Basic principles

Sulkyland is a virtual reconstruction of the world of racing. Horses are born there, train, race, win or lose, are sold, become breeding stock — and all of it belongs to the players. There is no script and no ending: you set your own goals.

A game that runs without you

Races take place around the clock, at the announced time, whether you are logged in or not. You do not steer your horse during the event: you prepare everything beforehand — the form, the jockey, the tactic — then you come and read the result.

That is the meaning of the time shown at the top of the screen: it is the game time, the one that decides the starts. The weather is shown next to it, because it determines the state of the turf, and a horse is not worth the same thing on dry or on waterlogged ground.

What happens during a race depends on many things at once: the horse's abilities, its form on the day, the tactic you gave, the turf, and the opponents it faces. Nobody knows the exact recipe — which is precisely what makes the result worth waiting for.

Races with random genetics

One type of race is an exception, recognisable by its Random genetics class: the result there does not depend on your horse's qualities. Each runner receives, for that race only, a genetic make-up drawn at random, of a comparable level for everybody — hence the name.

In other words, any horse can enter and win there, whatever its origin. It is a good way in when you are starting out: you need neither an exceptional horse to measure yourself against the others, nor to wait until you find an event that suits you. When you prepare a race of that type, the game reminds you of it explicitly.

Every horse trade, in a single account

You do not have to pick a role: you practise them all, and the menu is organised that way.

• Owner: your horses are yours. You create them or you buy them, you enter them in races, you decide on their career.
• Trainer: between two races, work makes the abilities progress. It is up to you to choose what to work on, and when to let the horse breathe.
• Jockey: before each start, you give the tactic — go off fast, wait, save the horse for the finish.
• Breeder: you cross your horses to get foals, and you try, generation after generation, to do better than the last one.
• Trader: horses and matings are bought and sold between players, at whatever price you manage to negotiate.
• Punter: you can bet on other people's races, single or combined, winner or placed.
• Racecourse manager: you have your own racetrack, you draw your tracks on it and you organise your races.

Trainer and jockey are the two trades that can be handed over to somebody else, by contract — and conversely, that you can take on for other players' horses. Many players specialise that way, and make a very good living from a trade they practise for others.

The sulkies

The sulkie is the game's currency. It is used to enter a horse in a race, to bet, to buy from another player, and it comes in every time one of your horses wins something.

The game is free. Your stable is entitled to a certain number of horses at no cost; beyond that, each extra horse costs an upkeep, deducted every day. An optional subscription raises that number — that is its main reason for being.

Three worlds

Sulkyland runs on three independent worlds: Almina, Bezir and Chorus. They are three parallel games, with their own horses, their own races and their own rankings. You can have a stable on each of them, and move from one to the other without changing account.

A few rules differ from one world to another. When they do, the screen concerned tells you so: nothing obliges you to know them by heart.

The other players

Sulkyland is played alone, but rarely for long. Horses are bought and sold between players, training and rides are handed over, and races are only worth the opponents they bring together.

For all of that there are the messages, the forums, the chat, the friends — and the clans, which gather players around shared goals. Joining a clan is not compulsory, but it is the simplest way to find advice when you are starting out.

The rankings, for their part, measure your progress: by horse, by player, by clan, and month by month — the ranking of a past month is read just like the current one.

A few common-sense rules

Look after your password. Programs regularly try to guess players' passwords, and accounts have already been taken because theirs was too simple: 12345, qwerty, horse, or the username itself. The form accepts six characters, but that is a floor, not a piece of advice: take at least eight, mix letters and digits, and do not use the one you use elsewhere. If yours does not meet those conditions, change it without waiting, from My account.

And give it to nobody. Never, on any pretext, to any player — and the game's team will not ask you for it either. For another player to look after your stable while you are away, there is co-management, which is designed for that.

Beware of deals that are too good. If an offer looks too advantageous to be true, it generally is not. Before closing a deal with a player you do not know, open their card: their seniority and their stable say a great deal.

Several accounts are regulated. Up to three accounts may be used regularly from the same computer, and two of them must not end up in the same public race or on the same auction. The details come down to a few points: Multiple accounts on the same computer. Read them before creating a second one, it is simpler than untangling a dispute afterwards.

Politeness is required. Insults in public can lead to a sanction, up to the closing of the account. So does fair play: everybody makes mistakes, and an unintentional one is settled far better between two people than in public.

Where to start

The simplest way is to follow the Creating Your First Horse tutorial: it takes you, screen by screen, from the creation of a horse to its first race.

If you would rather go on your own, start with The game interface, which explains the few landmarks common to every screen, then with Create a horse.