Derby Fever Time Capsule

In 2012, Derby Fever went through a face lift where the game we knew was forever changed.  All of the screens we were accustomed to changed, the screens all changed, new things added and some disappeared.   As time passes by, we tend to forget how things were in the “old days”.  This article will attempt to shed light on the old game and what it has transitioned into.  An article that can be looked back upon as a reference.  A time capsule.

 

Now I wasn’t around in the beginning of time.  My best guess is I joined around 2006, but it still feels like yesterday.  So I don’t have a background to day 1 of the game where I know things were different then they are today, just like today’s version will be different 10 years from now.

 

With that said, and this being a time capsule of sorts, readers are invited to add their recollections and add anything that I have missed, which I’m sure will be many.

 

WHY CHANGE

So why did the game change.  In the old version, each race was assigned a number.  When you looked at race histories, you saw the week number of the race.  The game was originally structured to handle one million races.  A change was necessitated as the number of races was approaching this threshold.

 

 

TRACKS

The number of tracks between the old game and new game was reduced.  Today, there are 64 tracks.  Someone can correct me on this, I believe there were around 94 tracks in the old version.

 

 

RACES

In today’s game, races are run each and every day at each track.  The old game version raced three days a week.

 

In the old version, 16 races were held at each track on Saturdays.  The other two days of racing had half the tracks on each day, with only three races and were known as RODOTS (Racing On Dates Other Than Saturday).  These were run on Wednesdays and Fridays.   All races were run at the same time.   Wednesdays and Fridays in the evening (if I remember correctly) and Saturday races kicked off at noon.

 

The new version doesn’t limit the number of races on any day and they are run at various times during the day.

 

 

RACE ENTRIES

The new version allows you to enter horses any day you desire and any number can be entered into the same race.   If the number of entrants exceed 14, the race will split into one or more races (based on multiples of 14).  All horses entered will run.   The only exception is stake races that have a set maximum allowed to run and eligibility is based on a point system.

 

The old game was more restrictive.  As noted in the Race Entry section, there were only 16 races each week.  Field sizes were limited to 14, with the exception of RODOTS which had a maximum of 8.    It was harder to find races with fewer than 14 entrants made.  A point system was used to determine who made it into the race.  You were allowed to enter the horse into 2 different races.

 

 

TRAINING

The training of horses is pretty similar.  The new version lets you target a specific week.  My memory recalls that trainers input the number of weeks to train in the old version.

 

 

JOCKEYS

Selecting jockeys in the old game was a pain.   If you wanted the best of the best to ride for you the process was to go make your selections, at each of the tracks you had horses running at and hope for the best.  This had to be done each and every week.

 

The new game is set up as a “set ‘em and forget ‘em” format.   Once you have made your preferences of jockeys, they will stay that way until the player decides to make changes.   The new game is more involved now as jockeys will keep a percentage of the winnings.   A minimum of 10% and the player can entice the jockey to ride their horse by increasing this percentage and/or guaranteeing a payment regardless of finish.  Jockeys also will travel within their region where the old game restricted them to specific tracks (except for big stake races).

 

Jockeys in the new game can be fussy, mostly the big name jocks as they have minimal claiming tags that they require before they will consider taking a mount.  Not so in the old game.

 

 

RACE VIEWERS

The old game had a flat viewer that didn’t show much.  If your horse was 6 lengths (give or take) or more behind the leader, it wouldn’t be on the screen.  However, on the right side would be the horse names listed and you could see how far behind they were.

 

The 3-D viewer evolved while the old game was operating.   This viewer allows you to target and follow any horse you desire, thus you could see the entire field if you target the last horse.  Horses shuffle in and out, passing others.  The old flat version has horses running in straight lines.

 

For now, both viewers are available in the new game.

 

 

BREEDING

The old version of the game allowed breeding to occur on a weekly basis.  Breeding would start sometime after midnight on Sunday (EST) with what was known as the “CLICKFEST”.  There were only 2 sire and DS shares available for each sire.  One could be purchased with credits, the other with BP’s.  If  you did a scratchbred, you had to quickly pick the sire, DS and DSS and hope that all three were available when you pushed the execute button.  If someone else got lucky and obtained one of the three, you were out of luck.   You could use a sire with a mare, but again, you had to be quick.

 

The cost for sires and DS started at 1000 and dropped from there during the week.  DSS started at 500.  There were no shares.  You had to go all-in.   Once you were happy with what you picked, the wait started.  You would not be provided with your new baby horse until the system updated the following Sunday night.

