Operation: Game Night
Travis Smith, Jared Erickson, and Clay Gable get together to discuss the latest and greatest in board games in this weekly podcast. What's hot, what's hitting the table, featured discussions about board games and the board gaming culture, and the primary mission objective- to play more board games!
Operation: Game Night
Debrief: Racing, Betting, & Mascot Mayhem in Hot Streak!
Board gaming meets mascot racing mayhem in Hot Streak, the latest sensation from CMYK Games that's turning heads and sparking laughter at game tables everywhere. Designer John Perry has crafted what might just be the perfect betting game—one that combines the tactile joy of moving beautiful miniatures with the strategic satisfaction of wagering on uncertain outcomes.
Picture this: four vividly painted mascot figurines—Gobbler the Bear, Hurley the Hot Dog, Dangle, and Mum—racing chaotically around a track while players watch their betting fortunes rise and fall with each unexpected twist. What makes Hot Streak truly special is how it captures the unpredictable nature of mascot races, where costumed characters stumble, swerve, fall down, and occasionally turn around and run in the wrong direction. The game brilliantly justifies these random elements through its theme—after all, what would you expect from people racing in bulky costumes with limited visibility?
The genius of Hot Streak lies in its accessibility combined with just enough strategy to keep everyone engaged. Before each race, players examine partially revealed cards from the race deck, place their bets through a snake draft, and secretly add one card to influence the race outcome. Do you play it safe with balanced payouts across first, second, and third place, or flip your betting tile to the risky side for a massive payout if your mascot crosses the finish line first? These decisions create genuine anticipation as the race unfolds automatically, card by card, with no player intervention needed once the starting whistle blows.
With stunning production quality including a race track that ingeniously unfolds from the box itself, Hot Streak delivers a premium gaming experience that's as visually appealing as it is fun to play. It accommodates 3-9 players in roughly 20 minutes, making it perfect for family gatherings, parties, or as a palate cleanser between heavier games. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or someone who rarely plays board games, the straightforward rules and inherent humor of mascots careening around a track creates a universally enjoyable experience that will have you reaching for it again and again.
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Welcome to the Operation Game Night podcast. We are back. Happy 4th of July to those that celebrate, and the summer is just starting to heat up. That's right. Today we're talking about Hot starting to heat up, that's right today we're talking about hot streak game. It's the internet by storm. Might be hot outside, but he's cool everywhere he goes. Clayton gable how you doing clay?
Speaker 3:I am doing great. I am hot and bothered for hot streak and I'm excited to tell you two guys about this game.
Speaker 1:He's hot and bothered. He's getting in the mood, jared.
Speaker 2:Erickson, how you doing Jared, I'm absolutely fabulous. I just want to know, Clay, in all this heat with your new job, your glass company, does it keep the heat out?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we got some nice IUs that we can put in.
Speaker 2:We'll triple clean it, we'll do whatever you need, yeah, a little bit of glazing maybe. Oh my god, yes I went to glazier academy boom, boom, boom, boom, hit it, hit it, hit it. I'm just, I'm stoked about uh, hot streak today okay.
Speaker 3:Well, let's get to it, jared, before you get me off the off topic too far, we are here to talk about Hot Streak. The hottest game in 2025 just came out from CMYK Games, designed by John Perry. This is a betting game. We love betting games. Two months ago, I saw somebody on instagram somewhere I can't remember, but they wrote that hot streak was like the unholy marriage of thunder road, vendetta, ready, set bet and camel up. Oh yeah, and I said here's my money, cmyk. I got on their website, I that's. I think you can still order it on their website, but I got on there, they shipped it to me and I've played this game five times now and every time I like it more.
Speaker 3:Mascot race, which is very important that you know that these are mascots racing each other, because what happens in the race only makes sense in the world of people in huge costumes that can't see where they're going. All right. So what happens is there is a deck of cards that you know tell the mascots how far they go, if they swerve, if they fall down, if they turn around, if they start running the wrong way, and before the race begins, a random number of those cards are drawn out onto the mat and so that kind of gives everybody a lay of the land about what might be coming up in the racing deck. Meanwhile you have a set of three cards and you'll be able to add one of those cards to the race deck to kind of influence the race. So you have a set of three cards and you'll be able to add one of those cards to the race deck to kind of influence the race. So maybe you have one for Hurley the hot dog that's going to send him forward to the next star. That's a huge, huge win for Hurley the hot dog. So you know, you secretly have that. You're planning on putting it in there.
