The Official Mystery Event Thread

[Sal the Ref]

Hey all.

Andy and I met tonight and decided to reveal the mystery event some time before the 10th. Why, you ask? It's so I will be able to post the rules to the game and answer any questions the participants may have in enough time to ensure they everyone will have an understanding of the game. It's not that it's complicated, but it's more for those amongst you who may be unfamiliar with it, so you can jump right into playing on the 10th without having to worry.

So check this very thread tomorrow night...

[Bryan]

Oh, excitement fills my veins. :D
Sal gets mega karma for this turn of events.

[Zurden]

Oooooooh! Sounds like fun! ^_^

Oh wait, you haven't revealed it yet.... BLAST! -.-*

Guess I'll have to wait...

[Ishbo]

Oh God, the adrenaline rush !!

[Sal the Ref]

Yes, indeed, the event will be that mid-80's cult classic, Press Your Luck.

Hit http://www.rashkie.com/pyl for more info...

[Bryan]

I get... a blank page.

[Sal the Ref]

I get... a blank page.

Try it now.

[Dipstick]

Try it now.
Still blank.

-Dippy

[Sal the Ref]

Aw, heck, I'll just post it here:

Now, what the hell is Press Your Luck, you may ask?

Press Your Luck aired in the mid 1980's and still has a cult following to this day. It was a game that pitted three players against each other. It would start with a trivia question session, which would allow the players to earn spins to use on the big board. The board itself contained 18 squares (each of which had 3 different changing values) and the player would stop the board, and win whatever they had landed on...unless it was a Whammy, a devilish weasel who'd take all the players winning down to 0. As if that wasn't bad enough, hitting him four times during the course of the show would eliminate a player from the game.

A second round was also played, with another set of questions followed by a board with higher cash values and prizes. The winner was the player with the most money/prizes at the end.

To play it at TGA, the board had to be re-created from scratch, and that took a lot of work. Taking, I should say, because I'm currently at about the 95% mark. But, enough work has been done that I can be confident about announcing it, hence AndyÍs post.

As in Jeopardy!, the cash values are all in fun, HOWEVER, there will be prizes on the board, and they're legit. If you land on one, your team gets the prize, provided your team not only wins, but doesn't get a Whammy.

This Friday night, I am heading on down to TGA so Andy and I can do a test of the logistics of the game. We'll need three volunteers for this, to play a "mini" version of the game to see if any chnages are necessary. This test game will not have questions and will use only the round 1 board, and prizes will not be given away...sorry, but we gotta save that for the event itself.

If you have any questions at all about PYL, please post them in this thread. I'll be checking it at least once a day (except on the 4th) and answering them.

I suggest you read the rules of the game below, and also that you check out http://gscentral.net/cpyl.htm This Web page contains everything you'll need to know about Press Your Luck, and a lot more. In fact, you may want to check this site before reading the rules.


Here are the Rules:
Press Your Luck Rules for TGA

-There are 3 teams, consisting of 5 members each
-The game consists of two rounds, and each round consists of a question session and a spin session.
-There are 5 questions to the question session.
-Only the winning team keeps their winnings.

Round 1, Question session
-One member of each team takes position at the front.
-The host asks a question.
-Each team tries to be first to buzz in with the correct answer and has 10 seconds to do so.
-If no team buzzes in after 10 seconds, the host will read three answers to choose from.
-When the first answer is given by the team who buzzed in, the host will read two more choices for the remaining teams to select from in addition to the answer given by the team who bussed in.
-If the team buzzed in with the correct answer, they earn 2 spins.
-If the other teams selected the correct answer, they earn 1 spin.
-If the team either buzzed in or selected an incorrect answer, they earn no spins. There is no penalty for buzzing in or giving an incorrect answer.
-If no team buzzes in before the 10 seconds elapse, the host will read three answers for the teams to chose from. Choosing correctly will earn 1 spin.
-Another member of each team takes position at the front of the podium, and another question is asked. This process repeats until 5 questions have been asked, allowing each member of each team an opportunity to answer.

Round 1, Spin session
-The team with the fewest number of spins goes first.
-The team has the choice to either pass their spins to another team or to take a spin to the big board.
-The big board will be started by the host and will continue spinning until the team stops it.
-The team will continue to play until their spins are exhausted or they pass them.
-The process will be repeated for the team with the middle number of spins, then the highest number of spins.

