Canyon Racers: Midnight Apex

Start your engines, pop up your headlights and get ready for a 2-4 player race through a mountain pass.

This is a game filled with simultaneous action, coin flipping, luck pushing, hand management, and of course, some fancy nighttime racing.  You'll need tactics and a bit of luck if you want to pull ahead.

In Canyon Racers: Midnight Apex, players are put into the driver's seat of one of 8 distinct street cars for a white-knuckle race through a twisting mountain pass. With only so much visibility, players will need to adapt to each twist and turn using the strengths of their vehicles, a variety of street racing techniques, and knowing when to take risks.

Gameplay:

The race takes place over the course of several rounds of play on a series of corners, chicanes, and straight-aways that make up the pass.

Before the race starts, each player is dealt a Vehicle Card that features a car on either side. Each car features a number of stats that add to its potential speed through a given section of the road as well as a drivetrain configuration (rear-wheel drive, front-wheel drive, etc.) that gives the car different abilities. Players choose their car by placing their choice face up in front of them. The race begins after everyone has decided on their cars.

The basics of the game are that each player starts with 10 Position Tokens (illustrating that each player starts in the same relative position). Players who score higher at a corner, chicane, or straight-away; take a Position Token from the lower-scoring players (illustrating that they’ve gained a relative position on the road). Position Tokens can also be spent to take risks during the race and are also lost at the end of each section of the road due to fatigue. The last player with any Position Tokens wins the race.

Inspiration Cards are a player's main resource - they represent the driver’s ability to think through their options during the race. While each Inspiration Card features a specific racing technique, they can also be spent to gain bonuses at different points.

Anyone can keep ahead of their opponents and win; they just need to play to the strengths of their car, keep an eye on everyone's Position Tokens, take risks when necessary, and use their Inspiration Cards wisely.