Horseplay was originally designed in the 1980s, then published online in 2014. The game uses a square 9x9 grid as a playing area. Players begin in the middle of one side of the board, called the "paddock." Letter tiles are placed on alternating tiles on the grid, with empty spaces between each tile. The players then use chess-style movement to collect the letter tiles before ending the round in a designated corner of the board. Once a player lands in a corner square, the "stables," their play is ended and they must wait for other players to finish. At the end of the game, the players spell a word with the tiles they have collected. The highest scoring tile wins. Players who did not end in a "stable" get no points.