The best racing board game in years just got better. Heat: Rocky Roads, the latest expansion from Days of Wonder, hit retail shelves in late February, and reviewers are calling it the strongest Heat expansion to date. If you have been waiting for an excuse to dust off your engine, this is it.
Heat is a hand-management racing game where drivers burn through a shared deck, managing engine temperature as they push for faster laps. Rocky Roads adds two new tracks on a double-sided board. The South Africa Grand Prix throws drivers onto gravel for the first time in Heat's history. Any car that finishes its move on a gravel space pays a heat card if it has one, creating a constant tension between taking the fast inside line and keeping your engine cool. The Germany track goes the opposite direction with high-speed straights and tight chicanes that punish sloppy cornering. Both tracks feel distinct from anything in previous expansions, and Meeple Mountain gave the expansion 4.5 out of 5.
Beyond the tracks, the expansion introduces Sliding Skirts (a new upgrade that lets you surprise opponents during slipstreaming), a full 1966 Championship Season with themed event cards, and something fans have been requesting since launch: a ninth player slot, with a white car and matching components that fit in the base game box.
Heat: Pedal to the Metal, designed by Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen, sits comfortably in the BGG Top 100 with a rating above 8.0. It won two Golden Geek Awards in 2023 and remains one of the most recommended gateway-to-medium games in the hobby. Rocky Roads does not reinvent the formula. It does not need to. Two excellent tracks, a clever new mechanic, and the option to squeeze one more friend around the table is exactly what this game wanted.
Sources: Days of Wonder | Meeple Mountain Review | BoardGameGeek