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Table of Contents
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"Wetten!"
A game for 3-5 players at the age of 12 - 99 years.
Game duration: ca 1 hour
Game Background
"Wetten!" is a game for 3 - 5 players, taking the role of gamblers, trying to make the big money by betting on horse races.
Beginners and kids should skip the Pro-Rules. To introduce the Pro-Rules, it is recommended to play the variant "Make it profesional!".
Game Objective
The objective of the game is to win the biggest amount of money over 5 races.
Game Materials
1 gaming board
4 horses (alternatively use four dice placed upside with the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4)
1 set of betting tickets "Set the Stakes"
1 set of betting tickets "Second Bet"
28 action cards (showing: card name, description when to play, description of triggered action)
- 14 Verschiedene Aktionen, je zwei Karten
60 race cards (showing: numbers and names of the horses, as well as their movement numbers)
1 manual
112 banknotes
- 28 notes 1000$
- 28 notes 2000$
- 28 notes 5000$
- 20 notes 10000$
- 8 notes 50000$
Every player needs a pen in addition.
Preparations
The gaming board is spread on the table. The horses are placed at the start and the playing cards are distributed.
Each horse has its own number for easy identification.
Place all four horses behind the starting line. The moving direction for them is clockwise, so they should placed accordingly.
One player takes on the role of the bank. He will manage the money and distributes the seed capital of 10.000$ to eachplayer, splitted in 4x 1000 and 3x 2000. All the action cards and race cards are shuffled seperately in two stacks. Every player blindly receives six race cards and three action cards. The remaining cards will be placed next to the gaming board in seperate conceiled decks.
Finally, each player receives one betting ticket "Set the Stakes" and one ticket "Second Bet".
Playing Sequence
A game consists of 5 races.
Each race is seperated in 5 phases – „Set the Stakes“, „Start“, „Second Bet“, „Neck-and-Neck“ and „Payout“.
In these phases, the bets are placed and the stake money is payed. After that the horses are moved the first time. Then the players may place a second bet. The race will then be finished afterwards. Finally the winnings will be payed out.
A race ends, when all horses have crossed the finish line and the money is payed out.
General Actions
A player can pay 1000$ to the bank anytime to draw an additional race card. More than one card can be drawn, but each additional card's price will be higher. The cards' prices are twice the price of the preceeding card. So the second card costs 2000$, the third card 4000$, the fourth 8000$ and so forth)
Players can also play action cards. The right time and the effect can be read on each card. In each race, every player can play one single action card. Used cards are discarded to an own stack.
A player announces loudly, if he wants to play an action card. The game stops and the card is played. The effect of the card will then be explained. Actions come into effect in the order in which they are pronounced. So the player who announces first to play a card also plays that card first.
More than one action card can be played per race, if the player pays a fee to the bank. To play the second action card costs three times the minimum bet (see below), the third card costs five times the minimum bet.
The racing phases
Phase 1: Set the Stakes
The players can now place their bets. This first bet has a quota of 1 to 4.
The players take their race cards and try to evaluate the course of the coming race. A good strategy can be to bet on a horse which has high or low numbers on many race cards.
Now every player writes his bets on the "Set the Stakes"-betting ticket in a cell of the according race. The money value of the bet is written in the cell of the according horse and the estimated place.
Example:
| Race 1 | First Place | Second Place | Third Place | Fourth Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1: Queen | - | - | 1000 | - |
| #2: Raider | 2000 | - | - | - |
| #3: Lucky Slevin | - | 2000 | - | - |
| #4: Joker | - | - | - | 1000 |
It is the first round. The player has placed bets of a total of 6000. 1000 on Queen on the third place, 2000 on Raider on the first place, 2000 on Lucky Slevin on the second place and 1000 on Joker on the fourth place.
Any number of bets in any possible combination may be written on the betting ticket. For example there might be more than one bet on the same horse, each time for a different place. It is also possible to place no bet at all. But there might be only bets placed, if the according amount of money is at hand.
Each single bet has a minimum stake, which depends on the race number:
| Race number | Minimum stake |
|---|---|
| 1st Rennen | 1000$ |
| 2nd Rennen | 1000$ |
| 3rd Rennen | 2000$ |
| 4th Rennen | 2000$ |
| 5th Rennen | 3000$ |
Afterwards the betting ticket will be placed upside down in front of the player. The total money of all noted bets will be placed on top of the ticket.
The own bets may be looked at while the game is in progress, but they may not ne changed.
Phase 2: Start
The horses now begin their race. Race cards are played by the players to move them.
Every player chooses a race card from his hand, that fits his strategy. This cards is placed upside down in the middle. Each player must play a race card, independently from any played action card.
After every player has played his race card, they are turned over, and the horses are moved accordingly. To do that the numbers of a horse of every card is added and the corresponding horse is moved as many fields.
The track will be raced clockwise, so the field with the "1" first. Evaluated race cards are discarded on a stack.
