Rules of the Game

[menyak]

Fantasy Baseball Cafe Lucky Ladders

How high can you climb without slipping?

Welcome to Lucky Ladders, a free game of prediction and strategy where overconfidence is your greatest foe.

Gameplay

Each Sunday of the season, you pick the winner of each MLB contest. Sounds simple? Well, there's one slight twist that makes things quite a bit more complicated: when submitting your predictions, you also have to rank them based on how confident you are in their accuracy. Note that all picks are final and can't be changed once submitted, so you'd better be sure of yourself.

Assign the rank "1" to the prediction you have the most confidence in, "2" for the next most certain prediction, and so on, down to "15" (or however many games are scheduled for that Sunday) for the game whose outcome you're least sure of.

Example: In Week 1, you're certain the Chicago Cubs will win at home, so you give this matchup a rank of 1. You're also fairly sure that the Red Sox will beat the Devil Rays, so you give this game the rank of 2. You choose a win by the Yankees as the third most certain result and so on, until you've filled in all 15 spots.

The list of games you have ranked is your ladder; the game ranked "1" is its first rung, the game ranked "15" is the highest rung.

To reach the first rung, your first prediction has to be accurate. If it is, you can keep climbing if your second prediction is correct, and so on, until you miss a prediction. Once you reach an incorrect prediction, you've slipped off the ladder.

Reaching the first rung earns you 1 point, the second rung 2 points, the third 3, etc., with the top rung earning 15 points. A perfect ladder would therefore give you 120 points. But careful - once you slip, you no longer earn points, even if predictions made for higher rungs are correct.

Example: Of the predictions listed above, the Cubs do in fact pick up the win. Congratulations: you've reached the first rung and have earned your first point. The Red Sox also win: that's two more points, and you're still alive and can keep climbing. Unfortunately, the Yankees lose their game, so you've slipped on the third rung, and only gain the three points you earned on rungs 1 and 2. Better luck next week!

Note: If a makeup double-header is played on Sunday due to a prior rainout, the result of Sunday's second game will count for Lucky Ladders. Should, due to a rainout or other cancellation, no game be played by the team you have listed as a winner on the day for which you submitted your prediction, that game will be deleted from your ladder, and all higher picks will move down a rung.

Example: The game in which you predicted a Cubs win is wiped out by a blizzard. The Red Sox win, and the Yankees lose. In this case, with the Cubs game removed from your ladder, your prediction of a Boston win slides down to rung 1, earning you one point.

At the end of the season, the player with the most total points is the season champion.

Deadlines, Secret Submissions

There is no fixed deadline for submitting your lucky ladders. While games that have already started by the time you submit your tips will be considered invalid and automatically moved to the end of your ladder, all other tips will count. Please note however that, no matter how late you submit your tips, you will need to predict the outcome of ALL games. That way, even if there was a mistake in our schedule or a game was officially postponed, you will not be blocked from picking any valid games, and we can automatically include your tips in the tally once any errors have been corrected. After submitting your pick, it's your own responsibility to make sure it actually shows up in your post. In case of technical problems, please contact the moderator of this game and/or PM menyak.

If you wish to keep other players from copying your strategy, you may submit hidden picks. The game is more fun, though, if everyone can see each other's picks and compare strategies.

Tiebreakers

If at the end of the season, two or more players are tied for the lead, the player with the highest single-week score will be declared the winner. If there is still a tie, the second-highest week will be used, and so on until a winner is determined.

Prizes

Instead of common gold and jewels, our winners receive titles, icons, and bragging rights. Let the games begin...

© 2004-2005 Stefan Micke.

[eftda]

Should Montreal be changed to Washington?

[Arlo]

Should Montreal be changed to Washington?

Yes, menyak will be updating that just as soon as he's able.

[Madison]

I probably missed it somewhere, but when is the deadline for everyone's picks to be in?

[Madison]

I probably missed it somewhere, but when is the deadline for everyone's picks to be in, and which games are we doing? Sunday's?

[Madison]

Oops. Thought I clicked "edit".

Couple of questions since I'm blind:

1. When's the deadline for picks?

2. Which day's games are we picking? Sunday's?

[Madison]

Ok, found Sunday as the day. Back to just the one question.

Deadline for the picks?

[menyak]

Good point.

There is no fixed deadline for submitting your lucky ladders. While games that have already started by the time you submit your tips will be considered invalid and automatically moved to the end of your ladder, all other tips will count. Please note however that, no matter how late you submit your tips, you will need to predict the outcome of ALL games. That way, even if there was a mistake in our schedule or a game was officially postponed, you will not be blocked from picking any valid games, and we can automatically include your tips in the tally once any errors have been corrected.

[Madison]

Cool. Thanks Menyak!

[ofhdhdy]

so are we just picking sunday games or what?