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Winners Circle

Board Games > Strategy

Please note: This product is now out of print and no longer available.



In Winner’s Circle you are right in the middle of a classic day of racing. Which horse is the favourite? Does the long-shot have a real chance? How high are the betting ratios? Which bet promises the highest profit? After 3 races the player with the most winnings is triumphant. Winner's Circle was originally published in 2001 as Royal Turf. A game by Reiner Knizia.

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Winner's Circle has been a recent addition to our gaming group, but is already proving to be very popular. The components consist of a very nice game board, seven models of different coloured horses, 28 horse cards, a special dice, betting chips for 6 players, and a pool of money chits. All the pieces are of excellent quality with the horse cards being off particularly strong stock. The only slight problem initially can be the identification of the different shades of brown used for some of the horses. We have got used to this though and is probably better than having green, blue and red horses instead!

The rules are clear and simple, covering barely more than 2 sides of A4. A complete game consists of three races, so only 21 of the 28 horse cards are ever used. Playing time is about 1 hour. The winner is the person who ends up with the most money from his bets, so if you have any qualms about playing gambling games with your children please bear this in mind.

The standard game states that player's bets are open to view, but I strongly recommend using the hidden bets variant as mentioned at the end of the rules. This makes things a lot more fun, particularly if people forget which bet they have placed where!

I won't give a detailed description of how the game is played, suffice to say that I can't see anyone having any problems interpreting how the simple but efficient rules work. The game plays 2-6 players, but it is definately an advantage to play with at least 4 if possible as this is not a very serious game. What it is is a very good game for a group of friends or family who like to compete in a friendly manner against each other, but are more concerned with having fun and a good laugh rather than being concerned about who wins.

Winner's Circle is excellent value for money, particularly considering its very reasonable price.
Rating: 8.0
Reviewed by: Andrew Alcock
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