Hare and Tortoise - Gameplay

Gameplay

The game used a then new (as of 1974) game mechanic. Until then movement of pieces in race games was largely determined by the roll of dice. In Hare and Tortoise players pay carrots (the currency in the game) to move forward. The more squares the player wants to advance, the more carrots the player is to pay. The cost to advance increases in an arithmetic series:

• 1 square = 1 carrot
• 2 squares = price of 1 square + 2 = 3 carrots
• 3 squares = price of 2 squares + 3 = 6 carrots
• 4 squares = price of 3 squares + 4 = 10 carrots
• And so on.

Players can earn carrots in various ways - most notably by moving backwards to designated squares (10 carrots per square). This game mechanic creates an interesting and dynamic race usually with no clear winner until the very end. The players start the game with 65 carrots. The gameboard features 65 squares. There are no generic squares; instead, the board is divided in several types of squares such as hare (draw a luck card), carrots (get extra carrots for each turn skipped), etc.

The factor of luck can be eliminated completely from the game by agreement between the players not to land on 'hare' squares.

Only one earlier "strategic race game" is known: Bantu, published by Parker Brothers in 1955 which, however, did not serve as a model for Hare and Tortoise.