A thundering hoofs game system for a game of horse racing in a challenging and entertaining manner. The thundering hoofs game system may include a race track, horse-shaped figurines, saddle cloths, game move instructional cards, a calculator, a set of play money, auction forms, betting tickets, race card setup forms, a race-start indicator, a race-finish indicator, a stamp, trading cards, containers, a dice, a tote bag, and a set of user instructions in combination to provide a game about horse racing in a challenging and entertaining manner A method of using a thundering hoofs game system may include auctioning horses to owners, selecting the type of horse race to run with game-play, placing bets for a horse race, completing a horse race with game-play, and cashing in winning bets.

This invention provides motifs, kits and methods for playing emergent pattern games. The motifs lack various types of symmetry and may be bilaterally symmetric, such as when including two or more parallel rectangles. The motifs do not extend fully to a theoretical bounding box containing the motif, nor do they represent or form, singularly or in pairs, regular polygons or basic shapes. Motifs may extend to varying amounts of the sides of the box, and some edge of the box must be open. Motifs also extend to at least one corner of the box. Motifs can be configured as electronic files to be printed, printed or drawn on paper, as stamps, as tiles with a matching shape base or a larger base. Motifs are provided as sets of matching and unique motifs and as kits with instructions for playing emergent pattern games with them. Kits are provided with instructions and optionally cards for directing play. The methods for playing include providing motifs, playing the motifs to form patterns in clusters, and playing or moving/removing motifs to change patterns and block the ability to repeat patterns in a direction. Stamp motifs provide more options, such as overlapping them. Methods optionally include assessing playing tendencies and reactions and predicting psychological, personality or collaboration characteristics of players. Methods are provided for one or several people playing with one or many unique motifs and for additional instructions directing play, such as from a deck of cards or from another player or facilitator.