Subject: MN tonight - competition

Date: Fri Feb 2 17:46:52 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
Inviting all to a competition beginning at midnight tonight in the 13x1 variant - winner will be the highest daily streak at close of play 23:59 Sunday. Good luck to all.

Date: Fri Feb 2 18:39:45 2007
User: mickyiw
Message:
Just so it's clear....We have 2 days to try for this?

Date: Fri Feb 2 18:45:57 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
I guess it does look that way - so my lack of sleep is showing after all. O:) It will begin at midnight tonight and run for 1 day - Saturday's daily streak only ending at 23:59 Saturday. - thanks for catching that mickyiw.

Date: Fri Feb 2 18:49:14 2007
User: mickyiw
Message:
Thanks for clarifying, I thought that's what you meant, just wanted to check.

Date: Fri Feb 2 20:39:35 2007
User: huffy
Message:
Sorry Kenwa Whilst I do very much like the concept and even the timing being on a Saturday I will not be participating in tomorrows tournament. I set myself specific weekly targets for each variant that I am active in. To finish this week I need at least 500 in 10*6. With more notice to adjust my targets I would certainly favourably look at competing although probably not always with my "record breaking preparation". I love a bit of competition it focuses me on the task at hand and wipes out the day dreamer in me. Good Luck

Date: Sat Feb 3 09:51:13 2007
User: jimmyp
Message:
Boy howdy! I got up today, had breakfast (Saturday is Pancake Day at our house), and turned on the computer to check out the race. I played a game, checked to see the daily streak, and saw that greggory was already up to 237. So, maybe I won't be joining the race today. Looks like the all-time daily streak of 465 by GurpShox is sure to fall, probably by a lot. Good luck, folks.

Date: Sat Feb 3 13:56:40 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
SDBaroon is in first place with 467.

Date: Sat Feb 3 13:58:56 2007
User: porcupinetree
Message:
kenwa with 370

Date: Sat Feb 3 14:00:10 2007
User: porcupinetree
Message:
followed by racingyou 314 and greggory 290

Date: Sat Feb 3 14:38:41 2007
User: greggory
Message:
Damn it!, I guess I'm the first one to go down. On the bright side I guess I don't have to keep playing for another 9 1/2 hours. It looks like SDBaroon will win assuming he doesn't make any lengthy pit stops.

Date: Sat Feb 3 15:44:37 2007
User: CubicSprock
Message:
racingyou (perhaps micky) seems to be playing significantly faster than the other 2...but again with 8 hours left all 3 still have a shot at the title.

Date: Sat Feb 3 15:52:56 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
Well....it was fun! Good luck to the rest of you!

Date: Sat Feb 3 16:05:17 2007
User: CubicSprock
Message:
ooh, nice effort there sd. now that 2 of the top 4 have gone down will kenwa and racingyou step off the accelerator a bit hoping to watch the other one fall. definitely an interesting variant...too bad I had to spend half my day looking at houses (well, actually it was really good...but hopefully you get what i mean)

Date: Sat Feb 3 17:36:27 2007
User: CubicSprock
Message:
with about 6 & 1/2 hours left in the contest, sdbaroon's chances od 580 holding are about evaporated with kenwa up to 573, and racingyou now at 506

Date: Sat Feb 3 17:44:43 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
kenwa now at 581...Congrats! With racingyou back and still charging at 509.

Date: Sat Feb 3 18:03:13 2007
User: CubicSprock
Message:
regardless of the outcome...I'd have to say it seems like a big success...3 players have already broken the old daily record.

Date: Sat Feb 3 20:38:49 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
Doing a quick statistical analysis over the past 22 minutes...racingyou still has the ability to overtake kenwa and will do so around 11:54pm at game number 941 if each pace stays as it has and both play continuously to the end...

Date: Sat Feb 3 20:52:48 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
Sorry... figured something out wrong above. (R)acingyou is playing at a pace to finish with 994 vs kenwas 946. 34 vs. 24 games every 22 minutes. At a pace of nearly 93 games per hour! Amazing.

Date: Sat Feb 3 21:18:04 2007
User: The_Longhorn
Message:
):o I dunno about that math, SiD. I peeked at the st&ings about a half hour ago, & kenwa was ahead by 49 games. Now, he's ahead by 45 games. At that pace, racingme will only gain about 8 games per hour. There's less than 3 hours remaining. ):o Moo.

Date: Sat Feb 3 21:35:51 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
You're right for the last half hour... racingyou must've taken a break, because (s)he was catching up like I said above by 10 games every 22 minutes on average over the previous 45. (k)enwa hasn't sped up so either a tough game was played by racingyou, or there was a break taken. I'm going to keep track through 10:30. Just got done playing the Traditional and won each game in the order I played them, with the 6x5 last at 1 for 49. What a feeling that was! Beating both mabb and greggory in the same tournament. I couldn't keep my concentration for this race, but then got the thrill of the Traditional win!

