Hot Streak from CMYK — Review. The Mascots are off and running. Can…

The Mascots are off and running. Can you bet on the winning costume?

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Publisher — CMYK

Designer — Jon Perry

Art Direction — Cecile Gariepy

Game Type — Betting, Drafting, and Party

Initial Year of Release — 2025

Age Range — 6+

Expected Playtime — 20 Minutes

Number of Players — 2–9

Theme and What is it?

Hot Streak is a game of betting on the wild, unexpected, and over the top Mascot races. You’ll place your bets, manipulate the outcome, and hope for the best. In the end will you make enough to send your kids to college or lose it all on a mascot who can’t seem to run in the right direction.

Initial Impressions

I was very impressed with this game as I opened the box. I had seen a couple videos on this one and was looking forward to trying it out. Even still, I was surprised at the quality of the pieces. It had me even more excited to try this one. I did record an unboxing and if you’re interested in seeing it you can follow this link.

Game Mechanics

The mechanics here are pretty simple. You start the game by setting the single starter card for each mascot in the middle of the table. Then you shuffle the large deck of cards and deal out a number of cards based on player count. Each player also gets three cards. The rest of the cards are returned to the box. All cards set to the center of the play surface are set in groups based on which racer they represent.

Players then bet on which mascot they think will win. There are three bets for each mascot and a prop bet from a deck of different cards. Starting with the first player you’ll snake draft wagers. This means each player will take one bet tile and then the next player clockwise will take one. Once every player has chosen one bet the last player takes a second one and this goes counter clockwise until everyone has two.

There are three bets for each mascot. The top bet is worth the most and the value gets smaller as you go down. Once everyone has both of their bets you decide if you will take the safe bet or the risky one. For mascot bets you’ll win money for first, second, and third. The safe bet is worth more money for second and third place with less for the risky. The safe bet is worth less for first and more for risky. Prop bets are a yes or no question. The bet is worth a little money on safe and you gain nothing if you lose. If you take the risky bet you’ll get more for being right and lose five for being wrong.

Once all bets are placed each player will take one of their three cards and add it to the stack face down. One player will collect all the cards, shuffle them and begin the race. The first three cards are dealt face down and then each card is flipped face up and its effect is carried out. These will move a mascot forward, turn it around, cause it to fall down, back up, or a couple other effects. You keep doing this until all the mascots are eliminated or cross the finish line.

Once this happens all bets are paid out, a new round of betting commences, and each player gets a card from the deck and places a new card in the deck for the next race. This happens for three races. With the third race having the added effect of each player choosing one of their bets to be their top bet and worth double in the end.

After this each player counts their winnings and the player with the most money is the victor.

Game Build and Quality

Everything here is excellent quality. The mascot figures are all nice and chunky, well painted, and durable. The bet tiles are a nice thickness with different sizes to make sorting them quick and easy. The paper money is some of the best I’ve seen with a nice linen finish. Over all, this is a top tier production.

Artistic Direction

There isn’t a lot of art in the game. The graphic design is very nice. Everything is easy to make out and follow.

Fun Factor

This is an over the top racing game where you’ll be shouting at plastic figures by the end of the game. It is loud, fast, and wild.

Age Range and Weight

The 6+ is accurate. They might not understand the risky versus safe bet idea in the game, but can play along quite well and be involved as the mascots run. I’ve played this with younger players and we’ve all had a lot of fun.

Conclusions

I had an absolute blast playing this game. We were all shouting, laughing, and being excited for the races. The mechanic for the races is quick and easy. It’s a snap to put the deck together and play. You never know exactly what’s in the deck because you only see some of the cards, everyone puts one card in for the first race and cards might get switched out each race after that. In addition you play three cards from the deck face down so they won’t come out during the run.

You’re never sure your mascot can win until they cross the line. A lot of things can get them disqualified; being run over while knocked down, falling down while already down, or running off the track. This means the races are never guaranteed. It also helps that the deck changes each race as players add and remove cards secretly.

I also appreciate the attention to detail in every level of this game. The prop bet cards are a yes or no bet, but have the results written on the back so you know exactly what a yes is. While it doesn’t matter for all of them, there are a couple where it might be read in a couple of different ways. The bet cards tell you that they are top, middle, and bottom in addition to being different sizes making stacking them more intuitive. There are entries in the back of the rule book for what you do with your winnings going from 1 to 100 that are worth a read when the game is over. It’s clear from things like this that they put a lot of effort into this game and the experience of playing it.

There are some slight negatives. My track is curling upwards on the ends. Since cards in the deck are random it is possible for one creature to not have any. Though that never slowed down the game or stopped people betting on it. The rules say up to 9 players and I don’t think that is accurate. 9 or more players is a variant in the rules and I’m not sure it works but it feels like a bit too much.

Overall, I love this game. I’m hanging onto it and can’t wait to try it again. There is a ton of fun in this box and everything about it works very well. I’ve never had this much fun screaming at plastic in my life.

I will finish with this piece of advice. Let yourself get into this game and shout, scream, and holler. It will bring every bit of fun you need for this to really shine. I’m giving it a 9 out of 10, and I feel like that could go up with a few more plays.

If you’re interested in the game and would like to pick up a copy you can follow this link to Amazon and pick one up for yourself. If you do, it helps us out at Meeple Gamers and we would appreciate it.

If you want to find me on social media I’m on Threads and X, I share photos on Instagram.

Meeple Gamers is on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and we have a Discord Server.

Until next time, stay safe and be well.

Overall Rating — 9/10

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