Scholastic Race Across the USA Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Objective of Scholastic Race Across the USA Game

The objective of Scholastic Race Across the USA Game is to visit six states throughout the United States and then reach your home state before the other players.

Setup

Sort the state cards by their colors. Shuffle each pile separately. Place each pile near the gameboard.
Separate the question cards into 3rd/4th grade and 5th grade+ piles. Place these two piles of cards on the opposite side of the board from the state cards.
Each player takes one score card.
The players will choose whether they want to use the 3rd/4th grade cards or the 5th grade+ cards.
Each player chooses an airplane pawn and places it on the state that they are from.

Give each player one state card from the bottom of each state color pile. Each player should receive six different states. You should look at the cards that you are given to determine the best route to visit each of those states.

Choosing a route — This player was given the following state cards. They will have to figure out the fastest way to reach all of these states. They probably should start in Illinois, then move onto Maryland and New Hampshire, pass through Texas on the way to California, and then end in Alaska.

All of the players will roll the die. The player that rolls the highest number starts the game.

Playing Scholastic Race Across the USA Game

Moving Across the Map

To start your turn you will roll the die. The number you roll determines how many states you will move through on your turn. Each state you move through counts as one space. You can move in any direction, but you may not move through/onto the same state twice in the same turn. Only one airplane at a time can be on a state. You must move as many spaces as you rolled on the die.

Moving in Scholastic Race Across the USA — The blue player has rolled a three. They are trying to make it to Illinois. They can move to Iowa, then to Missouri, and finally end up in Illinois.

When moving there are a couple things you need to keep in mind due to how the map of the United States is displayed to fit on the board.

When moving to Hawaii and Alaska you will move across the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is not considered a space.

Moving to Alaska — The blue player is on California. They rolled a one. They can use one movement to move across the Pacific Ocean to Alaska.

When traveling in the small states in the Northeast, place your pawns on the state names instead of the states themselves.

Answering A Question

Should you land on a state corresponding to one of the state cards you received at the beginning of the game, you will draw a question card. Hand the card to the player on your right.

Reach target state — The blue player has reached Illinois which matches one of their cards. To claim the card they will have to correctly answer a question.

They will read the question printed on it (including the answers). You should not read out any information inside () as this explains the answer to the question.

Question card in Scholastic Race Across the USA — After landing on Illinois the blue player is asked which of these US cities has not hosted a Summer Olympics? The correct answer is New York City.

Should you provide the correct answer to the question (the answer that is a different color than the rest), take the card of the state you are on and place it on your score card.

Acquiring a state card — The blue player answered the question correctly. They place the Illinois card on their score card.

If you don’t provide the correct answer to the question, you receive nothing. Instead of rolling the die on your next turn, you can try a new question card.

End of Turn

After you have finished moving and answering a question (if applicable), your turn ends. Play passes to the next player clockwise.

Winning the Game

Once you have added all six state cards to your score card, you have completed your task. You now need to head back to your home state.

Filling your score card — This player has added all of their state cards to their score card. They should now move towards their home state.

The first player to reach their home state after earning all six state cards, wins Scholastic Race Across the USA Game.

Winning Scholastic Race Across the USA — The blue player has made it back to their home state. Since they have completed their score card and reached their home state, they have won the game.

Scholastic Race Across the USA Game FAQs

If you have any questions about how to play Scholastic Race Across the USA Game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components for Scholastic Race Across the USA

Scholastic Race Across the USA Game Components

Gameboard
110 5th Grade & Up cards
110 3rd & 4th Grade cards
50 state cards
4 score cards
4 airplane pawns
Die
Instructions

Year: 2017 | Publisher: University Games

Genres: Family, Trivia

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Light-Moderate

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