Rulebook

How to play Situational Awareness

The full rules. New here? Start a game against computer drivers and learn as you go — the app walks you through every choice.

Wreck everyone else. Keep your hubcaps.

3 to 6 drivers · 15 to 20 minutes · Ages 10 and up

What's in the box

124 cards. Every card is one thing: read the name and the badge and you know what it does.
38 Hazards, 32 Saves, 14 Moving Violations, 8 Insults to Injury
14 Road Conditions, 8 Aftermarket, 8 Traps, 2 Police Escorts
30 hubcaps (plus a few spares)

Setup

Give every driver 5 hubcaps: four on the wheels and a spare in the trunk. Hubcaps move between drivers, except the ones Hit and Run sends back to the box.
Shuffle all 124 cards. Deal 5 to each driver. Turn the next three cards face up, side by side, in the middle: that's the road, three lanes. Put the rest beside them face down. That's the pile, and it's also the fuel gauge: when it runs out, the trip is over.
Whoever most recently got cut off in real life goes first.

The one rule that matters

Cause an accident, take what it says. A Hazard that lands takes 1 hubcap, or 2, or splashes: the target loses 1 to the driver on their left and 1 to the driver on their right. The badge says which: ! takes 1, !! takes 2, <> splashes.

Reading a card

Every card has a stripe color, a name placard and a badge.

Stripe color is the category. Cyan is From Above, lime is The Road Itself, orange is Other People, magenta is Acts of God. White means no category. Gray means Road Conditions.
Black placard, white letters = attack. Hazard, Insult to Injury, Moving Violation, Trap, Police Escort.
White placard, black letters = defense. Save, Aftermarket.
Colored placard = Road Condition. Nobody's attack, nobody's defense; it changes the road for everyone.

Color for color. A defense stops an attack of the same color. Orange stops orange. White-striped attacks have no color: Insult to Injury and Texting can't be stopped, and a Moving Violation aimed at you can be stopped by any Save.

Stripe	Category	Hazards	Saves	Aftermarket	Trap
Cyan	From Above	Presents From Above (!), Dive Bomb (!!), Goose Crossing (<>)	Duck!, Topping Off Fluids	Turtle Wax	Falling Rock
Lime	The Road Itself	Pothole (!), Speed Bump at Speed (!!), Oil Slick (<>)	Swerve, Good Suspension	Monster Truck Tires	Black Ice
Orange	Other People	Tailgater (!), Brake Check (!!), Cut Off (<>)	Defensive Driving, Evasive Maneuvers	Advanced Driving School	Blind Spot
Magenta	Acts of God	Fog Bank (!), Deer in Headlights (!!), Hail (<>)	High Beams, Snow Chains	All-Weather Package	Flash Flood
White	none	Texting
Gray	Road Conditions

The road

The three lanes are the road, and the road is the only place a card goes when it leaves play. There is no discard pile.

Every card that gets played — an attack, the Save that answers it, a Pit Stop discard, a Road Condition that's been replaced, an Aftermarket that's been Impounded — lands face up on the shortest lane. You never choose a lane and lanes carry no rule. They are simply the table's memory: what's been thrown, what's been spent, what's gone. Everyone can see the road; nobody can see a hand.

Ongoing Road Conditions sit in the middle, and Aftermarket sits in front of you, until they leave play.

The eight kinds

Hazard. An attack. Play it on your Drive against one driver. Lands for what its badge says (1, 2, or a splash) unless they stop it.
Save. A defense. Play it the moment a Hazard of its color hits you. One use.
Insult to Injury. Play it on someone else's Hazard. Dashcam claims the hubcap; Pile-Up adds a second hit.
Moving Violation. Play it on your Drive. Messes with hands and turns, never hubcaps. One per Drive. Any Save stops a Violation aimed at you.
Road Condition. Play it on your Drive. Goes in the middle and changes the rules for everyone until the next Road Condition replaces it.
Aftermarket. Play it on your Drive, face up in front of you. Hazards of its color can't hit you for the rest of the game. Each driver can have only one. Playing another replaces it. Impound removes it.
Trap. Play it on your Drive, face-down on the field. It waits there. When any driver plays a Save, any other driver holding 3 or more cards may flip the top face-down trap. If it's the right kind — a trap of the Save's category — the Save is wrecked and the Hazard lands, and it costs the springer nothing. If it's the wrong kind, it fizzles and the springer discards 3. Either way the trap springs once and is gone. One trap per Save. See Traps, below.
Police Escort. The one card you play out of turn. During another driver's turn, put it down: their turn ends as soon as the card in front of them resolves. Can't be stopped. Two in the deck.

A round

Each driver takes one turn, going left. Keep going until the pile runs out.

Your hand is yours alone. Nobody sees another driver's cards until they're played. Five cards is five options, no more, no less. What's landed on the road — and what you can remember of it — is the only read anyone gets.

