We are excited to announce some significant changes coming next week in season 18!
As the population has grown and the design of Photo Finish™ has crystallized with you—the players—we felt now was a good time to give racing a new look and improve the player experience.
We’re also implementing the previously announced $CROWN Vouchers in Season 18 and adding an exciting new subscription tool.
At the top level, here are the most significant changes.
Majors Refresh: $120,000+ Championship Week 4
As opposed to now, when we typically have one Major Race per weekend (Harbor Classic, Artemis Cup, Kentucky Derby, etc.…), these Majors will now ALL occur during the last week of the season. Over $120,000 will be awarded in freeroll races this week alone!
This change means that the qualifier periods for all majors will last three full weeks, starting at the beginning of the season and ending in Week 3.
Breeding Week Moves
As the game has matured, we’ve seen and felt the struggle of having breeding begin so early in the season.
We all know breeding is such a fun and strategic aspect of the game, and it’s tough to try and squeeze it in when you’re still just trying to figure out all the new juveniles and foals in your stable.
So, starting next season, breeding begins on Day 8 of the season (week 2). It will still last seven days like before.
Grade Restricted Racing
Photo Finish™ is at its best when owners have a high-level goal to reach for each horse – a big race to win, a way to shoot for an outsized return.
Bragging rights. Glory. It can be pretty straightforward for the high end – it’s “Win the Kentucky Derby” (or any of the other majors). However, the goal is often muddy or nonexistent for 90% of the rest of the horses.
So, to spice things up, we are introducing a large batch of “free roll” races in week 3 of the season!
Competing in the accompanying grade-restricted races all season leading up to that week qualifies you for these races.
The grades covered here are A- to S+. So, if you have a horse in those ranges right now, you have something extra to fight for while competing in as many races as you usually would.
Special Events
Additionally, to cover the first two Saturdays where a major would have been previously, we have added the following freeroll events:
Silver Stakes
This is a freeroll event celebrating the twilight racing years.
All races will be 6+ and use a 28-day gross earnings selection committee.
Sugar Maple Cup
This one is for the ladies—a freeroll racing event during breeding week that is filly only.
This event is meant to challenge players in their decision to keep their competitive fillies racing or not.
All races will use a 28-day gross earnings selection committee.
In Summary
We believe that these changes better leverage the major beats of our seasonal loop and, as a result, improve the health of our game’s ecosystem.
There will be more racing through longer qualifying periods, more aspirational racing for all grades, a shifted breeding period, and strategically placed freeroll events.
$CROWN Vouchers
NOTE: This is a meaningful change, and we suggest you read this article in full!
Beginning with Season 18, the concept of staking your Photo Finish PFP to earn $CROWN is ending.
In its place, we are releasing new collections of NFTs called $CROWN Vouchers.
It’s important to note that while this change means the process of claiming $CROWN has changed, the allocation due to each PFP is unchanged.
With Season 18, every single PFP will immediately halt earning new CROWN via staking and will then be automatically “linked” with nine (9) $CROWN Voucher NFTs.
When you, the player, un-stake the PFP(s), you will automatically receive the accompanying $CROWN Vouchers in your same wallet simultaneously.
The voucher is simply an IOU for a set amount of $CROWN.
IMPORTANTLY – each voucher is redeemable only within a specific Photo Finish season. A voucher not redeemed in its targeted season loses its value entirely.
Click here to read the full details on $CROWN Vouchers.
Introducing: PFL Pro
Too many horses, not enough time? No worries. Leave it to the Pros.
Introducing PFL Pro, a new feature from Third Time Games designed for larger stables. With PFL Pro, you can register more of your horses for races in a fraction of the time. Simply edit horse preferences, save them, and register for races with one click – that’s it!
Hundreds or even thousands of horses can return to the track.
More entry fees. More money is going back to CROWN stakers. And most importantly, more competition for all.
