Ok it's all ready to go. I'll open it up tomorrow morning my time to give more people a good shot at winning the first one

By that time, those new badges should also have their text

[Edit: They now do. I hope you'll have fun with the series.]

Just one suggestion - I think Iron Brain should be a 50 or 75 level badge since it has "have several other badges" as a prerequisite to be in the Veteran game, so it feels very natural for a level extra.

And Terry - the image on the new Tri Achievement badgelet is again one that's already been used: It's the one from the Achievement: Hourly Mix badge.

A replacement I designed from scratch (no cliparts or other materials used, you can have all rights, erc. yadda yadda ) can be found at http://www.kedanya.org/-110.gif if you want it.

One last thing, just to be sure it won't cause us problems down the line: A player with 4 badges starts the hour's triathlon. They play really well and their score is clearly sufficient to win the amateur division. It's however also good enough to pick up the Smartest badge by winning their level division, which now puts them on a 5 count as the Smartest badge is awarded 15 minutes before the tri gets scored. Is this handled correctly to ensure they will still get their amateur win?

"One last thing, just to be sure it won't cause us problems down the line: A player with 4 badges starts the hour's triathlon. They play really well and their score is clearly sufficient to win the amateur division. It's however also good enough to pick up the Smartest badge by winning their level division, which now puts them on a 5 count as the Smartest badge is awarded 15 minutes before the tri gets scored. Is this handled correctly to ensure they will still get their amateur win?"

Triathlon is a little different than most games in that its scoreboard doesn't even exist until all the other games close and are scored.

So, there are all sorts of badges that you might win in the preceding hour that could push you into the Veterans.

There's a way I suppose to ignore those badges recently won, but for simplicity sake right now it just takes what you have after the 3 games score. This doesn't bother me too much because it's not like someone can look at the scoreboard at 8:30, see they are winning amateur, and then look again at 9:01 and see themselves now in veteran.

p.s. I like the icon. thanks

Ok -- first (real) triathlon scoring will be at 11 AM FT time.

So if I understand correctly the Piece of Cake running between 9.30 and 10.30 AM will be the first to be counted for the triathlon?

correct

Looks like cumulative points are much higher than I anticipated because of the greater number of people playing. Upped cumulative to 1000 points, although it will likely only be a couple of weeks before the first one is won!

The participation is hourlies is going to spike over the next month or two.

Terry, can you add links to the triathlon page from the three individual games so it becomes easily accessible?

(that part looks done )

Also, is there a possibility to have a "triathlon marker" with the checkmarks? Maybe it would be easiest to simply use two colors for the check that alternate odd/even hours (green and blue or so) - three same-color checkmarks make up a tri set while any other combo does not.

I see I'm listed as having 9 badges. Are the site-wide winner badges in Mixed and WTS not being counted?

If somebody wins their division in Triathlon and they've won the badge already, is there no badge awarded that hour, or does it go to the player who finished best and still hasn't won the badge?

You gotta beat all existing badge owners.

How many challenges are there now, the home page says :

140 of 198 complete

and I know that count is low.

On the challenge page itself, the tally is 206, but I think there are more with these recent additions.

Thanks, Terry!

Did I miss the explain on why only Veterans are elligible to earn Tri points? I can understand a lower level of awarded points to those in the amateur division but not a total blanking. It just seems that in this game, having badges is the only way to get more badges. Any chance of instituting Tri-pts at the lower competition level? It's not like we're going to get the big awards sooner than the others like is made note of in champion level point accumulation.

I just liked the idea of there being an extra incentive and reward to earn badges in the 3 games to be able to compete for an "advanced" badge.

Besides, everyone competing for that badge is then on an equal footing.

Forgot to add: I am going to invest time in this ballgame because it does seem like fun so far. Thanks for adding it,

Isn't the Iron badge 1000 points and and not 700?

I could have missed the posting about that somewhere, perhaps, possibly, probably?

Terry upped it to 1000 - he's posted about this on the previous page.

The 1000 (instead of 700) for the Iron Badge seems to be fixed everywhere except the Announcement post:
http://www.funtrivia.com/bb.cfm?action=details&qnid=26955&boardid=1000000

Not that it matters, probably anyone who is following the game will realize this, but it may cause confusion among others just finding out about it.



Edited to say it's fixed now, no one need worry about checking it.

Thanks for this new game, Terry! This game has really sparked a lot of enthusiasm. As Dave mentioned, quite a spike in the number of players. I can't think the last time I saw so many participants in these three games.

Thanks for another terrific game, Terry I can now safely pull out the rest of the hairs on my dwindling head trying to get somewhere on this

Have a question though: I noticed just now that my name is listed under the "amateurs" category and that I have won 4 badges. I checked my profile again and noticed I actually have 6 badges (Above Average and Achievement Mixed, Smartest and Achievement Smartest, Speed demon and Achievement Piece of Cake). Are all of them not counted towards the badges in question? Which 2 of my badges are discounted? I am asking so I can understand the eligibility criteria for the tri points (that are given only to veterans).

Adding my thanks too, Terry. This is great fun.

I can't seem to find this anywhere - is there a place where we can see how many cumulative Triathlon points we have earned so far?

Yup: http://www.funtrivia.com/triboard_cumulative.cfm

Just gotta find your name.

Thanks, Kyle.

Can someone please tell me if I missed looking somewhere for the badge requirements for this game? Which badges are not counted towards the tri points/veterans category?

gah - 2743.... so close, but no cigar (or badge). Loving this new concept!

I still keep getting mixed up over which hour I'm in for the Smartest game. If I get muddled and play after the hour, it means it doesn't count for the other two - the smartest must be played before the turn of the hour to count with the "new" mixed and piece of cake that started recently (taking it at say five past the hour). By the time I realise it's the wrong one, it's too late for that hour. I know it's probably deliberate to "force" us to just play every hour but it's ever so annoying (And I have no idea what the answer is, unless it's to make it the following Smartest so it's the X:30 X:45 and Y:00 beginnings that count as one triathlon.)

I also seem to be credited for one less badge than I have. I count 5 but I show up in the amateur division with 4.

Rowena, X:30, X:45 and X+1:00 is exactly the way the Triathlon works.

A surefire way to make any set you try a valid one is to play easy, mixed, hard in this order as quickly as possible except that you do not play a second or third game that has less than 15 minutes remaining - wait until it has reset.

My solution is to play all three games in the first half of the hour. I don't have to keep track of when any one of them ends as those three are tallied at the top of the next hour.