Designers: Jon Perry
Development: Alex Hague, James Nathan, Justin Vickers
Publisher: CMYK
Artist: Cécile Gariépy Mascot sculpts: Josh Divine
2-9 players | 20 min. | ages 6+ | MSRP $50 | BGG Entry
Time to teach & learn: 4-5 minutes

Game Synopsis

Degenerate gamblers can find just about anything to bet on – even minor league mascots. Four costumed kooks compete in an absurd footrace that could net you cold hard cash. Will it be Hurley the giant hot dog? Or Gobbler the turkey eating bear? Could Dangler the anglerfish flop its way to victory? Or maybe Mum, the world’s most off brand monarch, will barrel her way to the finish line?

Over the course of three contests you’ll have a chance to pick a winner and place prop bets, guided by some knowledge of how each mascot will bumble down the track. Or not. There’s a very good chance they’ll end up falling or crawling or sprinting off in the wrong direction. Bet safe or bet risky, then laugh and cheer and hope for a winning shuffle. In the end, you’ll count your winnings and see how your life turns out compared to the other bums. One Hot Streak could really turn things around….

Why We Love Hot Streak

The chaos and absurdity of Hot Streak are infectious before the first race has even started. Colorful chunky whimsical mascot figurines are visible from a window in the game box and the race track itself rolls out from the opposite side. The game looks weird and wonderful and it makes good on this promise at every level.

Hot streak is driven by a deck of cards that will move mascots based on the number shown forward or backward. There are also cards that can turn mascots around, make them change lanes, or even fall down. A lucky mascot might even recover, allowing them to dust off and head in the right direction again.

Before selecting betting tickets, you’ll get to see a layout showing the majority of cards going into the race deck. If Gobbler the bear has lots of move cards, maybe you take its betting ticket. Or maybe the prop bet is tempting. It says: at least two mascots will fall down. You see a lot of lane change cards going into the race deck so the chance of collisions seems high.

Hot Streak is a game of imperfect information, though. Every player gets to add a card to the deck which will skew the outcome in hilariously unpredictable ways. Will you try and help the mascots you want to win? Or do you try and sabotage the others? Mascots can wander off the board or be knocked out if they are stepped on while they are down, so there’s no guarantee anyone will even finish the race!

When playing, roles like banker and dealer and handler are divvied up to spread the fun amongst many players. At the end of each race 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will pay out, plus the prop bet – a random race condition determined by the draw of a card.

The utterly unsubtle genius of Hot Streak is how easily it entices players to become so invested in each move as every card is revealed and each mascot… even ones you didn’t bet on! You can’t help but cheer for the most ridiculous outcome, even when it’s not in your best interest.

That’s the magic of Hot Streak. The absurdity of the game itself will supersede the need to win. If the shuffle betrays your hopes and dreams, rooting for the underdog or the craziest result creates just as much fun and excitement as cashing out on top. This is not a lesson you learn from losing your life savings at the track or from the School of Hard Knocks. Hot streak is a graduate level seminar in goofiness. Along with cheers and laughter, Hot Streak may even inspire players to serenade the table with off key trumpets calling its wackadoodle mascots to the post. That is surely the sweet music of Major Fun.

Congratulations to designer Jon Perry!

More information on Hot Streak at: CMYK Games