Slip Stream Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Moving Machine Tokens
  • Wheel Tokens
  • Slipstream
  • Movement from the Start Tile
  • Defeat by Immobility
  • Goal Points
  • Lane-Change Prohibition Marks
  • Special Marks on Score Tiles
  • Starting the Game
  • Ending the Game

Components

• Course tiles: 7 different tiles, 7 total
• Start tile: 1
• Goal tile: 1
• Score tiles: 6 different tiles, 6 total
• Machine tokens: 2 colours, 8 total (4 of each colour). The machines are modelled on motorbikes; the right side of the picture is the front.
• Score tokens: 2 colours, 4 total (2 of each colour)
• Wheel tokens: 7

Setup

Connect the start tile, the 7 course tiles, the goal tile and a score tile in a single straight line to form the game board. Choose the order of the 7 course tiles at random.

When playing for the first time, the score tile marked "#1 STANDARD" is recommended, but any score tile may be used.

Place one wheel token next to each course tile.

Place the 8 machine tokens on the 8 start spaces of the start tile, alternating colours one at a time. Which colour goes first makes no difference. The players do not yet decide which colour each of them controls (see "Starting the Game").

Place one score token of each colour on the circle at the lower left end of the score tile, stacked on top of each other. Set the remaining score tokens aside for now.

Each score tile has a track of circles that curve around the tile. This is the score track, which shows each player's points. Each time a player scores, they move their own colour score token forward one step per point towards the ◎ at the right end. The goal of the game is to score enough points in the race to move your score token onto the ◎. Passing it also counts as a win.

Note: with any score tile, at least one player is always able to reach the ◎.

The rules of the game do not change with the score tile. Different score tiles differ in the number and position of the filled-in ● marks and in the points given by the wheel tokens, which affects the strategy. Even with the same score tile, the random order of the course tiles means that each game plays out differently and calls for a different strategy.

How to Play

Two players take turns, one move each. On your turn, you move one of your machine tokens (hereafter "machine") forward towards the goal tile (hereafter "goal") following the rules below. You may not move sideways or backwards.

The very first move of the game is made by a special method called the "pie rule". See "Starting the Game".

Moving Machine Tokens

Each course tile has two kinds of recesses: "elongated" spaces (hereafter "spaces") and "circular" spaces. A machine normally stops on an elongated space, but depending on the situation it may also stop on a circular space.

The spaces on each course tile form a row of 7 spaces. Thinking of the board as a road, there are 7 lanes.

On your turn, you choose one of your machines and move it forward. It may go straight ahead in its current lane, or change lane to either adjacent lane while moving forward (that is, diagonally forward). A machine on the outermost lane cannot change lane outward, because the course ends there. Machines cannot leave the course.

A machine does not stop on a circular space. It keeps moving forward until it reaches the nearest elongated space in its lane. In other words, treat circular spaces as if they were skipped over. (See the example diagram.)

The example diagram shows three possible moves, marked with red lines, from the starting positions and to the ending positions shown.

Machines cannot enter a space occupied by another machine, and cannot jump over another machine. If the path is blocked by another machine, the moving machine ends its move one space before that machine. In this case the machine may end its move on a circular space.

A machine must always move forward at least one space. In the situation shown in the diagram, the machine cannot move in its own lane or in the lane to its left, because other machines block both of them, so it cannot move there at all. It can move in the lane to its right, where one space of movement is possible. That space is a circular space, so the machine would normally continue to the elongated space further on, but that space is occupied by another machine, so the machine ends its move one space before it.

Wheel Tokens

Next to each course tile is a wheel token. When a player moves all of their machines out of a course tile, past it onto a further tile, they take the wheel token on the tile they left and score the points shown on the score tile for that wheel token (move your score token forward accordingly).

If the wheel token is already gone, no points are scored, so the points go to whoever takes the wheel first.

