Snail Race Night Format

1. Race Night Introduction

The show starts with Peedy Parrot describing the race night procedure with an illustrated 'dummy' run.

2. Lineup & 'betting'

After the introduction, the lineup for the first race is shown on the screen. There are 8 snails in every race and their names, and those of their sponsors are listed. Peedy runs through the list of snails calling out their name. The betting then begins.

The betting continues throughout a carefully timed interval during which Peedy encourages the betting, and visual cues and animations count down the remaining betting time. The betting is closed after 5 minutes.

3. Form Guide

After the interval Peedy introduces each snail by name and its picture, together with its name, sponsor’s name, nationality, age, weight and 'all important' tentacle length, are shown on the screen.  Peedy describes each one in turn by its name and makes a few amusing comments about each one before conducting a ‘live’ interview by ‘satellite’ with one of these international, superstar, snail athletes.

Note: The snails are deliberately described after the 'betting' has taken place. In this way the event is a 'lottery' (and not 'gambling') because the punters are really just selecting a number from 1 to 8, each of which has an equal chance of winning. The race itself is simply to make the lottery more entertaining.

4. The Race

After the interview the race course is shown with the snails on the start line.  There is a ‘foot-stomping’ countdown before the snails set off to the blast of a shotgun. 'Escargot mayhem' then begins as the snails race over hurdles and obstacles to the finishing line accompanied by a vivid race commentary by Major Marvin Mollusque.

All the races are exciting and highly entertaining. Anything can happen and sometimes snails meet a 'sticky end' or are disqualified for cheating.

5. Results & Payouts

After the race the results are announced by Peedy and listed on the video screen, the results are then confirmed by a replica of the winning ticket being shown in the video. All the tickets for each race are coloured differently to avoid mistakes.  Winners can then collect their prizes as the video launches into the next race with a repeat of the same procedure.

Timing Details

The video show is made for continuous play but may be paused at any time. The races are 12 minutes apart and last for 2 minutes each. There is a choice of 4, 6 or 8 races in a pack. Unpaused a 4-racer plays for 1 hr; a 6-racer for 1 ^1/2 hrs and an 8-race video for 2 hrs.  The betting interval's timing has been meticulously perfected over some 20,000 races.  This and the visual cues ensure that it provides perfect results every time.  Experienced organizers let the video run as designed, knowing that unnecessary pauses or breaks can cause a loss of momentum.