When the digital world and the physical world merge around a product or idea, the outcome can be chaotic, symbiotic or a combination of both. In the case of Game of Silks, the blockchain game that acts as a “fantasy” version of horse racing, the one-to-one pairing of real horses with digital horses has created a blossoming community of horse racing enthusiasts that’s helping move the industry forward and expose it to the next generation of fans.

According to Troy Levy, founder and vice president of Game of Silks, the interaction between the digital Silks owners and physical horse owners came about organically, with no push from the company.

“Technology was never thought of as something that could help engage the racing industry,” Levy said to me recently. “When the idea of taking a real-life racehorse and turning it into a digital asset hit, it was eye-opening for everybody because there are millions of people who would love to be part of the racing sport but who don’t know how to get involved or are scared they don’t have enough money. The web3 community has changed that.”

To buy a horse, users must visit the Game of Silks website, where the thoroughbred’s identity is initially hidden. If you buy one and take delivery of it, a truck pulls up on the website and your horse gets out. After your horse leaves the truck, you can click on it, generating a PDF of the real horse’s actual data sheet — the bloodline and everything that’s associated with it. According to the company, 15,000 to 20,000 horses register with the Thoroughbred Association every year as yearlings, and Game of Silks creates one-to-one NFTs of them all.  

The company also boasts a real-world ally that’s huge in the horse racing world: the New York Racing Association (NYRA), which owns Belmont Park, Aqueduct Race Track and Saratoga Race Course. Game of Silks has an exclusive blockchain partnership with the association, which also owns a betting platform in a joint venture with Fox called NYRA Bets and controls A Day At The Races.

Levy explained that once the game started selling race horses and giving users breeding information, the community took it upon itself to reach out to breeding farms. “All of a sudden, the real-life horse racing community started sending our community pictures from when horses were born and pictures as they got older,” Levy said. “We had no idea the [bridge between the digital and physical communities] would have happened that way. It was very unexpected.”

One element Levy believes is consistent across both the digital and physical horse racing realms is the opinion that horses are majestic, amazing animals. “There was always this mystique of winning The Kentucky Derby, though the people actually winning those races are truly the top 1% of the wealth in the world, or are pretty close to it,” he said. “Through our platform, we’re able to provide access to that community and the feeling of what it’s like to win at those races.”

Todd Gilpin, a Game of Silks player and one of the Silks community leaders, said he’s seeing a lot of young people join Silks when, traditionally, most young people don’t have the cash to join the real horse racing community. “Most people can’t afford the average horse price of $50,000, let alone the training and everything else, but a younger generation can come up with $500 or $600 to buy some parts of horses with other people, or $1,000 to buy a horse they know and like on race day,” Gilpin said in an interview. “We’ll see that trend continue to grow.”

Part of the Silks community’s growth is buoyed by racehorse owners who are willing to take digital horse owners to the races—an experience that has them meeting the animals and, if it wins, visiting the winner’s circle. 

“The community is pretty awesome,” Gilpin said. “I’m meeting a couple guys for the Breeder’s Cup in California this November, and because of the way I play the game, I’m actually in on a lot of horses with these other folks as well, so you get to cheer on your common investment.”

Levy believes the platform could attract a new generation to love horse racing. 

“We’re planning a meet-up in Saratoga and are taking it a step further by bringing the players to the racetrack,” he said. “We’re having them meet the owners, the trainers, the jockeys, the handicappers, and really getting them engaged. Our plan is to provide all of the real world accessibility to our community members—with the first launch being Saratoga—and then repeating racetrack after racetrack.”

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He continued, “I believe we missed a generation in horse racing, which is why web3 culture is so important. It’s not so much an age thing as it’s a movement. We just need to bring as many fans as we can into the sport—fans that we’ve been missing for a long time—and the technology is allowing us to do it.”

It’s similar to the way companies like FanDuel and DraftKings have increased the popularity of real life baseball and football through fantasy sports.

In traditional horse racing, Levy’s known CEOs of fortune 500 companies who will stay up late and spend as much time trying to figure out physical horse racing as they do running their businesses. With Game of Silks, he’s finding players are doing the same thing. Finding a “sleeper” fantasy pick in baseball or football is the same as finding a “sleeper” in physical and digital horse racing.

It’s a bet that hinges on people recognizing that Silks is trying to enhance horse racing, not take anything from it. In this way, the digital Silks world is also creating something new.

“When you own horses in the real world, the majority of the time, you’re going to bet your horse,” Levy said. “At the same time, you’re also going to bet on other horses in other races. That money then goes toward the racetrack owners and purses, which then enhances horse racing.”

Levy estimates there are 28,000 horse owners in the United States compared with about 25,000 people in the Silks Discord forum. He figures if Silks sells 17,500 horses each year, that could mean 17,500 people who are going to bet on a real horse.

“If our community starts taking their own dollars to enhance their knowledge of the horses, they’re putting more money into the horse racing industry,” Levy said. “If our members visit a racetrack, they’re going to buy food, they’re going to buy alcohol, gamble—whatever it is—and all of a sudden, all of that money goes to the industry.”

Because many Silks players choose to purchase parts of many horses to diversify their risk, there’s thought that eventually—if the players are succeeding—perhaps they choose to come together and purchase a real horse or part of a real horse.

“It’s a pure ecosystem that benefits everybody,” Levy said. “If I own horses and I have little kids and they start buying digital horses first—sooner or later—they’re going to learn the racing game and want to buy the real horses.”

For now, the hope is that Silks will get a multitude of racehorse owners excited about the digital side of racing and allow the Silks community to experience the sport alongside them. The game itself will already help players feel like they’re at the track, and the real life owner activations will only enhance things further by helping players experience the track in real life.

As for the future? It’s anyone’s guess.

“Maybe one day they’ll start drawing races on the blockchain, a process that could take seconds instead of hours,” Levy said. “Maybe they’ll start paying on the blockchain instead of the old-school way. There are so many ways we can enhance the industry, but the first step is proving the Game of Silks concept.”

So far, Game of Silks is on the right track.