Speaker 3:So maybe when you go around to get your bet you grab really the hot dog. All right, and that's kind of the first part of the game is just betting. Um, it's a snake draft. So the first person grabs a betting tile so you can bet on any of the four racers we got gobbler the bear, Hurley the hot Dog. I already talked about Dangle and Mum. These are beautiful painted minis. I mean the production I'll get into it later, but it's crazy. Tons of fun. So you can grab a bedding tile for one of those racers where you'll get paid out at the end of the race whether you get first, second or third. And then when you take the tile, you have the choice to play it safe and you get paid out pretty evenly across first, second or third, or you can flip it over to a risky side where you get a mega payout if they get first, but not so great if they get second or third.
Speaker 3:So everybody goes around snake drafting these bets and then the race begins. So everybody now has added their secret card to influence the race. You shuffle them all up and then it's basically just like on autopilot somebody flips the card, dangle goes too forward, boom, mom falls over, oh my god. Doom curly, the hot dog just turned around, oh my God. And like so you know, you add some flair to it and people are moving these things, they're knocking into each other. They can get knocked out if they fall down and then they get run into again. They get knocked out of the race and essentially the race ends when three of the four figurines have either crossed the finish line or been dequeued in some way and get paid out. And then you do that two more times and whoever has the most money at the end of the game was the best, better on mascot races and it is a hooping, hollering good time.
Speaker 3:Oh, I forgot to mention there is also a side bet during every race that will be like you know, will mom finish in the bottom two and you can say yes or no, and you can also risk it as well. But on the side bets, if you go risky you can actually lose money. So you know you have your choices. You want to diversify across the characters. Do you want to grab two tiles for mom because you really believe in mom and you're going to hit it big?
Speaker 3:I mean, this is the type of game where it's so stupid and crazy that you know things don't go your way. You're like, well, it's just whatever. But if you make some clever bets and you know the card that you put into the race deck comes up at the right time and your guy you bet on crosses the finish line comes in first, it feels awesome and, no matter what happens, everybody's cheering and these are like my absolute favorite type of games. I will say that initially, the first game or two, I just the what happens, like during the race. You know like okay, well, if someone falls down now they can only move one space, no matter what cards drawn for them, and then like swerve into another lane. Do they do that? You know like there's just some like intricacies about knowing how the race works and like when what, does it mean, yeah, when people fall, like what happens if this weird thing happens?
Speaker 3:but after you play it like a race or two, you kind of know what's going on. And now that I know that, like I can run that race so fast, just flipping the cards over, boom, boom, boom, boom and and we're jamming down the line, the first two times I'd be like, oh okay, so dangle fell down and mom swerved over there, like, like what, what's the outcome of that? And so there's a few things like that that you just gotta play it a couple times and you'll find out like they they can go off the racetrack and then they're disqualified. And every time you have to reshuffle the deck, the mat actually folds over to a new line and if you're hanging back, just like in Thunder Road Vendetta, that person gets DQ'd as well. So there's mascots dropping left and right and then bursts of glory across the finish line and it's.
Speaker 3:It's just like I this might have replaced most of my betting games and I have a lot that I. I like it's just so quick and easy to get going and so much fun, and the production, like I alluded to earlier, is off the charts. Like this box, you literally pull the racetrack out of the box, out of the box and then it gets rolled back up into it. The the little figurines like sit in a little display in the front of the box. It is just an amazing, an amazing production and it makes you want to just keep playing it. So questions you guys have I have several questions.
Speaker 1:But first off, uh, in your out of your five plays, like who, all, who all did you play with? What was the game group?
Speaker 2:like what size and yeah, I gotta know for new people yeah, I mean I know if you've played with scott, though, because the way you were describing the um like the chanting or the playing of who is going up and forward and back. I've heard him do that with a drinking game before and it sounded eerily similar. Scott and Brittany.
Speaker 3:No, I got this. I got this since I moved to Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:No, this has been a day.
