HEAT: It’s heating up under the hood!

Repeat after me :

“A well-shod driver knows how to heat his tank without his dog”

And now that I've warmed up my tongue, I'm ready to tell you about HEAT , the fun car racing game for 1 to 6 players, designed by the Danes Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen ( Flamme Rouge , Copenhagen ) and published by Days of Wonder ( Les Aventuriers du Rail , Five Tribes , Mémoire '44 ). Can you hear my enthusiasm buzzing under my hood?

HEAT was launched in 2022, but it's been so successful since its release that we haven't had the chance to see it often on the shelves of your favorite store, because copies are flying away (literally) like hot buns!

What? A game that can be played by up to SIX players in an hour or less? Which is easy to learn, from the first lap? Which will appeal to both beginners and experts? Which offers lots of content to vary gaming experiences? This is something to warm our little hearts of fun-thirsty gamers!

The only thing that doesn't heat up with HEAT is the climate: it's the most carbon-neutral car race there is!

 

HEAT , on the test bench

One of the things that strikes you when you open the HEAT box is the amount of material that awaits us. The base game gives us two reversible game boards, for a total of four different racing circuits... and a ton of cards: the base cards for six players, and the materials for four additional game modules that we can choose from to integrate or not into each part. And the box is wonderfully well designed (it's rare and it's really appreciated!) to store everything neatly. The more perceptive among you will undoubtedly notice that Days of Wonder has already planned the necessary space for future expansions... in particular to possibly integrate two additional players, for a total of 8!

 

HEAT continues a trend that I have observed among certain publishers for several years, that of presenting two distinct rulebooks: the first, to learn to play quickly with the basic rules, the second which explains the advanced modules. Here, it's very well done: the booklet is short, logical and well illustrated, although a little visually heavy. But it quickly teaches us everything we need to know to start a first game, and we will have little need to refer to it later, because the rules are clear and the game is, all in all, very simple. !

 

The set-up is quick: we choose a circuit (some are more difficult than others), and each player collects the material of his color: game board, base cards and figurines (his little car and a pawn representing a gear lever). Depending on the circuit chosen, players place a certain number of HEAT cards on their “engine” location and a certain number of STRESS cards in their deck of cards. The starting order of the cars is drawn at random, each player places their lever in first gear, shuffles their cards and forms their draw pile from which they draw seven cards. And it’s a departure!

 

How it works ?

In HEAT, the cards in your hand represent the distance you can drive your car during your turn. In first gear, we play a single card; in second, two cards, and so on until the fourth speed, which is the one that allows us to play the most cards.

The theme of the game is extremely well integrated into its mechanics: like with a real car, we will want to increase or decrease our speed gradually, in order to avoid damaging our precious engine. So, when you are in first gear, you can choose to stay there (and play a single card) OR move to second gear (and play two cards). But we could also be tempted by a more incredible start, and go from first to third gear on the first lap, which would allow us to take the lead... at our own risk!

Indeed, when we abruptly accelerate our car (for example, by suddenly switching from first to third gear, or from third to first), our engine overheats, and we then move a HEAT card from our engine to our discard. And HEAT cards are not good! They do not allow our car to move forward and they remain “stuck” in our hand until we can get rid of them by cooling our engine (that is to say by remaining at low speed). In short, the more overheating we accumulate, the fewer options we have in subsequent rounds.

The tension rises further when players have to negotiate turns. Again, it's very thematic: you can't enter a hairpin bend at full speed, at the risk of going off the road! In HEAT, it's the same thing. The game board specifies the maximum speed (the sum of cards played during that turn) at which each turn can be crossed. The more we exceed the prescribed speed in a turn, the more we overheat our engine. And if there are no longer enough HEAT cards on our engine to pay for the maneuver, then it's a disaster: we go off the road, we get stuck at the start of the turn and we have to restart on the next turn in first gear, in addition to adding STRESS cards to our deck.