Date: Sat Feb 3 21:49:32 2007
User: The_Longhorn
Message:
):o Okay, it's been another half hour, & kenwa leads by 41. At this rate, kenwa should win by about 20. ):o Moo.

Date: Sat Feb 3 22:04:27 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
As of 10:00pm, kenwa's pace has him winning 943-929=====currently 818-781

Date: Sat Feb 3 22:21:22 2007
User: The_Longhorn
Message:
):o Another half hour, & the difference is 32. Racingkenwa has gained 9. At that rate, he'll gain 27 more, with about 10 minutes left. It could come down to one or the other getting the shaft from The Dealer. ):o Moo.

Date: Sat Feb 3 22:54:33 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
The pace from 10:00-10:50 has kenwa still holding on 942-933... One more hour!!

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:17:41 2007
User: racingyou
Message:
It's 4:15am, I'm done...now I can sleep. Good game, kenwa.

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:18:29 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
Looks like it might be over! Racingyou seems to be stuck at 880, 5 minute game so far in attempt at 881. Kenwa has 902 and looks like even it racingyou hasn't lost, there's not enough time to catch up!

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:20:15 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
oops, overlapped posts. So there we have it. Kenwas wins his first race! Congratulations!

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:25:57 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
Phew! - great race everyone, sorry we lost SDB and greggory early on. I came close to losing it several times - with only one freecell your mis- clicks can be costly- got lucky a few times and wriggled out of my dilemnas!. thanks to racingyou for the excitement and competition, I don't think I could have gone on any longer :O)

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:27:40 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
Congrats Kenwa!!!

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:28:44 2007
User: hotnurse
Message:
Hmmmm.....wonder who "racingyou" could be. We know that it's someone 5 hrs east of our EST zone, maybe a Brit??? Nice win Ken . KMc

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:30:10 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
gee, i wonder. :) /hug racingyou

Date: Sat Feb 3 23:42:10 2007
User: calicokid
Message:
Good job kenwa!! That was quite the performance. Are you shooting for 1000 daily wins???

Date: Sun Feb 4 00:02:28 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
I'd like to get one 1000+ win someday - not enough time today :O) my wrist hurts and I'm going to bed :O)

Date: Sun Feb 4 00:40:44 2007
User: ElGuapo
Message:
Congratulations, kenwa, and great race micky and everyone else. Kenwa, another five games and you'd have *doubled* the previous record. Impressive.

Link: Final standings

Date: Sun Feb 4 13:28:48 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
it wouldn't have been so high if it wasn't for trying to catch SDBaroon nitially and then trying not to be caught by racingyou at the end. I honestly didn't intend on spending 15 hours on the computer yesterday! Just stubborn I guess!

Date: Sun Feb 4 13:49:45 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
around 8 pm i came back with around 80 games. thought i would try for maybe breaking 300 and maybe getting 4th place. i was eating pizza and was tired from running around, and i saw one black king where there were 2, and oh well, that's the breaks. arghh. but then i was glad i didn't spend 4 hours saturday night doing that. got 9th place, tied with the longhorn at 88, one tenth of racingyou's streak. when is the next race?

Date: Sun Feb 4 14:00:03 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
I think we'll do them once a month and will probably vary the variants so that those who don't want to spend 15 hours playing can also participate. How does this idea sound to everyone - We'll run a competition the last Saturday of every month and we'll choose the variant by whichever AIO comes up at 003- EST on that Saturday ? This randomization allows for different variants with differing levels of difficulty which hopefully then will offer appeal to more players. Timezones etc won't matter - it will simply be highest daily streak that day wins the competition. I like all the suggestions and comments from everyone and think this might possibly be the simplest and easiset solution. It uses structures already in place and could suit a wide range of players abilities, time, timezone etc thoughts everyone ?

Date: Sun Feb 4 14:26:18 2007
User: calicokid
Message:
I like the idea. It would be good to have some variants played that don't basically turn into "click fests". I wanted to play more games yesterday, but I could only go at it in about 50-80 game increments. This was mostly due fatigue. I had all day to play but after seeing high how everyone was I just didn't have it in me. What's most surprising to me is that kenwa didn't even start out at midnight. I had played about 110 games before going to sleep (I live in PST so I started playing about 10pm). I woke up at 5 am to see kenwa at about 89 games. Went back to sleep and woke up around 8 to see kenwa in a solid position to overtake SDBaroon. Actually a lot of players started playing the night before, and we all went to sleep to awaken to a three way race between SDBaroon, racingyou, and kenwa. After greggory lost at about 308 I knew I had to at least get past him, and that's what I did. I wonder how many people that play 13x1 on a regular basis felt when they awoke to see some of the crazy daily numbers put up by the leaders. I noticed that ray2 plays quite a bit, and he made a pretty decent showing considering when he started playing. I think once a month is probably the best separation of time for this type of competition, there is no way on God's green earth that I would do this more often. It was the most mentally draining excercise I've participated in in a long time. Hat's off to everyone for competing, and way to go kenwa for winning, and coming up with the idea!

