Horse Racing RETRO fun! by Karl Hnat

When I was a kid growing up in the 60’s, pre the computer age we played all sorts of board games. Monopoly, Risk, Careers, Mine a Million, Cluedo, Formula One and many more. There was one game though that I  remember that was handed down from an old relation that had been around for years. The box was old and falling apart,  made of a heavy box board almost wooden from memory but maybe that’s me just getting old! The game was kept in a cupboard in the spare bedroom and we would play the game every now and then. The game was called Escalado which was a horse racing game, consisting of 5 or 6 lead horses and a track that was approximately 3 to 4 feet long . The game was played on a table and the track was attached at one end to a box with a ratchet handle that one of the players would turn. 

The other end of the track was attached to the table with clamps, keeping the track taught at all times. The horses were then placed on the starting line ready for the race to start. 

We would place bets on the horses with matches or old pennies and the bets were recorded on a betting slip that came with the game. The track was segregated into lanes and each lane had a series of wooden pegs placed on the lines to keep the horses from wandering and running in a straight line. As the ratchet handle was turned the track would vibrate and the horses would move up the track at differing speeds until one would eventually cross the line and be declared the winner. Every now and then a horse would fall of the table eventually resulting in the proverbial three legged horse. We had hours of fun playing this simple game, oh what a wonderful memory, where did all those years go!

Version shown from 1993

Review by Karl Hnat. Karl is the Managing Director of www.colourpoint.uk.com 

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