Blackout Middle Horse Race

Are you ready for another middle race? This one will be in the dark, though...

Setup

In Main Match 5, 9 horses labeled from A-I will be racing on a 15-space long track. Each horse begins on space 1; when a horse moves past space 15, it finishes the race and exits the track. Each player begins with 30 chips to bet on the horses. The positions of the horses are not made public. Each player also begins with 9 horse cards, one for each horse and labeled with the corresponding letter.

The Main Match will be played over 10 rounds; the game does not end early even if all horses have exited the track. There is also a Round 0 phase, during which no horses move.

Gameplay

For each round, each horse has a movement value of either 1, 2, or 3; this is the number of spaces the horse will move at the end of the round.

During each round, players may choose to use either that round’s Clue Ability or its Utility Ability. Clue Abilities will revolve around the movement of the horses, while Utility Abilities can do a variety of other things that may be useful. Horse cards are used in various ways depending on the ability; the exact abilities vary depending on what round it is. These are detailed in the Abilities section.

Players may trade horse cards with each other, but only at a 1 to 1 ratio, and must do so in their pair chats. If both players accept, the deal will be resolved instantaneously.

Players can view horses’ positions by spectating spaces. During each round, players may choose to spectate a space. At the beginning of the next round, they will learn which horses, if any, are on that space. The space a player spectated in the previous round is known as their current space. Players score 1 point for each horse in their current space.

Players can also bet up to 5 chips per round on horses in their current space, distributed in integer amounts however they wish. At the end of the game, each chip bet on a horse scores a certain number of points depending on that horse’s placement (detailed in the Scoring section). All bets are private.

When a horse exits the track, its placement is announced. Additionally, all of its movement values for future rounds is made public. It is also publicly announced which players spectated which spaces each round.

Abilities

In the following descriptions, the term select means that the horse cards in question are not discarded. The term use means that the horse cards in question are discarded. A horse card may be both selected and used if an ability allows for it.

Round 0

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. You will learn the movement values of the corresponding horses for Rounds 1 and 2.

Utility Ability: Select a horse card. You will gain a copy of it.

Round 1

Clue Ability: Select any number of horse cards, and use one of them. You will learn the sums of the movement values of the corresponding horses of the selected cards for Rounds 2, 3, and 4.

Utility Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each card you discard, you will gain another card of your choice, but if you use multiple cards, you may not choose to gain two of the same card.

Round 2

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. You will receive two lists for each card you use: a list of all horses whose movement value for Round 3 differs from the corresponding horse's movement value for Round 3 by exactly 1, and a list of all horses whose movement value for Round 4 differs from the corresponding horse's movement value for Round 4 by exactly 1.

Utility Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For every 2 cards you use, rounded down, the number of chips you can bet in a single round, including the current one, is permanently increased by 1.

Round 3

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. You will learn what spaces the corresponding horses will be on at the end of Round 4. If you use 2 copies of the same card, you will also learn what space the corresponding horse will be on at the end of Round 5.

Utility Ability: Select up to 3 horse cards. At the ends of Rounds 3, 4, and 5, you will learn the total number of chips bet on each corresponding horse that round.

Round 4

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each card you use, you will receive a list of all horses whose movement value for Round 5 is the same as the corresponding horse’s.

Utility Ability: Select any number of identical horse cards, and use one of them. All of the selected cards will be duplicated.

Round 5

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. You will learn what the corresponding horses’ placements will be at the end of Rounds 5 and 6.

Utility Ability: Use up to 2 copies of any number of horse cards, and for each card, guess how many horses will be ahead of the corresponding horse at the end of Round 5. For each correct guess, you will gain 3 copies of the corresponding card.

Round 6

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each card, you will learn the corresponding horse’s movement values for n rounds starting from Round 7, where n is the number of copies of that card you are using.

Utility Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each pair of identical horse cards you use, you will learn exactly who bet how much on the corresponding horse this round.

Round 7

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each card, you will learn the corresponding horse’s movement values for n rounds starting from Round 8, where n is the number of chips you have bet on that horse throughout Rounds 1-7, divided by 5, rounded up.

Utility Ability: Use any number of distinct horse cards. You will gain that number of a single horse card of your choice.

Round 8

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards, and select half of them, rounded down. For the selected cards, you will learn the corresponding horses’ movement values for Round 9.

Utility Ability: Use any number of distinct horse cards. For every card you use, the number of chips you can bet in a single round, including the current one, is permanently increased by 1.

Round 9

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. You will learn the movement values of the corresponding horses for Round 10.

Utility Ability: Use any number of identical horse cards. You will gain 1 chip for every card you use; these chips can be used to bet in the current round.

