The Belgian Beers Race

- EN

Take a crazy race through Belgium and its breweries. Visit as many as you can, buy an taste their beers (in moderation) throughout the competition. Optimize your routes through the country, hitchhike or bike, unless you prefer public transportation. Meet your opponents and have a drink with them, but watch your blood alcohol level: hangovers and other problems await you.

Ready to start? Go on your own Belgian beers race but do not forget: at the end of the 3 days, be back at the Brussels Grand Place to celebrate and declare the winner!

Alcohol abuse is harmful to your health, drink it with moderation.

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The summary of the rules:

You play the participant of a race through Belgium. Your goal is to visit as many breweries as possible (the points on the map), enjoy their beers, buy them, and return to the Grand Place in Brussels on time. Your different actions will earn you Victory Points (VP) and the one with the most accumulated wins.

The race takes place over 3 days represented by Units of Time (UT). UT = 30 minutes. The first day will be 24UT, the second 32UT and the last 24UT. Each move will cost you UTs. You will have the choice between 3 means of transport:

1. The bike: usually the slowest but the safest,
2. Public transport: faster but 1 in 6 chance of being late,
3. The stop: much faster but risky, 1 chance out of 2 to be taken but also 1 chance out of 2 to stay put and lose 2UT without moving.

You move your counter on the time scale according to the chosen movement and the result of the die. The various travel times are modeled on reality, the 40 breweries of the game are real (you will find the list of these on the page dedicated).They are divided into 4 types: Trappist® / Blonde / Brown / Stout.

At the tempo level, the last player on the time scale will play actions until he becomes first of it. And so on.

When you arrive at a brewery, if you are the first visitor, you can take the bottle placed on it. She will be worth 1VP at the end of each race day. If the brewery has one of the 4 bonuses (Trappist® / Cardinal Point / Author / Gamers), you go up on the corresponding track on your personal board. And finally, you place a cube of your color next to the brewery. The more breweries you visit, the more cubes you will place and the more points you will win at the end of the game.

Depending on the brewery on which you arrive, you will be able to perform actions. These reflect what it is possible to do in reality.

1. Taste a beer (if the brewery has a taproom): takes 1UT, raises your “beer drunk” by one cell. You will score the position of your “beer drunk” at the end of each day of racing. On the other hand, to taste a beer raises your breathalyzer. If you misuse, travel penalties will apply and a difficult awakening penalty for your next race day.
2. Buy beer (if the brewery has a shop): takes 1UT, allows to add 3 beers of the color of the brewery in your backpack. These are worth 1 point at the end of the game. Your bag is limited to 24 rides. You can also use these beers to encourage you during hitchhiking, by tasting on public transport or at the end of the day by switching to camping mode.
3. Buy cheese (if the brewery produces): is made during the same UT as the purchase of beer. Put yourself in the ramp of your backpack, report points at the end of the game. But you can also at any time eat one to lower your blood alcohol level.

If you meet an opponent in a brewery, you’ll be having a drink with him. You offer yourself a beer from your bag. This will take you 1UT, you will go up on the scale “beer drunk” and the breathalyzer but also on the scale of knitting that will earn you points at the end of the game.

Goals will come to punctuate the game, 4 are accessible to the turn of each player, 4 others are predictable. Levels 1 will be things to do: visit a brewery in particular, enjoy a beer of a certain type, do a determined action, … Levels 2 will be conditions to fulfill: to have beers of the 4 types in the backpack, to have visited a certain number of breweries, to have collected some bottles, … The levels 3 are when the whole game has been available for all the players and must be filled at the end of the game to win the points: arrive sober, arrive at the backpack filled, …

It is imperative to arrive on the Grand Place of Brussels at the end of the game … any delay will be heavily penalized by negative points in proportion to the accumulated delay.

—description from the publisher