Asger Harding Granerud, Daniel Skjold Pedersen, and Days of Wonder Bring the Heat

French publisher Days of Wonder has announced its first standalone game outside the Ticket to Ride and Small World lines since 2019 when it released Corinth and Deep Blue. In what is perhaps not a coincidence, the designers of Deep Blue — Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen — have designed this new release, which in English will bear the title Heat: Pedal to the Metal.

Here's an overview of this 1-6 player game that plays in 30-60 minutes:

Quote:

Based on simple and intuitive hand management, Heat: Pedal to the Metal puts players in the driver's seat of intense car races, jockeying for position to cross the finish line first, while managing their car's speed if they don't want to overheat. Selecting the right upgrades for their car will help them hug the curves and keep their engine cool enough to maintain top speeds. Ultimately, their driving skills will be the key to victory!

Basic cards

Drivers can compete in a single race or use the "Championship System" to play a whole season in one game night, customizing their car before each race to claim the top spot of the podium. They have to be careful as the weather, road conditions, and events will change every race to spice up their championship. Players can also enjoy a solo mode with the Legends Module or add automated drivers as additional opponents in multiplayer games.

Tracks on the two double-sided game boards

In a press release announcing the game, the designers wrote, "When we first started working on Heat: Pedal to the Metal in 2018, our motivation was to make a Formula One racing game that could reach a wide family audience, while remaining interesting to gamers... Not a convoluted betting game, but a racing game where first across the finish line wins. This meant we couldn't create a rules behemoth that would run long, it had to be done within an hour."

Elements of the Championship System

In addition to English, Heat: Pedal to the Metal will be released in Polish under the name Turbo and in French, Czech, Japanese, Spanish, and Danish/Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish (DANOSVFI) under the name Heat.

The game will debut at SPIEL '22 in October, with a worldwide release scheduled in Q4 2022, for a retail price of US$75 / €65.