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Official Horse Race Game Thread (9 Viewers)

Can anyone provide good links to plastic horses that are good to use for a homemade board? I can’t seem to find much. The Blanton corks (metal) look nice but cost too much, and I would just buy a Fineni at that point. Thanks
 
BigSlickTux said:
I have looked in this entire thread and did not find the answer to this question: What do you do with extra chips from an uneven pot? Maybe I missed it.
Click to expand...

we do closest to dealer just like poker.
 
Has anyone worked out what a good minimum chip breakdown would be for the game? I've only ever travelled with my board once and brought 2 racks of fracs and 2 racks of $1 and a rack of $5 which was plenty (playing 25c multiples and $20 buy-in). But I'd like to avoid bringing 500 chips though... I'm thinking of making a travel box where the chips are included in the set as a grab and go thing.
 
Darson said:
Has anyone worked out what a good minimum chip breakdown would be for the game? I've only ever travelled with my board once and brought 2 racks of fracs and 2 racks of $1 and a rack of $5 which was plenty (playing 25c multiples and $20 buy-in). But I'd like to avoid bringing 500 chips though... I'm thinking of making a travel box where the chips are included in the set as a grab and go thing.
Click to expand...
@BSteck
 
Darson said:
Has anyone worked out what a good minimum chip breakdown would be for the game? I've only ever travelled with my board once and brought 2 racks of fracs and 2 racks of $1 and a rack of $5 which was plenty (playing 25c multiples and $20 buy-in). But I'd like to avoid bringing 500 chips though... I'm thinking of making a travel box where the chips are included in the set as a grab and go thing.
Click to expand...
I bet you have the best answer- Well didn’t you say 73 rolls per game with X holes to win? What is the percentage to roll scratches?
 
Darson said:
But I'd like to avoid bringing 500 chips though
Click to expand...
Dude... do you even chip? The best breakdown is a rack of fracs for each. :)

But I *suppose* if I was wanting to limit the travel case, I'd do 10 starting stacks of 16 fracs & 16 $1 to give $20 buyins. Then fill out the case with $1's and $5's for rebuys.

Edit...
Or maybe a nice even barrel each of fracs and $1's for $25 buy-ins. I think equal numbers of fracs and $1's work great. When you have to pay 1x or 2x you put in fracs, when you have to pay 3x or 4x you use the $1.
 
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Is there a final word on which of the horse games is best from an even odds perspective? I remember some people doing the math on it but don’t remember the final conclusion. Wanna get one, but don’t know which (unless… I get a custom one…)
 
Machine said:
I bet you have the best answer- Well didn’t you say 73 rolls per game with X holes to win? What is the percentage to roll scratches?
Click to expand...
I thought about this but I didn't add the arrays for payment tracking for each game in my simulation. And now I'm far too lazy to do that..

BSteck said:
Dude... do you even chip? The best breakdown is a rack of fracs for each. :)

But I *suppose* if I was wanting to limit the travel case, I'd do 10 starting stacks of 16 fracs & 16 $1 to give $20 buyins. Then fill out the case with $1's and $5's for rebuys.

Edit...
Or maybe a nice even barrel each of fracs and $1's for $25 buy-ins. I think equal numbers of fracs and $1's work great. When you have to pay 1x or 2x you put in fracs, when you have to pay 3x or 4x you use the $1.
Click to expand...

Thanks - a barrel of fracs & 15x$1 is usually how I dish them out. We've never had more than 8 players so I'm thinking a chip set of 8x20 fracs and 8x15 $1 and a barrel of $20s for 300 chips total maybe the minimum I can get away with. Realistically it's more likely to be 4-5 players... I'm going to custom cut the foam anyway so maybe I can get a barrel of $5s in there also. Something to think about...
 
moechar said:
Is there a final word on which of the horse games is best from an even odds perspective? I remember some people doing the math on it but don’t remember the final conclusion. Wanna get one, but don’t know which (unless… I get a custom one…)
Click to expand...
jonah-hill-jason-segel.gif
 
@moechar, @Samuel did the work:

Samuel said:
WP, you are a bad/good influence on me!!

20220313_153752-r-jpg.878161


Haven't had a chance to play yet, but hopefully soon! (the lines on the right hand board are tentative cut and drill lines - thinking about cutting it and adding hinges to make it more portable and also need to add some scratched holes below the starting gate).
Click to expand...

Samuel said:
ROLL A…PROBABILITY
2​
1/36 (2.778%)​
3​
2/36 (5.556%)​
4​
3/36 (8.333%)​
5​
4/36 (11.111%)​
6​
5/36 (13.889%)​
7​
6/36 (16.667%)​
8​
5/36 (13.889%)​
9​
4/36 (11.111%)​
10​
3/36 (8.333%)​
11​
2/36 (5.556%)​
12​
1/36 (2.778%)​

On my Derby Dash game board, the number of holes match up with the chart above (3x each probability - e.g. 3 holes for #2, 12 holes for #5, 18 holes for #7, etc) - that board has no Scratched area/holes. I think this is intentional in order to run full 11 horse races with true probabilities/chances for each horse.

On my Fineni game board (with a Scratched area/holes), there is one less hole for horse #'s 4-10 than 3x each probability - so e.g. the #4 has 8 holes, the #5 has 11, and the #7 has 17, etc. I'm guessing that the one less hole per lane is supposed to offset the greater chances for the "middle" horses to be scratched (and not finish at all) when running less than full field races?
Click to expand...

So Derby Dash seems to be the most accurate but it doesn't have the scratch area and isn't necessarily as nice as some of the other builds.
 
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moechar said:
jonah-hill-jason-segel.gif
Click to expand...

lol I dunno if this is the "official" best layout, but I used what @Darson suggested here on my custom board and it's worked very well so far. I've also played on the Derby Dash board, and it felt like the outside horses won much more often; horses 6/7/8 almost never won on that board.
 
What are your average buy ins and number of players? I’m thinking of capping it at 8

How do you guys deal with rebuys if someone runs out of money in the middle of the race?

I’m trying to make a 500 chip travel set of mini chips and a smaller travel board. I have no idea how many of each chip is need
 
Hairy_Crocodile said:
What are your average buy ins and number of players? I’m thinking of capping it at 8

How do you guys deal with rebuys if someone runs out of money in the middle of the race?

I’m trying to make a 500 chip travel set of mini chips and a smaller travel board. I have no idea how many of each chip is need
Click to expand...
They better take out a loan haha I would say they need to rebuy or bow out of the race, but this also gives a bigger chunk of change to the other folks if they forfeit the winnings card/horse too. We just have people rebuy for more, never had anyone run completely out of money (or just borrow some from another player)

We tend to play a few races during our dealer's choice nights. So we use quarters generally, but for chips we treat it pretty much the same. You could use any microstakes or standard stakes chipset and probably be just fine.
 
Machine said:
I think I figured it out, I’m working with a designer and the plan is to order a small table topper.

I can’t wait to get it done, I’ll post photos once it’s complete. I’m using table top markers and a consolidated board. So the scratch lanes won’t be on the board at all.

I’ve also changed gears on the theme.
Click to expand...
Any update on your topper?
 

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