Sport of Kings was originally titled Omni-play racing. It is a truly great simulation and management game that is a little bit Las Vegas and a little bit Kentucky Blue Grass. The subject of Sport of Kings revolves around making money on the ponies by becoming involved in a single stable and placing intelligent wagers with the little money you are allotted. Ed Ringler created this game for Virgin Games, adding his wealth of sports simulations knowledge to the genre of horse racing. The result was a wonderfully realistic simulation for one of the world’s oldest pastimes.
To play the Sport of Kings, the user becomes involved in the events surrounding the preparation of young horses for competitive professional racing. The user can choose to play either a thirteen week betting circuit, or a sixteen week betting circuit, depending on how long he or she intends to play and how in depth he or she is looking to get. The user will then fill out the race card for each of the weeks and start to betting.
It of course is not that simple. The betting is very realistic, with realistic odds, and different styles of wagering. After choosing the horse that will be entered in each individual race, the user must also hire a jockey that will be good fit for the
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horse’s personality. When the ponies take the track, the user has a lot of options for researching a bet. He can “wing it” and go with his gut feeling, or simply play the odds. He has the opportunity to purchase a tip from a person who has a good track record of betting. He also has the chance to look at the plethora of details within the game’s interface and make an educated choice based on what he views there. Users can view horse’s stats, jockey’s stats, the histories of both (and not just those in his employ), and can even research how the tandems respond to different weather conditions and tracks. If the user is really desperate for some advice, he is even able to view bets placed by others so he is better able to tell who seems to know what he is doing before purchasing advice from them.
Obviously, the goal here is to make money, and Sport of Kings offers a huge amount of details to peruse in order to make that happen. Pay attention to these bits of minutiae, and you could find your fortune on the track!
