Create a deck of 25 tiles, including 5 Collectibles and 1 starting tile. Place these in a 5x5 grid. Place the vehicle on the starting tile (oriented randomly).
Combine the default Vehicle Cards with the specific Vehicle Cards for the chosen game. Shuffle and place as a faceup draw pile. Each player draws 3 of these to hold in their hand.
Combine the default Health Cards and the specific Health Cards for chosen game. Shuffle and take out 5: this is your Health Deck.
Place 5 instruction tokens in a row. You’ll place your vehicle cards underneath these each round.
Pick any start player.
You immediately win once you visited the 5 Collectibles. (What these special locations look like, or how to visit them, depends on the game.)
You immediately lose if your vehicle takes too much damage: your Health Deck is empty! (How you take damage also depends on the specific game.)
Play happens in rounds.
From the start player, take clockwise turns doing one thing: play a Vehicle Card.
Add a card from your hand, facedown, to an empty slot in the instruction row. (Then draw your hand back to the hand limit of 3.)
Continue until each instruction token has a card below it!
Then, one at a time, reveal each instruction and execute it (left to right). This moves the vehicle. If a decision needs to be made for a card, the start player makes it.
Whoever played into slot 1 becomes the new start player. Discard the instructions and play the next round!
By default, no communication about the game is allowed! Don’t reveal cards, don’t ask others what you should do, don’t explain what you did, nothing of the sort.
Whenever you take damage, take the top card off of your Health Deck to reveal the next top card. These cards always have a handicap. All revealed handicaps must be followed at all times. (And if all health cards are revealed, you lose the game.)
If you visit a Collectible, collect the tile and replace it with a new one from the deck.
The shared material has 3 basic vehicle cards. They are all optional, but including them generally makes the game easier.
Discuss: when executed, you may communicate about the game and your hand cards! This discussion stops immediately when you decide to continue the game.
Important: If you include this card, turn the draw pile facedown for the entire game. The Discuss card is now your most important way to get information.
Wildcard: this card represents any other vehicle card in the game. As usual, the start player decides which one upon reveal.
Speedup: add or remove 1 Instruction Token. The number of instructions must always be between 3 and 8.
- If this leaves a card hanging (its token removed), it’s just not executed.
- If this creates a new empty slot, the player who played the original card must play a new card into the new slot.
At high player counts, you split into 2 teams. Each controls their own vehicle, with their own row of 5 instruction tokens. During setup, place both vehicles on the starting tile.
You win the game immediately if
- The opponent is total loss
- Or you collected 3(+) of the collectibles (which is a majority the others can’t surpass)
The rules stay the same, except for the following changes.
Playing happens per team, and can even be done simultaneously. From your start player, go clockwise through the players on your team, until all slots are filled.
Executing alternates. Once both vehicles have all their instructions, as usual, the reveal-and-execute phase starts. But now you alternate between the teams: Card 1 team A, Card 1 team B, Card 2 team A, Card 2 team B, and so forth.
Finally, if you move into the same tile as the other team, you collide. Both teams take 1 damage, regardless of who causes this collision.
To make the game easier:
- Turn the health deck facedown so you start with no handicaps at all. (In the base rules, you already start with one handicap—the top health card.)
- Start with more Health cards.
- The “Action Cards” expansion (see below) is also designed to make the game easier in most cases.
To get more information (which usually makes the game easier and less random):
- Whenever you successfully get a new collectible, you get an extra reward! Players may draw 1 more card and show their cards to each other. (The only time you’re allowed to do so. Still no other communication besides that!)
- Or consider allowing discussion at the end of each round. You’re not allowed to explicitly state your cards, but may otherwise strategize, ask questions, or make plans.
To make the game harder:
- Randomize the start player each round.
- Start with fewer Health cards.
- Try this rule: the Discuss card must always be played in the first or last slot.
- When you collect a tile, leave an empty hole (don’t replace from the deck). You can’t enter that tile anymore, and trying to do so incurs 1 damage.
The best way to keep the game challenging and varied, is by introducing new expansions once in a while.
These are vehicle cards with a special action. It’s recommended to include 5–10 random action cards, not the entire deck.
At the start of the game, choose how you want to use them: either public or mixed in.
PUBLIC (simpler game): Place the chosen action cards faceup on the table, within reach of all players. At any time, you may grab such a card and execute its action immediately. After doing so, however, the card is discarded and its action can never be taken again.
MIXED-IN (harder game): Simply mix all these cards with the regular Vehicle Cards deck. Execute their action only when the card is revealed.
- For most cards, this is simply when it is revealed while executing instructions.
- Some cards tell you to play faceup, which means instant execution.
- If a choice must be made, the start player must make it.
At the start of each round, draw a new GPS Card from the deck.
These cards show the current location of the vehicle and possible squares of the map it might visit this round.
- If you visit any of the GOOD squares (highlighted green), you get the bonus listed on the card.
- If you visit any of the BAD squares (highlighted red), you get the penalty listed on the card.
Some cards introduce an effect for the next round. If you failed or succeeded such a card, leave it faceup next to the pile to remember this.
This expansion adds extra time pressure. This is especially useful if your group tries to drive a little too … safely.
- During setup, place a facedown deck of 20 Time Cards. (Randomly selected, shuffled.)
- At the start of each round, reveal the next card.
- If the deck runs out, you’ve lost the game.
Revealing and handling is always done by the start player. They make choices (when relevant), with no communication allowed.
New Rule: when you take involuntary damage, you may choose to take a penalty of 3 Time Cards instead.
Special actions can be one of three types.
- Offer: you may choose whether to take it or not.
- Rule: something that will be true for the entire round. (If it’s a condition, check if it’s true once the round is over.)
- Event: a single action that must be executed. You decide when to do so: before the round (when the card is revealed) or after the round (once all instructions have been executed).