Components

• 1 Track board
• 23 Movement cards
• 22 Action cards
• 13 Assistant cards
• 14 Goal cards
• 10 Horse cards
• 6 Stable Owner cards
• 6 Loan cards
• 12 Character cards
• 1 First Player card
• 6 Horse pawns
• 125 Banknotes
• 63 Tokens
• 2 Sprint Dice
• Rulebook

Object of the Game

Each player is a wealthy bettor, determined to be recognized as the most skillful horse race wagerer and earn the title of "Best Gambler Ever".

Over a pre-determined number of Rounds, the players try to guess the best bets to gain Victory Points (VP) and Danari (the money used in Horse Fever). The player with the most VP is the winner.

Horse Fever offers two different ways to play:

• The Family Game: designed for less experienced players, to help them become famil- iar with the basic game dynamics. You will manage your horse stable, fix races, bet, and collect Victory Points.

• he Board Game: the "complete" version of the game, for experienced players. You will manage your Stable, buy Horses, hire Assistants and compete for secret Goals. There are many winning strategies, but there is only one objective: to become the Best Gam- bler Ever.

The Family Game

Setup

Place the Racetrack board in the center of the table. Put the banknotes where everyone can see them. This spot is the "Bank". The player closest to the Bank is the appointed Banker who will be in charge of managing the Danari (in short: D).

Place all the VPs on the table near the Banker. This will be the "VP pool". Each player receives one starting VP from this pool. Take the Action cards, Movement cards, Stable Owner cards, and Character cards. All the other cards are not used in the Family Game.

Remove all cards with a star symbol from these decks. Shuffle all four decks separately. Place the Movement cards face down on the Blackboard. Place the Action cards face down beside the Racetrack.

Take a number of Bet tokens of each color as shown on Bet Tokens table and put them in a handy place for all players. These form the "Bet token pool".

Bet Tokens Table

Shuffle the 6 Stable tokens and place them randomly one at a time onto the Blackboard, in the Odds spaces starting with the lowest Odds (1:7) up to the highest (1:2).

Each player randomly draws a Character card and places it face-up in front of him. The players look up their Character's skill from the rules booklet and receive the initial amount of Danari. The remaining Character cards are placed back into the game box.

Throw a Sprint Die and check the result on the Tie-breaker table, to determine the First Player. The First Player will then take the First Player card and both Sprint Dice.

The Hourglass token is placed on the Turn Indicator's first space. Place the six Horse pawns on the Racetrack in the lane that matches their color.

Game Play

The game runs clockwise starting with the First Player for a variable number of Rounds depending on the number of players (see the table).

At the end of each Round, the First Player card is passed clockwise. During a game each player will be the First Player at least once.

Each Round consists of four phases:

1. Deal Phase
2. Betting Phase
3. Race Phase
4. End of Round Phase.

1. Deal Phase

The First Player deals out two cards from the Action card deck, face down, to each player. You must not show your cards to the other players!

2 Betting Phase

In this Phase the players make their bets and "fix" the upcoming race.

First Bets

Starting with the First Player and continuing in clockwise order, each player must make a bet on a Horse, honoring the value of the Minimum Bet.

The player decides which Horse he wishes to bet on and takes a Bet token of the same color from the pool, if there are any available. Each Bet token is two-sided showing two kinds of bet -Win or Show.

Then the player decides how much he wants to stake on the chosen Horse, remembering to honor the Minimum Bet.

He puts the Danari in front of him and places the Bet token right on top of them, with the side for the chosen type of bet face up.

Fixing the Race

Starting again with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, each player must play one of his Action cards, face down.

Continue playing Action cards until all players have played all their Action cards. Important: You may not save them for the following Race!

All Action cards are always placed face down on the Horse you wish to influence.

They may be played on any Horse, and there is no limit to the number of Action cards that can be played on the same Horse.

Second Bets

Starting with the last player to bet (the player to the First Player's right) and going in counter-clockwise order, all players may place a second bet.

Important: During the second Bet, the First Player is the last to choose his stake.

The Minimum Bet must still be honored when placing these Bets. You may choose not to place a second Bet, and simply pass.It is possible that one player may bet twice on the same Horse; this is allowed, but in that case one Bet has to be "to Win", and the other "to Show".

3. Race Phase

Reveal the Action Cards

All the Action cards played on the Horses are turned face-up. You must check the effects of each card and apply any that take effect before the Race.

The Race

During a race the Horse pawns are moved, which represents the horse running in its particular lane.

The Race consists of a series of consecutive Race Rounds until all the Horse pawns are placed in the ranking, i.e.: until all Horses have crossed the Finish Line.

Each Race Round consists of revealing a Movement card, and then rolling the Sprint Dice.

Race Rounds

The First Player reveals the top card from the Movement card deck and places it in the matching space on the Blackboard.

Each card has a string of numbers from 0 to 4, related to the different odds, which determine how far the Horses move.

The Horses can move in any order. For game purposes all movement is considered to be simultaneous.

