TurfMaster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
- Cards / Value
About the Game
- The Turf Event for 2 - 8 Players
- The Racing Courses
Preparation
- Allocation of horses, decks of cards and dice
The Principles of the Game
Handicaps
Running the Game
Steeplechase
Tactical Hints
Imprint

Components

1 Rule Booklet (German, English, French)
1 Playing Board with 2 Racecourses
8 Horses with Jockeys (hand painted, pewter lead free)
16 Dice (2 x 8 colours)
8 Decks of Cards (32 Cards each Plus Extra Card)
6 Fences for Special Steeplechase

Author: Albrecht Nolte Illustration "Horse with Jockey": Peter Röseler Model Piece "Horse with Jockey": Stefan Niehues

Cards / Value

Cards	Value
1 Joker	12 Points
1 Joker	11 Points
1 Joker	10 Points
1 Joker	9 Points
2 Cards	3 Points
2 Cards	4 Points
2 Cards	6 Points
5 Cards	7 Points
5 Cards	8 Points
4 Cards	9 Points
4 Cards	10 Points
2 Cards	11 Points
2 Cards	12 Points
1 Card	Handicap Rules

About the Game

The Turf Event for 2 - 8 Players

The horses run for win, place and show. As on every real racecourse it is unlikely that you can take the lead from the beginning and keep it until the end. Changing positions, skilful tactics, watching your fellow players - that means playing TurfMaster. You cannot win during the race, only crossing the finish line decides who has lost and who has won. When rounding the last turn just into the straight, you need to find the optimum position for playing the final moves. Of all lanes, the inner one is of course the shortest. Each following outer lane has more squares on every corner. Risking the roundabout way or remaining on the inner lane to save ground - it is your own choice, like real jockeys ride the fast horses.

The Racing Courses

No racing course is equal to the other. The standard game includes one oval and one triangle course. They are based just on our fantasy. Additional extensions with original racecourses are available in our Course-Collections.

Preparation

Allocation of horses, decks of cards and dice

First, you have to allocate the horses, with corresponding coloured cards and dice to each player. There are a minimum of 4 horses taking part in the race.

That means:

Players	Horses
2 players	each one gets 2, 3 or 4 horses
3 players	each one gets 2 horses
4 players	each one gets 1 or 2 horses
5-8 players	each one gets 1 horse

Players keep their horses throughout the three races. Horses that have not been allocated go back together with the corresponding cards and dice into the cardboard box. Two dice for each player are sufficient even if one runs more than one horse.

Now each player has the necessary equipment to practise the principles of the game before officially starting to play. So, practise using your horse(-s), dice and playing cards for your first practical steps.

The Principles of the Game

A meeting consists of three races. In each race horses are moved alternately by rounds of cards and rounds of dice. Round means one movement for each horse. During a round of cards, each player chooses the individual speed of his horse(-s). During a round of dice, the movement of all the horses is determined with one single role.

Round of Cards

During each round of cards one card corresponding to the Jockey's colour is played for every single horse by its owner. The round starts with the owner of the leading horse. As soon as the card is uncovered and the referring horse has moved its value, the owner of the second horse follows to play a card and move his horse etc. That means the sequence of playing cards only depends on horses' positions while starting a round of cards and therefore differs round by round. If horses are in a line, the inner lane plays before the outer one. For a better view in the curves the squares in a line are marked green.

The number of squares horses are to move during a round of cards is determined by the number printed on every card you play. Horses always have to move as far as possible corresponding to the card value that has been played. This sometimes makes a change to outer lanes unavoidable.

A round of cards or dice is finished as soon as the owner of the last horse has made his move.

Round of Dice

A round of dice follows each round of cards. Only one player rolls his two dice at any one time. The dice remain in the middle of the racecourse until the following round of cards is finished. Since the right to roll the dice changes clockwise for every following round of dice, it will always help you to remember, who was the last to roll and who is next.

This one roll of one player determines the speed of all horses during one round of dice. The player who rolled the dice must choose if the digits from both the dice or just from one of them are the basis for the speed of all the horses. When he has made his choice, his decision is binding for all the horses. The horses then move - the same as during round of cards - in order of their positions.

Blocking Squares

Only one horse can occupy a square at any one time. This horse also blocks the squares right in front of or behind itself. Other horses are not allowed to use these squares even for just passing through.

Changing Lanes

You cannot always change lanes as you wish as part of your move. For every move (either during a round of cards or a round of dice) you can take the first square diagonally. You must move the five following squares in one lane only. That means, if you move six squares or less you can only change lane once.

If you move more than six squares, you are allowed to change lane once again, but only once from the 7th square on. Changing lane requires no additional points.

