And They're Off!
And They're Off! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
"And They're Off!" consists of the following:
- The Family Game instructions you are reading.
- One laminated Playing Board.
- 64 Money Clips for marking bets in 8 colours.
- One write-on wipe off Marker Pen.
- Paper Money in £10 & £100 & £1000 denominations.
- 4 Thoroughbred Horses.
- A pack of 58 Horse Race Cards.
- An Advanced Play pack containing one Turf Accountant (Bookie's) write-on wipe-off Betting Board and instructions.
Aim of the Game
During the game a number of races take place. In each race players can back any number of horses using the money they have been given, or their subsequent winnings, against the bank at the particular odds on offer for each race. The Player at the end of an agreed number of races that wins the most amount of money is the Big Winner.
Setting the Game Up
(Board diagram labels: Number of race written here; Horses on start line; Starting price bet; S.P. odds written in for each race; Deal cards here for race; 7 cards dealt to indicate odds; Odds table; Ante-post bet.)
- Open up the board and place it on a flat surface such as the table or the floor.
- Take out the four horses; Yellow Submarine, Black Humour, Red Sunset and Blue Riband and place them on the red start band in front of their respective colours.
- Give each player £200 of money (20 x £10) and a set of coloured Money Clips. (If there are more than eight people playing, use sets of matching coins as additional marker clips!)
- Thoroughly shuffle the Race Cards and place them on the Deal Cards square shown on the board.
Choose a "Banker"
Select someone to be Banker for the whole Race Meeting. You can use whatever criteria you think are appropriate, such as honesty or the ability to count over ten. The player nominated as Banker still takes part in the game in the same way as everyone else, they just have Banking duties as well which are described below.
Choose How Many Races You Will Run
Your Race Meeting can consist of any number of races you wish. We recommend one race per person playing, as long as there are at least 6 races.
Choose a "Dealer/Commentator"
The Dealer/Commentator is the person who will turn over the Race Cards each of which determines which horse gets to move forward a furlong (one space) during the Race. They should try and do so in the style of a race horse commentator, for example:
"And They're Off! And it's Red Sunset on the inside moving forward one space closely followed by Black Humour... Black Humour edges another place forward, Yellow Submarine is now out of the starting gate, it's a close field etc..."
If you want, you can have the same Dealer/Commentator for all the races in the meeting. However, it is more fun to get everybody to have at least one go at this.
Choose a "Horse Mover"(s)
We suggest you appoint a different Horse Mover for each race. It is their job to move the horse forward as the Dealer/Commentator calls out their name. Alternatively, you can appoint several Horse Movers in a race. The main point is that everyone should have a go, as moving horses during a race, strangely, is really rather fun!
NB: Like the Banker, the Dealer and Horse Mover also play in addition to their other duties.
How an "And They're Off!" Race Works
During the race, horses move by cards from the shuffled pack being turned up by the Dealer/Commentator onto the space provided on the race board. Each horse moves forward one space when a card with its name on is dealt.
If a green Horse Hampered card is turned up then the last horse to have moved must now move back one space. Should the subsequent card(s) immediately following also be Horse Hampered one(s) then the unlucky horse will again have to continue moving backwards. The only exception to this is if the horse cannot move any further backwards, i.e. he is on the starting line, in which case the card is disregarded onto the discard pile. The first horse past the Winning Post is the Winner.
How Odds Are Generated
Before each race begins and the race's actual odds (the Starting Prices) are generated, all the horses have the same chance of winning and players may bet at 3-1 Ante-Post odds on any of the four horses.
This is because the 58 card pack starts off comprising 13 cards, representing equally each of the four horses and six green Horse Hampered cards. However, prior to each race beginning, seven horse cards are dealt out on the board in the spaces indicated. (Any green Horse Hampered cards are returned to the deck). Doing this generates accurate odds for the race according to the simple table shown on the board. Based on which players can then place their Starting Price bets.
The odds are calculated based on the fact that the more cards of one horse turned out at the start of the game, the less chance there is of that horse winning, since there will be fewer cards in the pack to move that horse towards the winning post.
For instance, if, out of 13 cards representing each horse, no cards representing Black Humour are dealt, he therefore has 13 chances to move towards the Winning Post during the race.
If Yellow Submarine, however, has had 4 cards dealt out, he will only have 9 chances of moving forwards, so the chances of his winning will be less.
Bearing in mind the Horse Hampered cards and the havoc they wreak and with the help of a computer we have arrived at the following simple table which converts the number of cards dealt into odds for the race.
| Cards dealt out | Odds |
|---|---|
| 0 cards dealt out | Evens |
| 1 card dealt | 2-1 |
| 2 cards dealt | 3-1 |
| 3 cards dealt | 6-1 |
| 4 cards dealt | 16-1 |
| 5 cards dealt | 50-1 |
| 6 cards dealt | reshuffle and deal again as it now cannot win. |
What Do 'Odds' Mean?
