RP (AER) + 1 RP (SKI) = 3 RP (place your RP marker on 3).

Please note:

O. The team and driver numbers combined determine the starting grid (highest sum first, lowest sum last. Tie-breaker: the highest driver number).
Every driver has a special skill. The skill is explained in text and image on the Driver's Special Skill Token. This special skill can be used by the driver each game round.

Racing Team and Driver Status

GREEN BUTTONS: additional RP applicable in each game round

PU (power unit): the higher the power output of your engine, the faster your RP. If your PU is at level C, you get 1 additional RP per game round. At the highest level it's 2RP.
AER (aerodynamics): the better the car's aerodynamics are tuned, the faster your RP. If your aerodynamics is at level C, you get 1 additional RP per game round. At the highest level it's 2RP.
SKI (driver skill): the higher the skill level of your driver, the faster your RP. If your driver's skill is at level C, you get 1 additional RP per game round. At the highest level it's 2RP.

BLUE BUTTONS: level determines RP bonus/penalty from Situation Cards

XP (experience): depending on the XP of your driver, Race Situations give you penalties or bonus RP. XP A is the lowest, E is the highest.

RED BUTTONS: the status only applies when selecting the related action

MEC (mechanics): the MEC bar shows how much RP penalty a pit stop costs, when you select the Box Box action. Starting with -3 RP penalty, but as you increase your MEC, it can be reduced to -2 RP and even allow EBS use when selecting the Box Box action.
- Bastian can make a free pit stop (with Box Box) if a Rain Card was drawn this game round.
EBS: EBS stands for Energy Boost System. When you select the "Use EBS" action, you get the extra RP according to your EBS status in this game round. If your EBS charge is at level C, you get 1 extra RP and at level D or higher even 2 RP. However, after using the EBS action, your EBS charge will decrease by 10%.

Please note:

It is important to adjust your RP Marker every game round to match the current RP of your car. Adjust your RP Marker as soon as a race situation occurs or when an action is performed.
Your RP can be limited by:
- Rain: no movement if you driving on SOFT or MEDIUM tyres.
- Box-Box Tokens: you can't drive any further on your current tyres, when your TD Marker reaches the Box-Box Token of the same tyre compound on the Tyre Degradation Bar.
- SC situations: see explanation on game board.

Game Board Details

Circuit Information

In the top-left of the game board you place the Circuit Card. You can choose from 14 circuits, each with its own specifics such as number of laps, weather conditions, expected tyre degradation of Softs and Mediums. Each Circuit Card also shows the expected duration in minutes and the difficulty.

Circuit	Laps	Lap number Finish Token	Duration in minutes	Difficulty
USA - Austin	56	56 - side A	60	*
Mexico	71	11 - side B	75	*
Italy	53	53 - side A	75	**
Spain	66	6 - side B	90	**
Japan	53	53 - side A	75	**

Please note: place the FINISH TOKEN on the Lap Track with the correct side (A or B) on the lap number as indicated on the Circuit Card. The A-side of the Finish Token is the real finish line. When the Finish Token is placed on the B-side, you flip it after all race cars have crossed it for the first time.

Tyre Degradation Bar

The Tyre Degradation Bar shows the degradation level of the tyre compounds. There are 2 variable Box-Box Tokens (Soft and Medium) and 2 fixed Box-Box Tokens (Hard and Wet) at the top to indicate the number of laps that can be raced per tyre compound.

Your TD Marker indicates the number of laps already raced with the current tyre compound. You cannot move your car any further when your TD Marker reaches the Box Box token representing your current Tyre Token.

After every pit stop, you move your Tyre Degradation Marker back to field 0.

Leaderboard

The Leaderboard shows the race positions of the drivers. The race position is important, because each game round the race cars are moved forward in the order of the Leaderboard, starting with the Driver in 1st place.

Circuit

Starting grid

All drivers line up their cars on the starting grid at the start of the race. The whole starting grid consists of 4 parts. Please note that if you start on grid position 3 to 8, you need to drive 1 to 3 more laps to finish the race.

Free Energy Boost laps (FEB laps)

The board contains several laps with yellow outlines: FEB laps. When your car starts a game round in one of these laps, you can get a free EBS RP without depleting your EBS bar, provided that your EBS is charged enough (at least level C). The FEB works with all tyre compounds, except on WETS. This means that with HARD compound tyres you cannot select the "Use EBS" action, but you can use your EBS speed in a FEB-lap.

