I came across the “Horse Racing Game” while looking for old-timey wooden family games. I had never heard of this one before and I’m not sure how long it has been around. I assume it has been a thing for some time as I can’t find a creator, either. It appears most boards are made by Chinese manufacturers and then companies brand them as their own and distribute.
The Original Rules
The original rules–wherever they came from–are very basic. Indeed, the Horse Racing Game has been described as “a game that plays you,” rather than a game you play. There really is no player agency through decision making; It is pretty much roll the dice, move a horse or pay the scratch fee, and continue until a horse passes the Finish Line. Its main source of excitement is the betting aspect.
But can it be done better?
New Rules
The first thing changed is the number of cards used and which cards are used:
Build the game’s card deck based on the number of players, shown below. Unlike the traditional rules, you will always use the Kings and Aces. Joker cards are added in depending on the number of players. Each player should get the same amount of cards. Any leftover cards are set aside (face down) and not used.
4 Players: 2 Suits of cards +1 Joker (6 cards per player, 3 cards set aside).
5 Players: 2 Suits of cards +2 Jokers (5 cards per player, 3 cards set aside).
6 Players: 3 Suits of cards +2 Jokers (6 cards per player, 5 cards set aside).
7 Players: 3 Suits of cards +2 Jokers (5 cards per player, 6 cards set aside).
8 Players: Full deck of cards + 2 Jokers (6 cards per player, 6 cards set aside).
9 Players: Full deck + 2 Jokers (6 cards per player, 0 cards set aside).
10 Players: Full deck +2 Jokers (5 cards per player, 4 cards set aside).
11 Players: Full deck +1 additional Suit +2 Jokers (6 cards per player, 1 card set aside).
12 Players: Full deck +1 additional Suit +2 Jokers (5 cards per player, 7 cards set aside).
The new Cards
Kings may be played to pass a Scratch ante to a player’s left or right.
Aces may be played to ignore a Scratch ante.
Jokers may be played to move a horse forwards or backwards one space.
As usual, 2 through 10, Jacks (11), and Queens (12) represent the race horses.
Dealing the Cards and Drafting Hands
One player is designated the Dealer and deals out the cards.
However, these are not the players’ final hand of cards. We now enter the Drafting phase.
Each player looks at the hand they were dealt and chooses one card to keep. They place that card face down in front of them and pass their hand to the player to their left. The process continues until all the cards have been chosen. The face down cards in front of each player is now the hand from which they will play the game.
The card drafting allows players some choices in how they will approach the race. Do you grab the Aces and Kings to avoid anteing or do you focus on horse cards to increase you chance of winning the pot? Do you choose as many different horses as possible or do you collect multiples of the same horse for bigger payouts and hope those cards aren’t Scratched?
Anteing in and the Jockey Pot
As a group, players should agree upon a starting ante into the main pot and an ante amount into the Jockey Pot. It’s recommended the starting ante equal the base ante for the first Scratched horse penalty.
The Jockey Pot is separate from the race pot. The Jockey Pot goes to the player that moves the winning horse over the Finish Line. In this way, even a player that has no winning horse cards can conceivably still collect some winnings.
Example:
6 players decide on a 25 cents base ante and a 50 cents ante for the Jockey Pot. Each player puts 25 cents in to the race pot, building the pot to an initial $1.50. Each player also puts 50 cents into the separate Jockey Pot, giving $6.00 to the player who moves the winning horse over the finish line.
Scratching Horses
The Horse Racing Game is set up with 11 horses, but 4 will be removed, or Scratched, from the game.
There are 2 methods to do this:
If you don’t really know how many races you are going to complete, it is best to simply roll the dice until 4 horses have been removed. The dealer or another player may roll the dice, add the 2 numbers together, and that total equals the horse to be removed. Each player then discards the cards in their hand that match that horse and put money into the pot based on the horse’s Scratch position.
Scratch Position is simply the order in which the horse’s were removed from the race. So, the first horse removed is in Scratch position 1, the second horse removed is in Scratch position 2, and so on.
The ante required also goes up with each Scratch position.
Scratch Position 1: 1x
Scratch Position 2: 2x
Scratch Position 3: 3x
Scratch Position 4: 4x
From the earlier example, if the players agreed upon a 25 cents ante, the first horse scratched requires each player to ante 25 cents into the pot for EACH card they have that matches the horse removed. The second horse scratched requires the players to add 50 cents to the pot for each card, and so on. In this way, the pot grows and the players’ hands of cards shrink. After the last horse is scratched, the player after the Dealer will begin the race by rolling to move a horse.