Round 10

Clue Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each horse card that you use at least 3 copies of, you will learn the corresponding horse’s movement values for all 10 rounds.

Utility Ability: Use any number of horse cards. For each card type, you will gain n² points, where n is the number of copies of that card you are using. This point bonus is capped at 20 points per card type.

Scoring

Each chip bet on a horse scores a certain number of points at the end of the game based on that horse’s final placement, as shown below:

1st - 2 points 2nd - 4 points 3rd - 6 points 4th - 8 points 5th - 10 points 6th - 7 points 7th - 5 points 8th - 3 points 9th - 1 point

If multiple horses finish in the same round, the horse that goes the furthest past the finish line finishes first, the horse that goes the second furthest finishes second, etc. Further ties are broken alphabetically, with horse A finishing first and horse I finishing last. Similarly, if there are horses remaining on the track after the final round, the horse closest to the finish line finishes first, etc., with ties broken alphabetically.

Players also score 1 point for each horse in their current space each round. Additionally, players can score points through Round 10's Utility Ability.

The final scoreboard is revealed at the end of the game.

Winning

The player with the most points after the final round wins two Tokens of Life, and the player with the second most points wins one ToL. If there is a tie for first place, all of those who are tied win one ToL, with no further ToLs being given out. If there is a sole winner and a tie for second place, only two ToLs are given out; the sole winner chooses which of the tied players wins the other ToL. At most four players can tie for first and receive ToLs; if more than four people tie for first, no ToLs are given out.

A garnet is awarded at the end of the Main Match for every 30 points a player has scored.

The player with the fewest points is the Elimination Candidate, with ties broken by a plurality vote among those who won a ToL in the Main Match (being given a ToL does not count as winning it). If there is a tie in voting, the player with the most votes and whose voters have the highest total of garnets (after garnet rewards are given out) becomes the EC. If this is still a tie, the EC is randomized among those tied.

Garnets

You can use 2 garnets to purchase a horse card of your choice. Each additional purchase costs twice as much as the previous one.

Submissions

You have 24 hours each round to submit:

-Which ability you are using, with all the relevant details. Incomplete and invalid submissions will result in no ability being used.

-Which space you are spectating. Blank and invalid submissions will result in no space being spectated.

-Which horses you are betting on, and how you are distributing the chips among them. Betting an invalid number of chips will result in your entire submission being invalidated, while an invalid bet on an individual horse will result in the bet for that horse being invalidated, with the remainder of the submission going through.

For Round 0, you have 48 hours to submit; you only need to submit for the ability.

Clarification: Unless otherwise stated, all information and resources gained from an ability are received at the end of the round.

Addendum: If you do decide to trade horse cards, please also ping the dealers when you do so.

Addendum: If there are horses remaining on the track after Round 10 ends, their placements are determined by how close they are to the finish line (closest finishes earliest), with ties broken by their letter (A first, I last).

Clarification: You may trade cards during Round 0.

Addendum: If there is a tie for last and a 5-way (or more) tie for first then no ToLs are given, and the players who got first will vote on the EC among those tied for last.

Addendum: For Round 5's Utility Ability, you may not use more than two copies of any card.

Erratum: For Round 7's Clue Ability, n should be based on the number of chips you have bet on that horse throughout Rounds 1-7, not just Round 7.

Note: More wording changes have been made to the abilities - although the rules should still be the same, we encourage you to re-read them in case your previous interpretation differed from ours.

Clarification: For Round 5's Utility Ability, the guessing is specific to each card; you do not have to guess the same number for two copies of the same card.

Clarification: For Round 1's Clue Ability, you receive 3 separate sums: the sum of the movement values of the corresponding horses for Round 2, the sum of the movement values of the corresponding horses for Round 3, and the sum of the movement values of the corresponding horses for Round 4.

Clarification: It is not made public which abilities or cards players use.

Clarification: Round 5's Utility Ability refers to after horse movement, and will be processed after such.

Clarification: The term "end of Round [x]" as used in the ability descriptions refers to the state after all horses have had their movements for Round [x] processed.

Clarification: Card trades and purchases are private.

Note: Please make it clear in your submissions which ability you are using and which cards you are selecting/using.

Clarification: For Round 5's Clue Ability, if multiple horses are tied in placement, the highest rank in the tie is used for all of them.

Clarification: Round 4's Utility Ability also duplicates the card used. As an example, Round 4's Utility Ability will give you 5 cards if you select 3 and use one of them.

Clarification: For Round 5's Utility Ability, the number of horses that are ahead refers to the number of horses whose space is strictly greater than the horse you're guessing.

Clarification: All horses that have finished are considered to be on spaces greater than 15; specifically, the first space they land on that is greater than 15.