THE AMAZING RACE 9 PREDICTION LEAGUE RULES
These rules are essentially the same as those for last season (except that there are only 2 members of each racing team, rather than the Family Edition's 4, so there are no 2-person Roadblocks, etc.).
1. WHO MAY PLAY:
A. Anyone who isn't spoiled for any aspect of the show may play at any time with no restrictions. Any such person can join in the game at any time. ("Spoiled" means finding out, either accidentally or on purpose, any information about what happens on the show ahead of its broadcasting. For more information on spoilers, see #6, "Sources and Cheating.")
B. If you are partially spoiled for the season, but you'd still like to play along, send Lingo (not Fingolfin!) a PM or an email (to lingo@tvsa.co.za) explaining everything you already know about the season, and we may be able to work something out whereby you only post some of your guesses publicly, and send the rest to Lingo or Fingolfin, so that other players won't be spoiled by your guesses. The points a spoiled player may score will be reduced compared to an unspoiled player. The size of the reduction will depend on what the spoiled player already knows.
2. HOW TO PLAY:
A. Each week Lingo will post a list of questions (described below). After he does so, you answer the questions.
B. You CANNOT put more than one answer for any question (unless it explicitly calls for it). If you put down more than one answer, we'll only accept the first one written (but see 3C below about changing your guesses).
C. There are no restrictions to the combinations of answers you may give (unless we state otherwise for a Bonus Question). If you like, you may hedge your bets and give inconsistent answers--for example, putting down the same team in the "First Place" and "Last Place" categories.
D. Your answers must be clear and unambiguous. If the question calls for a team, you may put the team's initials instead of typing out their entire names (e.g. "D&L" for Dave and Lori). You may also use nicknames established on the show or in TVSA articles. Otherwise, please refrain from using nicknames. If we can't tell who you're talking about, we won't accept the answer. Also, if you give the names of racers from two different teams as an answer to a team question, we won't accept the answer.
3. WHERE AND WHEN TO POST:
A. You may post your answers anytime before the start of the episode (usually Tuesdays at 7:30 PM SA time). Posts that are posted even 2 minutes after the show starts will be disqualified, so make sure you give yourself enough time to post.
B. To avoid cluttering the blog with incomplete answer posts, we recommend that you first copy the Answer Template to a word-processor document, answer the questions there, and then paste the template and answers together into the blog reply box.
C. If you wish to change your answers, you may make a new post. Your new post can include the whole answer set, or just the answers you changed. Feel free to change your answers as many times as you wish (without apologies!).
D. If possible, please post your answers in this blog. However, if you're having trouble accessing TVSA during the only times you can post, you may instead email your answers to Fingolfin at fingolfin@tvsa.co.za or to Lingo at lingo@tvsa.co.za (or have a TVSA friend post the answers, which is what many past players have done). If you wish to change your answers, just email us again. Don't worry if you don't get the answer order exactly right, as long as we can tell which answer is which.
4. If you are confused by any of the questions, feel free to ask (publicly or privately) for clarifications.
5. We will probably make mistakes, in awarding points, in posting the week's answers, or perhaps in other ways. Double-check your scores, and PLEASE don't be at all afraid to correct us, publicly or privately.
6. CHEATING AND SOURCES: We're on the honor system here. If you go and cheat just for a silly little contest like this, for which there will be no prize except the right to gloat, then you're pretty damn pathetic. And if someone makes some "lucky guesses" over and over again, we may ask Luke to kick your ass!
To be perfectly clear: Cheating includes the use of spoilers in answering the questions. Basically, a spoiler is any information that would substantially improve your chances of getting a question right. There are 3 categories of sources from which one could get information about what happens on the show. These are:
A. Sources allowed w/out restrictions:
--The show itself
--previews for next episode
--SABC3 ads for next episode
--TVSA blogs and forums (assuming no idiots post any spoilers)
B. Forbidden sources:
--Any non-SA sources (downloaded episodes, forums, published media, American friends, etc.)