Speaker 3:I've played it with the kids a couple of times. They love it. I played it, so it's like me and the kids. The group of three played great. I played it. So it's like me and the kids. A group of three played great. I played it with a group of seven my parents, my brother Mary, josh, allie just a lot of people that don't normally play games and when I was explaining it I could kind of see them like what the hell is this Clay? And then, until I started flipping the cards on that first race deck and they're seeing the people they bet on just completely turn around and start going the other way. It just instantly gets people engaged and, oh my God, it was great. And then I played it again some more with my mom and the kids. So it's just been. It's been a hit every time.
Speaker 1:It's been a hit every time. My next question is about the components themselves, because the first time I saw this was from the video that you sent us and you're like, this game's coming out, looks awesome and I watched a couple videos on it. You pull the mat out, but it's not like spring-loaded, like a set of blinds or anything where it snaps back right. No, you have to wheel it back in. Yeah, there's a mechanical wheel that you just you twist to get it back in. Yeah, that didn't register. First. I saw that there was mechanical wheels on the side and I watched, like the dice tower video where they kind of cranked it back in, oh yeah that's good what that's not part of the game yeah, you
Speaker 2:could do some sick 3d printing with this one yeah, that was.
Speaker 1:That was my thing is like how long until that like mechanic snaps and like doesn't come out of the box anymore. But that's great, that it's like uh to we, you know, roll it back in. You got to do it mechanic or by hand.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it worked. It seems like it'll hold up, um, but yeah and I love the.
Speaker 1:I love the detail on the figurine where you can see little eyes peeping out from the, from the costumes that's so good, yeah, so cute, yeah, just amazing great.
Speaker 2:Do any of the hidden um like movement, um like interjections? Are they specifically all only for one of the mascots or it's like just randomly? Whatever you flip over, that happens to, whatever person it happens to.
Speaker 3:So there's different cards. The, the general cards are like a mum specific card. So you see all these ones here on the left. Those specifically move mum or make her fall down or go backwards. Um, those move, gobble, gobbler. And then these green cards they move everybody. But the catch is you can't cross the finish line and there's no collisions during the green cards, during the, so you can add those as well.
Speaker 3:But you know, usually if you have a hand to three cards and you want to put one in, you're probably trying to get a little more specific on on who you're affecting with the card. And then there's these um, great cards, and every mascot starts with one at the beginning of the race that say recover at the top. So, no matter what happened, they turned around, they started running the wrong way, they fell down. If you see, recover at the top. So, no matter what happened, they turned around, they started running the wrong way, they fell down. If you see recover at the top of a card, they stand back up, they face the right way and they start going back in the right direction. So there's still, like you know, there's always a chance that even if they, you know, got a little off kilter there that they might get back on track and head for the finish line.
Speaker 3:I will say that, with that adding the cards, it seems like the more players you have, the more unknown there is about what's being added to the deck, because at three players in a deck of 18 cards, you're contributing three of 18. But then, with seven players, it's know, I don't know, 11 of 18 are known and seven are random. Yeah, right, so it's just a little more, um less known in that situation yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like you have enough agency, like at the player counts that you played at? Do you feel like you have enough agency to make, like educated, guesses on your bets?
Speaker 3:or is it like you know, jesus, take the wheel, it's all luck, and I mean, you can certainly, you can certainly make an educated bet and you can feel good about it, um and. But like I said at the beginning, if it works out, you feel like hell. Yeah, dude, I, I, I made the smartest bets. But when the first card drawn makes them fall down, and then, dangle, goes one and then swerves into their lane and hits them and now they're dq'd like right off the bat, you're just like, well, that's hot, you know yeah so you think it's better to be towards the outside or towards the inside?
Speaker 3:I think I think they. I was actually wondering that because all their cards have swerves in them, yeah, and I think they all swerve away from the edge of the track. So, um, I don't, I think I think they kind of balanced it out a little bit in some form or fashion. But yeah, I haven't dug too deep into the numbers of who's winning. More often I will say I'm a big fan of Hurley the hot dog.
Speaker 2:Any game that I get to see a hot dog, I'm all about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean it's expensive for a 20-minute game but because of the production they put on this thing, it's like 50 bucks on their website, but it feels worth it and I think it makes it just that much better and that much easier for you to grab and show people. I mean this is like replacing any type of party game for me, because you can play it up to nine players. Again, it's probably going to be pretty chaotic and random at nine players, but you're still having a blast. I just love that there's nothing, there's no intervention. Once the race starts, you just literally sit there and watch it unfold and then and hope for the best, and I love that you make all your decisions up front and then just let it happen.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like it's a little finicky? Like not finicky in that you have to pay attention to little rules or anything, but like is it too much to like flip and figure out what's happening and then move the characters? Or like do you feel like people pick it up fast enough where one person flips and the other person moves the characters and then that's it. That's what the rules say to do?
