Top Speed Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Material
• Basic Rules
  • Setup
  • Round
  • Draw Phase
  • Trouble Cards' Effects
• Movement Phase
• Pit Stop
• Safety Car
• Lapped Cars
• Game End
• Advanced Rules
  • Qualifying
  • Fastest Lap
  • KERS
  • Blank Card

Material

The minimum version contains:

• Carrying case.
• TOP SPEED board depicting the Montmeló circuit (Spain) and a Lap Count track.
• 2 gray discs.
• 8 cars in different colors.
• 16 counters in 8 different colors.
• 2 decks of 72 minicards.

You can add more minidecks to accommodate up to 8 players.

Basic Rules

Setup

Place the board (circuit) in the middle of the playing surface.

Each player takes a deck of cards, a race car, and 2 markers of their color. Remove the 'blank card' from your deck.

Determine the race type:

• Normal race: Remove one Safety Car card, one Yellow Flag card and one Off Track card from each deck and set them aside. They are not used during the game. This type of race is more strategic.
• Wet race: Do not remove any cards. This type of race is more chaotic.
• Custom race: Remove any cards from each deck (same for all decks).

Randomly determine the starting order and place the cars on the track in order, starting on the Finish Line space (see picture). If you want to make a qualifying round to determine the starting order please take a look at the advanced rules.

Each player shuffles the deck of the player on their right and gives it to him. Then each player makes a cut on his own deck. Players then place their decks face-down before them. This is your draw deck, and it must be face-down at all times. It represents your tires endurance. You are not allowed to peek at the cards!

Determine the number of laps for the race and place one lap marker on the corresponding space Lap Counting track. Montmeló Grand Prix takes 66 laps, for example. Place the other lap counter on the 0 space; this is the Lap Counting disc.

Place one of your discs before you, so everybody can see which player drives each car.

The game can start now.

Round

The game is played in rounds. One round corresponds to one full lap and a bit more.

At the beginning of each round, move the Lap Counting disc one space forward along the counting track. It is recommended that one player takes care of the lap counter.

Players play in turn each round. The turn order is determined by the race order each round, with the first player in turn order being the driver of the lead car in the race.

Example: 'Red' leads the race, then 'green', 'blue' and 'yellow'.

For a large number of players, it is recommended that one player takes care of the racing order, by announcing the colors in order.

Draw Phase

The cars are moved by drawing cards. There are several types of cards:

• Movement cards: They allow you to move your car.
• Trouble cards: They may cause you some trouble: Yellow Flag, Drive Through, Safety Car, Mechanic troubles, Tire troubles and Off track.

On your turn, you must do only one of these 3 things:

• Draw the topmost card of your deck (just 1 card!) and place it in front of you, forming a row with the previous cards you've drawn (if any). If you've just drawn a Trouble card and there is an identical card already present in your row, then you end your round and you cannot draw more cards until the next round. You lose all your movement points and you car will not move this round. Do not remove the cards from the table yet! (See TROUBLE CARDS' EFFECTS.) If you haven't drawn two identical Trouble cards, then when it's your turn again, you can draw another card.

  You've drawn 2 'Engine trouble' cards! You're done for the round!

• Pass: If you pass, turn the last card you've drawn 90 degrees. Your round has ended and you cannot draw any more cards until the next round. Keep the cards on the table. You may not pass if you haven't drawn any cards this round. You must have drawn at least one.

• Declare Pit Stop: You can only declare a Pit Stop if you haven't drawn any cards. If you declare a Pit Stop, you can't draw cards this round. Take all your cards (discard pile, draw deck, and Damage cards) and shuffle them together. Your round ends and you cannot draw any cards until the next round. (See PIT STOP.)

Once everybody's round has ended, the movement phase begins. Players that have passed sum up the movement points of their 'green' cards.

Trouble Cards' Effects

Remember that if you've drawn two equal Trouble cards during the round, you lose all your movement points and you car will not move this round. Apart from this, some Trouble cards have additional effects:

• Tire troubles: you keep one of the two Tire Trouble cards before you, forming a row with any other previous damage cards thus forming your Damage Row. From now on, and until you make a Pit Stop, all your movement points for the following turns are reduced by 1 for every card on your Damage Row.
• Engine troubles: you keep one of the two Engine Trouble cards before you, forming a row with any other previous damage cards thus forming your Damage Row. From now on, and until you make a Pit Stop, all your movement points for the following turns are reduced by 1 for every card on your Damage Row.
• Yellow Flag: If there are 2 or more Yellow Flag cards on the table (no matter which player has drawn each of them), overtaking is not allowed in this round.
• Safety car: if there are 2 or more safety car cards on the table (no matter which player has drawn each of them), the safety car will be deployed at the end of the round (see SAFETY CAR).
• Drive Through: Your car will move 5 spaces backwards as a penalty on your movement phase.

Notes:

• When making a Drive Through or a Pit Stop, negative damage points are not considered.
• Except for a Drive Through or a Pit Stop, movement points cannot go below 0.

