A simple pen & paper game without abusing horses
Abusing horses
Flow chart
Open ideas
Can I add own values to the game?
Can horses die?
Looks like a very simple game?
What kind of game engine is used?
Is there a weighting between horses?
Why to calculate during the race?
Why sharing the game online?
Is this game idea new?
Where can I get one sheet for printing?
There are a lot of spelling mistakes?
What kind of license is used?
This is NOT a quick game. You roll the dices a lot of times, but on the other hand, it provides you with more realism. If you play with just two horses, you can reach the finish line (wire) in ~10 Minutes. If you select 12 horses, it can take up to ~30 minutes and with additional values maybe also ~60 minutes. But it depends on the track length, the amount of horses and your personal notes.
Yes, the idea of the game is, that it is an open project. If you want to include more horses, tracks, jockeys or other specific values, you can do it. You can also adjust the scorecard, based on your own needs. The main game is more a kind of an idea and foundation for you personal game. But I'm very happy, if you share your personal adjustments and example races here on this board, to improve maybe also the basic game and fun for other players.
No. The idea of this pen & paper game is, that this is not necessary. But you can always "create" new horses or also new series of seasons and retire the old ones.
It looks like, that this is a very simple game?
Yes, that is true. You roll some dices and move all horse to the finish line and count some values together. So nothing special, but if you like value based games and have a creative mind, you will have fun.
What kind of "game engine" is used?
There is no special engine or years of development (at the moment). The selection of the values is simply based on the standard probability percentage results, if you use two dices together. If you roll 2 dices, your chances that you get a "7" as combined result has a chance of ~17%. To get the dice result 2 (1+1) instead has only a ~3% chance. This well known statistical foundation is used for the run table and also for additional results. The chance, that you have a really bad result/run is low. The chance, that you really have a bad result AND also fall down or get an injury is really, really low. But... it is still possible.
After a few test runs, I adapted the result table multiple times, to get the best results & feeling for my horse racing game, so that it makes fun, but still has sometimes surprises. The best horse in the lead can drop out on the last roll - on a really bad day.
Is there a weighting or adjustments between different horses?
In the past I wanted to use real race horses and their real life numbers to have a solid foundation for realistic results. To avoid legal issues (brand, copyrights,...), I decided to use fictive names and also values. Instead I used a statistical percentage share and adjustment during the generation of the horses and their values.
Most of the horses have more or less the same level, some are stronger, but there are also some weak horses. Some test runs proved, that also leader horses can loose races with some bad luck and weak horses reach top places - so good enough for real life results and to keep the game interesting. In the future, I want to create some adapted values for each horse, based on multiple races in the past and use them for different season packages later.
Why do I need to calculate the values during the race?
Some sharp minded people will have the opinion "You can also do that at the end or begin of the race already and sum the values up". Sure, that's true, but it's also a game for personal fun and to enjoy the development and surprises during the race - that's the only reason behind it. And to have a good time for some minutes aside the daily hamster life.
What is the idea to share the game here online?
I was searching for an easy way, to collect my own thoughts & personal ideas on a central place online, without using social networks or foreign (ad bloated) communities. And this simple wiki, which loads very fast and has a low technical footprint, is the best choice for it. I'm doing this stuff more for myself and my personal joy (hobby), but if somebody plays the game and have fun, I'm happy too! Also if somebody wants to share their experiences or thoughts about it or add improvements.
There are no plans for commercial steps, selling the game or the usage, or combining the page with ads or other crappy stuff. The website & hosting just needs a few bucks every year, so this is affordable on a private level.
Absolutely no! Similar games were and are invented since decades or even longer. This is just a personal version and my own way of how to play this kind of game. See here: more about the background.
Where can I get everything in one, single sheet for printing?
In preparation. I'm already working on that, but before I will create a kind of rule and table sheet and I want to finish the adaption of some new values. This is a "complicated" process, because if you add new values or results, you have to change all existing tables and also adapt afterwards the example races... and this takes a lot of time. So I want to work on the new ideas first. The plan is to release a first draft of the combined table & result sheet during middle of March 2023 and I will provide a download ZIP file here on the board.
Does it cost money, do I have to buy something?
Nope. This is a non-commercial, personal project. See the background.
There are a lot of spelling mistakes in the text?! Why?
I apologize for that and sometimes I fix some parts from time to time afterwards. My mother language is German and my English is very low and just based on the WorldWideWeb, chats with friends, games and Youtube during the years. I'm still learning new words every day and sometimes also change/improve the terms for this game, when I discover new ones.
What kind of license is used for this game?
In work, but it will be a non-commercial, open one.
I live in Vienna, Austria in Europe.
I was born 1981, so I'm already getting old now and need (looks like) some calm hobbies.
In my daily life, I work for an international company in the fields of customer experience and project management.
I love computers, open source and projects, nature and silent moments.
No, I had never own horse(s), I don't ride them, I don't know any horse personally and there is no real, big horse race industry around here (thanks!). I also have only basic knowledge of horses and was riding some of them as a child (but I can't remember any more details. Maybe they were just wooden horses? Mmmh...).
I have really no idea, why I created this game and why a game with horses, but in my age that's okay too. I guess.
I'm working on this project sometimes in the evenings, on the weekends or I don't do anything and read books instead or go out for a walk. It's for fun!
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Emanuel Sprosec Ⓒ 2023