You must move your horse up to the maximum number of squares possible according to the card you play or the digits determined by the one who rolled the dice, even if this means moving to outer lanes. However if you cannot move the full distance, you have to go as far as possible considering the changing lanes rules. In this case the remaining points lose their value.

Handicaps

While starting each round of cards or dice the position of the horses determines to what extent their ability to move is handicapped in the referring round. There are handicaps for horses in the following positions (all the other horses have got no handicap at all):

Position = Handicap 9 → maximum 8 Squares
Position = Handicap 10 → maximum 9 Squares
Position = Handicap 11 → maximum 10 Squares

Handicaps during a Round of Cards

A handicap during a round of cards means that horses in that position can only be moved by using a card with a value up to the limit. If one plays a card showing a value above the limit (by mistake or for tactical reasons) the horse cannot move at all. The card is considered used and it is the turn of the next one in line.

Handicaps during a Round of Dice

During a round of dice, the handicaps can only be significant if the player who rolled the dice has chosen the digits from both the dice and the sum of the handicaps has been reached (= turn roll) e.g. 6 + 4 = 10. In this case, handicapped horses only can move according to the digits from one of the dice, but the owner can decide, which one of the dice he wants to use. The others of course can move the whole sum which has been determined.

For example: "Turn Roll 10"

= 10

The horses at first and second position can move but only 6 or 4 squares according to the choice of their owner. They are not allowed to move 10.

Order of Position Concerning Handicaps

All the horses in one line have the same position concerning the handicap.

To determine the others' positions you have to count them all (picture). For example, if the first two horses are in line and two following horses are in line too, both of the horses in the lead have the handicap for the first position while the following two have the handicap for the third position. All horses following behind those four do not have any handicap at all.

You can see further more examples on these pictures.

Handicaps are determined before a round of cards or dice starts, therefore they do not change by moving horses during that round.

Avoiding the Handicaps by Playing a Joker

Each deck of cards contains 4 jokers with values of 9, 10, 11 and 12. These joker-cards can be played in any position to avoid every handicap. Therefore, you can move for example 12 squares by playing the joker-card 12 even if you are in the lead. As you see these joker-cards are of great value and you should keep them as long as possible. Mostly it makes sense to play them during the finish, but sometimes - depending on the race tactics - it can be necessary to play one of them on the way or even at the start of the race.

Running the Game

Allocation of Starting Boxes

The starting boxes are allocated by rolling the dice for each horse taking part in the race. The one who rolls the highest digits gets the first starting box etc.

Shuffling and Dealing cards

Every player hands his deck(s) of cards to the fellow player on his right who shuffles them and counts ten cards per horse face down on the table. This fellow player puts the remaining cards back into the box(-es) and then hands everything over to the horse owner. The owner puts the box(-es) in front of him and takes the dealt 10 cards per horse in his hands to look at them. As the cards essentially determine the race tactics no one except the owner is allowed to have a look at them until they are played.

Determination of the Player for the First Round of Dice

Before the race can start by a round of cards, you have to know who is to roll in the following round of dice. You have to determine that before playing any card to start the race. For this reason, every player rolls his dice. The one who rolls the highest value rolls the first round of dice which, however, does not follow until the round of cards has taken place after the start.

Start of Play - First Round of Cards

The player whose horse is in the inner lane plays a card and moves his horse forward according to the value printed on the card. He is followed by the other horse owners in order of lane allocation.

As you already know, horses in one line have the same position concerning the handicap. That means, when starting the race, all horses are in the lead and limited by the handicap for the first position. This does not change after some of the horses have already moved. If one plays the start (except for jokers) with card values above 8, the horse cannot move. The card is considered used and it is the turn of the next horse in line.

First Round of Dice

After one card per horse has been played the first round of dice follows. It is now the player's turn who was determined before. He has to roll with both of his dice and chose the digits valid for all the horses. When he made his choice, the horses are moved in order of their positions. The player who rolls therefore has no influence on the order of moving.

Continuing the Race

After all the horses have moved and finished the round of dice another round of cards follows.

The sequence of rolling dice in the next rounds (always changing with a round of cards) continues clockwise.

Compared to a round of cards the sequence for rolling dice does not depend on the horse position.

The Bonus Cards Rule

Each deck of cards contains 32 cards. However, you only need 30 cards in total (3x10) to run the complete meeting. So every player has two additional cards at his disposal. These two bonus-cards can be played during a race at any desired time. However, if you do, you must take them both. This happens by asking the fellow player on your right to hand you the two top cards in the box. Cards are not shuffled again.

If you do not need bonus-cards during the first two races, you play the last race with 12 cards in any case.

