Lose Your Shirt (1976)

Overview

Fortunes change at a stroke in this exciting game of betting and bluffing! Play your cards right and you'll be on a winning streak --but give too much away and you'll find your opponent's horse piping you at the post. Tension's high from the instant the horses leave their starting stalls. You keep the horse you've backed secret until you judge the moment's right to reveal it --cunning players will push other horses forward to create a "false scent", then try to come through the field with a last minute burst and take the race at the winning post. If you back for a place, you play safe...But the stakes will be low. If you try for a big win...You could lose your shirt! This exciting race game keeps everyone guessing --and trying-- till the very last moment, and whether you win or lose it will provide hours of fascinating family fun.

Contents: Felt playing area, 42 horse movement cards, 12 betting indicator cards, money, six plastic horses in different colors, starting stalls and grandstand. In the Canadian edition, the felt became a standard board, and the starting stalls and grandstand are gone as they were just chrome (theme elements not employed in the game).

For each of the eight races the cards are thoroughly shuffled and dealt out to each player. The different cards (5 per horse) advance each horse at various rates (2 to 4 spaces) in the race and there are also 12 cards that affect any horse in the race (backwards 2 or forward 3). Players secretly bet on a horse to either win or place (take first or second place); you can also bet the jackpot (which is made up of all losing bets from previous races), which is like betting for a win except the minimum stake is higher and the payout is handled differently. Betting on a horse actually means taking one of its movement cards out...until you decide to play it, revealing your bet --one of this game's numerous subtleties.

During the race, the players play their horse cards in turn, maneuvering the horses as needed --horses have very limited sidestepping and could be blocked during the race. If a player "loses his shirt" i.e. goes broke, he just continues the game playing cards but not betting.

It can be best described as a cross between Win, Place & Show and Undercover (a.k.a. Heimlich & Co.).