Date: Sun Feb 4 14:36:31 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
HA! I thought the same thing about the regular competitiors, most of whom probably don't read the discusion pages and would have been unaware of our impending invasion! I bet they'll all be relieved for the return to normal today. I think the variety of variants will lend itself to competitors who don't have or don't want to spend large amounts of time. Maybe this kind of hybrid streak/tourney competition will bridge the sometimes seemingly large gap between the streakers and the tourney players ?

Date: Sun Feb 4 14:44:13 2007
User: Sheikh_Yerbouti
Message:
I like the idea too, to a certain extent. If the 13x1 variant comes up randomly every month, I think I'll stay away as it only plays into the hands of those who have the most time (congrats kenwa, by the way). It'd be nice to see all of the top players try some of the 10 and 11-sums for a whole day - especially the 11x0s. ;o) As these variants aren't exhausting clickfests, perhaps we could have these events more regularly on a rotation - e.g. fortnightly? I remember davidxz300 'hosted' a 7x2 day once, and that was great fun, so hopefully this kind of thing can happen more often.

Date: Sun Feb 4 15:53:37 2007
User: SDBaroon
Message:
I wasn't sure how to go about playing this one. I started going all out with racingyou and greggory #1, #2 and me slowly falling behind. I went to bed at 2:30 at 150 with racingyou ahead at 190-something and greggory falling behind (her) and gaining on me at about 160. {not sure if they are the right numbers, but something like that} When I awoke at 8:30 I was somewhat surprised to see that both only played for about an hour longer and I was still in third 'fairly' close. Because of my experience with kenwa previously, I figured I'd go out as far as I could as fast as I could before family time around supper time. Of course this sort of backfired since that just meant that kenwa and then racingyou just kept playing too. I'm much slower than racingyou was since (she) was going at a pace of over 85 an hour at times and kenwa was slowly catching up with a gain of about 3 games an hour. I was having trouble continuing the clickfest at the speed I needed to. So, after almost 7 straight hours I blinked and BOOM, there it went at 580... Nice race, not sure how others will go for me because my job is considering going back to 6 days (nights in my case) and that'll mean I won't have a good chunk of the day to play, not to mention since I'll be up all night working, I'll be tired to "start" the day off. As far as the harder variants, that's good for when you don't have big chunks of time to play, but then for people like me who generally only play the 'easier' variants, it's tough to slow down and concentrate on not losing, especially with some of the much better solvers. But, the idea is to give all a chance, so let the games begin----later! P.S. Do you think it would be possible that Denny would be willing to mention it in his MOTF a few days ahead to get those people interested in it who don't read this??

Date: Sun Feb 4 16:20:59 2007
User: The_Longhorn
Message:
):o I agree with those who have said that yesterday's race played into the hands of those with lots of time. If I had that much time, I'd win more Streaks of the Day on the standard game. ):o Now that I think of it, maybe the next race should be a meeting of the board's big names on the standard game. dickyboy would actually have some competition, for once. ):o I also wouldn't mind seeing a race on the 7x6. ):o Moo.

Date: Sun Feb 4 16:32:05 2007
User: greggory
Message:
Kenwa, congrats on the victory. Even though I lost early I still enjoyed the competition, it was a nice change of pace from nomral tourney competition. I still wonder wheather 24 hours is too long a time period for this competition, I don't want to feel as if I have to 'pull a huffy' in order to win one of these. I do like having these on Saturdays, that would seem to work best for the most people. As for the choice of variant you wrote: '..we'll choose the variant by whichever AIO comes up at 003- EST on that Saturday ?' I'm confused, are you referring to the AIO on 23:30 right before Saturday?

Date: Sun Feb 4 16:36:09 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
lol @ "pull a huffy"

Date: Sun Feb 4 16:46:36 2007
User: mickyiw
Message:
It could maybe be a fortnightly (or even weekly) competition, if more difficult variants were chosen. 8x2 can be fun, honest! More of a challenge, less of a clickfest.

Date: Sun Feb 4 17:25:56 2007
User: huffy
Message:
lol

Date: Sun Feb 4 17:29:56 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
Yes, it can be more frequently I thought once a month might seem often enough to gather interest and not too often as to tune people out - especially if it ended up being a variant that was a clickfest. I meant the 0030 AIO - thanks greggory - although that wouldn't give any notice for everyone. How about the first AIO that follows the Masters determining the variant for the next competition? Do we want it more than once a month?

Date: Sun Feb 4 17:33:53 2007
User: carnage30
Message:
What variants do the AIO's include? They don't cover all the available variants, do they? Which would leave many excluded.

Date: Sun Feb 4 17:59:59 2007
User: kenwa
Message:
true, it offers a variety of easier through difficult ones which I thought might provide enjoyment for those who like spending a lot of time on easier variants AND those who have less time and like the more difficult ones. The main reason for thinking of an AIO generated competition was the random factor. No-one chooses a particular variant - it's chosen for us.

Date: Sun Feb 4 18:10:23 2007
User: hysterical
Message:
Why NOT once a week?