MR66 Rules Draft.pdf

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Sid Sackson (1920-2002) is thought by many to be the greatest US-born game designer.

Sackson designed The Great Races in 1974 (Gamut of Games).

Sackson designed Can’t Stop in 1980 (Parker Brothers).

Eagle-Gryphon Games has integrated The Great Races and Can’t Stop into

The Mother Road, Route 66.

Its publication in 2021 celebrates the 101st Anniversary of Sid Sackson’s birth.

She decides to keep rolling the dice and gets:

Her turn ends because she cannot introduce a new car (she has already raced three this turn) nor

can she move any of her cars on segments 2, 5, or 9. She then removes her three cars from the

board and it is the next player’s turn.

You always need to think about whether or not you’re better off stopping

voluntarily before losing everything you’ve gained during your turn.

Assume that Anna has chosen Option A on her first roll and Option A on her second roll.

She has introduced cars on Segments 2, 5, and 9. Anna now has two options for her third roll:

She decides not to continue with a third roll and stops. She replaces her three blue cars with

three of her blue cubes.

Third Roll (Fig. 5)

2-4

PLAYERS

30-40

MINS.

AGES

Components

• One Neoprene Mat/Board

• Four Dice

• Ten STOP Sign Tokens

• Twelve Cars (3 in each player color)

• Forty-four Cubes (11 in each player color)

THE IDEA OF THE GAME

Players try to score the most points by winning or placing second in races between segments of Route 66, The

Mother Road, from Chicago to Santa Monica. To do this, they roll four dice and form two pairs which determine

the segments they may race on during their present turn. Over the course of each turn, players may roll the

dice as many times as they wish – provided that they can introduce or move at least one of their cars. If, after

rolling the dice, a player is unable to introduce or move at least one of their cars, their turn ends and they lose

everything they achieved during that turn. They should have stopped in time ... but they didn’t. Everybody

wants to race along Route 66 just one more time ... and then maybe just once more...

WINNING A SEGMENT

If a player’s car reaches the last space (the one with the scoring boxes) of a segment, they

may continue to roll the dice or stop voluntarily. However, they should keep in mind that

they cannot move this car any further – even if they roll this number on the dice. (This

increases a player’s risk of being forced to stop and consequently losing this segment.)

Thus, it’s probably a very good idea to stop voluntarily. In this case, the player places

their cube directly on the higher number of the scoring box. If one or more of the other

players has arrived at a space on this segment, the player who is on the more advanced

space scores the points for second place (and places a cube on the lesser valued scoring

box). If no player has reached a space, then no points are awarded for second place.

All of the other cubes in this segment are then returned to their owners, and a token

is placed on this segment. For the rest of the game, no player can place a car in this

segment, including the player who has won this segment.

END OF GAME

When 8 of the 11 segments are awarded (there are now 8 STOP sign tokens on the board)

the game ends and the player with the highest total score is the winner. In the case of a

tie, the player who was last in turn order among the tied players is the winner.

VARIATIONS

#1–A More Leisurely Drive

For a longer game, play to finish all 11 segments instead of just 8 (ten tokens placed).

#2–A Faster Gear (Fig. 6)

Players must introduce their cars as soon as possible. It is not possible to deliberately

avoid doing this in this variation. At the beginning of their turn, they must form dice pairs

in such a way as to introduce or advance two cars, if possible. After this turn, they must

introduce (and/or advance) the third car as soon as possible.

Game Designer: Sid Sackson • Design/Theme/Layout: Rick Soued and the Eagle-Gryphon Games team

SEGMENTS AND THE GOAL OF THE GAME

The board has 11 segments shown along Route 66, numbered from 2 to 12.

For instance, Segment #2 is designated by mile marker and runs from Chicago to

Springfield (Fig.1). This segment consists of 2 road spaces and a third scoring space

which is divided into a 10 and a 6 scoring box. Each segment consists of a varying

number of road spaces. The fewer spaces a segment has, the more difficult it is to

roll the segment number, and vice versa. Advancing your car to the last space in a

segment, the one bearing the scoring numbers, is the goal. Players try to score the

most points in as many segments as possible before a total of eight segments are

completed, which ends the game. The player with the highest total score after the

eighth segment is complete WINS.