Eddy always receives 1 RP extra when his turn starts in a FEB lap.

Corners

Underlined lap numbers indicate a corner lap.

Kimi gets an extra +1 RP when his turn starts in a corner lap.

Backmarkers

There are 3 fields with a blue flag and a fictive race car: Backmarkers. The first 3 cars to enter these laps incur respectively -3, -2 and -1 penalty RP as they are slowed down by fictive race cars (to be lapped). Place the penalty tokens in the designated areas at the start of the game.

Bjorn gets 2 penalties less at every backmarker.

Other Race Regulations

Tyres and Pit Stops

Every car must use at least two different tyre compounds during the race. The only way to change tyres / make a pitstop is to select the Box Box action.

You must change tyres when making a pit stop, but you are allowed to select the same tyre compound. After changing your tyres, the used MEDIUM or SOFT Tyre Tokens go to the Used Tyre Field. Your new Tyre Token is placed on your driver in the "Current Tyre" field and your TD Marker goes to field 0 on the Tyre Degradation Bar.

The tyre that you use to calculate your race pace in this game round, is the tyre on your car after the pit stop.

The Tyre Information part of the game board shows the general effects of tyre compounds on the race pace in dry and rainy weather conditions. There are 4 tyre compounds for your selection:

Compound	Available sets	Race pace bonus dry weather	Race pace bonus rainy weather	Tyre life	Other
SOFT	2	+1	0	Low	No movement in rainy weather
MEDIUM	2	+0	0	Medium	No movement in rainy weather, except by Dutch (with penalty of -1)
HARD	Can be re-used	+0	-1	Long, max 37 laps	Actions "Use EBS" and "Defend" cannot be selected
WET	Can be re-used	-2	+1	Long, max 37 laps

Dutch can drive in the rain on MEDIUM tyres as if they are HARD tyres.

Race Positions and Overtaking

Re-arrange the race positions on the Leaderboard immediately if someone overtakes another. For cars in the same lap, the order is determined by which car entered that lap the first. If a car enters the lap with the "EBS" action, that car will rank higher.

Valentino gets 1 additional RP immediately after his turn if he has overtaken at least one driver during the current game round.

Energy Boost System (EBS)

Charge: During the race you can charge and thereby upgrade your EBS with the "Charge EBS" action. As an extra, you will not suffer from tyre degradation this game round (TD Marker is not moved on the Tyre Degradation Bar).

Use: When you select the "Use EBS" action, you get a one-time RP bonus corresponding with your EBS level on the Steering Wheel: 1RP at EBS level C and 2RP as of EBS level D. After using your EBS through this action button, the EBS charge will be reduced by 2 levels.

Notes:

You cannot combine EBS bonuses. EBS can only be used once per game round. So, you can't combine a free EBS from a FEB-lap with another free EBS from your mechanics-bar or from the EBS action button.
Being able to use the bonus RP depends on the tyre life: you can't move your TD Marker past the Box Box tokens.
Celine gets an immediate free boost of +2RP if her turn ends in a lap with an empty space between her and the car in front of her.

Safety Car Situations

Safety Car (SC) situations may occur if the conditions for a SC situation as described on the Race Situation Cards are met: somewhere on the board there are 3 cars in one lap, or 2 cars in one lap with drivers with insufficient XP.

There are special rules in a SC situation (also mentioned on the game board):

The RP of the car on the first position is limited to max 3 RP
Driver(s) that caused the Safety Car are limited to max 2 RP
Other cars can go as fast as they can and are allowed to overtake
The leader cannot be overtaken, except if he makes a pit stop
Certain action buttons are not active in Safety Car situations
EBS cannot be used during Safety Car situations
Pit stops during a Safety Car Situation are free!
There are no negative effects from Backmarkers

Race Pace Tokens

Race Pace (RP) tokens are always resolved in the next round, positive or negative. If you were unable to (completely) "pay" the penalty token in the next game round, you can discard it.

Game Play Variants

Bot Mode - Single Player Mode or Complete the Field with Bots

In Bot mode, you can race against a grid of built-in bots (automated opponents). The game is designed in a way that you can play with any driver against up to 7 other Bot-drivers. This makes the track a bit more crowded and the game a lot more fun.

