Hot Streak

Hot Streak is a quirky racing game where the players bet on the racers to win or lose, and collectively control them all – but each player only controls to a certain degree, and nobody can be sure what anyone else is trying to do!

The board is actually a large scrolling mat that unspools from the box, forming a racetrack. The four racing mascots – Gobbler, Hurley, Dangle, Mum – are placed at the start of the track. Before the first race begins, everyone is shown the cards that will move the racers: or not. Some cards are positive – for example, move three spaces – but others are negative, and might see the racers turn around, reverse or fall over. Racers might also move sideways, and if they move off the track, they’re out of the race. Each player also gets a hand of three cards only they can see and, in each of the three races, will add one of these cards to the race deck.

This limited information informs the betting, which also takes place before the races. Everyone gets to make two bets, either on one of the racers (paying out for placing first/second/third) or a side bet, which varies from race to race and are highly situational: you might bet on a racer falling over, for example, or coming last.

Once that’s done, the race begins – and this is a very simple matter of revealing the cards one by one and actioning them until three racers have finished (the fourth automatically fills the last available place on the podium) and bets pay out. After the third such race, the player with the most cash is the winner!