A Racing Board Game

When it comes to board games, there’s always a few things that seem like they don’t translate well into such a media. One of those things is racing. I mean, how does a racing game even work in board game form? Well, it turns out, there is a way to make a racing board game. Today, I want to talk about the game Heat: Pedal to the Metal.

Heat is a racing board game, where the first person to complete three laps wins the game. You can play with up to six players and there are four tracks to choose from. Everyone has a dashboard, a gear stick and a very small car to drive across the tracks.

The way the game works is quite simple. Every player has a deck of cards, with numbers 1-5 on them. Depending on what gear you are in, you can play up to that many cards and make your way around the track. You start off in first gear and can change your gear up to fourth, so you can play four cards.

But it’s not that simple. At various points on each track, there are tight corners that require you to slow down. If you don’t slow down, you risk overheating or skidding off the track. Overheating means you gain a blank engine card that does nothing and just takes up space in your hand. You can also pick up confusion cards, which means you take the top card of your deck and add it to your current speed. Both can be very troublesome if you are nearing a tight bend.

The bends are actually a pretty good way to make the game less random. There is skill involved, you need to control your speed to avoid crashing on the tight bends. For example, if you are on gear four, you have to play four cards, which can send you spiraling out on a bend where the max speed is two or three. The bends are actually pretty sharp and allow an opportunity for players to catch up with whoever is leading.

Depending on how many players there are, the game can get a little hectic. Playing with two players is easier and cleaner, since you don’t need to worry about overtaking. But there are actually rules set so you can play with ‘npc’ racers as well. Curiously, the game contains six racing cars, but on the tracks, some of them have space for 8 cars. When it comes to actual gameplay though, each round is very quick and before you know it, you’ve done three laps and the game is over.

Heat also has some nice art. It’s simple and maybe a bit samey, but it works. Could have had some more variation, especially in the overheating and random cards, which all look identical. The race tracks however are very scenic. There is one thing though that makes me sad. The little cars are cute and all, but the wheels are static. They don’t spin at all. So you just push the cars about, plastic on card.

Still, it’s a good game, and it works quite well as a racing game.