--Any SA forums or other SA sources where it's clear the source has been exposed to spoilers, or refers to "rumors" (which for our purposes are equivalent to spoilers)
C. Allowed sources which must be disclosed:
--ANY other SA websites
--ANY other SA sources, such as SA magazines like "YOU" and "tvplus", which gives you any information at all about what happens in TAR9
If you like to read Type B sources, we respectfully request that you refrain from playing in the game. On the other hand, Type C sources are allowed, but if you ever gain information from such sources that helps you in the game, you need to disclose this information to Lingo (not Fingolfin!). That is, you should PM or email Lingo any Type C source you use, as well as a summary of what the source said. You should do this for every episode for which the information helps you. Anyone who fails to disclose such information risks being ejected from the game. Once such information is disclosed to Lingo, if he determines it's a big clue, we may decide to post it in this blog for all to see (but not necessarily who gave it to us). Or the question may be discounted.
Note that SABC ads and previews are unrestricted sources. So if particular answers (like Roadblockers and Titleists) are revealed by them, please DON'T mention it here, like, "Such-and-such was given away by the ad, does that mean the question won't be counted?" The questions will still be valid. They will just be easy points for observant players.
If you have any specific or general questions about what is or isn't a spoiler, feel free to ask Lingo.
7. Questions, comments, criticisms, or suggestions on any aspect of the game? Lay them on us publicly or privately.
The Questions
This season, we will accept either team names or individual names for any question with such answers. If it's a team question and you pick either member of the correct team, you'll get full credit. If it's an individual question and you pick either the correct team or the wrong individual on the correct team, you'll get half credit. This rule applies to all regular questions except the Roadblockers (obviously) and to all bonus questions, unless I specify otherwise.
Almost every week, you will answer the following basic questions. (To help you out, a list of the teams with the names of the members will be provided.)
1. Which team will come in FIRST place in this episode (after all credits and penalties are applied)? Your answer must be the name of one team. If there is a tie for first place, any team which ties for first place will be acceptable (but you may still only put down one team). A "tie" will only be considered a tie if the show's captioning indicates that the teams tied (it is not enough for Phil to declare a tie).
Scoring: Your score for a correct guess will be equal to the number of teams still in the race at the start of the episode, times 10. If there is a tie, this score will be divided by the number of teams which tie (rounded to the nearest integer).
2. Which team will come in LAST place in this episode (after all credits and penalties are applied)? Your answer must be the name of one team. The correct answer is the team which comes in last, whether or not they are eliminated from the race.
Scoring: The score for a correct guess will be equal to the number of teams still in the race at the start of the episode, times 10.
For episodes which do not end at a pitstop (e.g. a "To Be Continued" episode), Lingo will use his judgment in deciding which teams count as first and last.
3. Who will say the episode's title (the "Titleist")? Casual viewers may not be aware that every episode has a title, and since Season 2, that title has been a quote from the episode. For this question, you must guess who says this quote, which Lingo will provide you every week. Possible answers are any racer or Phil, the show's host.
Scoring: The score for a correct guess will be equal to the number of individual racers still in the race at the start of the episode, plus one (for Phil). For example, the "titleist" for the first episode will be worth 23 points (11 teams of 2, plus one). Partial credit equal to the number of teams remaining (e.g. 11 points for Ep. 1) will be given if you pick the wrong person on the right team (or just put down the name of a team).
4. Which member of each team will attempt this episode's Roadblock? To help you answer this question, the Roadblock Clue will be provided to you every week. Your answer should be a list which has one name from each team.
Scoring: You'll get 2 points for each Roadblocker you guess correctly. Moreover, if you guess them all correctly, your score will be doubled! If you accidentally put down both members of one team, you won't get credit for that team (or the bonus).
Note that a team need not complete the roadblock to count; they only need to pick someone for the Roadblock (e.g. Lena at the hay RB in Season 6). However, teams which never encounter the Roadblock (for example, because they took a Fast Forward, or because they were so far behind they are directed to go directly to the Pit Stop for elimination) don't count for points, nor will you receive any penalty for picking a Roadblocker for that team.
5. Who will WIN The Amazing Race 8? Each week you will pick one team that you think will win the race. It can be the same team each week, or it can be a different one.
