It's that time again, time for the Predictions Game to get up and running. There are a few changes from previous seasons, so might be a good idea now to recap, for anybody new who wants to join in, or if you just need a recap of the rules. Each week during the regular season and all postseason, one (or two) game(s) in that week of play will be named as the predictions game, and it is your job to predict the winning team in that game as well as the margin of victory. Added to that will also be a game week question where you will be asked to predict a particular facet of the game, be it quarterback passing yards, or points scored, the list is endless.
Rather than go on and on, let's jump right into it....
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SEASON PREDICTIONSLike last season, the season predictions are the first cab off the rank. The large amount of questions from last year have been simplified and rather than begin with a twenty question barrage, we will go back to a more simple time and just focus on the main ingredient of the season. As always, your answers will be locked once the Regular Season Game 1 sim is finished cycling through, so change them as many times as you need to.
1. How many victories will your team achieve this season? (5 points if correct, 2.5 points if within 1 victory or if your team ties a game and is within that 1 game margin)
2. Name each division winner (1 point each, total 8 points. 2 additional points for the players who correctly predict the most division winners)
3. Name the winner of the Fail Brigade Conference (4 points)
4. Name the winner of the Bad Company Conference (4 points)
5. Name the league champion (6 points)
6. Name the three wildcard teams from Bad Company (one point for each correct team, up to 3 points)
7. Name the three wildcard teams from Fail Brigade (one point for each correct team, up to 3 points)
The first pool of points from these (so, Questions 1, 2, 6 and 7) will be handed out following the completion of the regular season, with Questions 3 and 4 following the completion of the conference championship games, and then Question 5 following completion of the season.
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WEEKLY PREDICTIONSOK, now onto the fun part. The weekly predictions. This is more of just an understanding of how it will run this season.
1. There is only one restriction on the games this week, and that is that no team will feature twice in a row throughout the regular season unless it is absolutely warranted. There was a feeling to promote more high-profile match-ups and games with more meaning throughout the season rather than trying to feature every team and I feel that this is a good step in revamping this game. I apologize in advance if your team does not feature throughout the season.
2. All postseason games will continue to feature in the game, that part won't change.
3. There will also be a few opportunities where two games may be presented for your predictions.
4. There will also be opportunities to offer up suggestions from those playing the game, so keep an eye out on #sportsball-extra for those opportunities. If there is a game upcoming that you want me to keep an eye on, let me know.
The questions have received a revamp as well, there won't be any more questions like last season, most of the questions now will be providing more of a range for you
(we trialed a couple of them late last season). I hope the new questions will make it more enjoyable, and rather than
(as Beans put it, questions that feel like total crapshoots) questions that require a total guess.
Finally, the points structure has also been slightly altered this season to reflect these overall game changes. They are as follows:-
Correctly predicting the winning team - (2 points)
Correctly predicting the correct margin (but the wrong winning team) - (1 point)
Correctly predicting the winning team and the correct margin - (4 points)
Drawn game - (1.5 points for all participants who made a prediction that game week)
The question for that week will have the relevant points on offer after the question, as questions may have a range of answers so there will be a range of points on offer.
One last thing, this season I am adding something a bit different. We've had previous seasons where people have joined, made their season predictions and then forgotten or ignored the predictions for the whole season, only getting points from their initial season predictions. This season, I am trialing a new system where if you miss the prediction window for that week, then you will be automatically defaulted to have predicted the away team but no margin will be given. If the away team does win, you will receive 1 point instead of 2
(and 0.5 point instead of 1.5 if the game is a draw)----------
CHIPSThis season, as part of the revamp of the whole game, I'm adding in four chips to spice the game up a little bit more. Everyone who joins in has all four chips to use, but they do expire after Week 16, so use them or lose them. Just indicate in your prediction post that week which chip you want to use
(make sure it's clear otherwise it may get forgotten). You can only use one chip per week, so no doubling up (sorry).
Use them wisely. I’ll outline them below:-
BOOST – This is being re-named from joker. This can be used at any point during the regular season to double your score for that week only. It will double any points that you receive from that week, which does include any points you get from the questions. If it is used in a double gameweek, you must indicate which predicted game you wish to nominate as your double (the other game will be scored as normal). BONUS: I've decided to expand the boost wildcard and you will now have 2 boosts to use throughout the regular season, however, you cannot use two boosts in the same game week..
FREE HIT – Something new, for a bit of tactics this season. This one, when used, will automatically override your prediction and give you the winning team, with a margin of 7 points. So, you could use this in a week where you aren't too sure about who will win, or maybe you just haven't had time to look into who might win but still want to collect at least 2 points for your overall score, just reply to the thread saying you wish to use your free hit chip. If you correctly predict the winner whilst using this wildcard, then the free hit is played but no change is made to your prediction. If your free hit results in a perfect prediction, normal points will apply. Use it wisely.
TRIPLE BOOST - This chip is also something new and allows you for one week only, to triple your score. However, the difference between a regular boost and this one is that if it's a double game week, the whole score for that week gets tripled. Yep! So, you could use this on a double game week and get a big score or use it somewhere else and see if it helps lift you up in the rankings. It's your call.
FINAL LEADERBOARD
Last edited at 9/06/2023 3:59 pm
