I imagine that most of us are familiar with the idea of siphoning part of a paycheck to a 401k or some sort of retirement fund. Some of us take a more daring approach in the form of taking risks with the stock market. “PITBULLS”, a board game that will be seeking funding through Kickstarter in Quarter 4 of 2023, has mechanics that remind me of people on Wall Street yelling on trading floors to “buy for” whatever and “sell at” whatever. Luckily (and thankfully), the only risk with “PITBULLS” is losing paper money. Before we get started I should mentioned that the game is still in development and the copy I received was a prototype. I am also required by FTC regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, however any and all opinions are my own. The only thing paid for here was my time.
Components & Setup
The first thing I should probably talk about is the required website connection via any phone or PC. Players will be required to visit https://playthetradinggame.com/rabbit-race/ in order to simulate the virtual rabbits making their way across the track. Rabbits, in this case, represent a more child-friendly approach to corporations gaining and losing value on the stock market. Instead of the Dow Jones being up by 25 points, you may see the blue rabbit racing ahead. Rabbits will either move forward or stay put, like in a race. Every round, the website will inform players how likely it is a rabbit will move (kind of like the risk value in real life) by enlarging certain bunny colors on the roulette wheel.
With that in mind, we’ll move on the physical components. The physical game includes paper money in different denominations, trading cards of eight different colors, and broker cards (used for the advanced game variant). The typical “board” is replaced by your PC monitor or TV screen, utilizing the website mentioned above. The rulebook is very much a work in progress, in fact the one I was linked digitally appeared to be a shared working copy to which users could leave comments and feedback for corrections. As such I won’t be focusing too much on specifics because, as mentioned above, things are still very much subject to change.
Players set up the game by giving themselves $400 in portfolio value. This can be any combination of paper money and trading cards, with each trading card being worth $12.50 at the start. So, as an example, a player can opt to start with $200 paper money and 16 trading cards of any mixture of color types they want. Keeping your portfolio private is optional but recommended. Of course, you’ll need to head to the website mentioned above to prepare the race track.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to have the most portfolio value when the game is over. There will be a 1st place bunny, 2nd place bunny, and a 3rd place bunny which will make their related trading cards worth money. This means that anyone holding a lot of those cards will have a higher portfolio value. The 1st place bunny will earn players $50 per related card they own, 2nd place $30 per card, and 3rd place $20 per card. As an example, if the blue bunny finishes in 1st place and I have 5 blue trading cards in hand, then I will earn $50 per blue trading card (5 x $50 = $250).
At the start of every round the website will start counting down from one minute. Here, players can start buying, selling, or trading their cards with other players. Unlike the actual stock market, all of your buying and selling will be with other players. Bunnies don’t have a value, so players will be required to come up with their own estimated values when buying or selling. If the red bunny has a decent chance of winning but you’re not sure, you may opt to yell out “I’ll sell red at $40!” and see if anyone will take you up on the offer. Folks are free to yell out whenever why feel like it, offering to buy or sell and making trades as desired.
When the minute is up, the roulette wheel will spin and bunnies will either move forward or back. You can see their chances of moving by how large their part of the pie wheel is, though in some rounds they sometimes come up on the wheel twice in different positions of the pie. After rabbits move, players will start a new round and have a full minute to make more trades.
The game is over when a bunny crosses the 400m finish line. As mentioned above, a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place bunny winner is determined and the players with those corresponding trading cards will add their value to their cash to see if they have most portfolio value.
Thoughts & Impressions
“Stockpile” is one of my favorite tabletop games because it simulates a market without being too complicated. “PITBULLS” takes pride in being simple as well, in fact I was told that there were plans to bring this to ROBLOX, a very popular environment for kids. Due to the hectic nature of the game I recommend that one player act as a “pit boss”, or someone that organizes all the frenzied bidding.
If you’re interested in something a bit more meaty, then you’ll be pleased to know that the brokerage cards and rulebook variants add a lot more. Broker cards, for example, reward players with an extra $1 when they complete the card’s instructions. If a broker card told me to sell red and I do, I can show the broker card, discard it, and earn an extra $1. Players can have 1 broker card at all times and can draw whenever they need, even replace it when they don’t have trading cards of the required color.
In addition to broker cards, there plenty of other variants to suit your fancy. “Winner takes all”, for example, awards $100 to the first place bunny with no second or third place winners. “Growth” gives players 16 cards during game setup in addition to $200 cash, to which they’ll record what they have on a separate sheet of paper. They then compare their end-game portfolio with their starting portfolio, subtract as needed, and get a final value.
From what I’ve seen so far, “PITBULLS” seems like a great idea worth pursuing. I whole-heartedly recommend educational games that are fun to boot and if developed right, “PITBULLS” could end up being one of those games. It’s still a bit early in development for any sort of review, but I am hopeful. If it teaches kids about the rewards and dangers of playing the stock market then wonderful.
I think the rabbit theme was a nice touch, though I hope the developer plans to add more to the website to make it look nicer and offer a wider variety of customization options. For faster games, for example, have the option to have the game not include negative values on the roulette wheel. A way to adjust the one minute timer or disable it completely would be another thought so that teachers can better manage the chaos that comes with kids yelling over each other. I also feel like this game is meant for larger groups, so some sort of solo or two player variant where the bunnies have values and you could trade with the bank would be nice.
While I’m too introverted to really enjoy being in a group setting…especially a large one, I can see the potential in “PITBULLS”.
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UPDATE: I was informed on 9/11/2023 (after the video and article were drafted) that the bunny format will be changed. Please use the below website to see an updated look on the digital side of “PITBULLS”.
https://app.staging.pitbulls.online/
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Developer Remarks
The developer has offered the following upcoming changes (as compared to my prototype copy):