Drive or Pit Stop. Pick one. - Drive. Play as many cards as you like, in any order: Hazards against other drivers, Aftermarket in front of you, Moving Violations, Road Conditions, and Traps face-down on the field. No more than two cards aimed at any one driver per Drive, Hazards and Violations together. One Moving Violation per Drive. A driver kicking rocks can throw as many rocks at one driver as they like. Resolve each Hazard completely before playing the next. - Pit Stop. Discard any cards you don't want, then draw from the pile until you have 5. Then turn the top card of the pile face up onto the road: one card of fuel burned. You don't attack this turn.

Then the next driver goes.

You never draw on a Drive turn. Cards you spend, attacking or defending, are gone until you pit. An empty hand means no defense.

When a Hazard is played

Say it as one sentence: "Presents on Dave. Claims? Pile-Ups? Defense?"

Attack. The attacker names a target and plays the Hazard.
Responses. Any other driver may play, one of each per Hazard: - Dashcam. If the Hazard lands, the Dashcam player takes everything it produces instead of the attacker: both hubcaps of a !!, both sides of a splash. First to slap it down gets it. (Not in Fog: nobody can see the accident.) - Pile-Up. An orange second hit. If the Hazard lands and the Pile-Up isn't stopped, the target loses 1 more hubcap, to the Pile-Up player.
Defend. The target may stop each threat separately with a Save of the matching color, played at any point. An Aftermarket of the matching color stops a threat automatically. A Save can be sprung: the moment one goes down, any other driver may flip the top trap (see Traps).
Resolve. Hazard lands? The attacker takes what the badge says (a splash goes to the target's two neighbors), or the Dashcam player takes all of it. Pile-Up lands too? Pile-Up player takes 1 more. Hazard stopped? Everything fizzles, Pile-Up included. Every card played goes to the road.

Example. Presents From Above (cyan) on Dave. Someone plays Pile-Up (orange). Dave has no cyan Save but has Evasive Maneuvers (orange). He stops the Pile-Up, takes the Presents, and loses 1 hubcap to the attacker. The Pile-Up player gets nothing.

Kicking rocks

Lose your last hubcap and you're kicking rocks. You stay at the table, you still Drive or Pit Stop. - Your Hazards are just rocks. Any Save or Aftermarket stops a rock, whatever its color. - Kicking rocks, a Pit Stop only draws up to 3. - A rock that lands always takes exactly 1 hubcap, to you, whatever its badge says. You're back on the road the moment you hold a hubcap again, however you got it: a rock, a Dashcam claim, a neighbor's splash. Hazards you play after that in the same Drive are normal, and the two-cards-per-driver limit applies again. - Kicking rocks, the two-cards-per-driver limit is off. Throw every rock you have at one driver if you want. - Nobody can take hubcaps from you while you're kicking rocks. Moving Violations can still hit your hand. - Rocks get Dashcams and Pile-Ups like any Hazard. A Dashcam on your rock keeps you walking.

Card reference

Hazards (3 of each colored Hazard, 2 Texting). See the table above for who takes what.

Texting (white Hazard). Play on a driver: you get to look at their hand, and keep seeing it until their next turn. Cannot be stopped. No hubcap.

Saves (4 of each). Play the moment a Hazard of the Save's color hits you; the whole accident fizzles.

Insult to Injury (white, 4 of each) - Dashcam. Play when another driver's Hazard is declared. If it lands, you take everything it produces instead of them. - Pile-Up. Play when another driver's Hazard is declared. If it lands and this isn't stopped by an orange Save or Aftermarket, the target loses 1 more hubcap, to you.

Moving Violations (white, 2 of each; 1 Hit and Run, 1 Traffic Jam). Played on your Drive, one per Drive. The target may stop it with any Save. Hands are hidden, so every pick from a hand is blind. - Carjack. A driver fans their hand face-down. Take one card. - Lane Change. Give a driver one card from your hand, then take one from theirs face-down. - Hit and Run. A driver loses 1 hubcap. It goes back in the box, gone for good. Nobody gets it. The only way a hubcap leaves the game. - Impound. A driver's Aftermarket goes to the road. - Flat Tire. The target's next turn must be a Pit Stop. - Detour. The target skips their next turn. - Roadside Assistance. Draw 2 cards. Your Drive continues. Not aimed at anyone, so nothing stops it. - Traffic Jam. Every other driver discards one card of their choice. Not aimed at anyone, so nothing stops it.

Road Conditions (gray, 2 of each). Played on your Drive. Put it in the middle. It applies to everyone until the next Road Condition replaces it. - Construction Zone. No Road Itself Hazards can be played. - Rain. Every Hazard that lands takes 1 extra hubcap (a splash is unchanged). - Fog. Nobody can see the accident: no Dashcam may be played on a Hazard. - Speed Trap. Every Hazard that lands takes 1 hubcap, whatever its badge says. - Rush Hour. Hand limit is 4. Pit Stops draw to 4, and anyone over 4 discards down at the end of their turn. - Factory Reset. Every Aftermarket in play goes to the road, and so does this card. The road is clear. - Green Light. Every driver draws 1. This card goes to the road. The road is clear.