Before the start of the game, player(s) decide whether to add a number of Bot-drivers to the game. Also, players appoint someone to keep track of each Bot's Race Pace. The game is basically the same, but there are a couple of changes:

Out of order: REACT. The REACT action button is out of order in the Bot mode. Place the OUT OF ORDER token on this action field.

Bot Actions. Bot Actions are shown in the Start Lights at the bottom of the Race Situation cards. The colour of the lights corresponds with the colour of the driver. The number in the lights corresponds with the action number on the Board Radio Action Buttons.

Bot rules

Just like in the regular game, turns are per driver starting with the start player, even if this is a Bot. Then rotate clockwise. Mark the selected Bot action with the Action token of that driver.
Bots always take the action shown on the Race Situation Card, even if a Bot cannot further upgrade that aspect of its car/driver.
Bots always get their action, even if it is taken by another driver.
- The only exception is the Start action. The Bot that chose it first gets Start Player Card. Both Bots get +1RP though.
Bots always drive with a RP +0 from tyres. You don't need to use Tyre Tokens or Tyre Degradation Markers for Bots
Bots never make a pit stop
Bots don't use their driver's special skill, but you can!
Bots EBS charge will not be reduced after use
Bots never receive RP penalty tokens
Bots RP can be affected by the Race Situation cards
Bots are also subject to the Safety Car conditions

Team Play Mode - Manage 2 Drivers or Team Up with a Friend

In the Team Play mode, each player manages one team with two drivers, or two players can team up with two different drivers for the same team. The game is basically the same, but there are a couple of important changes:

Setup

Players take two Team player boards of the same team (left halfs of the Steering wheel).
When selecting the drivers, the player who picked the last racing team, is the first to select his/her first Driver player board (right half). Also, the Start Player Card is placed at the steering wheel of this driver. Counterclockwise, every player selects their first driver.
The last player to select his/her first driver, is the first to select the second driver. Clockwise, every player selects his/her second driver.

Special rules

Turns are per driver and not per team. The start player is the start driver. Actions are selected clockwise, just like in the regular game.
For team mates you must select an action from the "A" and "B" action buttons. In the same game round, you cannot select an "A" action button for both drivers or a "B" action button for both drivers. However, drivers from the same team are allowed to select the same action!
If for both team mates the Box Box action has been selected, the team mate in the highest race position on the Leaderboard suffers a penalty of -1 RP. The mechanics weren't ready for two cars making a pit stop in the same game round and accidentally failed your best driver.
Team mates are not affected by each others Defend action.

Winning in Team Mode. The game ends when the last car has finished. The team who scores the most points wins. Points per finishing positions are:

1 = 25 points
2 = 18 points
3 = 15 points
4 = 12 points
5 = 10 points
6 = 6 points
7 = 2 points
8 = 0 points

Driver Academy Mode - Family Friendly and Easy to Learn

Driver Academy Mode allows everyone to experience Race Pace in an easier game mode. The game is basically the same, but there is one major difference: you play without Race Situation I and II cards.

Out of order: DRIVER EXPERIENCE. Driver XP is not relevant in the Driver Academy Mode, since no Race Situation cards will be drawn. Place the OUT OF ORDER token on this action field.

Campaign Mode - Be the Champion of a Whole Season

Play a campaign by driving a complete championship of 14 races (or a selection of your choice). At the start of every race, you will lose all your upgrades and start on the base positions. What you do take with you to the next race is:

The starting position: the number one in the championship starts last in the next race; the lowest ranked player starts from pole position.
The race points scored in all previous races of this championship.

Fastest Lap Card and Token. The player who moved his car the most number of laps in one game round gets the Fastest Lap Card. The Fastest Lap Card is worth 1 point (and lots of praise) at the end of a game.

Example: the player who is able to move his car 4 laps in one game round, receives the Fastest Lap Card and places the Fastest Lap Token on square 4. If another player is able to move his car 5 laps or more in one game round, that player receives the Fastest Lap Card and moves the Token to the square corresponding with his RP. Etcetera.

Winning the Game

The game ends at the end of the game round in which the first driver crosses the finish line.

If multiple drivers have crossed the finish line, the driver who crossed the finish line the furthest is the winner. In case of a tie, the driver who used EBS to cross the finish line wins. If there is still a tie, the driver with the highest RP this game round wins.