How to Play Heat Pedal to the Metal Board Game (Beginner Guide)

Heat Pedal to the Metal is a hand management board game where the winner is the fastest player to finish the race.

Having trouble spinning out? Check out these tips.

Getting Started

1. Draw 7 cards from your deck.
2. All players complete Steps 1 and 2 at the same time.
3. Step 3 – 7 is completed in car order from first position to last.

Step 1: Shifting Gears

• The gear determines how many cards you can play.
• You start the game in 1st gear. At the start of your turn you can shift up or down 1 gear for free.
• Alternatively you can pay 1 heat to shift up or down 2 gears (more on heat later).

In the BGA version of the game shifting gears is automatically done when playing cards (see next step).

Step 2: Playing Cards

There are 3 types of cards:

1. Speed Cards (1-4 number determines how far your car moves)
2. Upgrade Cards (0 speed, 5 speed and Cooldown which transfers a heat card back into your engine)
3. Stress Cards (flip cards from deck and apply first 1-4 basic speed card you come across, less reliable but the only way to get them off your hand is to play them)
4. Heat Cards (cannot be played)

Step 3: Move Your Car

• Players take turns moving their vehicle in order of vehicle place.
• Where cars are side by side the car closest to the thicker race track line is determine to be ahead, basically it will be the first car to reach that spot (you should always take the thicker line side).
  (See image above how the thick line changes side from 1 to 2 after the 2 speed checkpoint)
• You can move past cars however if you land on a completely occupied space it is considered blocked and you will take the space behind the blocking cars.

In the BGA version your vehicle will automatically be placed closest to the thick line where possible.

Step 4: React

There are 3 actions available which you can make in any order:

• Boost
  Pay 1 heat to flip the top card of your deck until a 1-4 Speed card is drawn. Move your car forward accordingly
  (Note: this adds to check corners).
• Cooldown
  If in Gear 1 take 3 heat from your hand and place back into engine (1 heat if in Gear 2)
• Adrenaline
  This action is only available to the last player (or last 2 players with 5+ players). Move your car up 1 space and/or gain 1 cooldown (move 1 heat card from hand to engine).
  (Note this adds to check corners).

Step 5: Slipstream

If you are now behind a car (including when you are next to a car that is closer to the thick line of the track) you can move 2 spaces forward placing your car in front of the car you were just behind.

If the landing spot is completely blocked then move your car to the first space with a free spot behind the blocking cars.

Whilst slip streaming does not add to your check corner it may be the difference between having and not having to do the check.

Step 6: Check Corner

• Check to see if your total speed is more than the check corner speed.
  (The above image shows a check corner speed of 2, therefore you will need to pass the line with a speed of 2 ie by moving only 2 spaces otherwise you will have to pay heat).
• If your speed is more than the check speed you must pay the difference in heat (from your engine).
• If you cannot pay you spin out and move your car back to the first available space before the check corner line that caused the spin out.
• Additionally if you spin out take 1 stress card into your hand (if in gear 1 or 2) and 2 stress cards (if in gear 3 or 4).

Step 7: Discard and Draw

1. First discard as many cards as you want. However Heat and Stress cards cannot be discarded. Discarded cards are placed face up in your discard pile.
2. Next draw back up to 7 cards.

Managing and Spending Heat

• Heat in your engine is a good thing (in the above image you have 6 heat cards in your engine). It can be spent on Check Corners, Boost and shifting gears (+/- 2).
• Spending heat takes heat cards from your engine and places them into your discard pile which are subsequently drawn.
• Heat cannot be discarded (Step 7) and therefore clutter your hand.
• To transfer heat from your hand back to your engine you need to take cooldown actions. Typically this is from shifting down to Gear 1 or 2 and taking the cooldown action during Step 4 React.

Running Out of Cards

• When your deck runs out of cards, shuffle your discard pile and place it down as your new deck.
• If heat clutters your hand so much that you cannot play enough cards. Cover the difference with heat cards, shift down to Gear 1, place chosen cards into your discard pile, do not move your car and skip straight to Step 7 Draw Cards.