SET UP

Roll out the game board in the center of the table. Each player chooses a car model (the color of which is

now their player color) and takes the 3 cars of that color as well as the 11 cubes of that color. The youngest

player (or someone else chosen randomly to be the starting player) takes the 4 dice.

Fig. 1

A Faster Gear

(Fig. 6)

Claudia Rolls

Segment 6 has already been

won. Claudia has to choose

the combination:

she would only be able to

introduce a single car. Next,

Claudia re-rolls the dice:

she may not move the two

cars in segments 2 and 9, but

has to introduce the third car:

either in segment 4 or in

segment 7

because with the combination:

Page 2 of 2

Sid Sackson (1920-2002) is thought by many to be the greatest US-born game designer.

Sackson designed The Great Races in 1974 (Gamut of Games).

Sackson designed Can’t Stop in 1980 (Parker Brothers).

Eagle-Gryphon Games has integrated The Great Races and Can’t Stop into

The Mother Road, Route 66.

Its publication in 2021 celebrates the 101st Anniversary of Sid Sackson’s birth.

At the start of their turn, if the player introduces a car in a segment in

which they already have a cube, they place their car on the space further along the

route from the space occupied by their cube. If they stop voluntarily, later on this

turn, they move their previously placed cube along Route 66 to this new space to

which the car has advanced, and replace that car with their cube.

Note: When you encounter opponents' cubes on the game board while introducing a

car or advancing a car, you simply jump one space ahead of the existing opponents'

cube(s) (see Fig.4).

If a player is forced to stop, because they were not able to introduce or move a car after rolling the dice, they

lose everything they have achieved during this turn and must remove their cars without further consequence. In this case,

this player neither places new cubes on the board nor moves any of their previously placed cubes.

HOW TO PLAY

The starting player takes the first turn, then play continues in clockwise order. On a player’s turn they roll

all 4 dice at once. They must then form two pairs of dice with the numbers that they have rolled. The sum

of each of these pairs determines the segment(s) in which the player must race during this turn. You may

race in a maximum of three segments in any given turn.

To further clarify:

If a player forms two dice pairs that allows them to introduce (or move) two cars, they may do so. (In Fig. 2

above, option A or B, Anna may introduce either set of new cars this turn.)

However, a player may also deliberately form the two dice pairs so that they are able to introduce or move

only one car on a turn (Fig. 2, option C).

If a player has introduced at least one car or moved at least one car, they may choose to stop, or to continue

playing – that is, they reroll all 4 dice and again form two dice pairs. After doing so, they again introduce or

move one or two cars (up to a maximum of 3 cars on 3 segments per turn).

First Roll (Fig. 2)

The following options are possible:

Anna places her blue car on the first space of the

#5 segment (from Joplin to Oklahoma City) and

another car on the first space of the #9 segment

(from Winslow to Kingman).

Anna places a car on the first space of the #6

segment (from Oklahoma City to Amarillo) and

another car on the first space of the #8 segment

(from Albuquerque to Winslow).

Anna places a car on the #7 segment (from

Amarillo to Albuquerque) and then moves it to the

second space for the second 7 rolled.

AND

Second Roll (Fig. 3)

She now has several options:

Assuming Anna chose option A or B on her first roll,

she could now introduce her third car (the maximum

number of cars she can introduce on a turn) on the

first space of either segment #2 or segment #11.

In this case the other dice pair is ignored.

If she chose option C on her first roll, then she could

introduce cars on both segments #2 and #11.

If she chose option B on her first roll, Anna introduces

the third car on the first space in segment #7 and

moves the car in segment #6 one space further along.

Turns continue until the player either stops voluntarily or is forced to stop because they cannot introduce or move any cars.

Remember, players are restricted to racing a maximum of 3 cars on a maximum of three segments on any given turn.

If a player stops voluntarily, they replace each of their cars on the game board with a cube of their color. The player will

never have more than one active cube on any given segment.

Fig. 4

Anna starts. She rolls:

Anna rolls for the second time on her first turn: