Echo Bazaar At The Races

Echo Bazaar is a browser game I've been playing for a while. It's a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure thing with a dark-fantasy-victorian atmosphere. Refreshingly, one of the gender options is "it's none of your business", and "romance" themed thread are not limited or changed depending on gender.

Playing requires either a Twitter or a Facebook account. Most content is free, though there are some extra plots you can unlock with real money.

For the people involved already, a little spoiler regarding the Day at the Races option that costs Fate:

Once you've chosen to pay the entrance fee, you get a new Quality, "Time Remaining" at 7. Don't worry, though; this refers to time remaining on one race you enter, and you can go around as often as you want, until you decide to go home, similar to the Empress' Court. Unless it was just a glitch, though, while you are at the races, you cannot uncover any new Opportunity cards.

You have two basic choices. You can "mingle with the crowd", which has four options, each unlocked by having a particular hat. Those I tried paid out some goods and raised a connection (Dockers from the one unlocked with a pirate hat, Revolutionaries from the one unlocked with a ridiculous hat). This branch doesn't affect "time remaining".

The other one is joining a race, which is sort of a mini chose-your-own-adventure. Various branches in there test various qualities, and a few pay out small amounts of goods. Unless I missed anything, each turn lowers "Time Remaining" by one, and you'll get prizes depending on your standing at the end, which may include the items that give second chances and goods (I think 150 of 3 or 4 different ones when you were well in the lead). If you win as clearly as can be, it includes a Venom Ruby. No idea what those are good for, but I've seen them nowhere else so far.

After you got your prizes, you can go around again.