The second method of scratching horses typically increases the pot further. It is best used if the players agree they are going to play a full Orbit of races, i.e. a number of races equal to the number of players, thus evening out the inherent benefits of player order.
In this method, the player to the left of the dealer rolls to scratch a horse first. Everyone pays into the pot if they have cards for that horse and then discard those cards. The next clockwise player then rolls to scratch a horse. If this player rolls the same horse as the first player, they alone have to pay the Scratch ante and pass the dice to the next player. This process continues until all 4 horses are scratched, with each roller paying the Scratch ante if they roll a horse already removed.
This method tends to lead to larger pots as the players are not only paying the typical scratch fee for the cards they discard, but also potentially paying in more due to rolling a horse already scratched. Depending on the rolls and number of players, it is possible it takes a couple of Orbits to scratch all 4 horses. The player to the left of the player who scratched the 4th horse will start the race.
The Race
Players take turns rolling the two six-sided dice, adding them together, and moving the horse that equals the total one space forward. If that horse is Scratched, that player antes into the pot equal to the Scratch Position formula. Their turn ends and the player to their left then takes a turn.
Advantage Die
If a player rolls doubles during the race, they complete their turn as normal, but also receives an Advantage Die. These dice should be a different color than the regular dice so they can be differentiated. An Advantage die can be used on a subsequent turn by rolling it with the regular dice. The player can then add any 2 of the 3 dice together to determine which horse is moved. This gives them some more strategic options. The Advantage Die is then lost.
The Advantage Die must be rolled with the regular dice, not added after the player doesn’t like their results. A player can have more than one Advantage Die in their possession, but can never add more than one to a roll (so never more than 3 dice rolled).
If doubles are rolled when rolling three dice, another Advantage Die may only be acquired if the 2 regular dice match and are utilized.
A player may, after they have rolled, play Kings, Aces, or Jokers.
Kings and Aces pass along Scratch antes or ignore them entirely, respectively.
A Joker may be played after the results of the dice roll are resolved and allow the player to either move a horse up one space or back one space. A Joker cannot be played on the same turn the player used a King or Ace.
Typically, a card may only be played on your turn after you have rolled the dice, however, the exception is you may play an Ace or King in response to the active player passing a Scratch ante to you. You may either use an Ace to ignore and cancel the ante or play a King and pass the ante forward to the next player or back to the player who passed it to you. The ante can continue being passed along as long as players have Kings to do so, an Ace cancels it, or a player simply chooses to pay the ante into the race pot.
The race ends immediately when a player moves a horse to the Finish Line.
After the Race
Firstly, anyone with Kings, Aces, Jokers, or Advantage Dice must discard them and ante into the race pot for EACH as follows:
Advantage dice: 1x
Kings: 2x
Aces: 3x
Jokers: 4x
The player that moved the winning horse to the Finish Line receives the Jockey Pot.
Any player with cards that match the winning horse win one share per card of the race pot.
Shares are determined by how many winning cards are in play. If horse 7 wins and players overall have 4 cards in play, the pot has 4 shares. Shares should be even amounts. Leftover money in the pot goes to the Jockey Pot winner.
If another race is forthcoming, the player to the left of previous Dealer becomes the new Dealer.
Other Thoughts
Most boards are built to take into account that some numbers come up more often on 2 dice than others. This is why some horses have less jumps to make to the Finish Line. However, the boards do not take into account that 4 numbers (horses) are removed and thus the hole count is an extreme over-correction. For instance, horse 7 will win on average less than 3% of the time and 2 and 12 will win over 19% of the time.
If you calculate the probability of scratching a subset of 4 horses and then the probabilities of the remaining 7 horses winning the race, you can get a better distribution of steps needed for each horse to win. Reasonable distributions:
4,7,9,11,13,15,13,11,9,7,4
4,6,8,10,12,13,12,10,8,6,4
4,6,8,10,12,14,12,10,8,6,4
3,5,6,8,9,10,9,8,6,5,3
Depending on your board, you may be able to fill some numbers’ extra holes to match one of these configurations. It’s worth a try to get a more even distribution of winning horses, especially with the card drafting mechanism in place. Otherwise, smart players will always hoard 2s and Queens to maximize their chances of winning. A more even distribution creates more variety of drafting strategies.
How Many Chips?
I have a case of 500 chips:
100x 1.00 chips
100x .50 chips
300x .25 chips.
This is enough to cover most games. However, if you plan on having 11 or 12 players, you’ll need more dollar chips, assuming a $20 buy in from each player: 150 dollar chips, 100 .50 chips, and 250 .25 chips.
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