HOW TO PLAY RACING DEMON
Racing Demon is,
as its name suggests a game of speed, and in a sense it’s a very poor example
of a social game to start with because it breaks all the rules of turn-taking
and patience! However it is brilliant for sequencing, speed, visual attention,
concentration, memory, spatial organisation and fine motor skills. My children
beat me every time we play. Any number can join in: the more the merrier. Each
player starts with a complete pack of cards (it’s important that each pack has
a different design or colour on the back) and deals a pile of 13 face down
except for the top card which is turned face up. This is called the “croupette”.
Four more cards are then dealt out in a line face up next to the croupette. The
rest are kept in the hand. At the word “Go” the game starts: any player who
has turned up an ace moves it into the middle and immediately replaces it from
the top of their croupette, turning the next card in the croupette face up. EACH
PLAYER ALWAYS HAS FIVE CARDS FACE UP: THE TOP OF THE CROUPETTE, AND A LINE OF
FOUR. There is no turn taking: each player goes through their remaining cards as
quickly as possible, one, two or three at a time (one at a time is easier and
quicker) building up the suits in the middle that have started with aces and all
the time WATCHING FOR OPORTUNITIES TO MOVE A CARD FROM THEIR FACE-UP LINE ONTO
ONE OF THE SUITS THAT ARE BEING BUILT IN THE MIDDLE. Cards from the face-up line
are always replaced with the top card of the croupette, and the next card in the
croupette is turned up. The player who puts the final King onto a suit in the
middle takes that pile and puts it to one side. The winner is the first player
to get rid of all their CROUPETTE – not the four face-up cards as well: when
they play their final card, putting it onto one of the suits in the middle, they
say OUT and play stops IMMEDIATELY.
Scoring is as follows: the winning player gets 10 bonus points. Any player who
has claimed a suit with a King gets two bonus points for each suit. All the
suits claimed are now put back in the middle, face down, and the cards remaining
in the middle are also turned over. Each player now collects ALL THEIR OWN CARDS
from the middle and counts them up, then SUBTRACTS, as penalty points, the
number of cards they have remaining in their CROUPETTE (not the four face up
cards as well). A winning score is usually in the thirties; we usually play up
to a hundred, which is probably four or five games and gives everyone (except
me, usually!) a chance to go out. You have to play this game to appreciate the
extent to which it develops speed, visual attention and concentration as well as
early number concepts. Above all it is really good fun. My children are now 24,
17 and 13, and we still all play it, together with my son-in law who has now
been inducted!- whenever we can. I still always lose...