Day at the Races

Day at the Races
Appears in	Mario Party 2
Type	Battle mini-game
Time limit	10 seconds to select a character per turn
Music track	The Blue Skies Yonder
Music sample

Day at the Races is a Battle minigame in Mario Party 2. The name is derived from the title of the 1937 film A Day at the Races by the Marx Brothers.

Gameplay

Participants on the starting line, preparing to begin the race

The minigame involves the players choosing one of the four characters, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. When this minigame is played during a party, the turn order is determined by the current standing in reverse order.

• Whomp – Walks fast but falls over and takes a long time to get up.
• Thwomp – Rises above the floor and jumps forward but then drops down and takes a long time to get up.
• Boo – Disappears and then reappears much farther than before, but falls on its face on the ground sometimes.
• Bob-omb – Starts a spark running from its fuse and moves very fast but occasionally falls over.

Players can increase their chances of winning by looking at the characters' idle animations. Each one has three states: slow, medium, and fast. The fast versions of each racer have the highest chance to win, except for the Thwomp, whose chances are very low regardless of which animation it has.

Once the players choose their characters, the minigame announcer alerts the players to start the race. Once the race starts, each of the four characters races to the end, and the first character to cross the finish line wins the minigame for that player. The race is then followed by a slow-motion instant replay of all characters crossing the finish line.

Controls

• – Select character
• – Confirm

In-game text

• Game Rules – "The race is about to begin! Pick the character you think will reach the finish line first... And they're off!"
• Advice – "Just because a character is ahead doesn't mean it will win... Watch out for come-from-behind victories!"

Chances of Winning

As stated, each character has 3 different Idle animations. Each of which corresponding to their speed.

• [Note] - The following percentages are their chance of getting first OR second.

Whomp:

• "Slow" – Rocks back and forth – 51.0%
• "Medium" – Stands mostly still, bounces up and down a bit – 55.7%
• "Fast" – Rocks side-to-side – 62.7%

Thwomp:

• "Slow" – Stands still, wiggling a little – 33.2%
• "Medium" – Flies up and slams down at around 3 Second intervals – 30.4%
• "Fast" – Flies up and slams down at around 1.5 Second intervals – 34.5%

Boo:

• "Slow" – Doesn't move, looks down – 51.1%
• "Medium" – Flickers Mildly – 58.2%
• "Fast" – Fades in and out quickly – 66.9%

Bob-Omb:

• "Slow" – Has no spark on their Fuse – 47.4%
• "Medium" – The spark on their Fuse flickers – 52.0%
• "Fast" – The spark on their Fuse is always on – 60.1%

See also

• Random Ride

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	キャラクターレース[?] Kyarakutā Rēsu	Character Race
French	Un Jour Aux Courses[?]	A day at the races
German	Wett-Rennen[?]	Pun of the words "wetten" which means "(to) bet" and "Wettrennen" which means "race"
Italian	Alle Corse[?]	At the Races
Spanish	Un Día en las Carreras[?]	A Day at the Races

Trivia

• This is the only minigame in which a winner is not properly announced.
• "Normal" Speed Thwomp is actually slower than "Slow" Speed Thwomp