Horse Racing - Alive and Well

Above - racegoers at the Aintree meeting

Saturday sees the latest renewal of one of the greatest Horse Races in the World - The Grand National. The race is run annually at Aintree racetrack in the UK.

The race was initiated by William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton in 1836 and is the most famous Horse Racing event in the UK. Saturday is the day that pretty much every man, woman and child will have a wager on the Grand National. People will queue down the street to get into bookmakers on every high street in the UK. I remember as a child looking through the daily newspaper and picking out a Horse that caught my eye. Perhaps a catchy name or colour. I'm not much more sophisticated today.

The Grand National is a monster 4m 4f course with 16 of the most challenging jumps anywhere in the world. The jumps being almost as famous as the race itself. Take Bechers Brook, originally a 6ft fence with a stream on the far side, hidden by the fence. Needless to say that most of the 40 runners in this race will not last the distance.

This is a truly exciting race where the whole nation gets involved. For about 10 minutes we are all punters, cheering on our Horse and gutted when it falls at the last fence. I recommend getting involved and watching Horse Racing at its best. 16.15GMT Saturday 10th April.

My picks for this years race are The Package and Character Building. However, with 40 runners jumping 16 fences this race is more like a lottery. The winner last year was Mon Mome a 100/1 outsider.

Are Social Games the New Slot Machines?

I've seen a  few blogs recently asking the questions like 'Are Social Games the New Slot Machines?'. In many respects social games are successful for the same reasons that slot games are successful. However, social games have more mainstream appeal because in addition to being social they use gaming mechanics that slot machines have traditionally lacked.

As I have mentioned in previous posts. Social games push some of the same psychological buttons that gambling games are based on. Game concepts of building points to achieve certain goals have parallels with the gamblers preoccupation with strategies to grow their real-money bank. However, social games layer on other powerful game mechanics like leveling up. In addition, social games leverage social forces like collaboration, competition, altruism, reciprocity etc. The resulting combination is all together a more potent mix that results in high levels of engagement and virality.

Zynga recognize the parallels with gambling. There is nothing subtle about the way they have integrated slot machines as side games within their Texas Hold'em. Or the fact that they launch Poker Blitz as a stepping stone for customers of Farmville to convert to players of Texas Holdem.

Successful social gaming companies have realized that they can use gaming psychology to build vast audiences and to sell things. Social Gaming is not only a new genre of game but it is also a new model for retail and ecommerce in general. Gambling is only one area which has parallels with and which will be affected by the rise of social gaming.