A rarity – we got in some family gaming this weekend!  After spending about 24 total hours on baseball fields this weekend (local tournament for both boys), I got some relief Sunday afternoon and managed to sit down and watch the US Open and play a game.  We pulled out a new acquisition – Winner’s Circle, the Face2Face games remake of Royal Turf.

Julie and Matthew had played this one before, but it was new to me and quite a good game. We played with the default rules where bets are open but only played two races.

The components are decent – I love the horses and the cards and board are decent quality, though my board had a printing smudge on one corner.  My only complaint, which is quite significant, is that it is quite hard to tell which horse matches which starting slot for the 3–4 horses that are close to a neutral grey.  I think I have some mild color blindess, but even Julie and the boys had problems at times figuring out which horse on the track matched which card.  Face2Face should have placed a number or some other matching / distinguishing mark on the horse to help keep everything straight – you shouldn’t have to work this hard when playing a game!

I suspect the hidden bet variant (including the zero bet chit) makes for a better game.