Horse Race Rules with progressive jackpot option!

The horse race game

• Players: 2-16 (the more, the merrier!!)

• Additional items: deck of cards

• Quarters/dollars or poker chips (both options not included) 

• 2 dice 

The easiest set up/option is the cash option. We have included other options based on many different rules that are available and ones that we felt were fun to play. There are many other rules out there, and the best thing about this game is you can even make up your own rules or twists as you want. As the more you play the game, the more ideas you can come up with to make it more fun or interesting. We will share some of these options here as well. 

• Remove 4 kings and 4 ace cards, these are not required. If you are playing with 6 or less players, use only 2 suits of the cards to play, not all 4 suits. If you play heads up (2 player), use 1 suite. 

• Determine the pay scale/betting amount: most common is $0.25/pay (this is what we use to determine estimated pot size).

• Line up the horses at the starting gate

• Shuffle & deal cards until 1st queen comes up, this player will deal the 1st game.

   o Option 1 (estimated pot size $10-$25 when playing with quarters): dealer flips a card and that number horse is scratched and placed on the "pay 1" line in the scratched section.  Any player that has that card must turn the card in and pay 1 quarter (or whatever denomination you determined the game will be played). Dealer continues flipping cards until all 4 horses are eliminated and placed in order on ''pay 2" (2 quarters), ''pay 3" (3 quarters). And "pay4" (4 quarters) lines in the scratched area. If a duplicate card is flipped, flip next card until all 4 horses are eliminated. Dealer then deals out cards to the left until they are gone, some players may receive 1 more card than others

   o Option 2 (estimated pot size $15-30 when playing with quarters): dealer deals out all the cards first. Dealer then rolls the dice to scratch first horse (pay 1 horse). Each horse will be moved to the scratched section in the line it was scratched. Players who have that card will turn in their card and pay 1. Dealer then rolls to scratch pay 2 horse, players that have that card will pay 2 and turn in that card. Dealer continues until all 4 horses are eliminated. 

• All players must identify all cards that match scratched horses. It is possible that a player forfeits all of their cards and unfortunately, they are unable to win, and forfeits their entry fee (see below how player can still get back into the game).  Remaining cards should match a 'live horse', and players should be rooting for their horses (cards) to cross the finish line!!

   o A player is able to buy back into the game if they can convice another player to sell one of their cards. This is like an open auction where a player can bid to buy a card from any player for any amount that both players agree on. 

Race time…and they're off!!!

• Player left of dealer rolls dice 1st; if the rolled dice match a 'scratched horse', player must pay the amount which corresponds to where the horse is located in the scratched section (ie… "pay 1", "pay 2", ''pay 3", or “pay 4”)

• If the dice rolled match a live horse, that horse advances 1 spot forward towards finish line!

• Play continues around the board until a horse crosses the finish line. Once a horse crosses the finish line the race is over and any players holding that same card number splits the pot!!!

• Players do not ante up front but will pay into the pot when scratched horses are rolled. 

• Players can fold their hand if they have paid out the agreed upon minimum payout for the game (for example – if using a pay scale of 25 cents, 50 cents, 75 cents, $1, the minimum player bankroll to start the game should be 5x the pay 4 scale). 

• After the min bankroll is paid out, a player can decide to fold their hand and be eliminated from the game, and any potential winning.

ENTRY FEE / ANTE OPTION:  This version sets a fixed price per player per game.  Poker chips are required for this option. 

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE (recommend playing the cash version first before progressing to this option). 

Excitement level: 10 (this version adds another level of anxiety for the roller, as well as opposing players will heckle and badger the roller throughout the game.) 

• Collect entry fee from all players (sugg: $1-5)

• Issue poker chips to each player (follow chart below)

• Remove 4 kings and 4 ace cards, these are not required

• Shuffle & deal cards until 1st queen comes up, this player will deal the 1st game.

   Option 1 (minimum or no players will be eliminated during play): dealer flips a card and that number horse is scratched and placed on the "pay 1" spot.  Dealer continues flipping cards until 4 horses are eliminated and placed in order on ''pay 2", ''pay 3". And "pay4" spots. If a duplicate card is flipped, flip next card until all 4 horses are eliminated. Dealer then deals out cards to the left until they are gone, some players may receive 1 more card than others

   Option 2 (potential for players to be eliminated from winning, but not necessarily from losing): dealer deals out all the cards first. Dealer then rolls the dice to scratch first horse (pay 1 horse). Players who have that card will turn in their card and pay 1. Dealer then rolls to scratch pay 2 horse, players that have that card will pay 2 and turn in that card. Dealer continues until all 4 horses are eliminated. 

• All players must identify all cards that match scratched horses. It is possible that a player forfeits all of their cards and unfortunately, they are unable to win and forfeits their entry fee (see below how player can still get back into the game).  Remaining cards should match a 'live horse', and players should be rooting for their horses (cards) to cross the finish line!!

   o A player is able to buy back into the game if they can convince another player to sell one of their cards. This is like an open auction where a player can bid to buy a card from any player for any amount that both players agree on. 

Race time…and they're off!!!

• Player left of dealer rolls dice 1st; if the rolled dice match a 'scratched horse', player must forfeit the same # of chips that corresponds to the "pay 1", "pay 2", ''pay 3", or “pay 4”.

• If all of a player's chips are lost, player turns in cards and is out of this race.

• If the dice rolled match a live horse, that horse advances 1 spot forward towards finish line!

• Play continues around the board until a horse crosses the finish line, or all players lose their chips. Once a horse crosses the finish line the race is over and any players holding that same card number splits the pot!!!

• To be eligible to win, players with the winning card must have chips left. Once a player is out of chips, they are not eligible to any winnings.

• If all players lose their chips, a new race must be started, and a reentry fee is put in pot (optional). Players that lose their chips are now encouraged to root against players still in the game (by hoping they roll scratched horses to eliminate more players), and root for horses that no longer have active owners (which will result in nobody winning that race). This method keeps players that no longer can win not only still invested in the game, but they become the more vocal group yelling at the players in the game to also go bankrupt as misery likes company!

• If a horse crosses the finish line, and no player is holding that number card, a new race must be started, and again, a re-entry fee may or may not be collected. All Players are eligible to play the next round. 

 

Players:

Optional drinking rules:

• If double 2's, 3's, 4's or s's are rolled, that player takes a drink!!

• If double 1's or 6's are rolled, all players take a drink!!

• If one or both of the dice roll off the table or game top or are dropped on the floor, that player takes a drink!!

Optional progressive jackpot:

• Each race takes ¼ of the pot and place in bonus pool. 

• Designate 1 horse (roll or pull card before each game starts) and if that horse wins the race, the bonus pot is added to the winning horses payout. The progressive jackpot will automatically pay out to the last winning horse of the night. 

Optional buying/selling of horses:

• Before horses are scratched, allow 1-2 minutes for players to sell/trade cards. Some players want their favorite horse, others want more ownership (doubles/trips/quads) so they can win more of the pot. This adds more excitement such as when someone goes all in, trades their cards for all the 9’s and then when the horses are scratched if a 9 is rolled they not only have to pay 4x the penalty they now have very few cards in their hand to win. As well as other players will get a good laugh. The opposite can happen and the horse that player owns 100% of the cards on wins the race and then they don’t have to share the pot! 

It's post time!!! Let's get ready for a horse race!!!