As a season ticket holder to my beloved Chicago Bears, I’ve spent a lot of time seeing halftime shows. While many are easily forgettable that you rarely care if you miss on your way to the johns and concessions line, occasionally they have something that grabs your attention. And usually those involve mascot shenanigans. For example, sometimes they will have team mascots squaring off against a peewee football team (to hilarious results). But also high up there are the mascot races.
Never serious, always wacky, Mascot Races will bring out the child in you as you cheer for someone in a bear or hotdog costume to be first across the finish line. Today, we are going to look at a new game from publisher CYMK called Hot Streak, which drop you in the shoes of a degenerate gambler (seriously, that’s what the rulebook calls you) betting on the outcome of the mascot race.
Gameplay Overview:
Hot Streak takes place over 3 races, with players trying to win the most money. Each game starts with the dealer taking the 4 starting cards (one for each mascot) and then 6-11 random cards from the deck (depending on player count) and drawing them face up onto the table for everyone to see. This is the race deck.
These cards will determine how each mascot moves during the race. For example, one might have the hot dog move forward 3 spaces, while another might have the bear fall down on his face, and a third might have everyone move forward two spaces. You use these cards to try and figure out the best bets to make on the race.
In snake drafting order, each player will draft two betting tickets. You can either choose 1 of the 4 mascots to win the race or perhaps take a side prop bet. Regardless of your choice, you can also choose to make your bet risky or safe, with risky bets having higher payouts, but stiffer penalties if they don’t work out.
Once everyone has made their bets, each player secretly adds 1 card from their hand of 3 cards to the race deck. The race deck is shuffled, 3 cards are buried, and the race is on. Each card is drawn one at a time, and the corresponding figure is moved. When a mascot crosses the finish line, it’s added to the winner’s podium in the highest open position. If a mascot happens to veer off the board, they are out and put in the lowest position on the podium.
Once all 4 mascots have finished, bets are paid out depending on how each mascot did. Then the deck is shuffled, each player is dealt a random card from those used in the previous round, and another round of betting happens. After 3 rounds, the game ends and the gambler with the most money is the winner.
Game Experience:
Hot Streak must be one of the dumbest games I’ve played in a while… but also the most fun. It’s a betting game that makes no illusions about how seriously it takes itself, and that’s part of its charm. If you are looking for a serious betting game with proper odds and statistical probabilities, this isn’t it. Go play Ready Set Bet. But if you think the idea of betting money on whether a person wearing a fish costume will Win, Place, or Show, as mascots bounce around a short field, then this game might be for you.
I absolutely love how Hot Streak tries to give you the illusion of control when you make your bets. You’ll know some of the cards in the draw deck, so you can see if it’s heavy with movement cards for the hot dog, or if the bear only has 2 cards, and one of them is fall down. So, you place your bets with smugness that you’ll be right.
Yet you forgot to account for the fact that 3 cards are secretly burned from the deck at the very start of the race, and each player added their own card. So, half of those hot dog cards were buried, and 3 other players added a card for Queen Mum, she might secretly take first place despite what your betting ticket wants.
But that’s OK, because there is always race two to make some money back. Yet before betting that race, each player is dealt a card from the previously used race deck. That means that those starting cards, which let a mascot recover and move forward, might not even be in the deck anymore if a player decides to hold them in their hand to tilt the odds another way. It’s a devious little wrinkle that adds a lot of fun to the game.
I’ve played several racing/betting games (Camel Up, Ready Set Bet, Downforce, etc…) and Hot Streak has to be my favorite. It’s unapologetically wacky and leans hard into that role. Yet it’s also not just a random luck fest, as you can just barely influence the outcome of the race by trying to know what cards are in the deck or what you add. And the race deck is a closed(ish) system in that you are only using about half of the 50+ cards each race. While a handful will cycle in and out of player hands, from race 1 to 3, you’ll know at least half the cards in the deck before any given race, giving you a chance to tilt the odds in your favor. It also makes future replays unique, as every race deck makeup will be different.
Final Thoughts:
Hot Streak is a fantastic game. It’s silly, entertaining, and has been enjoyed by just about everyone I’ve played it with. I’ve also not even touched on the stellar production values. Outside of the paper money (Bleh, come on CYMK), everything else is lovingly crafted. Great looking colored miniatures and a race mat that literally rolls out of the box. I’m probably going to bling out my copy with some poker chips and dump the paper money, but outside of that, I don’t really have much to complain about with Hot Streak. It’s excellent.
Final Score: 5 Stars – Who knew that betting on mascot races was where the real action was at?
Hits:
• Wacky, engaging gameplay
• Just the right amount of player influence
• Lots of replay value
• Great production values
Misses:
• Paper money 🤢
