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How to play

Horse Race

Mash to gallop, jump the rails, and be first past the post.

Horse Race: Mash to gallop, press 2 to jump. First past the post wins!

At a glance

Players
1–4 at once
Ages
4 and up
Round
About thirty seconds
In the packs
Core, Party, Little Kids

Controls

The stick and button 1 are enough to play. The rest add moves for the older kids.

What you pressWhat it does
Button 1 — the big buttonmash to gallop — any button but 2 gallops
Button 2jump

How a round goes

There is no clock: the race is over when someone crosses the line, about fifty-five presses from the start. Every press is a shove forward and your horse coasts between presses, so a steady rhythm beats a frantic one.

Four rails stand across the course, roughly every twelve presses and none in the last stretch. Press 2 to jump them. Clip one and you keep less than half your speed — it costs momentum and dignity, never the race. You cannot jump from a standstill.

Scoring and winning

First horse past the post wins.

On your own you race Robo, who gallops at a steady pace: about four presses a second ties him and six wins clearly. If Robo wins, nobody does.

Tips

  • The speed bar tops out well before your thumb does; past that, extra presses buy very little.
  • Time the jump just before the rail, not on it.
  • A station with only one button gets the jump done for it automatically, so a one-button pad is still a fair race.