What are STRESS cards? They are also negative cards that accumulate in our hand and which we can only get rid of by playing them; they represent the nervous tension that builds up in our pilot! STRESS cards add an uncontrollable element to our speed: each of them will move our car forward 1 to 4 spaces, at random! Needless to say, it is risky to play them on corners where speed must be calculated precisely…

This is the strategic heart of HEAT: despite the astonishing simplicity of the game, to become an ace driver, you must learn to discern when it is appropriate to push the limits of your vehicle and when it is wiser to spare it; when our driver can relieve stress without too much danger and when it is imperative to have perfect control of the car. Players who are too careless will quickly find themselves at the back of the pack, paralyzed by stress and overheating that they struggle to eliminate; and conversely, players who are too cautious will have difficulty securing a place on the podium, because it's a race, let's not forget, it's not the Sunday ride in Mononc' Gaétan's old Buick . Victory therefore requires taking risks, but carefully calculated risks!)

And that's it, basically, that's it, HEAT! The first player to complete two laps of the circuit wins the game!

And the modules?

The HEAT base box offers four additional modules that can be integrated into the game, in whole or in part, when players are sufficiently comfortable. But before getting started, you should know that some of these modules can extend the duration of the games, by adding rules or modifying those of the base game.

The GARAGE module allows players to customize their vehicle (their personal deck of cards) before each race. At the start of each game, each player will choose three vehicle upgrades from a random selection (there are, in total, 96 upgrade cards). Better overheating capacity? Better brakes? A super efficient (and super illegal) fuel? Choose what seems most appropriate to you depending on the circuit on which you will be driving!

The LEGENDS module allows you to add automated drivers. This is the module that allows you to play solo against one to five opponents, if you wish, but you can also integrate the automated pilots into a multi-player game. In this regard, I would mention in passing that, even if HEAT works well with two or three players, the ideal in my opinion is to have at least four vehicles on the track so that the races are more interesting.

The WEATHER AND ROAD CONDITIONS module integrates the vagaries of Mother Nature into the race! The general weather will have effects on your starting package (for example, rainy weather is more stressful for the drivers!) and the condition of the road surface can give advantages or disadvantages in certain sections of the circuit. This mod adds a layer of complexity and strategy to the base game.

Finally, the CHAMPIONSHIP module, which brings together all the other modules, allows players to embark on a series of three races at the end of which the HEAT! champion will be crowned. Here again, lots of little additions to enrich the experience of the base game. By accomplishing objectives or impressing journalists in certain corners, you earn “sponsorship” cards (single-use cards, with very advantageous effects). The drivers with the first three positions in each race earn points, and the driver with the highest total after three races wins the championship!

So… what do we think?

From every point of view, HEAT is a game that impresses with the finesse of its design. Asger Harding Granerud took the spirit of his Flamme Rouge cycling racing game and managed to surpass it, to reinvent it, to give it a scale that it perhaps lacked a little. The first impression HEAT gave me was that of a complete game. In an age where sometimes games disappoint us with their meager content hidden in too big a box, with HEAT I feel like I got my money's worth. This is a game that doesn't need an expansion or two (or three or four) to shine; it is already shining, and its undeniable popularity is proof of it. That said, the expansions are coming, it's written in the sky... Will HEAT become the next Rail Adventures , with dozens of expansions and different circuits? Highly possible…

WE love :

• The simplicity of learning despite the excellent strategic potential;
• The judicious integration of the theme into the game mechanics;
• Interactions between players and dynamism;
• The great replayability, both in the base game and with the modules;
• The speed of turns and games: no time to get bored!

We like less…

• The thickness of the cards. As with the other games published by Days of Wonder (I'm thinking of you, Rail Adventurers !) I find that the cards are a little thin, especially since we have to handle them a lot. You should expect that the cards will wear out fairly quickly. Personally, I find it a certain charm, but others may prefer to use plastic protectors to keep their cards clean and straight!
• Two or three player games. The races are less exciting with fewer than four players (but since you can easily add machines thanks to the modules, let's say that compensates a little!)

-Mast

To get this essential, click here:

In French version: https://www.asdesjeux.com/products/heat-vf

In English version: https://www.asdesjeux.com/products/heat-pedal-to-the-metal-va

HEAT

1-6 players

60 minutes

10 years and over