Scoring: In this category only, your picks in previous weeks count as much as the pick you make in the current week. Every week except the last, you'll get 5 points for every team you've picked in this category that's still in the game, multiplied by the number of weeks you've picked that team. Thus, in the end, each pick will have won you 5 points for each week that the pick survived past the week you picked them. Here's an example:
Week 1:
You pick: Art & Bart (A & B)
Eliminated: Cad & Dud
Points won this week: 5
Total points so far: 5
Week 2:
You pick: Ernest & Frank (E & F)
Eliminated: Gary & Harry
Points won this week: 5 (A & B + E & F)
Total points so far: 5 + 10 = 15
Week 3:
You pick: Ernest & Frank
Eliminated: Ian & Jian
Points won this week: 15 (A & B + E & F + E & F)
Total points so far: 15 + 15 = 30
Week 4:
You pick: Kerry & Larry (K & L)
Eliminated: Ernest & Frank
Points won this week: 10 (A & B + K & L)
Total points so far: 30 + 10 = 40
For the final episode, you'll get the usual 5 points for every week you picked the Second-Place Team, and a bonus 15 points for every week you picked the actual Winning Team!
This point system awards those who pick the right teams early, yet still allows you to change your mind if you think your initial pick sucks. It's a bit like investing in the stock market: You'll get the maximum points if you pick the Winning Team every single week, but it's a risky strategy to pick the same team every week, because if that team is eliminated, your weekly points will drop back to zero. If you pick different teams every week, you'll be relatively little harmed if one of them is eliminated, but on the other hand, you'll get fewer points in the end, because only one of them can be the actual Winners.
These basic questions may occasionally be added to, removed, or modified for certain special episodes (e.g. Leg 1, in which no Roadblock appears, or the finale).
In addition, each week, Lingo will come up with one or more Bonus Questions. The number of points each is worth will vary, but will generally be proportional to the difficulty of the question (i.e. how many possible answers there are). Most questions will ask for the name of either an individual or a team. You may assume that the answer is a person or team still in the game unless indicated otherwise (in other words, it won't be an eliminated contestant or team).
Most questions will be of the individual variety. For example, the typical bonus question is something like "Who did …?" or (especially) "Who says, '…'?" (Lingo particularly likes quotes!). In such cases, the question is typically worth the number of players still in the game (fewer if the question logically rules out some contestants). If Phil is a possible answer, 1 point is added. Players who accidentally give just the name of a team for an individual question will get partial credit (equal to the number of teams to which the question could logically apply) if they pick the team the individual belongs to.
If the question asks for a team, the question will be worth points equal to the number of teams in the game. Full credit will be given if a player accidentally gives just the name of an individual on the right team.
Most bonus questions will be ordinary questions about the next episode, but some of them, which we call Delayed Bonus Questions, will be about one or more episodes occurring later in the season, or will ask you to pick an episode (which might be the next one). Examples are, "In which episode will the next Yield appear?" and "Who will the Final 3 teams be?" These questions will obviously not be scored until the answer is revealed on the show.
Finally, we'd like you to post your picks using the following format:
First: Art & Bart
Last: Carl & Darlene
Titleist: Edwina
Winners: Frank & Hank
Roadblockers ("RB clue text here"): Art, Carl, Frank, ….
Bonus1: …
etc.
Bold-facing isn't necessary. Every week we'll type out the format so you can just copy and paste it. We'll also write out the names of the teams so that you can copy and paste them, as well as remember which teams you need to pick Roadblockers for.
A few final tips:
1. Watch the previews and ads carefully—they often give away answers, particularly Roadblockers and Titleists. Free points!
2. Even if you are almost certain a team is will use a Fast Forward, make sure you enter a Roadblocker guess for that team. There's no reason not to.
3. Remember that no racer can do more than 6 roadblocks, so keep track of how many roadblocks each racer has done.
4. If a bonus question is a quote or otherwise asks for the name of a single person, remember that "Phil" (the host) might be a possible answer. Phil is also a possible Titleist.
5. There are 8 elimination episodes in this 14-hour season (and no recap episode).