Welcome to The Amazing Race 9 Prediction League!
I, Lingo, am happy to be back to do this once again. And as it would be virtually impossible for me to run the league alone these days (damn dissertation…), I am, as usual, extremely grateful that
Fingolfin is back as co-runner. Thanks, Fingo!
If you're familiar with our past Prediction Leagues, you know how this works, especially if you've played in a TAR league before (the rules are the same as last season). If you've never played before, here's your introduction.
The rules are simple. Each week, I'll post a set of questions about the upcoming episode(s), which you will answer in the blog reply box below (or email us if you have connection problems). You must, of course, answer them before the episode starts. Please only give one answer to each question. Change your answers as often as you want by reposting. Your answers can be consistent or inconsistent (e.g. putting the same team for first and last). Your answers must be unambiguous (you may refer to teams by just their initials, but write out the names for questions about individuals). If you're confused about anything, just ask.
Anyone who hasn't been spoiled (seen advance knowledge about the season which would help you in the game) may play without restrictions. If you have been spoiled, email Lingo at lingo@tvsa.co.za (not Fingolfin!) and you may be able to play anyway (for reduced points). During the course of the game, if you come across any spoilers (whether on the web or in popular SA mass media), you must inform Lingo of the content of such spoilers or face banishment from the game. New players may join at any time!
The regular questions you will answer each week will be:
1. FIRST: Which team will come in first place in this episode? Pick one team.
2. LAST: Which team will come in last place? Pick one team.
3. TITLEIST: Who will say the episode's title? Pick one individual (which may be Phil, the host).
4. WINNERS: Which team will WIN the race? Each week you'll give your latest pick for the winner. You can pick the same team each week, or you can "switch horses."
5. ROADBLOCKER: Which team member will attempt the episode's Roadblock? Pick one member of each team. To help you guess the Roadblockers, we will provide you the text of the Roadblock clue that the racers read.
In addition to these regular questions, Lingo (who is American, and thus has already seen all the episodes) will use his knowledge of the episodes to ask bonus questions for additional points. These are usually questions about what people on the show do or say (Lingo particularly likes quotes!).
Each week, we'll provide an answer template like the following that you can copy and paste into the blog reply box (sample answers are shown):
First: Art & Bart
Last: Carl & Darlene
Titleist: Edwina
Winners: Frank & Hank
Roadblockers ("RB clue text here"): Art, Carl, Frank, ….
Bonus1: …
etc.
We'll also provide a list of the names of all the teams still in the game.
To avoid cluttering the blog with incomplete answer posts, please 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.
After the episode airs, the answers will be posted in this blog, followed by the scores each player earns. The number of points each question is worth is generally proportional to the difficulty of the question (i.e. the odds of guessing it correctly), although regular questions are weighted more than bonus questions.
Some bonus questions, called Delayed Bonus questions, have answers which may not be revealed until later in the season, for example: "In which episode will the next Fast Forward appear?" or "Who will be the Final 3 teams?" These questions, of course, will not be scored until the answer is revealed on the show.
That's all the information you need to start playing right away. However, we strongly suggest that you read the Detailed Rules post at some point for all the nitpicky details, as well as a complete description of the scoring system.
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).
If you're interested, here are the more detailed rules for the PL. I suggest that you all have a look through them at some point.