Round 2, Question session
-Played the same as the Round 1 Question session.

Round 2, Spin session
-The team in 3rd place goes first.
-Play is the same as the Round 1 Spin session.

Round 3, Spin session
-Round 3 will occur only if there is a tie for first place.
-Each member of each team will have 1 spin on a special cash-only board. The team with the highest total wins. If there is a tie, the first team will spin 1 more time, then the second will spin 1 time. This will continue until one team takes the lead.

General game notes
-Hitting a Whammy results in the team losing all winnings thus far.
-4 Whammies in the course of the game eliminates a team from play.
-When passing spins, all spins are passed.
-All passed spins must be taken until exhausted, or the team hits a Whammy. Should the team hit a Whammy on a passed spin, the remainder of the passed spins will become earned spins.
-If a team hits a space giving one spin while using a passed spin, the one spin will be added to their earned spin total, and they will continue using their passed spins.
-If a team is in first place, their passed spins go to the team in second place. If there is a tie between the other two teams, the passed spins move to the team to the left of the host.
-If a team is in second or third place, their passed spins go to the team in first place.
-Teams can not stop playing if they have remaining spins. They must either use them or pass them. The only time this rule would not apply is if two teams have been eliminated. The remaining team may then stop whenever they choose.
-Whammies are cumulative from Round 1 into Round 2, i.e. if a team hits 2 Whammies in Round 1, they have 2 Whammies going into Round 2.
-Winnings from Round 1 are also cumulative, and will be lost should a team hit a Whammy in Round 2.

[mus1ck1d15]

I'll be there friday and i'll volunteer to try this out! it sounds like fun. i'm not in the actual mystery event sadly so it'd be cool to try :D

i'll get rob to try it with me too

[Sal the Ref]

I'll be there friday and i'll volunteer to try this out! it sounds like fun. i'm not in the actual mystery event sadly so it'd be cool to try :D

i'll get rob to try it with me too

Cool. Just let Andy know, and I'll see you tomorrow.

[Garrett]

Is there a list of people who are actually IN the mystery event because I signed up in a forum quite a while ago and I'm not sure if I'm in this thing!

Help?

[iceymoon]

question, sal! ^^

since this is a group event, will it be carried out like ddr jeaopardy? by this i mean giving all the group members a chance to talk it out amongst themselves when they answer a question during the question session. or since the members will be rotating, is the person up at the time on their own in finding the correct answer? ^^;

anyway, this sounds fabulous! :] just like the real game, 'cept in groups. awesome. oh, this is a minor curiosity question, what will we be using instead of a buzzer for questions/stop button for the board? o.o

eee! can't wait!

[Sal the Ref]

Is there a list of people who are actually IN the mystery event because I signed up in a forum quite a while ago and I'm not sure if I'm in this thing!

Help?

Far as I know, Andy plans to use the same list for this as the original event. But it would probably be best to check with him on this.

[Sal the Ref]

question, sal! ^^

since this is a group event, will it be carried out like ddr jeaopardy? by this i mean giving all the group members a chance to talk it out amongst themselves when they answer a question during the question session. or since the members will be rotating, is the person up at the time on their own in finding the correct answer? ^^;

anyway, this sounds fabulous! :] just like the real game, 'cept in groups. awesome. oh, this is a minor curiosity question, what will we be using instead of a buzzer for questions/stop button for the board? o.o

eee! can't wait!

There will be five questions in each round, and one member from each team will face off to answer the first question, then another member from each team will do the same for the second, etc. until all five questions have been asked. This is to allow everyone playing an opportunity to answer a question.

As for buzzing in, we will probably have people raise their hand.

The board will be stopped via a USB controller, the game will be run off my laptop.

[Sal the Ref]

OK...here's a sample screenshot of the board..especially recreated just for TGA...


http://homepage.mac.com/horshack/sample.jpg

(The numbers next to the Whammy merely are indicative of the various poses he had on the board, which will appear on the final version.)

[Bryan]

Hey Sal! Great job on the screenshot! I can't wait to see the final product and I am very glad that you kept the old school look. Is there any way we'll be able to connect a bigger screen to your laptop? I think it'll add to the suspense and it'll work for a big crowd as well. I remember your iBook's screen to be like 14" or something.

Just a thought. :D

[iceymoon]

There will be five questions in each round, and one member from each team will face off to answer the first question, then another member from each team will do the same for the second, etc. until all five questions have been asked. This is to allow everyone playing an opportunity to answer a question.

