by Jason "Aeston" Rosa
This coming weekend at Ashen Bounty, the Saurabian casino will once again open its doors to gamblers from across these great Realms. Saurian Sprint, known more colloquially as Dinosaur Racing will be amongst the game offerings.
As the chief architect and purveyor of Saurian Sprint I have often observed that potential patrons wander over intrigued by the festivities and spectacle but are sometimes too overwhelmed by the perceived complexity of the game felt to get involved or too shy to ask questions.
So I’d like to offer you all a primer on how to get involved in the game. If you’d like an overview of how the game works you can find it here on the Rhiassa web page but we’ll be diving a bit deeper in this article. http://www.rhiassa.com/games/gambling.html#saurian
Part 1: They’re Going for Distance
First of all let’s make clear the overall premise. There are nine dinosaur miniatures. They are racing down a track made of board-game-like spaces to establish a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner.
The dinosaurs move via a roll of two six sided dice which are in a dice cage.
The total that comes up designates which dinosaur will move one space forward. The white number at the top of the track is that number(s) that activate that dinosaur.
Please note, the language on the left side about Lap One, Lap Two and Final Lap involves placing some bets, but if you're just looking to place the most basic wagers to get involved in the game, then you can more or less ignore those words and the white lines that break up the track.
There is also a smaller black number with a B that exists for most dinosaurs. That is their bonus move. It triggers if that dinosaur activates twice in a row. On the second successive move of that dinosaur it would move its normal single space PLUS the bonus number of spaces. This bonus is not cumulative beyond that. A third successive movement would not have the bonus but a fourth consecutive movement would.
So the main mechanism of the game is pretty straightforward. The Saurian racers move according to those above rules until there is a first, second, and third dinosaur that cross the white finish line and stop on the final space on the track. Metallic trophies designate winners as they finish.
Part 2: Simply the Bets
Looking at the betting field on the Saurian Sprint felt can be intimidating at first glance but placing a basic bet on which dinosaurs will win is easier than you think.
People are sometimes confused by the numbers that designate payouts.
The number is a ratio. Think of it as a fraction that you will multiply to your bet to determine how much gold you will win.
Looking at the above examples.
- 2:1 means a multiplier of 2. So a bet of 1 gold means you would win 2 gold and receive your 1 gold bet back as well.
- 1:2 means a multiplier of 1/2. So you would have to bet at least 2 gold on this square and ideally will only bet an even number. If you bet 2 you would receive winnings of 1 gold and get your 2 gold wager back.
- 4:1 is a multiplier of 4. So if you were to bet big here on yellow with a 10 gold bet, you'd win 40 gold and get your 10 gold wager back too.
- 1:1 is a multiplier of 1. So a bet of 5 gold means you win 5 gold and get your 5 gold wager back.
Now that you understand the betting numbers, lets look at the parts of the table felt you need to know about to get involved.
If you just want to come along for the ride and wager on the winners, you just need to look at this part of the table:
The numbers of the dinosaurs are listed on the right of the betting field, and you can place a wager on any of the dinosaurs either Winning, Placing, or Showing.
- Win: this Dino will come in first.
- Place: this Dino will come in either first or second.
- Show: this Dino will come in either first, second, or third.
Obviously the payout is better if you are betting on narrower outcomes, so betting on the black dinosaur to Win, for example, will get a better payout if it comes in first place compared to someone who bet on him to Show.
Dinosaurs towards the middle of the track have lower payouts because they are more likely to be activated by the roll of the dice and therefore more likely to cross the finish line.
Don't be fooled, however, into thinking every race is a simple bell curve of the innermost dinosaurs beating the outermost. Life, and random chance, is rarely that neat and simple. We consistently have some very surprising outcomes.
The bets made on this part of the table are very straightforward. You pick one or more dinosaurs that you have a good feeling about, you put money down, and then you get to be fully engaged in the spectacle of the race, cheering for your dinosaur along with the crowd.
One last detail, because so much of the betting field can be covered with chips and various bets by various people, we keep track of who own which bet by using colored pawns as you can see in the below picture. There are eight colors of pawns total, and when you walk up to the table you can choose what color you want to use to represent your bets.
And if that's all you want to do, just try it out, yell at some dinosaurs for going too slow, and get swept up in the momentum, then you now know all you need to know to play Saurian Sprint.
The following section will cover some more of the advanced betting options for those who want to dive in more deeply.
