Prehistory XVII: Horserace

Release Date: September 3, 1970

Platform: Unspecified mainframe

Genre: Gambling, Simulation, Sports

Developer(s): Laurie Chevalier

Publisher(s): DECUS

Oh boy. Horse racing. If it's not my most hated sport, it's certainly up there. Seems to me to be a sport purely made up as an excuse for stupid hats, drinking profusely and gambling your life savings away. All for a race that lasts for what, a minute or two? I have far more respect for other equestrian events, as there's far less pretentiousness involved, and far more substance.

With that mini-rant done, it's time to look at Horserace, a BASIC horse racing simulation programmed by South Portland High School student Laurie Chevalier. It was included in the original 1973 version of Ahl's 101 BASIC Computer Games, and was carried over into the 1978 microcomputer edition. Curiously, the author was unknown when the 1973 version of the book was published. The 1978 version has been slightly revised from the original, including a visual representation of the horses racing down the track, whereas the original simply told you what position the horses were in at certain distances along the track. I'd prefer it if there wasn't this constant fiddling with these programs, as I'd rather play them in their original form. But, this is all that's available (as far as I'm aware), so I just have to deal with it.

What paper?

I'll be honest with Horserace - I'm really unimpressed by it. It's another one of these games that's barely a game at all, to be blunt about it. The only part of horse racing this game focuses on is the betting aspect. You have a list of 8 horses to choose from, with their randomised odds listed next to them. You can bet a maximum of $100,000, but only on one horse. The original version allowed you to place bets on multiple horses, and I don't know why this change was made. Not like it matters anyway, because the game doesn't keep track of your purse, only what you won if you made a successful bet. I assume the purse was to be managed the old-fashioned way. The one interesting thing is that this is technically a multiplayer game, supporting up to 10 punters at once. 10 players is quite a lot for 1970, so at least Horserace has a degree of innovation to its name.

Bet on the horse named "Horse." What could possibly go wrong?

That's what.

I tried a couple of rounds, failing to win most of them. I did win $450 on one, placing a bet on the favourite horse at 4.5:1 (I didn't record this win). That was more than enough for me. As a side note, the visual representation of the racetrack scrolled far to quickly when running Horserace through Vintage BASIC. It's not meant to run that fast, but I don't know of any way to slow the game down with that particular program.

The visual representation of the horses racing down the track. The finish line is just off screen.

So, that does it for Horserace. On to the scores.

Time Played: 5 minutes. 

I threw down a handful of bets, which doesn't take terribly long, and had enough after that. There's nothing else to see here, so no reason to play for longer.

Difficulty: 0

There is no difficulty. It's all luck, anyway.

Game Design: 0

Barely even counts as a game, since what 'gameplay' there is consists of making a bet and seeing what the computer spits out. It could possibly be slightly more interesting if one made use of the multiplayer, but I only consider the singleplayer experience for my scores anyway.

Controls: 10

I can at least give Horserace full marks for controls - it's dead simple and the inputs are easy (not like there's that many needed to begin with).

Sound and Story are N/A, as per usual with these early text games.

Visual: 5

For an early-70s text game, it's not that bad. Everything is formatted nicely, the table of horses is clear and understandable, and it does also provide a very primitive depiction of the race itself.

Functionality: 5

Again, full marks here. Very little that could probably go wrong with a program like this in the first place.

Accessibility: 2

Really hinges on whether you like betting on the horse racing or not, I suppose. Once again, there's very little to access anyway, and it's not overly compelling, so I imagine most people wouldn't bother to begin with.

Fun Factor: 0

Putting aside my distaste for horse racing, this game really offers nothing whatsoever in terms of gameplay, and thus enjoyment. Or, really, anything for me to actually enjoy. 

Horserace really is a bit of a throwaway program. A couple of bets, and you've seen everything the game has to offer. It therefore ends up with a rather miserable final score of 22, and percentage of 31.42%, giving it a placement low in the E tier of the tier list. It scored slightly better than Qubic and Digits, and was one point below PDP Basketball. 

[Add.] Upon completing the rescore project, this game's score has been rightly revised down to a pathetic 17/70 (24.28%), relegating it to the shame of the F-tier.