Horse Racing

Also known as: N/A

Developer: APh Technical Consulting

I'm a sucker for gambling on races in video games…I probably would be in real life, too, which Is why I stay as far away from the tracks as I can. I'd rather not lose all my money, thank you. In video games, however, I can still get the fun of cheering on for the horse (or chocobos or wallabies…or whatever is racing) I bet money on, but without the risk of losing everything I own from gambling with real money. Granted, the real fun of games like these is having friends over and gambling on the races as a group. There's not a better way to settle where the group is going to eat than by putting a restaurant on each horse and letting the game decide. Anyway, in Horse Racing, if you haven't figured it out yet, the primary focus is on gambling. When you start up the game, the game creates a unique stable of eight horses, and your goal is to watch them race to determine which horses have the best stats and seem to be most likely wo win, all while gambling with the $750 starting cash that you've got. By pressing one of the four buttons on the sides of either hand controller, you'll see which four horses will be participating in the upcoming race. That screen will also tell you who can control which horses. The top two horses are always controlled by the computer. The bottom left horse can be controlled by the left controller and the bottom right can be controlled by the right controller. You can also see the odds for each horse winning on this screen. When betting, you're limited to a maximum bet of $250, but you can gamble on which horse will win (with the W) or you can do an "exact" bet with an E. The exact bet means that you bet on the first and second horses in their exact finishing order. This bet is more difficult, but you get a 15-to-1 pay off if you manage to get it right. Once the race starts, you can simply not touch any controller and the computer will take control of all four horses. If you do want to be a piece of the racing, though, you can control one of the horses, depending on the controller you've got, as I mentioned earlier. You can basically give your horse little bursts of speed, and it can result in a horse with low odds of winning, pulling off an upset win if you manage to time everything correctly. After ten races, the player with the most cash is the winner…if you run out of money before ten races is up, you're out of the game. There's a little more strategy to it - like knowing how long the track for an upcoming race is, and checking the information screen before each race to see the statistics that pop up as you race more and more. That strategy is what makes me like Horse Racing than any other gambling game of the time…it's not just a mindless game of luck. This is a strategic game of luck - because just because a horse is the odds on favorite doesn't mean that it's a guaranteed win. Anyway, if you want to have some fun gambling on horse races but don't want to lose real money while standing by the tracks with the smell of horse manure in the air, then Horse Racing on the Intellivision has you covered.

Review added: 11/28/2025