 

A lot of changes with the new system.  We now can bid on shares for the sire, DS and DSS…or you can acquire them outright.  You can store those shares until the end of December the year after you acquire them, so no rush.   The shares become available within  a short period of time.   For top sires, if there are multiple bids of 1,000 or more, a raffle is held alternating times where the highest bidder will win one time, and a raffle with all the 1,000+ bidders held the following time.

 

 

STABLES/FARMS

First, the old game version.  You could create any number of stables you wanted and if desired, house them under one master stable.  Or you could operate them separately, accessing each one with different passwords.  Each stable could hold up to 10 horses at any given point in time.  Horses could not be transferred unless they were unraced between stables.

 

The new game allows you to also house multiple stables within one master stable.  Horses can be transferred between stables, but there is a required waiting period before you can race the horse, unless you have not raced the horse (newly breds, bought through auction or claimed).   Farms are available in the new game which are connected to each stable.  Only 10 horses can be active in a stable for racing purposes.  The Farm can hold many more but cannot race, only those in the stable can.  The Farm is used to rest horses, use to hold newly acquired horses until a stable opening is available, or any other purpose a trainer may have.

 

 

BETTING

Simply put, it’s not available in the current game version but maybe in the future.

 

The old game had this where you could wager win, place, show, exacta and trifecta.  There were no boxed bets, so you had to input each one as a straight bet.  Weekly wager was limited to $2,500/week.

 

 

3 MAN TEAMS

3 Man Teams was a weekly contest in the old game.  A player could enter three of their own stables, or team up with other owners nominating a total of three stables for races held on Saturday.  The goal was to obtain wins in 6 different race classes.  Again, someone can correct me here, but I recall these had to be MSW, Maiden Claim, Claiming, Starter Allowance, Allowance and Stakes.   You had to have at least three wins in any combination of those racing classes to win some credits.  A weekly jackpot was available for hitting all 6.  And that jackpot grew into the thousands each week there were no winners.

 

This does not exist in the current game version.

 

 

AUCTIONS

The auction has had some change too.  The old version had a start date and an end date.  Horses could be entered into the auction early in the week and it would close by the week end.  Horses would transfer after racing was complete on Saturdays when the update ran.

 

Horses in the new version can be entered at any time.   The end date is a variable and can be extended based on bids made for the horse.   The auction is perpetual and ongoing.  Horses will transfer immediately after the winning bid is determined.

 

 

CLAIMS

The method to make a claim is pretty consistent between the old and new versions.  The difference resides in the way the winning claim was handled.  In the old version, you had to wait until Saturday afternoon when all claim winners for the week were determined.  The horses would transfer through an update method later in the day.

 

The new game determines claim winners after the race is played out with horses immediately transferred.

 

 

HOT RACES

Hot Races can be bought anytime in the new game version with two different types to choose from.

 

This is a feature that did not exist in the old version.

 

 

BID RACES

Bid Races could only be bought for Saturday races only in the old game.  This version pre-listed 16 races, some were hard coded (such as stakes) and could not be bought out.  Players could bid to buy a race to add to the race card (which would then drop off one of the pre-listed races).  It was totally possible that you might not get the race you desired as each track was restricted to only 16 races.  The higher you bid for a race, the more likely you would get it.  Sometimes there weren’t many bids and you could get one on the cheap side.

 

The new version has preset amounts to acquire a bid race.  Discounted prices are granted the further in advance of the racing date that you acquire (as this offers opportunity for many trainers to enter into the race).   Races could also be purchased in bulk which can offer further discounts, used quite a bit by residencies.

 

 

RACE HISTORIES

For the most part, the racing histories of horses are pretty much the same with slight differences.  The old game showed race numbers such as 3507.0516 .   This was kind of coded.  The old game was based on week numbers, not dates.  The 3507 referenced the race number.  The next two digits, or 05 in this example was a reference to the track number.  The last two digits, 16 in this example, defined the race number.

 

The new game eliminated the race number and shows dates.  It also has been expanded where the jockey selection, purse winnings and BP’s earned can also be seen, however, only as it relates to the current owner.

 

 

BADGES

Badges now exist in the new game.  No such thing in the old game.  Badges denote accomplishments of a race horse which include earnings and level of race wins.

 

 

 

 

Those are some of the major areas of the game that continues to evolve and change.    New  changes are on the map for the game.  Readers are free to add their comments, as I am certain I have missed many things and I wasn’t here in the starting days of the game, so there surely has been even more advancement to Derby Fever.