Originally, a few years ago I was inspired to make a board game called Chinese Zodiac Animal Race, where you would bet on which animal, out of a pool of 4 or 5, you think will win the race.

The game was very pretty, but the action was too slow during the race, as it required players to continuously roll a die to determine each animal's movement. So I reworked the concept into a videogame, where you don't have to lift a finger during the race, as the entire race plays out as automated by the game engine.

I was excited to try out this concept, as I am a quite lazy person, who prefers to sit back and watch, rather than do a lot of work. The only input required is during the betting stage before the race, where you bet on which animal you think will win, and underhandedly influence the race by e.g. poisoning an animal or giving him an extra boost.

I think it's really fun to play, but I still wonder what my game would look like if it were re-envisioned once again as a board game. So I asked Midjourney AI bot to come up with a draft for my Chinese-style betting game, and the results were strikingly close to what I had imagined!