LAST EDITED ON 10-01-10 AT 05:37 PM (EST)

Have Fun Storming the Castle!

Oh, England. The Americans still think you're stuck in medieval times.

Although, to be fair, last time TAR came, they were maneuvering double-decker buses and visiting Abbey Road. So maybe a historical trip was due. Still, maybe my history is fuzzy or something, but I don't remember learning about the great English tradition of shooting watermelons at suits of armor.

...Maybe they did it during the Dark Ages.

Ron & Tony were the first team eliminated. If they were going to get eliminated in Week 1, I'm glad it was for getting lost instead of being doomed by their weight imbalance in those boats. It's too bad they were eliminated so soon, though. They seemed pretty nice.

Week 1 Results
1st place - Jill/Thomas (2x)
2nd place - Nat/Kat (1.6x)
3rd place - Connor/Jonathan (1.4x)
4th place - Brook/Claire (1.2x)
5th place - Katie/Rachel (1.1x)
6th place - Gary/Mallory (even)
7th place - Michael/Kevin (.9x)
8th place - Chad/Stephanie (.8x)
9th place - Andie/Jenna (.6x)
10th place - Nick/Vicki (.4x)
11th place - Ron/Tony (0x)

Weekly Awards Go Here

Since it's Week 1, we don't really have awards to hand out. I could do an "Everyone Gets a Trophy" week, but kids these days get enough of that already.

Anyway, the Greatest Gainer Award goes to Yogi, who climbed 0 ranks from (tied for) 1st place to 1st place this week. kidflash212 also had a good showing, climbing -1 spots overall.

Coincidentally, Yogi also wins the Perfect Bet Award, being the only player to put all 20 points on Jill & Thomas. Continuing where you left off, eh?

Leaderboard
1. Yogi - 40
2. kidflash212 - 36
3. cahaya - 36
4. michel - 36
5. Weez - 35
6. vennui - 35
7. popeave - 34
8. Jims02 - 33
9. taffnic - 32
10. louislam - 31
11. Belle Book - 30
12. FFantasyFX - 30
13. jbenz - 30
14. Molaholic - 29
15. Ontheroadagain - 28
16. samboohoo - 28
17. flipxycd - 28
18. mikey - 28
19. 5cats - 28
20. Snidget - 27
21. chiubakka - 27
22. Starshine - 26
23. KwietOne - 24
24. ARNutz - 24
25. Deshawnator22 - 24
26. Travelor - 24
27. sarah1234 - 24
28. beau_30 - 23
29. AvidRealityWatcher - 23
30. Seana - 22
31. Element King - 21
32. HistoryDetective - 21
33. HauntedOne - 20
34. Estee - 20
35. bbenzenberg - 20
36. Silver03 - 20
37. Georjanna - 17
38. MzTee - 16
39. esquire - 16
40. vince3 - 16
41. IanQuentin - 16
42. kduck - 10

Pretty good start for the group, with most players gaining in the first week. The economy may suck, but we're still prospering!

(Of course, fixing this economy just requiring throwing a couple extra decimal points in the payout table.)

Speaking of which...

Week 2 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.7x
3rd place - 1.5x
4th place - 1.3x
5th place - 1.1x
6th place - .9x
7th place - .7x
8th place - .5x
9th place - .3x
10th place - 0x

Max Bet - NO LIMIT

That's right, this season is No Limit. That means you may bet as many of your points as you want on a team. We played two straight seasons of limit games (TAR15/16), so let's change things up a little.

(Plus, I need No Limit for this season's gimmick, which will begin next week.)

Also, I want to again mention the posting deadline of 8:00 PM, since it's a rule change. Due to the uncertainty involved with football running over time, it seems safer to stick with 8 PM.

New Players Still Welcome!

Through the next two weeks, the Casino Game is open to new entrants. Each player who begins the game this week will receiver 15 points to use. Please refer to the rules below for full instructions.

Rules
1. You do not talk about the Casino Game.
2. You DO NOT talk about the Casino Game.
3. OK, you may talk about the Casino Game, as long as you don't talk talk about Fight Club.
4. Each player in Week 1 starts with 15 points. In every subsequent week, this amount decreases, so join now. Also, these are the only points you get, so don't waste them. Once you run out of points, you're out of the game.
5. Every week, you may choose to wager your points on the various teams.
6. You don't have to bet all your points. Any points you don't wager are banked, and will be carried over to the following week without risk.
7. Decimals are evil. All wagers must be a whole number. Also, in scoring your entries, all decimal points will be rounded up. It makes the scoreboard prettier that way. No one wants to see a final score of 693.22463 to 612.1935.
8. Absenteeism sucks. If you miss three straight entries, you're eliminated from the game. If you're going to be on vacation, send me a note and I'll keep the records. I'll even take wagers in advance, provided my secretary doesn't toss out my messages.
9. All entries must be entered before showtime: Sunday, October 3rd, 8 PM Eastern Time. Any entries after that time will not be counted. Any edits to an existing entry after the deadline will be penalized. The clock is based on the clock on this message board.
-I know that the premiere is technically scheduled for 8:30 PM, but I have no idea what they're doing with the football games ending early/late. So we'll just stick with a reliable 8 PM deadline that everyone knows. I also reserve the right to change the deadline, in case the board's clock gets all wonky again like that one year.
10. Your wagers will be scored based on the almighty Payout Table. The Payout Table gives a multiplier value to each ranking, and determines the return on your wagers. Each of your individual wagers are multiplied by their appropriate multipliers, and then totaled together.
-This is going to be based off of the final rankings at the end of the episode after Phil checks them into the Pit Stop.

TAR17 Teams Remaining
Andie/Jenna
Brook/Claire
Chad/Stephenie
Connor/Jonathan
Gary/Mallory
Jill/Thomas
Katie/Rachel
Michael/Kevin
Nat/Kat
Nick/Vicki

Good luck!

A 2003 IceCat original