John Francome's Night at the Dogs

The Good
It may be old but it still plays in my DVD player and it plays well. I played with my family and ten races was enough for one session. There are thirty races and as the betting slip has room for ten races, if both sides are use, that means that this game can provide at least three sessions.

The Bad
The game is not without its flaws. At the end of the race the photo finish is shown but other than the commentary there is no confirmation of the result and sometimes none of us were sure which dog came in third.

The game has notes of specific denominations, £50, £100 and so on but sometimes the way the odds and the bets worked out a player could win £275 and there is no way to pay the £25. When we played the bookie resorted to writing IOUs on the betting slip

Whoever takes the role of the bookie has to be very patient and have a calculator. It is a lot of work and discussions about winnings can get heated - or maybe that's just us.

The Bottom Line
We played as a family foursome one afternoon and we enjoyed it. The bookie came in for a bit of stick for paying out the winnings but not returning the stake money - but not too much because we all knew we could not do any better. Having played one session we have kept the game to play again when we next get together and I will be on the lookout for any similar games.