When a slipstream (see below) carries machines past several course tiles at once and several wheel tokens are taken, the points are not scored one at a time. Instead, the total of all the points is added together and scored all at once.

If you forget to take a wheel token, you may still take it during the same turn if you notice. A wheel token that has been forgotten for more than one turn is taken, and scored, by the player who points it out.

Slipstream

When a machine moves, if there is one or more machines that have not yet reached the goal ahead of it in its lane, whether they belong to you or your opponent, then the slipstream is triggered (this is mandatory). The moving machine advances at once to the space one space before the nearest of those machines. No matter how far away they are, you can catch up in one move, so use it well.

In the example, the left and right lanes have other machines ahead, so the slipstream carries those machines forward at once. The machine in the lane where nothing is ahead stops normally on an elongated space.

Movement from the Start Tile

The 8 start spaces on the start tile are offset from the 7 lanes of the course tiles, so a machine cannot move straight ahead from them. Every machine's first move from the start tile is to one of the two circular spaces in front of its start space.

A machine starting from either end has only one lane to choose from, so it is easily blocked.

Note: at both ends, only one circular space lies in front.

Defeat by Immobility

On your turn you must always move one of your machines forward at least one space. If none of your machines can move, you lose the game immediately.

Note: machines cannot move sideways or backwards.

Goal Points

When a machine reaches a space on the goal tile, points are scored by arrival order: the first machine to arrive scores 7 points, the second 5 points, the third 3 points, and the fourth 2 points. Score accordingly by moving your score token forward. The fifth and later arrivals score nothing.

Once a machine has reached the goal, it can never move again. The slipstream is not triggered by a goaled machine. Only one machine can occupy each goal space, so one goal space can hold only one machine.

Lane-Change Prohibition Marks

The dotted line with the × marks drawn on some course tiles is a prohibition mark. It forbids changing lanes by tracing along this line. Changing lanes across the line is allowed.

The red lines in the diagram show the lanes a machine can choose to move into from each of the 7 positions. A machine in lane 2 may go straight ahead or change into lane 3 (to its right), but it cannot change into lane 1.

Only two course tiles have this mark.

Special Marks on Score Tiles

Besides the empty circles ○, where nothing happens, and the ◎ at the end of the track, which wins the game, score tiles also show filled-in ● marks and ✹ marks. Both marks have an effect that takes place immediately when a player's score token is moved onto them, provided both of the following conditions are met:

1. The score token stops exactly on the mark. (If it passes over the mark, nothing happens.)
2. At that moment, the player's score token is ahead of the opponent's. (In other words, if the player has not scored at least 1 point more than the opponent, nothing happens.)

The effects are as follows. Both are disadvantageous to the player who triggers them.

• ● (Turbo): The opponent moves one of their machines forward by one space. The machine moves forward in the three directions as normal, but a slipstream is not triggered. Even if the destination is a circular space, the machine moves only one space and ends its move there. In the rare case where the opponent has no machine that can be moved by Turbo, the opponent loses.
• ✹ (Crash): The player who triggered the Crash loses the game immediately.

If a player gains several wheel tokens at once, the score token moves the total of all their points in one go. So even if taking only one wheel token would land the score token on a mark, you may be able to jump over the mark if you gain several wheel tokens together.

Starting the Game

Choose one player at random to be the "first-move player". The first-move player moves one machine of their choice, of either colour, by one turn, following the normal rules. The colour of that machine becomes the "first colour".

The other player then looks at this move and chooses their colour. In other words, they choose whether to be the first player or the second player. The remaining colour goes to the first-move player.

Each player takes the spare score token of their own colour, to show which colour they control.

The game then begins with the player who ended up as the second player, because the first move has already been made.

Ending the Game

The player who moves their score token to the last ◎ at the end of the score track wins the game. The game also ends when the opponent meets a defeat condition, and the other player wins.

You may also swap score tracks and play until one player has won two games.

It is entirely up to you.