Not so Fast (ML)

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Expected Date: This item is expected around mid-November 2026. Occasionally, unforeseen circumstances may delay a product’s release. This date is not guaranteed.

The vegetable patch gates are wide open, and the feast is waiting. Hares and tortoises race toward the vegetables, but in Not So Fast, leading the pack certainly does not guarantee victory. This racing game turns the usual formula upside down: to win, you need both animals on your secret team to reach the vegetable patch when the scoring is right.

At the beginning of the game, each player secretly receives a team colour. Your goal is to help the hare and tortoise of that colour without making your identity too obvious. On your turn, a Movement card determines which pawn can advance based on its animal type or colour. You need to help your own racers while manipulating the others enough to hide your intentions. In this bluffing game, every movement can become a clue for your opponents.

The race becomes even less predictable when the animals start stacking. Pawns can form stacks, and when a pawn underneath other animals moves, it can carry those pawns forward with it. A move that seems perfect for your team could therefore send an opponent into an even better position. Watch which colours the other players seem to favour, anticipate upcoming movements, and occasionally help a rival simply to keep your own plan hidden.

As animals pass through the gate into the vegetable patch, they progressively fill the seven available scoring spaces. Each position awards different points depending on whether it is occupied by a hare or a tortoise. Only seven animals will score, turning the final stretch into an exercise in strategic timing. Once all seven spaces are occupied, everyone reveals their secret team colour and adds together the points earned by their matching hare and tortoise. The highest total wins.

Not So Fast is for you if you enjoy family board games that are easy to teach but packed with tactical choices and unexpected moments. Shared movement creates plenty of interaction around the table, while the hidden teams encourage bluffing and careful observation. With a playing time of around 20 minutes, it is also ideal for immediate rematches where everyone can try a completely different strategy.

Not So Fast playfully revisits the familiar idea behind the hare and the tortoise fable: speed does not necessarily equal victory. Even the fastest animals need to know when to wait. That concept is built directly into the scoring system, transforming an accessible race into a clever game of bluffing and anticipation where the most obvious move is not always the best one.

Not So Fast was designed by Martino Chiacchiera and Guido Albini and illustrated by Simon Douchy. Its colourful artwork and hare and tortoise pawns bring this playful family race to life, published by Blue Orange.

BOX CONTENTS
1 Race board
5 Team cards
5 different coloured Hare pawns
5 different coloured Tortoise pawns
20 Movement cards, including 10 Hare cards, 5 Tortoise cards and 5 Colour cards

Number of players: 2 to 4
Playing time: 20 minutes
Age: 8+