Although many of you will feel you can skip this bit, for those unfamiliar with odds this is a table that shows what you will receive if you are a winner by betting at the Family Game odds.
- Evens This means you receive one pound for each pound you have gambled, i.e. you get your stake plus one pound back.
- 2-1 This means you receive two pounds for each pound you have gambled.
- 3-1 This means you receive three pounds for each pound you have gambled.
- 6-1 This means you receive six pounds for each pound you have gambled.
- 16-1 This means you receive sixteen pounds for each pound you have gambled.
- 50-1 This means you receive fifty pounds for each pound you have gambled.
Playing "And They're Off!"
You will already understand how a race is run and the Starting Prices are generated. The fun of And They're Off! though is that everyone gets the opportunity to bet on the outcome and shout for their horses as the Dealer commentates on the race.
Ante-Post Betting
Before the seven cards are dealt to obtain Starting Price odds for each race, players may bet Ante-Post at 3-1 odds in the spaces shown on the board. This means that players may gamble at fixed odds that could be very advantageous indeed .... or not! 3-1 are the Ante-Post odds for the Family Game, 3-1 is a great price if, after the dealing of 7 cards, the horse turns out to be evens or 2-1, but a disastrous price if 6-1 or 50-1 come up. You must make your choice.
To actually place a bet, slide your money into the money clip and place it on the Ante-Post area matching the colour of the horse you wish to back. The banker will be able to identify your bet by the colour of your clips.
Before each race it is the Banker that announces Ante-Post betting is open and then closed when all the bets have been placed.
Starting Price Betting
When Ante-Post betting is closed the Dealer/Commentator, having shuffled the deck, deals the cards to determine the odds. Remember to return to the deck any Horse Hampered cards that come up.
The Deck Is Then Re-shuffled
Using the conversion table, he now writes the odds for each horse on the white spaces provided at the end of each lane of the playing board in which the horse will run. The number of the race is also written on the board in the place provided (see diagram). A write-on wipe-off pen is included to do this with.
Players now bet their money at the Starting Price odds by placing bets on the board in each horses appropriately coloured Starting Price square behind the Start line. Players may bet any amount in any way they please, with a minimum of £10 but no maximum.
The Banker then announces that the betting is closed and hands over to the commentator, who with a cry of And They're Off! gets the race under way, dealing cards and commentating as the Horse Mover edges the horses towards the finish line.
When the race is over the Banker removes and banks the losing bets and then settles up with the lucky winners.
Settling Bets
Having banked the losing bets the Banker must now pay out the winners according to the odds on which they bet. Any winning Ante-Post bets are paid out at 3-1 and the Starting Price bets are paid out according to the odds written onto the board for that race.
The Next Race
Before the next race starts, the race cards need to be shuffled again, the Starting Price odds and the race number wiped off the board, and the horses returned to the starting gate.
The next race is now ready to begin. Remember to give someone else the chance to be Dealer/Commentator and Horse Mover!
Winning the Overall Game
The Big Winner of the overall game is the player who has most money at the end of all the races you have decided to hold at your Race Meeting.
That's all there is to it. Happy racing!
Answers to Common Questions
1. What happens if a player runs out of money? You may, if you all agree to be very mean, make anybody who loses all their money drop out of the game and sit frustrated at the side lines. Alternatively players who lose their stake money could be allowed to borrow a further £100 from the Bank, which at the end of the game they will have to pay back before they total their winnings. Players should not, however, be allowed to borrow an extra £100 as many times as they wish.
2. Is it better to bet "Ante-Post" or "Starting Price" odds? Try not to put all your eggs in one basket. The 3-1 Ante-Post odds may turn out to be excellent value if the horse you bet on becomes favourite. On the other hand, if it becomes an outsider at 6-1 or even 50-1 then the bet will have been wasted.
3. Should I place a lot of bets? It is up to you. Just try and make sure you have a chance of winning more money than you have bet on the various horses.
4. What happens if the first card dealt in a race is a "Horse Hampered" card? Hampering horses before the race is not allowed, so disregard the card.
5. Should I bet on the favourite or the long shots? The odds for And They're Off! are very accurate over a large number of games. However, the Horse Hampered cards can upset a favourite or help a long shot. As in real racing, the odds are a guide to the Form, but on the actual day any horse could be the winner.
6. Can the Bank be broken? Although unlikely, in theory, if enough players all bet big money on outsiders that win throughout the meeting, this might break the bank. If the Bank is broken, then the race meeting is at an end and you should count up how much money each player has won, including the amount owed to them by the Bank, to discover who the overall winner is.
7. When should I move on to the Advanced Game? The Advanced Game is for those with nerves of steel only as there is no Bank and instead players take turn in being the Bookie and taking bets! We recommend that you play the Family Game several times before you consider taking a dip into the river of risk.......