In Excape, also known as Exxtra and Rapido, you're trying to reach the end of the movement track first, both by rolling doubles (which is a blessed but rare occurrence) and staying on the ranking chart until your next turn.
On a turn, you first move your pawn 0-5 spaces if your two dice are still on the ranking chart. Next, you roll the dice, which show 1-2-3-4-7-X on one dice and 1-2-3-5-6-X on the other. After your first roll, if you roll doubles, move your pawn 1, 2, or 3 spaces based on what you rolled. You then treat your dice as a two-digit number, say 31, 22, 54, or 70, with the X counting as a 0. You can stop and place your dice on the ranking chart in an empty space — it contains six spaces numbered 0-5 — or you can roll again. If you roll doubles, you advance you pawn and face the same choices. If you roll an X or two Xs, then your turn ends and you move your pawn back one or two spaces.
When you place your dice on the ranking chart, if you place your dice on a lower-numbered space and your two-digit number is equal to or larger than dice that are on a higher-numbered space, then you bump that player's dice off the chart, which means they won't move at the start of their next turn. You can place any number on an unoccupied space, but the higher the space, the greater the odds of you being bumped before your next turn. How risky do you want to play?
Rapido contains modified rules for two-player games, and you can play with these rules in any version of the game. Each player has two sets of dice, but still only one pawn. If at the start of a turn, you have one or both pairs of dice in front of you, roll like normal, advancing on doubles and hoping to avoid Xs. When you place dice on the ranking chart, you knock off only the opponent's dice, never yours. If at the start of your turn, both pairs of dice are on the ranking chart, advance your pawn the sum of the spaces occupied, then roll a pair of dice.
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Mix Tape - Review & How to Play
- Ledger-style boards with adjustable sliders are cool and durable
- Accessible and easy-to-learn stock market gameplay
- Self-contained components reduce setup friction
- Lobbyist mechanic adds strategic control
- Ability to peek at upcoming market forces for information advantage
- Market pops can dramatically hurt you late in the round
- Forced liquidation at half value when assets are unaffordable
- Some randomness from market forces can disrupt planning
- Requires thick skin and tolerance for frustration
- Stock market trading and financial speculation
- Early stock market era, New York City
- Market-driven simulation with historical finance ambiance
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- end game bonuses — At market close, assets convert to cash and the most cash wins.
- End-game cash value conversion — At market close, assets convert to cash and the most cash wins.
- Ledger-based resource tracking — Assets (banks, bonds, insurance) are represented on a ledger-style board with inlaid sliders.
- Liquidity mechanics — If players cannot afford purchases, assets may be liquidated at a reduced value.
- Market forces and lobbyist influence — External market events and lobbyist-driven adjustments impact prices.
- Market Pricing/Manipulation — External market events and lobbyist-driven adjustments impact prices.
- Peek mechanic — Pay 50 to peek at upcoming market forces.
- Phase-based action economy — Three phases per round: select assets, buy/sell shares, and market adjustment.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I am in love with these ledger boards all these different sliders this is so much cooler and just more effective than piece of paper
- this is unbelievable cool and I think this is just a really accessible stock market game
- it's really easy to be frustrated ... when you were planning on selling a whole bunch of stuff at a really high dollar amount and all of a sudden now you're getting pennies on the dollar
- you have to have kind of a thick skin to play it
References (from this video)
- Engaging engine-building with a dual-sided cassette mechanic
- Accessible playtime around 30 minutes
- Flavorful, humorous card names and thematic flavor
- Clear mix of drafting, placement, and scoring
- Tactile mixer sliders provide meaningful decisions
- Can be fiddly for new players due to multiple sliders and interactions
- Scoring can be complex and may require reference sheets
- Potential downtime in multiplayer pacing depending on table size
- Romance, music production, and card drafting
- Modern-day music scene; players compete to attract a crush by constructing mixtapes
- Light-hearted, flavor-text with fictional band names
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card placement and sequencing — Songs are placed in a left-to-right sequence on Side A or Side B to build harmonies and score points.
- Compound Scoring — Scoring comes from crush cards, theme adjacencies, and harmony between moods and genres.
- Deck building — Three mood-based decks are drawn and played; players acquire and manage song cards to form their score engine.
- deck-building — Three mood-based decks are drawn and played; players acquire and manage song cards to form their score engine.
- duo-sided tape mechanic — The cassette has Side A and Side B; players can flip and place cards on either side, influencing scoring and actions.
- hand management — Playing or replacing cards requires discarding from hand to meet costs; some actions draw or gain cards via radio.
- hand management and cost payment — Playing or replacing cards requires discarding from hand to meet costs; some actions draw or gain cards via radio.
- slider-driven engine management — Volume, mids, and treble sliders modify draw options, playable cards, and hand size; changes on the mixer board drive engine progress.
- thematic scoring and adjacency — Scoring comes from crush cards, theme adjacencies, and harmony between moods and genres.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Mixtape is an engine building game where players are recording five songs on each side of a tape
- you arrange the songs to score the most points
- the excitement comes from the new song cards
- it's a game of getting some good songs to place you know in the best order