As a fun activity, I normally have my children pick a musher and follow them along during the Iditarod dog sled race each March. I wanted to do something a little different this year so I created a simple fantasy mushing tracking game they can play during the race.

In it, they will choose 5 mushers to follow. They will simply log their position and number of dogs they arrive with at each checkpoint. They will receive points for each checkpoint’s position, number of dogs they arrive at each checkpoint with, and their final finishing placement of the race. The values will be large when they total it all up at the end, but it’s easy enough to figure out!

I created a tracking sheet you can download for free below. In it, it has a place for 5 musher names at the top. Under each musher, there are two columns for their position and the number of dogs they have. I do recommend that the points acquired at that checkpoint be written down, not the position number or the number of dogs. This will help with adding up the values at the end.

Here are the points systems I came up with, but feel free to adjust them how you see fit if you want to!

Points for dogs in at each checkpoint.

• 14-16 dogs – 20 points
• 10-13 dogs – 15 points
• 7-9 dogs – 10 points
• 5-8 dogs – 5 points

Points for position at each checkpoint arrival.

• 1^st to 10^th position – 20 points
• 11^th to 20^th position – 15 points
• 21^st to 30^th position – 10 points
• 31^st and up – 5 points

Points for finishing position to be put in the “Place In” column at Nome.

• 1^st place – 45 points
• 2^nd place – 40 points
• 3^rd place – 35 points
• 4^th place – 30 points
• 5^th place – 25 points
• 6^th to 10^th place – 20 points
• 11^th to 20^th place – 15 points
• 21^st to 30^th place – 10 points
• 31^st and up – 5 points
• Scratched teams – 0 points

*Note: The final row for Nome should be their finishing place points value, not the normal points system.

If you’re not sure how to find this info, it is all on the Iditarod’s website. If you go to www.iditarod.com, then click on Race Center > Standings > Race Logs. The log will show the new info for that log in red. You have to find the info for the latest information for the musher you are tracking.

An easier way is for you to click the name of the musher and all of the info for that person will show up on its own page. This way is likely the easiest way to see all of the info for that particular person quicker. Do this for each musher on the team that was chosen.

If your musher scratches, then logging is done up to the checkpoint they scratched at. At least there are other mushers who will be followed, which is the best benefit for following 5 different teams. Don’t count anyone out to scratch! The 2022 winner, Brent Sass, had to scratch in the 2023 race due to being too sick to properly care for his dogs. You never know what could happen on the trail!

If you play this fantasy mushing game, let me know how it goes! This particular plan is for the northern route. I will do the southern route next year and add it to this one since the checkpoints will be different for the middle section of the race. Have fun! And may the best picked team win!

You can get the free download here: Iditarod Fantasy Mushing download.