Item — HN Reader

This sounds similar (but not quite) to Ready Set Bet [1], which is probably a lot easier to find than this.

This game, as the title suggests, is pure luck, based on the cards you were dealt.

In RSB, it’s real-time, and as dice are rolled to move horses forward, you can place bets on a number of spots, based on how the dice are being rolled (always by a designated player that is either part of the betting or not — recommended that they don’t bet if you have enough players).

Obviously still a lot of luck, as with most dice rolling games. But a decent amount of strategy in timing your bets, especially since bets freeze once horses get to a certain line in the game.

[1] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/351040/ready-set-bet

8 comments

Came to the comment(s) looking for this game. I've played this! Fun!

It's interesting to explore the spectrum of what people find fun. In large groups, it seems like games that tilt heavily towards luck can be a great deal of fun for everyone, while "board gamers" (like me) enjoy games where you can learn and leverage strategies to gain advantage, and the role of luck is diminished (to varying degrees).

As a board game host, you have to get that spectrum, gauge group size and preference, and pick a game that will work for them. Strategic games, in particular, take learning the rules, learning the strategies, practicing them, learning your opponents... it can take a dozen games before you're competitive. And for a lot of people, almost none of those games will be any fun.

A few games kind of nail this with an unexpectedly even playing field, where strategy helps, but luck offsets it. If luck really offsets it, very strategic players will also find that it's no fun.

Some luck-based games I really like include Lords of Vegas (not to mention... just Vegas), Bunny Kingdom, and Flip 7.

A lot of card-based strategy games like Terraforming Mars and Wingspan certainly have some amount of luck in them, but it can be dwarfed by good synergy / strategy.

I think for big groups it’s not so much luck/randomness that is the key but complexity. Low complexity games are going to play better. They can be pure skill games. Many drinking games are (beer pong etc).

Luck/randomness is directly against determinism. A way of making feel less mechanical and opening up the combinatorial state space? Essentially increasing the fun/interest without introducing high complexity necessarily? As well as narrow the skill range as you say, but not necessarily over longer time horizons.

Like you can do a 2d matrix of luck and complexity.

Tic tac toe - low randomness, low complexity

Chess - low randomness, high complexity

Poker - med randomness, high complexity

Roulette - high randomness, low complexity

Being allowed to place bets makes it actually not a pure luck game. That game can be optimally solved given knowledge of the world because there are choices involved.

TFA's base game, however, is pure luck - you place no bets, you discard no cards, you make no decisions. Perhaps you influence things by how you roll, but probably not consciously. If the same die roll sequence and same card shuffle sequence is replayed, the game is the exact same.

Another similar game is Camel Up

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/260605/camel-up-second-e...

+1 to Camel Up. If you haven’t played the 2nd edition, they added two crazy camels going the wrong way. Lots of fun and playable from age ~6-7 onwards.

If we're listing modern games vaguely similar to this, we can't let the thread go without mentioning the fantastically entertaining (yet _mostly_ random) "Hot Streak" (2025)!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/446497/hot-streak

Reminded me of Win, Place & Show (1966) from 3M.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/782/win-place-and-show

Long Shot: The Dice Game is my favourite among horse-racing board games. It is so much fun!

Love RSB but then again I'm a filthy degenerate :D

My favourite horse racing game is Knizia Winner’s Circle.

Long Shot: The dice game is also another decent option.

Ready set bet didn’t really work for me. But for a group that likes the more social side and yelling it seems good.