Grand National

Inventor: Mick Haytack, copyright 2001.

Requirements: pencil & paper

Number of players: many

Purpose
Clearing all fences.

Start of game
The number of fences will depend on the number of players. At each plane fence the horse playing the smallest number of jumping points will fall. In the event of a tie see rules 3) and 4). See rules 5) 6) and 7) for special fences.

The rules

  1. Each jockey will start with 500 points.
  2. Each jockey should allocate a number of jumping points for each fence in turn. At a plain fence the horse ridden by the jockey using the smallest number of points will fall.
  3. In the event of a tie the hoirse with the larger/largest number of unused points will fall, but the others will stumble. Horses which stumble will loose 5 jumping points or half rounded down if they start with less than 10. 
  4. If a tie can not be split by using rule 3) (for instance 2 or more players could play the same number at the first fence) then all horses with the most remaining points will fall and the others will stumble. If more than one horse falls, then no horses will fall at the next x plain fences. ( x = number of fallers - 1)
  5. At Bechers the TWO jockeys playing the smallest number will fall. Ties split using rules 3) and 4).
  6. At the Chair the jockeys playing the highest and the lowest number will fall. Ties split using rules 3) and 4).
  7. At the Water Jump the jockeys playing the smallest number will fall. Ties split using rules 3) and 4). In addition, the player playing the highest number of points will receive an extra 50 jumping points. These extra points will be shared (rounded down) if there is more then qualifying jockey. Unused points will not be taken into account when deciding the allocation of these points.
  8. If there is an odd number of entrants there will be one plain fence at the first turn and two fences on each subsequent turn.  Otherwise there will be two fences per turn. Orders for the second fence each turn may be made conditional on the outcome of the first fence.
  9. Once a horse falls all its remaining jumping points are lost.
  10. The winner is the horse which clears all fences AND has the most remaining unused points. If only one horse completes the course that horse wins.
When Mick ran the game in Bloodstock there werer 40 entries (participants) and the fences were:
Plain: 1-4, 6-8, 10-13, 15-18, 20-22, 24-27, 29-31
Bechers: 5 and 19
Chair: 14 and 28
Water: 9 and 23.

End of game

Last horse left, or all fences cleared.