Nimbleweed I
Posted: 11 Jun 2016, 20:41
Nimbleweed is a game of prediction and risk, adapted from Grumbleweed. The aim is to predict the time of the next post in the thread. Players gain or lose points depending on whether their predictions are successful or not.
Nimbleweed is not like Tumbleweed. Obviously the names are similar and they're both based on the passage of time, but other than that the aims and strategy are entirely different. Some of the terminology is similar though, so please read the definitions carefully to avoid any confusion.
A post is just any post in the thread. There are no restrictions on what can be posted as long as it's (at least vaguely) relevant to the game.
A valid claim is a post containing a line saying "X point(s)", where X is any positive integer from 1 to 360. In making such a claim, a player is predicting that the next post will be at least (10 * X) seconds later. E.g. 1 point represents a prediction of 10 seconds; 2 points represent 20 seconds; 6 points represent 1 minute; 60 points represent 10 minutes; 360 points represent 1 hour (maximum). No claim may be posted during the hours 00:00:00 to 05:59:59 inclusive. A player may not make two successive claims without another valid claim between them (see rule 3 below).
A successful claim is one that is not followed by another post within the time period specified. If the claim is successful, the player gains the points. If the claim is unsuccessful, the player loses the points.
There are three ways to win the game: gaining 1800 points, gaining a lead of 600 points, and being in the lead after 7 days. Unlike Tumbleweed, there's no distinction between "invalid claims" and "spoilers"; they're all just posts in the thread that don't contain a valid claim. They "stop the clock" like all other posts but have no effect on the scores.
The game will start as soon as I say "Go!", some time between 06:00:00 and 08:00:00 on Monday 13/06/2016. Any claims before that time will be disregarded. Please make sure that your forum clock is adapted to show seconds (go to User control panel > Board preferences > My date format > Custom and change "H:i" to "H:i:s"). If you have any queries before then, please post them in the thread.
Rules in full:
Nimbleweed is not like Tumbleweed. Obviously the names are similar and they're both based on the passage of time, but other than that the aims and strategy are entirely different. Some of the terminology is similar though, so please read the definitions carefully to avoid any confusion.
A post is just any post in the thread. There are no restrictions on what can be posted as long as it's (at least vaguely) relevant to the game.
A valid claim is a post containing a line saying "X point(s)", where X is any positive integer from 1 to 360. In making such a claim, a player is predicting that the next post will be at least (10 * X) seconds later. E.g. 1 point represents a prediction of 10 seconds; 2 points represent 20 seconds; 6 points represent 1 minute; 60 points represent 10 minutes; 360 points represent 1 hour (maximum). No claim may be posted during the hours 00:00:00 to 05:59:59 inclusive. A player may not make two successive claims without another valid claim between them (see rule 3 below).
A successful claim is one that is not followed by another post within the time period specified. If the claim is successful, the player gains the points. If the claim is unsuccessful, the player loses the points.
There are three ways to win the game: gaining 1800 points, gaining a lead of 600 points, and being in the lead after 7 days. Unlike Tumbleweed, there's no distinction between "invalid claims" and "spoilers"; they're all just posts in the thread that don't contain a valid claim. They "stop the clock" like all other posts but have no effect on the scores.
The game will start as soon as I say "Go!", some time between 06:00:00 and 08:00:00 on Monday 13/06/2016. Any claims before that time will be disregarded. Please make sure that your forum clock is adapted to show seconds (go to User control panel > Board preferences > My date format > Custom and change "H:i" to "H:i:s"). If you have any queries before then, please post them in the thread.
Rules in full:
Edited at 08:56:30 12/06/2016 to correct "10 days" to "7 days" in rule (8), and to show all times in seconds.(1) Subject to the rules below, any player can post a claim for points at any time, in the form "X point(s)" where X is any positive integer from 1 to 360. The player starting the game may not make the first claim. The claim must appear in a separate line from any other material in the post.
(2) If the time difference between a claim for X points and the next post in the thread is (10 * X) seconds or more, the player gains X points. If the time difference is less than (10 * X) seconds, the player loses X points. All posts in the thread are deemed to "stop the clock", apart from those during "downtime" (see rule 7). Time differences are calculated according to the timestamp on the post, in seconds (use the "H:i:s" option in the User Control Panel).
(3) No player may make two successive claims for points without another valid claim between them. Consecutive posts by the same player are allowed as long as they are not both claims.
(4) There is no score or penalty for invalid claims.
(5) Scores, comments and queries relevant to the game may be posted in the thread. They stop the clock like all other posts. They may be included in claim posts as long as the claim appears on a separate line. If a player wishes to stop the clock without making a claim or making a comment, he/she can simply post "spoiler" or something similar.
(6) Editing of claims is forbidden. Any player found to have edited a claim will forfeit 360 points plus the number of points that appear in the claim (if any), irrespective of the time of the next post. Editing of lines that do not contain claims is permitted.
(7) The period of time from 00:00:00 to 05:59:59 inclusive is regarded as "downtime" and all claims within this period are regarded as invalid. Posts during downtime do not stop the clock. If the expiry time of a claim would otherwise fall within this period, then 6 hours is added to the expiry time. E.g. a claim of 120 points made at 23:50:00 is deemed to expire at 06:10:00 the next day, not 00:10:00.
(8) To win the game, a player must do one of the following:The winning-post is deemed to have been passed as soon as the allotted time is reached. E.g. if a player is on 1740 points and claims 60 points, then that player is deemed to have won as soon as 10 minutes have passed without another post.
- gain a total of 1800 points;
- gain a lead of 600 points over the second-placed player;
- be in the lead when exactly 7 days have passed after the start of the game.
