After you and your guests have dressed to the nines and mixed their race day cocktail everyone will be ready for some Derby day fun. The final race won’t last much longer than 2 minutes so pre-race entertainment is a must! So, for this year’s derby include some fun derby themed games for all your guests to play while waiting for the big race. After all the entertainment is what people will remember long after the party has come and gone! 
1. Place Your Bets/Game of Luck
This is a pretty easy game that every guest young and old can enjoy. You can print out betting sheets for all your guests to fill out upon arrival or you can let each guest draw a horse’s name out of a hat to cheer for during the race. The guest(s) who chose the winning horse wins a fun derby themed prize. For all your race day information you can find it here on the Kentucky Derby’s Race Wagering Page.
2. Derby Pie Contest
This game will be fun for all your bakers. Let your friends know to make their best pie to be judged on the day of the party. You can have voting ballots for all your guests to fill out while sampling the pies. (A great plus to this party game is you don’t have to worry about the desserts!) The winner can be rewarded with their very own blue ribbon.
3. Derby Horse Race Game
This one is by far my favorite and can be played many times. You can even make your own track if you can’t find the classic board game. For this game you have 6 horses, each numbered, and 6 dice. All those that are playing each are assigned a horse before the race starts and each will receive one of the dice. A turn consists of all the players rolling their die at the same time and then the horse with the corresponding number moves forward for every die that is showing its number. Ex: 352541 are rolled. The 1, 2, 3 & 4 horse each moves 1 space and the 5 horse moves 2. The first horse to cross the finish line is the winner. You can add a little betting each game to turn this game into a true track experience.

For more Derby ideas check out some of my past Derby inspired posts like Tuesday Ten: Derby Essentials, Wedding Wednesday: Run for the Roses, Everyone Loves a Derby Party and A Derby Drink. What other Derby inspired party games do you like playing?

xoxo
Megan

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Trina Severson
4/30/2014 01:56:53 am

What is the scoring that is in small print for the Betting Sheet? I cannot read it.

Reply
4/30/2014 05:31:14 am

Hey Trina! If you want to send me an email at [email protected] I can send you the PDF version of the score card for you to print out and use.

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