Example: Four players, Richard, Marvin, Caroline and Mary play their cards.
| Richard | Marvin | Caroline | Mary | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1: Queen | +3 | #1: Queen | +1 | #1: Queen | +1 | #1: Queen | +1 | |||
| #2: Raider | +2 | #2: Raider | +2 | #2: Raider | +2 | #2: Raider | +1 | |||
| #3: Lucky Slevin | +2 | #3: Lucky Slevin | +1 | #3: Lucky Slevin | +2 | #3: Lucky Slevin | +3 | |||
| #4: Joker | +1 | #4: Joker | +4 | #4: Joker | +1 | #4: Joker | +1 |
Horse #1 (Queen) will be moved 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6 fields. Horse #2 (Raider) will be moved 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 7 fields. Horse #3 (Lucky Slevin) will be moved 2 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 8 fields. Horse #4 (Joker) will be moved 1 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 7 fields.
Phase 3: Second Bet
After the first racing move, all players may bet a second time. They will be noted on the "Second Bet"-betting ticket.
This second bet is handled like the first bet in "Set the Stakes". Likewise, the money of alle bets of this phase will be placed on the ticked, after it is placed upside down in front of the player. The second bet has a quota of 1 to 2.
Pro-Rule "No chance..."
In the phase "Second Bet", every player may turn his betting ticket of the
"Set the Stakes"-phase and openly show it to everyone. By doing this the quota
of a single bet on this ticket is double to 1 to 8. This bet will be marked with a little cross.
Phase 4: Neck-and-Neck
The race now comes into the hot phase. All horses gallop toward the finish line. All players play their race cards.
Like in the "Start"-phase, all players play their cards upside down, and turn them over at once. They move the horses accordingly. This is repeated until all horses have crossed the start/finish line. In this phase, most players will play their action cards. Actions should be carried out one at a time to avoid confusion an give the players enough time to react to the actions.
If a player has only one race card left after laying them out, he may draw a new one for free.
If more than one horse crosses the finish line in the same round, the horse which moved the farthest is placed before the others. If several horses are on the same field after crossing the finish line, the horse which moved the highest total number of fields is placed before the others. Modifications of action cards must be considered in these cases.
Example: Horse #2 and horse #3 are four fields before the finish line. The racing cards show, that both horses will move 6 fields. Richard then plays the action card "Doping" on horse #2, adding 2 fields to its movement. Now horse #2 is placed before horse #3. Mary now plays "Accident" on horse #2, decreasing its movement again by 2. Horse #2 now moves still 6 fields. The two horses now share their place again.
If two horses are on the same field after crossing the finish line and have also moved the same amount of fields, they share the hard-fought position. The according follow-up positions are forfeit - bets on these positions are lost.
Example: Horse #2 crosses the finish line first and is on the first place. In the next round, horse #3 and #4 cross the finish line at the same time and are on the same field. They both moved 6 fields. So they share the second place, the third place is forfeit. Therefore horse #1 is on the fourth place.
When a horse finishes the race (thus: beeing behind the finish line after carrying out their total movement), it is removed from the game and placed on the according position on the podium in the middle of the gaming board.
Phase 5: Payout
The race is over. All betting tickets are controlled and the winnings are payed out.
The player who manages the bank first turns the betting tickets of the "Second Bet" over and evaluates them. Afterwards the betting tickets of the "Set the Stakes"-phase are interpreted. All money of each ticket will be controlled. If the money lying on the ticket is less than the noted amount, the missing money must be payed or the betting ticket is invalid.
When a position in the "Second Bet"-phase was guessed correctly, the amount is payed out doubled.
When a position in the "Set the Stakes"-phase was guessed correctly, the amount is payed out four times.
If a prediction of a bet was wrong, the stake is of course lost and the money goes to the bank.
When a player has not enough money left after the "Payout"-phase, he will receive the minimum stake for the next round from the bank.
Clarification: Money that is placed on a betting ticket counts no longer to the capital of the player, but is property of the bank. That means a player does not get back his stake. He receives only his winnings.
The next race
Now the next race begins. All action and race cards (also remaining hand cards) are collected and reshuffled. Six new race cards and 3 new action cards. Afterwards the racing phases are played as usual.
The minimum stakes are raised (see above).
"Make it professional!"
After the third race the the Pro-Rule "No Chance..." is acticated.
Ending the game
After the Payout-phase of the 5th Race the game ends.
When the case occurs that the bank has not enough money left to pay the winnings after a race, the game ends early. The lower winnings are payed when possible, lowest winnings first.
The game is won by the player who piled the most amount of money.
Gaming Cards
Race Cards
Every player starts a race with six random race cards.
On the left side of a card, the number and name of a horse are written, on the right side the according movement value is noted.
If a player has only one race card left on his hand after playing them, he may draw a new one for free.
In every round of a race, each player must play a race card.
Additional race cards can be drawn for money. The prices for a race card are the following: 1000$ for the first, 2000$ for the second, 4000$ for the third, 8000$ for the fourth and so on. Generally every new card costs the double amount of the preceeding additional card.
The prices for the race cards are considered seperately for each player. They are reset to 1000$ after the beginning of a new race.
Action Cards
At the beginning of each race every player receives three random action cards.
On top of the card in bold letters, the name is noted. Below is a paragraph explaining when exactly to play the card. The next paragraph explains the effect of the card on the race.
The cards may only be played to the noted point of time.
Playing the first action card is free. The second card can be played at the price of three times of the minimum stake, the third card costs five times the minimum stake.