Movement Phase

The movement phase begins. Every player, in race order, moves his car a number of spaces equal to the number of movement points collected in his row, if any, minus 1 for each card in your Damage Row, if any.

Remember, if there are 2 or more Yellow Flag cards on the table, no overtaking is allowed, so if you would overtake another car, you simply stop behind it.

If your car lands on a space occupied by another car, your car must be placed in the space behind it. If this space is also occupied then place it in the space behind that one, and so on.

If the lead car crosses the finish line in the direction of the race, move the Lap Counting disc 1 space forward; however, if the lead car crosses the finish line backward, the Lap number does not change.

The movement phase ends.

Remove your played cards (but not the Damage cards!) and add them face-up to your Discard Pile. Each player has his own Discard Pile. You cannot use the cards in your discard pile again until you make a Pit Stop.

The round ends.

Pit Stop

As you play, your tires will become worn. Pit Stops are used to change your tires and fix your car, if needed. Your deck doesn't need to be exhausted in order to make a Pit Stop. Sometimes it is a good idea to make a Pit Stop in order to fix your car, even if you still have a lot of cards in your draw deck.

When making a pit stop, you must shuffle all of your cards (the Discard Pile, the remaining cards in the draw deck, if any, and the cards in the damage row, if any) to form a new draw deck. In the movement phase, on your turn, your car moves backwards 8 spaces, plus 2 more spaces for every engine trouble on your Damage Row.

Note: to avoid cheating, the deck may be shuffled or cut by the player on your left.

You can play again normally in the next round.

Safety Car

If there are 2 or more Safety Car cards face-up on the table during the round, the Virtual Safety Car will be deployed at the end of the round, after the movement phase has been completed.

In race order, each car (except the lead car) moves forward as many free spaces as needed to close the gap with the car in front of it. Thus, all the cars get together, forming a row.

The cars cannot move until the Safety Car is removed. From now on, for 3 rounds, the players will only draw 1 card (move the lap counter as usual) and then discard it.

Players can make a Pit Stop while the Safety Car is deployed. After the players making a Pit Stop move their cars backwards (8 or more spaces), all the cars get together again forming a row.

Lapped Cars

In rare cases, a car may be lapped. To keep track of this, place its corresponding color marker next to it (until it catches up).

Game End

The game ends when the Lap Counting disc reaches the Race Laps disc. The first car in race order has won the race.

Notice that the Lap Counting disc may reach the Race Laps disc in 2 circumstances:

• At the beginning of a round, when the Lap Counting disc is moved.
• When the lead car crosses the finish line, thus increasing the lap number.

Advanced Rules

You may agree on using any of these rules before the game starts.

Qualifying

The qualifying phase is played in rounds, clockwise. It lasts up to 5 laps.

All the players shuffle their decks and place their 'fastest lap' counter on the '0' space of the Lap Counting track.

Players draw cards in turn, just as if they were racing.

In the movement phase, instead of moving their cars, players one of their discs to keep track of their fastest lap. (See FASTEST LAP) Because you are not actually moving your cars, your lap speed will just be total movement minus your damage row. As with a normal game round, trouble cards can cause you to lose your movement for the round; however, having 2 or more Yellow Flag cards on the table has no effect on overtaking, because there is no car movement. Similarly, having 2 or more Safety Car cards on the table during the Qualifiers does not deploy the Safety Car.

At the beginning of their first turn in a Qualifying round, players may choose not to make a lap, thus not playing any cards. If nobody wants to make a lap, the Qualifying phase ends immediately.

Any cards played during the Qualifying phase are returned to the decks before the race starts.

The starting order is then determined by the fastest laps. In case of a tie, players may play another lap or determine the order randomly.

Fastest Lap

Players one of their discs to keep track of their fastest lap during the race. The fastest lap is determined by the number of spaces the car moves, not the movement points. This is, if you have 8 movement points but your car moves only 6 spaces (due to damage and/or cars you couldn't overtake), the lap is 6 points. At the end of the game, each car is moved forward a number of spaces equal to its fastest lap.

The first car in race order has won the race.

KERS

KERS is an energy recovery mechanism which slows a vehicle by converting its kinetic energy into another form, which can be stored until needed.

When drawing a green card on your draw phase, you can keep it apart. Then use it later in another round (by placing it on your 'drawn cards' row, instead of drawing a new card). You cannot keep more than 1 card, and you cannot keep a card and use a previously kept card in the same round. Example: You cannot use a '2' and keep a '1' on the same round.

Blank Card

Each deck contains a blank card that can be used as a replacement in case another card gets damaged or lost. It can also be used as an extra card (such as a Safety Car card, or a 2 Movement Points card), or even for a custom rule. This must be agreed before the race starts.

Example: Chaotic weather.

If there are 2 or more blank cards on the table (no matter which player has drawn each of them), all Tire Trouble cards act as Off Track cards from that moment onward. This effect is canceled if, again, two blank cards are played.