Part 3: I Wanna Get Better
The betting field is a lot larger than just the section that I have shown above. Taking a look at the expanded area to bet on winning, placing, and showing, we see another few columns:
That middle section that consists of two columns, and the rightmost section that has one column are also used to bet on the outcome of the race, but these are bets that can be placed after the race is already underway!
One the race begins and some dinosaurs start to create a lead over others, you can start to make some more informed predictions about who is more likely to win, and you can make more bets based on that information.
Recall that the track itself is divided up into laps and a final stretch.
Those while lines for Lap 1 and Lap 2 relate to making bets on the other columns on the table.
After the race starts, as long as no dinosaur has crossed the white line under Lap One, you can still bet on the middle two columns above. There are, of course, worse payouts on those bets compared to betting before the race begins, that's the tradeoff for having more information to use when you are making those wagers. Also, the bets are restricted to Winning and Placing, you can no longer bet on Showing.
Finally, there is the single column of bets on the right. These bets can be placed as long as no dinosaur has crossed the white line below Lap Two and has moved on to the final stretch. These bets have the lowest payout compared to the other columns and you are restricted to betting only on the Winner.
In my opinion, these bets that are available after the race starts to develop are underutilized by casino-goers. In situations where a middle-track dinosaur gets off to a substantial lead, especially, a wager during the first or second lap is a great way to hedge your bets.
Part 4: Don’t Prop Believin’
The last thing to discuss is prop bets. The section of the table felt where the prop bets are made looks like this:
To put it simply, a prop bet is a bet you place before the race begins that is wagering on a specific outcome as specified in the boxes above. The specific outcomes that are more likely don't pay out as well as the ones that are less likely but they're all fun ways to bet on some of the randomness that can happen during a dinosaur race.
The prop bets themselves use colors and symbols to describe what you're betting on which might not be obvious at first glance, so here is a more complete explanation of what each prop bet is.
- Either Yellow Dinosaur gets first place - 3:2
- Either Green Dinosaur gets first place - 3:1
- Any Blue Dinosaur gets first place - 5:1
- The “6” Dinosaur finishes ahead of the “8” (tie pays nothing) - 1:1
- The “8” Dinosaur finishes ahead of the “6” (tie pays nothing) - 1:1
- The “5” Dinosaur finishes ahead of the “9” (tie pays nothing) - 1:1
- The “9” Dinosaur finishes ahead of the “5” (tie pays nothing) - 1:1
- Both Yellow Dinosaurs finish ahead of the Black Dinosaur - 3:1
- Both Green Dinosaurs finish ahead of the Black Dinosaur - 6:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes ahead of all Blue Dinosaurs - 1:2
- The Black Dinosaur finishes ahead of both Green Dinosaurs - 1:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes ahead of both Yellow Dinosaurs - 3:2
- The finishing order of the Dinosaurs is black-yellow-yellow - 25:1
- The finishing order of the Dinosaurs is black-yellow-green - 20:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes in 2nd place - 3:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes in 3rd place - 4:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes in 4th or worse place (including ties) - 1:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes in 5th or worse place (including ties) - 4:1
- The Black Dinosaur finishes in 6th or worse place (including ties) - 9:1
- Exactly two Blue Dinosaurs are tied with each other when the race ends - 2:1
- Exactly three Blue Dinosaurs are tied with each other when the race ends - 30:1
Part 5: All the Small Things
Below are some small side notes that didn't really fit anywhere better in the information above.
- Some people wodner why the bonus (B2) on the outside blue dinosaurs are worse than those of the inside blue dinosaurs (B3). That’s to maintain a mathematical bell curve on which dinosaurs are likely to finish first. All four blue Dinosaurs have an equal probability of activating. The bonus difference gives a slight edge on movement distance to dinosaur 4 and 10.
- You might notice that the track part of the dinosaur table felt gradually acquires small label stickers with the dinosaur names on them over the course of an event. The rule of thumb for how a dinosaur gets named is as follows: When a dinosaur wins first place, if someone has won money on that dinosaur they are allowed to name them. If more than one person wins money simultaneously they have to agree on a name.
- There is an upsetting rumor going around that dinosaurs that consistently lose their races are sold to a factory in Ashenmark to be processed into DAP (Dinosaur Adhesive Paste). The professionals at Rhiassa Games take no official stance on these back alley whisperings. But maybe those dinosaurs should learn to go faster. That is all.
