PULTEVENT
Horse race party game: 7 race formats for a room full of jockeys
Six grown adults are standing in a row in front of a projector screen in a hotel conference suite in Birmingham, each holding a phone at arm's length and tapping it like it owes them money. On the screen, six horses come out of the starting gates. Behind the jockeys, the rest of the office is shouting names. The woman from payroll, who has never ridden anything faster than the number 50 bus, clears the second hurdle half a length ahead of her line manager. I lean into the microphone: "Mind your horse's stamina, Linda." She taps faster.
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A race night used to mean a video of old races, paper tickets and a lot of explaining. This is different. The racecourse is a 3D scene on the big screen, with stands, starting gates and six horses with jockeys, and each horse is ridden by a guest from their own phone. Nobody watches a recording. They are the race.
In PULTEVENT this is the Horse Race section. You open it on the laptop, turn on live mode, and guests scan the QR code and pick a horse. Tap Gallop to speed up, press Jump before a hurdle, use the arrows to change lanes and collect coins. The winner is whoever has the best total of finishing place and coins. Positions go through the server, so every rider's phone needs internet.
7 horse race formats, from a quick sprint to a full race night
1 The one-lap sprint
Flat racing, one lap, no hurdles. About thirty-five seconds from the gates to the finish. The perfect first race while people learn the buttons.
How to run it. Give the rule in one line before the gates open: "Tap Gallop, but save some energy." Nothing else.
Short races let many people have a go in a few minutes, and the second heat is always faster than the first.
2 Hurdles
Three hurdles per lap. Riders have to press Jump at the right moment, and the one who mistimes it loses ground in front of everyone.
How to run it. Commentate the hurdles. "Here comes the first hurdle. And Gary is still tapping Gallop."
Timing matters more than tapping speed, so the fastest thumbs don't always win.
3 The steeplechase final
Six hurdles per lap over three laps: the longest, hardest race the section has, close to two minutes of galloping, jumping and lane changes.
How to run it. Save it for the final. Put the heat winners in it and ask the room to stand for the start.
It's long enough for positions to change several times, so the room stays on its feet until the finish line.
4 Department derby
Each department sends a jockey. With teams set up for the evening, the places go straight into the team score: three points for first, two for second, one for third.
How to run it. Let departments choose their jockeys by applause. It's quicker than a vote and always funnier.
The whole department cheers for one colleague, and people who never talk at work end up hugging at the finish line.
5 The tournament
Heats of six, the top two of each go through to a final. With eighteen guests you run three heats and a six-horse final. With thirty-six, add a semi-final round.
How to run it. Write the heat line-ups on a flip chart or a slide, so the next six riders are ready at the front before the current race ends.
A proper tournament gives the evening a backbone, and the final is a genuine event.
6 A small party with bots
Only two or three riders at a family birthday? The free gates are filled by bot horses, so the field is always full. Bots don't earn team points.
How to run it. Tell the family the bots are sparring partners. Beating a bot is fine, beating Grandpa is the goal.
The race looks full and exciting on the TV even in a living room with five people.
7 Race day party
On the day of a big real-world race, run your own virtual race card in the afternoon: one race per hour, with guests dressed for the occasion.
How to run it. Combine it with a paper sweep on the real race. The virtual one keeps people entertained between the real ones.
It gives a race-day party something to do between the big moments, which are over in a few minutes.
Six horses, six riders
Each guest rides their own horse from their phone. If fewer than six join, bots fill the empty gates.
Tap, but not too much
Gallop speeds the horse up, but a horse ridden too hard gets tired and stops obeying. Pacing wins races.
Three kinds of course
Flat racing with no hurdles, a hurdle race with three per lap, or a steeplechase with six.
Coins count too
The final result adds finishing place and coins collected on the way. A clever rider can win from third.
What guests see on their phones
After scanning the QR code, each guest picks a horse. Six gates, first come, first served. On the phone they get three kinds of control: a big Gallop button to tap, a Jump button for the hurdles, and arrows to switch lanes towards the coins.
When you press Start, there's a three-second countdown and the gates open. Riders can watch the big screen or their phones, and most of them end up glancing wildly between the two.
The one rule worth explaining
Everybody's instinct is to tap as fast as possible. A horse ridden that way gets tired and stops responding. The riders who win are the ones who pace it: tap steadily, ease off for a moment, press Jump before the hurdle rather than after.
Don't explain this too carefully before the first race. Let one or two people burn out their horses in front of everyone. It teaches the room faster than any speech.
"Why has mine stopped?"
"You broke him, Steve."
Commentating a race
The race is thirty-five seconds to two minutes, and silence during it is a waste. Commentate like a racing announcer, just faster and with more first names. Call the leader, call the rider who's collecting every coin, call the one who's stopped completely.
When the race ends, the top three stand on the podium on the screen. Say the names clearly and lead the applause. For a work party, add the department names: a win for finance is a win for all of finance.
Setting up the room
Put the riders at the front, facing the screen, where the room can see their faces. Six people standing in a row, tapping their phones in a frenzy, is half the entertainment.
The horse race is a 3D scene, so run it on a reasonably modern laptop with the stage window full screen on the projector. Test it once at the venue. And test the phone signal: the horses' positions travel through the server, so a rider with no connection is a rider standing still in the gates.
Where it fits in the evening
A horse race works well after dinner, when people are relaxed and happy to stand up. For an office party it can be the main competitive block of the night. For a birthday, two or three races are enough between other games.
Try it on the free 3-day demo first, no card needed. Ride a few races against the bots on your own TV. The full version is a one-time license with no subscription; pricing is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run a horse race game at a party
- 1
Connect the laptop to the projector and open the Horse Race section full screen.
- 2
Choose the course (flat, hurdles or steeplechase) and the number of laps.
- 3
Turn on live mode and put the QR code on the screen.
- 4
Let six riders pick their horses; bots fill any empty gates.
- 5
Press Start, commentate the race, announce the podium.
- 6
Run heats and a final, and add team points if teams are playing.
FAQ
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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