An evening at the track proved so profitable for the players at last night's STAG (Sevenoaks and Tonbridge Association of Gamers) that, by the end of the game, the bookies ran out of the money needed to pay out on bets! The game comes with paper money but the publishers need to do some quantitative easing because players in Long Shot end up awash with cash.
Obviously, this is a horse racing game. Players roll a 10-sided die to determine which horse moves and a custom 6-sided die to determine how far. Players can buy horses and they can place bets on them; with payouts for the owner and backers of the three horses that win, place and show (1st, 2nd and 3rd).
Much of the cash comes though not from the betting but from the often very generous cards. These frequently award free bets or just a wad of cash. Some also move horses forward or back a space or two, but it soon becomes apparent that the biggest bucks can be had by cashing in the cards that dole out money. Players pick up a card at the end of every turn, and there are cards and circumstances that let them take cards from other players, so hand management becomes important. And if you are relying on cards to accumulate cash, then you can always sell a pair of them to the 'bank' to get yet more money.
At the start, Long Shot looks like it's going to be a swift race game, but, with ten horses and the chance of a zero on the die, the race actually takes longer than you might expect. This of course allows even more time to cash in on the generosity of the cards.
Last night's game was fun and one that everyone enjoyed. It ended up a close-run thing, with several horses in contention for the prize money. Pity is, Long Shot is long out of print. Surely time for a reprint - tho' with some $100 bills added to the mix so we don't run out of dosh.