After moving all the Horse pawns as indicated by the Movement card, the First Player rolls both Sprint Dice and applies their effect.

The Ranking

At the end of each Race Round, check if there are any Horse pawns that have reached or crossed the Finish Line. If so, they are to be considered to have "finished".

Horses that have finished are moved to the Ranking on the Blackboard: The first Horse that finishes is placed on the Blackboard on the space for No. 1 in the Ranking, the sec- ond on the No. 2 square and so on.

If at the end of a Race Round more than one Horse has "finished", their placement order is determined following the Finish Line and Photo Finish rules. If some of the Horses have not yet crossed the Finish Line, another Race Round is played.

Only the Horses still on the track continue to move; the Horses already on the Ranking don't move any further during this race. Once all Horses have crossed the Finish Line, the race is over and it's time for the payoff!

Payoffs

Starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, the Banker determines which Bets players won and which they lost. He takes any Danari from Bets that have been lost (and puts them in the Bank!) and gives the players their gains according to the stakes made on winning bets.

The Banker then gives the related VPs and any cash prizes won by the Stable owners (600 D to the Stable ranking first, 400 D to the second, and 200 D to the third).

New Order of Odds

Once the payoffs have been completed, the new order of odds will have to be determined by comparing the initial Odds of each Stable and the final Horse rankings from the race. The Odds of each Stable can change in three ways:

• If the Horse is placed higher in the Ranking than the Stable token of the same color, the token goes up one Odds row.

• If the Horse is placed lower in the Ranking than the Stable token of the same color, the token goes down one Odds row.

• If the Horse is placed as high in the Ranking as the Stable token of the same color, the token remains in the same Odds row. Start from the Horse ranked first to avoid any mix-ups.

New order of Odds

4. End of Round Phase

All the Action cards and Movement cards are shuffled back into their respective decks. The Horse pawns are placed back on the starting spaces of the Racetrack.

The First Player hands the First Player card and the Sprint Dice to the player on his left. The Hourglass is moved on to the next space. If the last Round is now over, the game ends. Otherwise, a new Round begins with the Deal Phase.

End of the Game

The winner is the player with the highest number of VPs.

In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player with the highest amount of Danari; if there is still a tie, roll a die and compare the result with the Tie-breaker table.

The Board Game

To play the Board Game, you need to know the rules of the Family Game.

All the rules of the Family Game also apply to the Board Game, except for the additional rules and small variations described below.

Setup

Follow the same set up procedure for the Family Game, with the following changes:

• Place the Action, Assistant, Horse, Stable Owner, Goal, and Loan card decks, face down, beside their corresponding spaces on the Racetrack.
• The cards marked with a star are optional. We recommend that you remove them for your first few games.
• Shuffle each deck separately.

Game Play

Each round consists of five phases:

1. Purchase Phase
2. Betting Phase
3. Race Phase
4. Auction Phase
5. End of Round Phase

After the last Round, the End of the Game steps are completed.

1. Purchase Phase

The Purchase Phase is played instead of the Deal Phase of the Family Game. Starting with the First Player and going clockwise, each player may make a purchase or pass. Once this first Purchase step has been completed by all players, a second Purchase step will follow in the same player order.

The players making a purchase may shuffle the cards prior to drawing, if they wish to. In each of the two Purchase steps, a player chooses one of the following options (the cards are explained in detail at the end of this rule booklet):

Purchase Two Action Cards

Action cards allow a player to influence the outcome of a horse race, as they affect the horses on which they are played in a positive or negative way. Pay the Bank 400 D, draw 2 Action cards from the stack, and take them into your hand.

The other players must not look at your Action cards. This purchase can be made in both steps of the same Purchase Phase, for a maximum of four Action cards per player each Round.

Purchase A Goal Card

A Goal card, if fulfilled, will grant additional VP at the end of the game.

Pay the Bank 400 D, draw 4 Goal cards from the stack, choose one to keep, and place the remaining cards on the bottom of the Goal card deck.

Goal cards must always be placed face down in front of you, so that everyone can see how many you have, but they must not be revealed to other players.

This purchase can be made in only one of the two steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Purchase an Assistant Card

An assistant grants financial benefits.

Pay the Bank 400 D, draw 4 Assistant cards from the deck, choose one to keep, and place the remaining cards on the bottom of the Assistant cards deck. Keep the selected card face up in front of you so that everyone can see its effects.

Assistant cards belong to the player that has purchased them until they are sold or until the end of the game.

This purchase can be made in only one of the two steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Purchase a Horse Card

A Horse card grants benefits during Races.

Pay the Bank 400 D, draw 4 Horse cards, choose one to keep, and place the remaining cards on the bottom of the Horse cards deck.

Keep the selected card face up in front of you so that everyone can see the Horses owned by each player.

This purchase can be made in only one of the two steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Purchase a Stable Owner Card

It is possible to buy one of the Stables still available. The price of a Stable Owner card always depends on the odds of the matching Stable token on the Blackboard when making the purchase.

You can always check the price of a Stable Owner card on the Blackboard.

