Horse Racing at Terracina Grand a HUGE Success!

What a fun game! We set up the horse track at the front of the Forum during Happy Hour, as we always attract a large crowd.

After setting up six big round tables for the residents, we play several variations of the game. I start by doing individual games, where residents bet on the horse they want. They pay $1 for a bet, and I give them the number of horse they bet on. 6 horses total. After gathering all bets, we begin the race. There are 2 dice and 16 spaces on the board "horse track." Then I have someone roll the dice. Each time the dice comes up, it tells you which horse advances 1 space. So if a 2 and 6 come up on the dice, then horse 2 and 6 move forward one space. If you have double 3’s, then horse 3 moves 2 spaces. Once one of them reaches the end, that’s the end of the game, and we split up the jack pot depending on who had the winning horse. At the end, the winner takes all (if several residents bet on the same horse, then we split the winnings).

Another variation would be to award 2nd and 3rd place as well. I do this especially when I have a big crowd. We then move to team games. We have 6 six horses, and six big tables set up, so it works out great. Each table then gets a horse, and what cheering we have. I sing the horse racing noise into the microphone, and we’re off. It’s even more fun, when our director comes in to roll the dice. The teams begin cheering for their horses until the finish line. Sometimes we play the team variation just for the thrill of winning, with no money, and other times the players all add $1 for whoever wants to bet at that table, and which ever team wins, we divide it up for those that participated. I have found that this game is another way to have a great time. The more I’m into it, the more the residents are!


Sandy Steinbach
Activities Director
Terracina Grand