Simulating a race in a board game is difficult. A race is based on athletic training and skill, muscles and split-second decisions. It is not something easily transferable to a board sitting in the middle of the table. A lot happens during a race that gives it that excitement for both watcher and participant. But with cardboard, a race is either purely determined by a dice roll or a card flip, which is way too luck-bound to be comparable to skill. Or it’s so bogged down by logistics that it stilts the play and again, doesn’t bring the excitement of a live race. Long Shot: The Dice Game, however, perfectly replicates the feeling of gambling on a horse race.
Note that I said gambling.
Across the Board
Long Shot: The Dice Game, designed by Chris Handy and published by Perplext! Games, is a roll and write game centered around one horse race. Everyone has their own dry erase sheet to track their bets and gameplay. In the middle is one large board portraying the horse race with large chunky wooden standees for the horses as they race around the track. Each horse has their own card, with a special power and some Xs on the bottom.
The goal of the game is exactly on the nose for a racing game. The players will be able to bet, buy, and manipulate horses as they run. When the third horse crosses the finish line the race is done and the player with the most money wins.
Each turn is simple. Roll the two dice, and then there are two actions. The first action is the obvious move the rolled horse forward and how far.
The second action, and this is really the key of the whole game, is the secondary movement. Each horse brings with it one or two predetermined horses exactly one space. The trick is that some of the horses have the possibility of being moved three times. Others have exactly zero possibilties, making them The Long Shot.
[*roll credits*]
Let’s Make This Interesting
The third action is the kicker. One at a time players can choose an action from a list.
They could bet on the horse.
They could make sure they can bet later on the horse.
They could even buy the horse.
Which is hilarious when you think about it. Imagine a horse going around the corner and you make a quick phone call, “Yes, I’m looking at it right now and Lucky Streak looks really good. I’ll take her.….Whadaya mean I have to wait till the race is over. I want her now!”
Owning a horse not only means you win the purse if that particular horse Wins, Places or Shows, but there is usually a little bonus that each horse gives the owner at some point during the game. This is a good trade off, because buying a horse means you have less money to bet on one.
So it’s not just owners that want a particular horse to win. Those with money to gamble put their stakes into a horse and do what they can to propel that horse forward.
The best way to do that is with the Jersey action. Remember those X’s on the secondary movement line for every horse? Mark off the jersey and you can now mark an X on any box on that horse, increasing the likelihood of the horse winning, while the payouts never change.
Double Action
The one last action I haven’t talked about is the concessions. Instead of placing bets or messing with the odds, you can visit the small board and cross out a number. While the one action doesn’t do anything on its own, if you cross out a row or column, you get to choose from a slate of free bonus actions.
Because if you can buy a horse in the middle of a horse race, you certainly have time to play Bingo.
Once you cross out your straight line, you are rewarded with free bets or some outright cash. Or, and this is important, move horses that are getting to close to the finish line BACKWARDS!
The dynamics at play here are gripping.
One, if one horse is running away with it, people’s own self interests act as an in-game check and pull back that runaway. Or, if the group think is that it’s okay that horse wins, then it wins.
In step by step action, it simulates the will they or won’t they, the push and the pull, part of an actual race.
Odds Are
This also really gets the feel of gambling on a horse race across. At the start of a race, the odds are established depending on the horses or the jockies past performance. Once betting begins, the odds change depending on how everyone is betting. As a horse gets popular, the payout goes lower. On the flip side, as a horse has less and less bets placed on it, the higher the payouts.
Long Shot simulates that by cleverly flipping it. You still must decide whether you are going to go with the crowd or against it. But instead of changing the payouts, it’s the odds that are changed. As players mark more and more Xs for a secondary action, the more likely your favored horse will win. But not garunteed.
Two, and far more tense, is the issue of time. Completing a concession row takes multiple turns. The rewards are moreore powerful than the regular actions, but it is time consuming. The only way to cross out the numbers is to roll the die – The same die that propels the horses forward! But completing a row means you can manipulate the time.
In essence, you have choices to make between fast and slow play against a clock of which you are not sure exactly when times up will be.
Giving you that “Come on, Go!” you feel when you watch an actual horse race.
Even if you’ve only placed a fake $3 bet.
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