Not So Fast
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FroGames — Moments You'll Remember
Everyone moves everyone. You know your team, but nobody knows who you're truly helping. And when the seventh animal crosses the finish line, someone realizes they've been running in the wrong direction.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A race where everyone moves everyone, but only you know who you're helping
Designed by Guido Albini and Martino Chiacchiera, illustrated by Simon Douchy, Not So Fast reinterprets the fable of the hare and the tortoise in a tactical and unfair way. Each player has a secret team, a color no one knows: your goal is to get your hare and tortoise to the finish line at the right time, occupying the best spots in the prize garden.
Each turn you reveal a movement card that determines who moves: a type of animal or a color. Animals stack, drag, and overtake each other. Move one piece and help three others. Only seven animals will enter the garden and score points. The eighth stays out. And in the end, when everyone reveals their team cards, someone realizes they've been running for others.
What they say abroad
A race where timing is worth more than speed, and where every move helps someone you don't see.
— FroGames
Bluff, calculation, and a touch of chaos: the classic fable becomes a game of glances and hidden cards.
— FroGames
Not So Fast
FrogScore · FroGames editorial rating · based on rules, international reviews and game sessionsWhat you move
Eight animals, seven places, one secret team
Hares
Fast, competitive, perfect for the top spots in the garden. But if too many hares arrive, some are left out and score zero.
Tortoises
Slow, patient, designed for intermediate spots. A tortoise in the right place is worth as much as a misplaced hare.
Movement cards
Each card decides who moves: a type of animal (all hares) or a color (all pieces of that team). Play the right card at the wrong time and you help others.
Prize garden
Seven scoring spaces, different values for hares and tortoises. Only the first seven animals enter. The eighth watches from outside.
In the end, when everyone flips their team cards, someone realizes they've been running for their opponents. It always happens.
A game in five moments
What happens at the table
Not the rules. The experience.
Secret cards and glances
Each player draws their team card and keeps it hidden. Four colors, eight animals, no one knows who belongs to whom. You look at others, they look at you. The race hasn't started yet, but the bluff has.
First moves, first stacks
Someone plays a hare card, someone a color. The animals start to move, stack up, drag along. Move a piece at the bottom of a stack and all above it are dragged along. Ambiguous smiles around the table.
Reading the table
Halfway through the game, half the animals still on the track. You start to understand who is helping which color, who is slowing down which hare. Or maybe not. Every move is a signal, but signals can be fake.
The seventh spot
Six animals in the garden, one at the gate. Someone plays the card that decides everything: the seventh animal enters, the eighth stays out. Someone curses under their breath. Their color is out of the game.
Reveal and laughter
Everyone turns over their team cards. Someone won with a perfectly placed hare and tortoise. Someone else ran in the wrong direction for the entire game. Laughter, accusations, immediate rematch.
How to play
The flow of each round
A turn lasts twenty seconds: reveal, move, stack, pass. The bluff is in what you reveal.
From your hand, play a card: it indicates an animal type (hare or tortoise) or a color (red, blue, yellow, green). Everyone sees what you played.
Choose ONE animal that matches the card (e.g., hare card → move any hare) and advance it one space. If it's at the bottom of a stack, drag all animals above it.
Animals dragged from the stack arrange themselves in the subsequent spaces, one per box. Stacks break up, reform, and mix. The track fills up.
When an animal passes the gate, it enters the garden and occupies the first available space. Each space has different values for hares and tortoises. Only seven spots are available.
Why it's different from others
Six mechanics that make a difference
Asymmetric shared movement
Each player moves everyone's pieces, but only they know which team they are truly helping. There is no move that only helps you: every card benefits someone, and you have to hide who.
Hares vs tortoises: inverted scores
Each space in the garden has two values: one for hares, one for tortoises. First place rewards hares, middle spots tortoises. Arriving too early or too late is equally wrong.
Stacks and dragging
Animals stack on the spaces. Move the one at the bottom and you drag everyone above it. A move can benefit three teams simultaneously, or give an advantage to an opponent you hadn't seen.
Seven spots, eight animals
Two hares and two tortoises for each color, but only seven scoring spaces. Someone stays out. It's not enough to arrive: you have to arrive at the right time, and block the eighth one outside the gate.
Limited information bluff
Team cards are secret until the final reveal. Every move is a clue, every hesitation a signal. You can pretend to help one color while secretly pushing another. Or not pretend at all.
20-minute games
Setup in one minute, rules in five, game in twenty. No downtime: when it ends, someone asks for a rematch even before putting the animals back in the box.
How it ends
How to win and how to lose
The game ends when the seventh animal enters the garden. The eighth stays out and does not score. Everyone reveals their team cards.
Victory
- Sum the points of your hare and tortoise (values of the occupied spaces in the garden)
- The player with the highest total wins
- In case of a tie, the player whose animal entered the garden first wins
Defeat
- If one of your animals remains outside the garden (eighth or later), it scores zero points
- If your animals enter too early or too late, they occupy low-value spaces
- If you help your opponents too much while trying to hide your team, you lose control of the race
Not So Fast is a race where timing and bluffing matter more than speed: move everyone, help someone, deceive others. And in the end, someone discovers they ran in the wrong direction.
Frequently asked questions
FAQ about Not So Fast
How many games does it take to understand the bluff?
One to understand the rules, two to start bluffing for real. By the third game everyone at the table pretends to help someone while secretly pushing another color. The game becomes a reading of glances and ambiguous moves.
Does it work well with two players?
Yes, but its nature changes: it becomes a tactical duel with hidden information, less chaotic and more calculated. With three or four players, the bluff is stronger because no one ever fully controls the situation.
Do children understand the bluff?
From 8 years old and up, yes. Younger children play pure shared movement, without pretending. From 10 years old, they start to hide their team and read the moves of others. The learning curve is gentle.
How much does luck matter?
Almost zero: there are no dice, and the movement cards are your personal deck. You know what you have in hand, you choose when to play each card. Luck is in not knowing what others will do, not in chance.
Is the game available in Italian?
Yes, this GateOnGames edition includes rules and cards in Italian. The components are language-independent (colored animals, cards with symbols), making them immediately understandable for everyone.
Not So Fast is a race and bluffing game for 2-4 players, lasting 20 minutes, recommended age 8+ years. Designed by Guido Albini and Martino Chiacchiera, illustrated by Simon Douchy, published by GateOnGames. Each player has a secret team (hare and tortoise of one color) and moves everyone's pieces trying to place their animals in the seven scoring spaces of the garden at the right time. Shared movement, hidden information bluff, stacks that drag animals: a tactical reinterpretation of the classic fable where timing and disloyalty matter more than speed. Available on FroGames.it.
Not So Fast
Frequently Asked Questions
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