Once you have Purchased the Stable Owner card place it face up in front of you. From now on you are the Owner of the Stable of that color.

Each Stable card owned by a player awards 1 VP to this player. This purchase can be made in only one of the two steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Important: players are not required to bet on a Stable they own!

Passing

Instead of making a Purchase, players can decide to pass: i.e., to not purchase any card. The Bank gives that player 400 D.

A player may pass in both Purchase steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Taking a Loan Card

You may use one of your Purchases to ask for a Loan to receive Danari.

There are two kinds of Loan cards: from the Bank or from The Mob. Both kinds have to be paid back at the end of the game (including their appropriate interest). A player may take each kind of Loan card only once during the same game.

The Loan card is placed in front of you with the chosen side facing up.

Buying from Another Player

You may buy a card from another player.

The player that sells the card has to agree, otherwise the purchase is not possible. Any kind of card may be bought from another player, except for Action cards.

In the case of a Goal card, since these are placed face down, the seller decides which Goal card will be sold to the buyer.

The price for a card bought from a player is always twice as high as the original value of the card.

The price is paid to the former owner of the card. A card can be bought from another player in only one of the two steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Clearance Sale

you may use one of your Purchases to sell one of your cards to the Bank for half of its value, rounded down; the card is placed on the bottom of the respective deck, and the player takes the money obtained from the Clearance Sale from the Bank.

A Clearance Sale can be made in only one of the two steps of the same Purchase Phase.

Starting Lineup

Once both Purchase steps are complete for all players, its time to create the starting lineup for the next race.

Starting with the First Player, all players with Horse cards may place them face-up on a Horse space on the racetrack. You may only place a Horse on a space that matches the color of a Stable you own. If you own more than one ,

Stable, you may decide where to place each Horse card • you own. You may not place more than one Horse card on the same Stable. If you have two Horses but only one Stable, you must decide which Horse card to place.

2. Betting Phase

The Betting Phase follows the same rules of the Family Game with the following modifications:

Fixing the Race

If a player doesn't own any Action cards, when it is his turn to play them he simply passes.

3. Race Phase

The Race Phase follows the same rules of the Family Game, with the following modifications:

Payoffs

During this step, each player must pay or receive all Danari due from the effects of any Assistant or Horse cards. Important: if any player does not have enough D to cover his debts, he must lose two VPs. If he does not have those two VPs he forfeits the game.

4. Auction Phase

In this Phase, the players may buy and sell VPs in two auctions. The first is a "Dutch" auction to sell one VP to the bank, and the second is an "English" auction to buy one VP from the Bank.

Dutch Auction to Sell 1 VP

The Bank offers the lowest acceptable amount of Danari for a VP that the players are willing to sell (i.e.: to lose). The Bank buys only one Victory Point in each Auction Phase. Starting with the First Player, the Bank offers 1000 Danari to buy one VP. If the player refuses, he is out of the Auction.

If the player accepts (meaning that he is willing to sell one VP for 1000 D), the next player is asked if he is willing to sell a VP for the last bid reduced by 100 D.

The Auction continues clockwise until all players pass except for the one who last accepted the Bank's bid, who then sells one VP for the appropriate sum.

Once a player has decided not to take part in the Auction, he cannot join in again.

It may happen that there are no players willing to give away one VP in return for any Danari. In this case the Auction will end due to lack of bids.

English Auction to Buy 1 VP

The Bank offers a VP to the player that is willing to make the highest bid. The Bank sells only one Victory Point in each Auction Phase. Starting with the First Player, the Bank offers to sell one VP in return for 1000 D.

If the player passes, they are out of the Auction and the offer goes to the next player. If the player accepts (being ready to pay the Bank 1000 D in return for one Victory Point), the next player may decide to raise the bid by 100 D or to pass.

The Auction continues clockwise until all players pass except for the one who made the highest bid and who receives the Victory Point from the Bank paying this sum. If a player passes, he cannot join in again later.

It may happen there are no players willing to spend any Danari in return for a VP. In this case the Auction will end due to lack of bids.

5. End of Round Phase

The End of Round Phase follows the same rules of the Family Game, with the following modifications: All Horse cards played during the race are returned to their respective owners.

End of the Game

The End of the Game follows the same rules of the Family Game, with the following modifications:

Pay Back Loans

The players that have taken Loan cards must give them back to the Bank, together with the amount of Danari owed. If a player does not have enough Danari to pay off the Loan, he will automatically lose the game.

Their VPs are not calculated! None of their cards are taken into account when determining which Goal cards have been completed.

VP Counting

The players in turn reveal the Goal cards they have completed: any unfulfilled Goal cards, and any duplicate cards have to be kept face down. Each player adds the VPs from their Goal cards and any VPs they have gained during the game.

The player with the highest number of VPs is the winner and will earn the title of Best Gambler Ever (until the next game!).

The amount of Danari each player has does not count for tie-breaking purposes.

In case of a tie, roll the Sprint Dice and compare the color on the dice with the Tie-breaker table.

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