As for buzzing in, we will probably have people raise their hand.

The board will be stopped via a USB controller, the game will be run off my laptop.

i see. what i didn't get the first time around is that the person that goes up front for the question is the only one allowed to come up with the answer at the time. ^^; so it's sort of a tag team thing in comparison to the way ddr jeopardy is played.

[Geohound]

Sounds like a party.

[Sal the Ref]

Is there any way we'll be able to connect a bigger screen to your laptop?

Actually, the plan is to hook it up to the biggest TV in the store.

[Bryan]

Actually, the plan is to hook it up to the biggest TV in the store.
Sounds awesome. :D The more I look at this thread, the more I can't wait! Can I be host? Can I? Can I?

/me already thinks Sal or Andy has it covered though.

[Sal the Ref]

Sounds awesome. :D The more I look at this thread, the more I can't wait! Can I be host? Can I? Can I?

Sorry...I'll be filling that role.

[Bryan]

Sorry...I'll be filling that role.
Bah! You guys get all the fun. You better be like Tomaken! :D

[Sal the Ref]

You better be like Tomaken! :D

I'll try...but I'm not wearing a suit.

[Bryan]

I'll try...but I'm not wearing a suit.
Wear your referee uniform, and then I can challenge Abe in the squared circle afterwards. :p

[Sal the Ref]

Wear your referee uniform...

Uniform? Hmmm...


Thanks to Amanda, Rob and Jesse for helping me test out the board last night. The board is now complete:

http://homepage.mac.com/horshack/board2.jpg

On another note, there may be some minor changes made to the rules. Keep checking this thread.

[Catastrophe]

*gasp* Press Your Luck!!! I watched that show everyday! I even taped a bunch of the episodes!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW O_O

Whats funny is the way that show was cancelled. One day this guy started taping each episode and slowing the videos down frame by frame. He discovered that the game board was actually not random but fixed on a few patterns and that he could predict exactly where the cursor was going to go next. Then he worked on his timing, went on the show, and hit the "$5000 + free spin" space almost fifty times and cleaned the game show out of their savings. TV guide did an article on it called it "The day the game show got whammied."

Given our collective beat-matching skills ... eh heh heh heh. :cool: Don't make the board too predictable or too slow! (Or, don't include any "prize plus free spaces".)

Btw, this is the best idea for a mystery event ever! :D

[Sal the Ref]

Our spin patterns are much more complicated than the ones Michael Larson figured out, I assure you.

[iceymoon]

*gasp* Press Your Luck!!! I watched that show everyday! I even taped a bunch of the episodes!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW O_O

Whats funny is the way that show was cancelled. One day this guy started taping each episode and slowing the videos down frame by frame. He discovered that the game board was actually not random but fixed on a few patterns and that he could predict exactly where the cursor was going to go next. Then he worked on his timing, went on the show, and hit the "$5000 + free spin" space almost fifty times and cleaned the game show out of their savings. TV guide did an article on it called it "The day the game show got whammied."

Given our collective beat-matching skills ... eh heh heh heh. :cool: Don't make the board too predictable or too slow! (Or, don't include any "prize plus free spaces".)

Btw, this is the best idea for a mystery event ever! :D

yeah, i know...we already talked about this guy on a different thread. ^_^;;

[Catastrophe]

Oh, there was another thread? And you know that guys name? Wow! I'm even more impressed.

[Sal the Ref]

There have been some minor rule changes:

- Buzzing in with a correct answer results in 3 spins being rewarded.
- A team now has 15 seconds to buzz in AND give a complete answer.

There have also been some rules established for the prizes.

For an easily viewable and printable copy of the complete rules, check out this page (http://homepage.mac.com/horshack/rules.html).

[mus1ck1d15]

how are the teams going to work? are their going to be teams/how many people to a team/do we pick them or will they just be organzied somehow?

[Bryan]

how are the teams going to work? are their going to be teams/how many people to a team/do we pick them or will they just be organzied somehow?
Last time we picked our teams out ourselves, so I'm sure that's how it's going to work this time.

[mus1ck1d15]

is it extra to be in this event or does it go along with the fee to get in the dooor

[Sal the Ref]

is it extra to be in this event or does it go along with the fee to get in the dooor

I believe it is included in the entry fee, but it may be better to double-check with Andy.