Speaker 3:that the rules say to assign one person to be the handler. One person is the card flipper, another person's the bank that pays out at the end bank that pays out at the end.
Speaker 3:I find it's just. I usually end up doing most of it just because and you know, I've been playing with a lot of people who's their first time and they're like okay, so what do you mean? They swerve like. When do they swerve like, you know, just like little things, like that kind of like hold it up a little bit. But yeah, after you play a couple times, it's pretty streamlined.
Speaker 2:Even the boys are on top of this one already.
Speaker 3:They're trained up. Oh, they like being the handlers and moving the mascots when I flip them.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so you already took Camel Up Ready Set Bet, like all those racing games, and just threw them in the trash.
Speaker 3:They're gone, they're out of here.
Speaker 1:Don't need them, burned on the effigy, and now we have hot streak.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what is? What is Vic column A? Yard sales, yeah, yard sale games. Yeah, yeah Dang. This is great Bro.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, it's got the theme too. I mean hot dogs. Yeah, did I say less? You know what you're getting with this game. I mean it advertises itself as a silly, crazy game not to be taken seriously and it knocks out the park on those on those terms yeah, well, I, and I love that.
Speaker 1:Like you know, I heard a lot of comparisons to camel up when I was watching videos of this, but I think it's closer to camel up the dice game or the the car game, yeah, the car game, right yeah because you have your finger on the scales a little bit, you get to pick what cards to include in that. I definitely learned their lesson from the most popular of racing betting games. And then you find them all into something so simplistic and easy and in a nice little package.
Speaker 3:It's like smaller than like a shoebox right like it's pretty small, yeah, yeah, I mean it's probably, you know, like a football size what takes up the?
Speaker 2:most space is the, is the.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah the wheel, the, yeah the mat and I'm like ready set bet where the, the person that's like running the race isn't really a part of it yeah, you still get to be a part of it in this, which is nice I mean, unless you're running it from an app, which is like my favorite way for ready set bet yeah. Yeah, that was like the best, that's the ideal way to play. What are you?
Speaker 2:gonna say jerry travis. I was gonna say I was gonna literally say the same thing about uh, camel up the card game. Because jemma and I unboxed my my uh, camel up the card game this morning during our morning session post breakfast, while we're waiting for mama to wake up, yeah, uh, and I was like I didn't I don't know fully how to play the game yet, but I got, I was reading the rule book a little bit while she was, you know, trying to make towers of the, of the cash, the little coins, and I'm like this is pretty neat, yeah, and then I was getting that same kind of vibe, the manipulation of the track and stuff, and so I like it.
Speaker 1:Like a more fleshed out version of Camel Up the card game. I love it yeah.
Speaker 3:Simpler too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great Thanks for sharing Hot Streak with us, clay. I'm excited about this one.
Speaker 3:Of course, yes, I would love to play this game with you guys.
Speaker 1:You have an award to give it.
Speaker 3:Not yet.
Speaker 2:DVD Workshop.
Speaker 3:Workshop this one's getting a medal, though, from me this is gold tier.
Speaker 2:Great, I do have a saved round, though Saved round. What's the reasoning for the name hot streak? So like can can one of the characters be on a hot streak where they just keep winning constantly?
Speaker 3:yeah, you know when you're, when you're a gambler or better, and you're on a hot streak. Yeah, I don't know. That's the best I can do, okay okay, we'll test that theory in september.
Speaker 1:Perfect that's right.
Speaker 3:World hit the tables yeah, I don't think they'll be playing this one at the world series of board gaming what we can set up our own table and like bet with some real money outside of las vegas casinos we'll kind of like be in an alley, kind of be like squatting down and like kind of bring some people over, like hey you guys, you guys shooting dice no, we're playing hot streak, jump in, jump in.
Speaker 2:Yeah I got the hot dog.
Speaker 1:All right, cool. Thanks for sharing clay. That is hot streak by cmyk games, designed by john perry.
Speaker 3:Artist is cecile gareppi oh, thanks for shouting out the artist. You got it. I'm shutting her down. Shut her down, thank you.
