Horse Race
The card-based betting game where four aces race down a track and everyone wagers sips on the winning suit. Full set-up, rules, who drinks, variations and tips.
3–12 players · easy
Horse Race is the drinking game for people who fancy a flutter without risking a penny. Four aces become racehorses, the dealer turns into a breathless commentator, and everyone round the table bets sips on which suit will cross the line first. It needs nothing more than a deck of cards and a drink each, anyone can pick it up in a minute, and it gets surprisingly loud as the horses surge forward and then get dragged back. It works best as a group game where everyone has a stake in every turn, and a good dealer doing a proper racecourse commentary makes it twice as fun.
What You Need
A standard deck of 52 playing cards
A drink for each player, alcoholic or not
A flat table with room to lay out the track
3 or more players, plus one dealer (with a big group, the dealer can play too, betting before the race starts)
Setting Up the Track
Take the four aces out of the deck and lay them face up in a row at one end of the table. These are your horses: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. This row is the starting gate.
Shuffle the rest of the deck. Deal seven cards face down in a line running alongside the aces, at right angles to them, to make the track. Each face-down card marks one stage of the race.
The finish line is just beyond the last card of the track. Put the remaining deck to one side for the dealer to draw from.
Placing Bets
Before the race begins, each player picks a suit and bets a number of sips on it, usually somewhere between one and five. More than one person can back the same horse. Say your bet out loud so nobody can quietly lower it later, or jot the bets down on a bit of paper if you are prone to “forgetting”.
How to Play
The dealer turns over the top card of the deck and calls out its suit. The ace of that suit moves forward one place along the track. Turn over a heart, and the ace of hearts moves up a card.
The dealer keeps turning cards one at a time, moving the matching horse forward each time, and ideally commentating like it is the last furlong at Aintree.
Setbacks: when every horse has moved past a face-down track card, the dealer flips that track card over. The horse of that suit falls back one place. This is what keeps the race unpredictable, as the leader can suddenly get pulled back into the pack.
The race carries on until one horse passes the last card of the track and crosses the finish line.
Who Drinks?
Winners: everyone who backed the winning suit gets to hand out sips equal to twice their bet, split however they like among the other players.
Losers: everyone who backed a losing horse drinks the number of sips they bet.
Last place: a popular house rule is that anyone who backed the horse that finishes last drinks an extra sip, for sheer bad judgement.
Popular Variations
Longer or shorter races: use more track cards for a longer race with more twists, or five cards for a quick round between other games.
Jockeys: instead of betting on a suit, each player is assigned a horse, and drinks a sip every time their horse is sent back.
Each-way bets: borrow from the bookies and let players back a horse to finish first or second, with smaller rewards for a place.
Commentator bonus: if the dealer’s commentary is good enough to make everyone laugh, they get to hand out a sip at the end of the race.
Tips for a Good Game
Pick a lively dealer: the cards do all the work, so the fun comes from the commentary. Give the job to whoever does the best racing voice.
Keep bets small: a sip means a sip, not a gulp. With several races in a night, bets of one to three sips are plenty.
Play a few races, then switch: Horse Race is a great warm-up and fits well alongside card games like Ride the Bus and Kings Cup.
Drink Responsibly
Horse Race is pure luck, so nobody can be good at it, and no one should feel pressured to drink. It works just as well with soft drinks, alcohol-free beer or forfeits instead of sips. Keep water on the table, eat something beforehand, only play if you are over 18, and make sure everyone has a safe way home that does not involve driving.