Finishing a Race

Once a horse crosses the finish line the round must be finished by all the players. This can result in horses coming from behind passing the first one to cross the line. The positions at the end of that round count towards the result.

Should two or three horses be in line, the inner lane counts as being in front of the outer ones.

Horses that have crossed the finish line take their appropriate place in the middle of the racecourse as soon as the ongoing round is finished. If there are horses left that have not yet crossed the line at the end of the round, you have to move them by playing the following round until all have finished the race. To determine the handicaps the positions of the remaining horses is not changed by taking other horses to their appropriate place in the middle.

Scoring

Only the first four horses score and earn the following points:

Place	Points
1st place	50 points
2nd place	30 points
3rd place	20 points
4th place	10 points

The winner of the game is the owner of the race-horse with he highest score when the whole meeting is finished. If the score for some horses is the same, then the best position takes priority. If each player owns more than one horse the sum of his horses' score is decisive. If the sum of scoring is the same, the better horse takes priority.

Allocation of Lanes for the 2nd and 3rd Race

For both the following races, the lanes are allocated according to the result of the former races.

Dealing Cards for the 2nd and 3rd Race

For the next race, 10 new cards are dealt in the familiar way, but they are not shuffled again. You can keep the cards which were not played in the previous race, but only by exchanging these cards with any of the new dealt cards. Cards which exceed the total of ten have to be removed. They are considered used and out of the game. If a player takes the bonus-cards before starting the race, he is of course allowed to keep 12 cards at hand.

At the end of a race, the person who used bonus-cards has two cards taken away blindly by the fellow player on his right before exchanging the remaining cards.

Steeplechase

The steeplechase is a variation for advanced players with the additional risk of falling at a fence.

Placement and Function of the Fences

The fences are placed on the marked sections, however on the oval course they are not placed on the starting squares until all the horses have left. Fence No. 1 on the oval course is taken off as soon as all the horses have passed it. You are not to jump over twice.

Jumping over a fence needs 4 points either of cards or dice value. You are not allowed to change lane while jumping a fence. Therefore, you cannot cross over diagonally. If you start your move for crossing the fence immediately in front of it you can only change lane after the seventh and not after the sixth move.

Fences during a Round of Cards

If a horse lands on a fence at the end of its move it falls and is out of this particular race but not out of the whole meeting. A horse also falls during a round of cards if it cannot jump over a fence because its move would end on a square that cannot be used because it is blocked by another horse.

Fences during a Round of Dice

Horses cannot fall at a fence during a round of dice. If they make a move that would lead to a fall during a round of cards, they finish their move right in front of the fence during a round of dice. Of course they have to move as much squares as possible.

Tactical Hints

At first beginners ought to start playing on the oval course, since it is to ride much easier than the triangle one. We suggest to play the triangle course not until you have absolved 10 games on the oval one.

When you have finished your first race you will be able to play the rules without any bigger problems. However, with further playing you will recognize that TurfMaster gives you such a lot of options, which will lead you to more and more polished tactical subtleties. This gives the game its typical thrill even after many years of playing and makes the secret of its success. You can dissolve tactical questions as periodical prize competitions on our homepage www.aza-spiele.de. There you also will find all former prize competitions in archives. Please take a look!

Nevertheless, you can avoid some tactical faults, if you bear the following hints in your mind.

At the beginning try to find out a basic tactic corresponding to the allocation of you cards and the starting boxes. In the average the oval course needs 8 - 9 cards (depending on the racing speed) to cross the finish line, while the triangle course needs 9 - 10.
A horse with many high values should first of all try to remain at the end of the field.
Horses in the outer starting boxes at first should try to change to inner lanes by using small values. If necessary make a false start by using values from 9 on.
Pay attention on your horse only joining the leading group when your remaining card values are below the handicaps.
Low card values like 3 or 4 will help you little on the finish line. You better use these cards on the way to let your horse fall so early behind that you are able to get to the front in time.
If possible do not play the Joker cards until the finish and just before this time try to place your horse in the leading group.
Always pay attention on the next one to roll. If possible during a round of cards take the same position with your horse as the one who rolls next. This will avoid bad luck if this player chooses a so called "turn roll".

Unfortunately there is no magic formula at all. But exactly this makes the thrill of the game. To consider the above principles mostly will be convenient, but not all of the time. However, you will find out your own way to play by and by. We wish you good luck and a lot of fun on this challenge!

Imprint

Copyright 1998. The game, inclusive of all its parts is protected by copyright. Any exploitation outside the narrow confines of the Copyright Act is illegal and liable to prosecution without the permission of the publishers.

This applies especially to duplication, translation, microfilming as well as entering and processing in electronic systems.

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