Favoriten
Favoriten Rulebook
Table of Contents
Setup
Prior to the first time you play, place one symbol sticker on each wooden betting marker. Create five sets of three markers.
Each player receives a horse-card and three wooden betting markers with the same symbol as on the horse-card.
Place all five horses on the cannon (start) square.
The Race
Starting with the game leader (choosen randomly), the player throws the die and moves one horse (of his choice) the amount on the die. He then throws the die again and moves a second horse and continues in this way until all five horses have moved. The game-leadership then moves to the left and that player starts the next round. After the first round, when you move a horse you switch the horse to the other lane to show that it has moved. On the next move of the horse, it will switch back to the original lane, and so on.
The first horse to reach or pass the last space (horse resting in a deckchair) wins the race and the race continues to find the second and third place horses.
Betting
Before each round, starting with the game leader, players may place one wooden marker on the colored circles at the bottom of the board. There is a color for each horse. The first bet made is placed in the top circle. The next bet on that horse under it and so on.
Only one bet is made by each player before each round of die rolls.
A player doesn't have to bet and may pass to wait for a better opportunity.
A player may bet on different horses.
Once positioned, a betting marker may not be moved.
Once any horse has finished the race, any unused betting markers are null and void and may not be placed.
Once the race is over, the betting markers for the first place horse are slid up to the first place column in the middle of the board. This is headed by the number 32. This is repeated for the second and third horses, into their respective positions.
The numbers in the circles, now under the betting markers, are the points won by that player with that marker. You will note that the sooner you commit yourself to a horse, the nearer the top of a column you are, and the more points you win if it comes home.
A total of 3 or 4 races should take about half an hour and the winner is the one with the most points. Players should agree before hand how many races will be run.
Editor's note: There is no clear mention of who goes first in the second and subsequent races. We have found that the player going first seems to be at a slight disadvantage, especially in games with 4 or more players. Therefore our house rule is that the person with the most points goes first. Or you can run the same number of races as there are players, allowing each player to go first once.