Sprint Finish
A postal game for 3-8 players by John Walker 2026.
Overview
Sprint Finish simulates an 800 or 1500 metre race played over 8 turns.
Rules
The players will randomly be allocated a lane.
On the first turn players select up to 10 of the following cards:
- Overtake 3 (can only be played on turns 2 to 5)
- Overtake 2 (cannot be played on the last turn)
- Overtake 1
- Save Energy (add one to next card e.g. Overtake 2 becomes Overtake 3)
- Hold line (cannot be played on last turn)
- Increase pace (Must be in the lead, tied or otherwise). Players need one extra to overtake. Does not affect move alongside)
- Move alongside
- Refresh Card
- Dip (Played on any turn but used on the last turn.
Will win any ties on the last turn.
If two dips used the winner will be the player on the inside)
- Joker (Can be played as any card)
- The GM places the players in their track position after 100 metres.
- The player(s) selecting the fewest cards will lead the race.
- Players selecting the same number of cards will be placed next to each other, with the lower initial lane on the inside.
- Hold Line cards played first then the cards are processed from back to front, inside to outside.
- If the game does not get eight players, the remainder of the runners will be made up of NPCs,
who will select a random number of initial cards from 7 to 10, then will randomly play one of their cards each turn.
- Anyone attempting to overtake someone who has played hold line would need an extra overtake
i.e. if they played overtake one, instead of moving ahead they would move alongside.
Example Turn
| Cards Selected | Track Position |
|---|
| 6 | John |
| 7 | Seb, Crammy, Steve |
| 8 | Jacob, Cole |
| 9 | Josh |
| 10 | Hicham |
| Player | Card Played |
| John | Hold Line |
| Steve | Save Energy |
| Crammy | Overtake 2 |
| Seb | Overtake 1 |
| Cole | Move Alongside |
| Jacob | Overtake 3 |
| Josh | Move Alongside |
| Hicham | Overtake 1 |
Results
- Hicham overtakes Josh. Josh moves alongside Hicham.
- Jacob is boxed and cannot overtake.
- Cole moves alongside Steve. Seb is boxed.
- Crammy overtakes John. Steve saves energy.
- John stays put.
The new track positions are:
- Crammy
- John
- Seb, Steve, Cole
- Jacob
- Hicham, Josh
Note for first game in HBD:
The game is designed for players to pick their cards secretly,
however as this is the first game I propose to run an open game,
where everyone can see which cards each player has. To make it easier,
on this first game, players just need to tell me how many cards they want to select.
So, if a player wants 5 cards, they will get all the cards up to Hold Line.
I’ve decided to run a 1500 game. The first turn covers 100 metres; the next 7 cover 200 metres.
An 800-metre race would be 8 turns of 100 metres each.