¶ Critter Derby
Four critters line up, and you bet on the one you think will win. Every bet goes into one shared pool. When the race ends, the people who backed the winner split the pool in proportion to what they bet, after a small house fee.
The Race Master takes bets in the street near the Cat’s Lair tavern in north-west Britain.
¶ How to start
- Go to the Race Master and talk to them. Choose Bet on the Critter Derby to open the odds board. You can also choose Watch the race or How does the Derby work?.
- Or say the Race Master’s name followed by race, bet or derby to open the board, watch to watch a race, or rules for the help page.
- Stay close to the Race Master while you bet and watch. If you are too far away, the board won’t open and you can’t place a bet.
The Race Master is also a banker, so you can open your bank from the same dialog.
¶ How to play
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Read the card. The board lists four critters, drawn from six: Unicorn, Frog, Rat, Beetle, Turtle and Snail. For each critter the board shows:
Column What it means Stars The critter’s class. More stars means a stronger runner. Form The critter’s mood today: off, steady or hot. To win The critter’s chance of winning, in percent. The race is drawn using exactly these chances. Pool How much gold has been bet on this critter so far. Pays What every 1 gold bet on this critter would return if it won right now, for example x3.40. It shows a dash until someone bets on that critter. -
Pick a critter. Press Pick next to it.
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Choose your bet. Press one of the bet buttons: 500, 2,500, 10,000 or 50,000 gold. The board shows how much you have bet on each critter and on the race in total.
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Bet again if you like. You can bet more than once, and you can back more than one critter in the same race.
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Betting window. No timer runs until someone bets. The first bet on a card opens a 5:00 betting window and is announced, and the board counts it down.
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The race. When betting closes, everyone near the Race Master who bet, has the board open or is standing close by sees the race track. The critters run for nine steps, one per second, and the lead can change along the way. While a race is running, press Watch the race on the board (or ask the Race Master) to follow it.
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The result. A moment after the finish, the result window shows the finishing order, the pool, the fee and the payout per gold for the winner.
¶ Stakes and fees
| Bet sizes | 500, 2,500, 10,000 or 50,000 gold |
| Most you can bet on one race | 50,000 gold per account, across all critters together |
| House fee | 5% of the pool, but never more than the gold bet on the losing critters |
Each bet is paid in one go from your backpack gold. If your backpack doesn’t hold enough, it comes from the gold in your bank box, then from a bank check, then from your bank balance. The house fee is removed from the game; nobody receives it.
You can’t bet while you are dead or in combat.
¶ Winning and payouts
- If your critter wins, you get a share of the pool after the fee. Your share matches your part of all the gold bet on the winner, rounded down to whole gold.
- A winner always gets at least their bet back, because the fee never takes more than the losing bets.
- Longshots pay more, because fewer people back them, so the same pool is split among fewer winning bets.
- Winnings go straight to your bank balance. You get a message telling you how much is on its way, and another when it arrives.
Example: the pool is 10,000 gold and 2,000 of it is on the Frog. The Frog wins. The fee is 500 (5% of 10,000), which leaves 9,500. That pays x4.75, so a 1,000 gold bet on the Frog returns 4,750 gold.
¶ Good to know
- Refunds with no fee. Every bet goes back, with no fee, if:
- fewer than two accounts bet on the race, or only one critter was backed (the race is cancelled when betting closes), or
- nobody backed the winner (the race runs, then every bet is returned).
- Restarts. If the server restarts while a race is open for bets or running, the race is cancelled and every bet is returned.
- Refunds go to your bank balance, the same way winnings do.
- Disconnecting or walking away doesn’t lose your bet. The race runs without you, and any winnings or refund still go to your bank balance. If you missed the result window, it shows the next time you open the board.
- Unused cards. If nobody bets on a card for a while, the Race Master draws a fresh one.
- Big pools are announced when the race ends.
- The How it works page (the book icon on the board) sums up the rules in the game.
