Initial D
Initial D Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Layout
The game layout diagram labels the play areas: Maneuver Card(s), Race Card, Car Card, Car Mod(s) (three positions shown), Discard, and Deck.
How to Win
The Initial D CCG is a 2-player race with two ways to win.
- You win the match after winning two consecutive stages in which you started as the lead car. This means you have successfully pulled away from your opponent, who won't be able to catch you before the finish line.
- If neither car pulls ahead to win, then the winner is whoever wins the final stage of the race.
Game Elements
Your starter deck contains a car, a modification for your car, 3 race cards, and 50 maneuvers. Remove the maneuvers from the rest of your cards and shuffle them — these maneuvers will be your deck.
Initial D is a collectible card game. Although your starter deck will be fun to play, you can buy additional booster packs to increase the number of cards that you have. Then, you can build your own customized deck that fits your style of play, and experiment with different combinations of cards that will lead to game-winning combinations. Once you do, you will be able to take your killer ride out and beat your friends down the mountain!
Prep Your Ride — Before the Race
Car
First, you need to pick your car. For your first game, that will be the car in your starter deck. Each car has a Cost, Power rating, Traction rating, and a maximum number of modifications that you can add to it. Some cars also have special abilities. In the text area, you can see what type of drivetrain the car uses: F/R is rear-wheel drive, 4WD is four-wheel drive, and F/F is front-wheel drive.
Mods
Next, choose modifications ("mods") for your car. Your starter deck comes with a mod that works well for your car, and in the future you'll want to choose a full set of mods that help you overcome the challenges of the road and your opponent. Your car can't have more mods than its maximum number of mods. It can't have more than one mod of the same type, either (mod types are in bold at the top of the text box), so it can only have one set of Tires, or one Turbo. Some cars already have a mod type installed (like the Turbo that comes installed in the RX-7) and cannot have another mod of that type, although these 'built-in' mods do not count against your maximum number.
You should choose mods that will help your car and your overall strategy. You can even choose mod cards that let you join one of the racing teams from the Initial D series, or have one of the characters from the series as your driver. These Team and Driver mods give you special abilities and access to special maneuvers that the other players can't use. Each mod has a cost. The total cost of your car plus mods determines who starts the race in front (see "Start Your Engines," below).
Race Cards
A race card determines where the race takes place and what stages the race includes. After choosing a car and your mods, choose three race cards as your 'home tracks' that play to your car's strengths. Whoever is challenged gets to use one of his race cards (chosen randomly by the other player) as the race track for that game. (See "Start Your Engines," below.)
Each race consists of three or four stages. There are three stage types: straight, curved, and filled with obstacles. Every stage includes a mix of these three types, but the stage type identifies the most common challenge for that stage. For example, a straight stage may include turns and obstacles, but will be dominated by straight-aways.
Deck
Now that you're done customizing your car, it's time to build a deck. Your deck must have at least 50 cards (not counting your car, mods, and races — these cards stay off to the side and are never part of your deck) and may not include more than three copies of any card. For your first game, just use the rest of the cards in your starter deck. When you build your own deck, you will want to use a mix of maneuvers that work for your car and your strategy for winning the race.
Start Your Engines — 3, 2, 1
When starting a race, the more expensive car (including all modifications) is the challenger. The challenger randomly chooses a race from the other driver's three race cards. All unused race cards are put aside — they won't be used this game.
Lead Car
The challenger starts the first stage as the trailing car. The less expensive car is the lead car. During each stage of the race, the trailing car will be trying to pass the lead car to take over the front position while the lead car tries to stay in front. The car that wins a stage becomes the lead car for the next stage. Remember that to count toward the "two consecutive stages" victory condition, a car has to start as the lead car in each stage.
The Race — They're Off
At the beginning of each stage, each player draws 7 cards. The lead car draws one additional card. The player with the higher Style also draws one additional card. A car's Style begins at 0, but some cars and modifications give bonuses to Style. The most crowd-pleasing maneuvers that you play during the race also give Style points. If the cars are tied for Style, neither driver draws an additional card.
The driver of the lead car plays the first Maneuver card for a stage from his or her hand, and then the trailing driver plays a Maneuver card. Play goes back and forth between the drivers, each playing a Maneuver card until one of them cannot play (or chooses not to play) a maneuver. Whichever player plays the last maneuver in a stage wins that stage and is the lead car for the next stage.
The driver that wins a stage may keep any cards in his or her hand for next stage, but the loser must discard any cards remaining in his or her hand. Each card kept reduces the number of cards you draw next stage by one (you draw until you have 7 total cards, plus any extras from the lead or from Style). After deciding whether to keep any cards, the drivers begin the next stage.
Maneuvers
All Maneuver cards are one of 3 types: speed maneuvers, turn maneuvers, and tactics maneuvers. The strength of each maneuver is based on the stage type — certain maneuvers are effective on curves, others on straightaways. To find your maneuver's strength, find the type of stage at the bottom of the maneuver — the number next to the stage symbol is the maneuver's strength. For example, the Tight Twin Drift maneuver has a strength of 5 in a straight stage, 8 in the curves, and 5 during an obstacle stage.
When you play a maneuver, tell your opponent the type and strength of the maneuver, as well as any special effects of the maneuver which appear in the text area of the card.
In order to play each maneuver, you must meet the requirements of the maneuver (see Requirements below), and your maneuver must be able to counter the strength of your opponent's last maneuver (see Countering below). The first maneuver of a stage does not have to counter anything, so that car just has to meet the maneuver requirements in order to perform that maneuver.
Requirements
Your car (including bonuses and penalties from mods and maneuvers) must have a Power or Traction equal or higher than the requirement of the maneuver to play the maneuver without discarding. For example, you must have a Traction of 8 or higher to play Tight Twin Drift without discarding.
If your car does not meet the requirements for a maneuver card, you may discard from your hand, temporarily increasing your car's Power or Traction by one for each discard, in order to meet the Requirement. This increase only applies for the maneuver you're playing. If you cannot discard enough cards to meet the requirement, you cannot play the maneuver. For example, if your car's Traction is only 6, you would have to discard two cards from your hand to play Tight Twin Drift.
Some cards have special requirements at the top of their text box such as "Lead car only" or "You may only play this maneuver if you have a Turbo mod." You may not play a maneuver if you do not meet the special requirements of that maneuver.
Countering
Each maneuver has a counter rating against each of the three types of maneuver. Your maneuver must have a counter rating (found in the upper left of the card) of the right type equal or higher than your opponent's last maneuver strength to play your maneuver without discarding. For example, Tight Twin Drift has a 6 tactics counter, a 9 turn counter, and a 7 speed counter. It can counter speed maneuvers up to strength 7, turn maneuvers up to strength 9, and tactics maneuvers up to strength 6 without discarding.
If the counter of your maneuver is less than your opponent's maneuver strength, you may discard from your hand, temporarily increasing the appropriate counter of your maneuver card by one for each discard, in order to meet your opponent's maneuver strength. This increase only applies for the maneuver you're playing. If you cannot discard enough cards to raise your counter to equal your opponent's strength, you cannot play the maneuver. For example, if your opponent's last maneuver in a straight stage was Pure Power (a speed maneuver with strength 8 in straight stages), you would have to discard one card to play Tight Twin Drift as your next maneuver — to raise your speed counter from 7 to 8.
Bonuses and Penalties
Some maneuvers stay in play and provide bonuses and penalties to the cars. The bonuses and penalties continue until the maneuver is discarded by the effects of another maneuver.