Fantasy Baseball Cafe Matchup MeltdownIn many survivor formats, one freak result can end your whole season in April. That's why we've created a game with longer gameplay, where luck isn't quite as large a factor:
Welcome to Fantasy Baseball Cafe's Matchup Meltdown, where your powers of baseball prediction will be tested to the limit.
GameplayEach weekend of the season, you try to predict the winners of as many MLB games as possible. The catch? You're only allowed to make predictions for as many games as you predicted correctly the previous weekend...
Gameplay is simple. To begin the season, each player predicts the winners for all MLB games played on weekend 1. For every prediction that turns out to be incorrect, you can choose one game less the following week (correct predictions and the corresponding number of predictions you may make the following weekend will appear on your entry).
The result of a game will only count if it is actually played on a given weekend (that includes games postponed from Saturday to Sunday). Be careful when choosing your winners - it's like that famous rapper says, "You only get one shot," and you can not change your mind and correct your pick later on.
If a game is postponed beyond the weekend, your predicted winner will be considered correct.
If, due to a prior rainout, a makeup double-header is played on Saturday or Sunday, the game that begins closest to that day's originally scheduled time will be considered the "original" matchup and used for Matchup Meltdown scoring.
If a game ends in a tie, your predicted winner will be considered correct.
If you fail to predict even one game correctly, you are eliminated. The winner is the last player remaining in the game.
Example: On weekend 1, you correctly predict 15 of the 25 winners. On weekend 2, you can then choose any 15 games, where you'll again attempt to predict the winning team.
If 10 of your 15 weekend 2 predictions turn out to be correct, you'll then be able to choose 10 games on weekend 3, etc.Should you be good enough (and lucky enough) to have more predictions remaining than actual games are scheduled on a given weekend, your extra predictions will not be lost; you'll be able to use them as soon as you no longer have more predictions than scheduled games.
To make your predictions, simply submit the name of the teams you expect to win that weekend in the weekly Predictions thread in this forum. (You may only choose one team from each game. Please make sure you submit the correct amount of predictions; if you accidentally submit more predictions than you're entitled to, the teams listed first will count. 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.)
In the first weeks of the season, you're able to choose any games you like. But do think twice before betting on those easy favorites - as the competition progresses and the number of picks available to you starts melting away, so does the number of games you may pick! Which games you can choose depends entirely on the picks
you made in previous rounds, as the WebHamster (the Cafe's diligent, robotic rodent pet) will learn from your picks and try to give you a hard time by locking away those matchups that seem to be no-brainers to you. If a team you've constantly picked as a winner meets a team you've consistently picked as a loser, chances are that the game's HI (Hamster Intelligence) module will block it. So it's up to you to preserve your options and make well-balanced choices over the course of the season. Picking a good team to lose against a very good team, or a bad team to win against a very bad team (instead of going for the very best team against the very worst), will ensure that you can still pick (or pick against) these teams when you need it most.
Regardless which matchups you chose in previous rounds, the WebHamster should always offer you at least twice as many matchups as you have picks available (or three matchups total, whichever number is greater).
A weekend on which every participant chooses the same team or teams would be meaningless. Therefore, if you are the last person to submit a pick on a given weekend and all previous picks are identical, you must choose a different team as your winner.
Bye Weeks and Safety WeeksSometimes, no matter how hard you try, you simply can't get online to submit a prediction. And sometimes, the weekend's matchups are simply so tricky that you'll want to give them a miss. That's what the bye week is for: each player may miss one week of the season, and will still be able to make the same number of predictions. (This also means that players may join the game after weekend 1.)
The first week a player misses counts as a bye; any further missed weeks will count as safety weeks, in which players automatically lose half of their remaining predictions, rounded up.
Example: In week 6, you still have 7 predictions left, but don't submit any predictions. Your bye week goes into effect, and you'll still be able to make 7 predictions in week 7.
If you again submit no predictions in week 7, you'll be down to 3 predictions in week 8 (half of 7 rounded up = 4 predictions lost).(If you choose the first week as your bye, you will begin the game with either as many picks as all other players had available in week one, or as many games are on the week 2 schedule, whichever is less.)
To take a bye or safety week, simply don't post a reply in that week's thread - you'll automatically be assigned a bye or safety, which will be reflected in the standings.
Hidden ScoresThe Matchup Meltdown form also includes an option for hidden predictions. Check this box if you don't want your competitors to see the exact picks you made - your post will then only show how many home teams and how many away teams you have chosen as winners. Unless you're extremely paranoid, we encourage you not to make use of this option too often early in the season (seeing the other people's picks is simply more fun), but if you notice that someone is copying your results or if the race becomes extremely close towards the end of the season, use this feature to protect your knowledge from copycats.
Deadlines The deadline for submitting your tips is flexible - it depends on the earliest game you choose for the particular weekend. As an example, if you have only five tips left and all the games you choose are on Sunday, submitting your tips Sunday morning will be early enough.
IMPORTANT: Please note that if any game on your list has already started, it means that all your predictions for that weekend will be invalid. In this case, that week will be counted as your bye week, or, if you have already used your bye, as a safety week.
Melting PointAs the game progresses, we will decorate a number of players for advancing in the contest by awarding them the Matchup Meltdown Survivor icon. The exact number of players to receive the icon will be determined by the game's
Melting Point - a value that can be found in the game's
Results & Standings thread after the game has begun. Once the number of players still in the game drops below that Melting Point, all remaining players who advance to the following week will get the icon.
TiebreakersIf more than one player is still standing at the end of the season, the game continues into the MLB playoffs (and those players will also earn our profound respect).
If all remaining players are eliminated in the same week, the game will continue with each of those players having one prediction.
If more than one player is still standing at the end of the playoffs, the player that had the most correct predictions the previous week shall be declared the winner. In case this number is equal, the preceding weeks will be compared in the same manner until a winner is determined.
Example: If Player A and Player B both fail to predict a winner correctly in the final week of the playoffs, but Player A made three correct predictions the preceding week compared with two for Player B, Player A is declared the winner.PrizesInstead of common gold and jewels, our winners receive titles, icons, and bragging rights. Let the games begin...
© 2003-2005 Stefan Micke.
Last edited by menyak on Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:48 am, edited 12 times in total.
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by menyak » Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:37 am 
If you read the example in the rules, everything should be clear.