Aftermarket (2 of each) - Turtle Wax. From Above can't hit you. - Monster Truck Tires. The Road Itself can't hit you. - Advanced Driving School. Other People can't hit you. Pile-Ups either. - All-Weather Package. Acts of God can't hit you.

Traps (2 of each). Set one face-down on your Drive; it waits on the field. When any driver plays a Save, any other driver holding 3 or more cards may flip the top face-down trap. Match the Save's category and the Save is wrecked — the Hazard lands and it costs the springer nothing. Miss, and the trap fizzles and the springer discards 3. One trap springs per Save, then it's gone; the next one underneath is on top. You never have to spring, and only the driver who set a trap knows what it is — everyone else is gambling on a hidden card. The 3-card floor is the price of the bluff: you need the cards to cover a miss. - Black Ice (lime). Wrecks a Road Itself Save — Swerve, Good Suspension. - Falling Rock (cyan). Wrecks a From Above Save — Duck!, Topping Off Fluids. - Blind Spot (orange). Wrecks an Other People Save — Defensive Driving, Evasive Maneuvers. - Flash Flood (magenta). Wrecks an Acts of God Save — High Beams, Snow Chains.

Police Escort (2). Play at any time during another driver's turn: their turn ends as soon as the card in front of them is resolved. Cannot be stopped.

Out of gas

The trip ends the moment any driver needs to draw a card and the pile is empty. Stop right there, don't finish the turn. Most hubcaps wins. Tie? Most cards still in hand wins. Still tied? Share the win and argue about it.

Everyone can see how thin the pile is, so everyone can see the end coming. A thin pile makes every Pit Stop a decision: refill and burn a card of clock, or drive on fumes.

The deck is the clock, so a trip runs about the same length at any table size. Six drivers share it in fewer turns each; three drivers get more turns each.

Variant, fixed length. If your table prefers a set number of rounds, play 5 rounds at six drivers, 6 at five, 8 at four, 10 at three, and reshuffle the road into a new pile if it empties (turn three fresh cards for the lanes).

Tips for new drivers

Five cards, five options. Every card you spend is an option you no longer have, so spend attacks where they land and hold Saves for the colors people are throwing.
Hands are hidden — the road is all anyone can read. Watch what a driver spends: a Save they burn is a Save they no longer hold, and a color they never defend may be a color they can't.
Set a trap when you can spare the card, and keep 3 in hand so you can spring one. Springing a rival's Save is free when you're right and cheap information when you set the trap yourself.
Count cards. A driver with two cards left is one Dashcam away from defenseless.
A wrong-color Save is still a Save against a Violation. Hold one.
Police Escort is the card for the driver who's running away with it. Let them commit a card, then end their turn.
Two Police Escorts exist. If one is out, sequence your Drive so the hit you want lands first.
Pit Stop before you're empty, not after. An empty hand is an invitation.
Two cards is the most you can aim at one driver in a Drive. Three Hazards in hand means at least two targets.
A !! or a <> into a hand with no Save of that color is the swing of the game. Every wall has a gap; hidden hands mean you have to guess where.
Can't catch the leader? Hit and Run. Their hubcap doesn't come to you, but it doesn't stay with them either.
The pile tells you how much road is left. Nobody knows what's coming off it.
Ahead? Pit big and burn the pile. Behind? Drive on fumes and make it last.
A driver kicking rocks is not worth attacking. A driver who just got back on the road with one hubcap is.
Spend a Save on a rock only if you want that driver to keep walking. Otherwise let it land and keep the Save.

Badge key

! Hazard, takes 1 · !! Hazard, takes 2 · <> Hazard, splashes 1 left and 1 right · S Save · + Insult to Injury · V Moving Violation · R Road Condition · A Aftermarket · T Trap · P Police Escort

v1.0, 2026-09-16: every card is one full card — the split cards are gone, so a hand of five is five options and each card is read at a glance. 124 cards: 38 Hazards (3 per colored type, 2 Texting), 32 Saves (4 each), 14 Moving Violations, 8 Insults, 14 Road Conditions (2 each), 8 Aftermarket (2 each), 8 Traps, 2 Police Escorts. Lanes carry no rule: any Hazard may be played at any time, and every card that leaves play lands on the shortest lane automatically — nothing to pick. Fog now hides the accident (no Dashcam claims) since there is no color match to lift. v0.9, 2026-09-13: hidden hands; Traps added; Texting peeks, Rain adds a hubcap, Fog dropped the color match. v0.8: Road Conditions became full cards; Police Escort became an Instant; a Pit Stop turned one card onto a lane. v0.7: the three lanes as the only discard, face-down pile. v0.6: Hazards take 1, 2 or splash; Dashcam claims the whole accident; Hit and Run destroys a hubcap. v0.5: two cards per driver per Drive. v0.4: the pile is the clock. v0.3: Road Conditions, Flat Tire, Detour, blockable Violations, the Pit Stop discard.

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