Der Ausreißer (Race Leader)

Translated by Julie Challinger.

For 2-6 players

Game Equipment

Preparing for the Game

Each player draws or is dealt a card from the pack and the one who draws the highest speed card is the leader at the start of the first stage. All players are then dealt 6 cards face down and the remainder are laid face down on the table. As cards are played they are replenished from the face down pack. If someone forgets to draw their card before playing, they must carry on with the lower number of cards.

The leader takes the yellow jersey and places it in front of himself, and someone else looks after the red and blue penalty chips.

Start of the First Stage

The leader draws a card and then plays a speed card in front of himself. This card sets the initial tempo of the race and is supposed to represent the speed in kph at which he is travelling. The others then follow his example, first drawing and then playing. They have 3 options:

  1. Play card of the same speed, 1 kph or 2 kph less. In this way he stays in the wind shadow of the leader and suffers no penalty.

  2. Play card 3 kph or more lower than the current tempo. This leaves him outside the wind shadow and he suffers a penalty of 1 minute (a blue chip) for each 1 kph which he is behind the tempo. Thus if the leader's speed is 45 kph and another player can only play a 42 kph card, he gets 3 penalty chips.

  3. Play a card higher than the leader in which case that player becomes the new leader and takes the yellow jersey. His card is then the tempo which all the subsequent players have to follow.

Help! I have penalty points!

Different rules apply to those who find themselves in possession of penalty chips are outside of the wind shadow and can no longer play 1 kph or 2 kph lower than the leader's tempo without penalty. Each kph less than the tempo will gain them a blue penalty chip.

In order to get rid of the penalty chips players must play cards which are higher than those played by the leader. For each kph higher than the leader's card they can hand back 1 blue penalty chip until they have returned all their chips at which point they rejoin the pack and are in the leader's wind shadow once more.

In the case of a player with penalty chips playing higher than the current leader, they do not take over the leadership, nor can they take the lead on the same turn as they return their remaining penalty chips.

Advantages and Risks of the Leader

If play returns to the leader and no one has taken the yellow jersey from him, he can set a new tempo by playing any speed card, even a card lower than the tempo previously in operation, without penalty. However this is likely to lose him the lead.

The Special Cards

All the special cards can be left out of the pack for a simplified version of the game, but they do add a lot of spice to the game.

Steigung (Hill Climb)

Hill Climb cards have two effects:

  1. The mountain roads are narrow and curvy 90 the leader cannot be passed by any other riders. Playing higher cards will not take the lead but penalty chips can be got rid of.

  2. The wind shadow no longer operates and everyone who plays cards lower than that played by the leader will be given penalty chips for each kph below the leader's speed.

The leader can play a Hill climb card along with his speed card replenishing his hand to 6 cards at the end of his turn). This will mean the two hill card effects last until the leader has another turn. Anyone else can play a Hill climb card by placing it on the leader's discard pile. In this instance the hill card effects apply to everyone until the leader has another turn.

Other players may also play Hill climb cards by simply laying them on top of the leader's discard pile, even though this may be 'out of turn'. All hill effects still last until the leader's next turn. They replenish their hand when it next becomes their turn.

Spurt

Spurt cards are marked with a +2 on a blue background and is played in addition to his speed card. It represents a rider putting in a special spurt and adds 2 kph to the number on his speed card. There is no limit to the number of Spurt cards which can be played, but there is a maximum speed of 52 kph on the flat and 50 kph going up hills. The player then replenishes his hand back up to 6 at the end of his turn.

Gegenwind (Head Wind)

Head wind cards are marked with a 2 on a red background. They must be played along with that turn's speed card as soon as they are drawn (or on the first turn if dealt). If any Gegenwind cards are drawn in replenishment they must be laid down too, unless they are to replenish a hand from the playing of a Hill climb card. In this instance the card must be played on the next turn.

A Gegenwind card reduces the number of the speed card with which it is played by 2 kph. A Spurt card can be played along with it and the two cancel one another out.

Stage End

The stage ends when the last card is picked up and that player has then played. Points are then scored as follows:

  1. The leader who is holding the yellow jersey scores 1 game point.
  2. Anyone who finishes the stage with no penalty points scores zero game points.
  3. Anyone who finishes the stage with penalty points scores that number of minus game points.

The games takes place over an agreed number of stages (usually 3-5) and the winner is the one with the least negative game points.

Translation: Julie Challinger

Scanned & Distributed by Mike Siggins from The Sumo Rules Bank

Revised August 1994

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell