LAST EDITED ON 09-30-09 AT 11:12 PM (EST)

Mean Spirited?

...Or good TV?

This season of The Amazing Race started out with a bang, as they eliminated one team almost right off the bat. Whenever TV shows do this kind of thing (like Survivor: Palau's opening), I always wonder whether it was a good decision by the show. On a show like Survivor, it isn't too bad, because we expect backstabbing and whatnot.

But on The Amazing Race, it felt like kind of a buzzkill. I feel really bad for Eric & Lisa, getting excited to do the show and then not really participating. It seems like the producers are jerking the teams around, which is a shade too mean for me. Pointless too, since we ended up having a super-early non-elimination instead after Leg 1.

And, with that, I descend from my soapbox. Onto the results.

Episode 1 & 2 Results
1st place - Gary/Matt (2x)
2nd place - Sam/Dan (1.7x)
3rd place - FlightTime/BigEasy (1.5x)
4th place - Lance/Keri (1.3x)
5th place - Zev/Justin (1.1x)
6th place - Meghan/Cheyne (even)
7th place - Maria/Tiffany (even)
8th place - Mika/Canaan (.9x)
9th place - Marcy/Ron (.7x)
10th place - Brian/Ericka (.5x)
11th place - Garrett/Jessica (.3x)
12th place - Eric/Lisa (0x)

No Perfect Scores?

For the first time in Casino history, no one started the season with a perfect score, doubling to 40 points. We can mostly place that blame on Gary/Matt, who finished 1st, and were a pretty unpopular pick overall.

Still, a strong week overall. As a group, we have over 100 points more than we started.

Leaderboard
1. KwietOne - 34
2. VisionQuest - 34
3. Weez - 32
4. Jims02 - 31
5. michel - 31
6. vince3 - 30
7. Estee - 30
8. jbenz - 30
9. Snidget - 30
10. mikey - 28
11. kidflash212 - 25
12. Max Headroom - 25
13. laureli - 25
14. louislam - 25
15. JanetFAN - 24
16. kduck - 24
17. FFantasyFX - 24
18. Deshawnator22 - 22
19. beau_30 - 22
20. flipxcyd - 22
21. MaxZ - 22
22. vennui - 21
23. ohmyheck - 20
24. HauntedOne - 20
25. Element King - 20
26. Belle Book - 20
27. Molaholic - 20
28. qwertypie - 20
29. esquire - 20
30. Ontheroadagain - 20
31. sarah1234 - 20
32. Yogi - 20
33. popeave - 20
34. taffnic - 20
35. AddieRacer - 20
36. Wallflower66 - 20
37. CTgirl - 19
38. MzTee - 16
39. bbenzenberg - 14
40. Starshine - 12
41. 4nikk8 - 10
42. ARNutz - 10

Holy crap, Estee's in the Top 10. I keep redoing the numbers, but the results stay the same.

Still Open to New Entrants!

Up through the 4th week, we will be accepting new entrants. The rules are as follows.

1. Each player in Week 2 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.

2. Every week, you may choose to wager your points on the various teams. You can bet on as many teams as you'd like, but there is a maximum amount you may bet on a single team. No individual bet may exceed the Max Bet amount shown in the Payout Table below. If you have more points than the Max Bet, you can still wager them all, just not on one team.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. All entries must be entered before showtime: Sunday, October 4th, 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 reserve the right to change the deadline, in case the board's clock gets all wonky again like that one year.

7. 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.

For example, here's the Payout Table for Week 2.

Week 2 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.5x
3rd place - 1.3x
4th place - 1.2x
5th place - 1.1x
6th place - .9x
7th place - .8x
8th place - .7x
9th place - .5x
10th place - 0x

Max Individual Bet - 20 points

If your wagered team finishes first, your bet will be multiplied by 2. If they finish 2nd, it'll be multiplied by 1.5. And so on down the list until last place (0). And no individual wager may exceed 20 points.

Guest Pitboss!

Ah, one final wrinkle for this season of the Casino Game. This season, I have decided to give the power back to the people. And by the "people", I mean "the weekly Time Game Bonus winner."

Starting next week, I will not be creating the Payout Tables anymore. The Bonus Game winner will.

You know those starting times at the beginning of the episodes that tell you when the teams are leaving? Isn't it amazing how much quicker the first place team finished compared to the last place team? Especially when they're doing the same tasks? That's exactly what you'll be trying to figure out.

In addition to your regular wagers, you may include a guess at this number. That is, the time difference between the first team to depart the pitstop (Gary/Matt) and the last team (Brian/Ericka). So if you think it took 3 hours and 30 minutes longer for Brian/Ericka to finish the previous leg than Gary/Matt, then that's your guess.

It doesn't cost any points to play, so there's no risk involved if you're wrong. If two people guess the same amount of time, the tie-breaker is whoever posted the guess first.

The person who is closest to the actual time is Guest Pitboss for the week, and gets to decide on the Payout Table for the following week. After the episode airs on Sunday, I'll contact the winner via PM and through this thread informing them they've won.

There are some additional rules that I'll put in a separate post on how to build the Payout Table, but only the winner really has to bother with those. For now, just worry about what your guess is going to be.

TAR14 Teams Remaining
Brian/Ericka
FlightTime/BigEasy
Gary/Matt
Lance/Keri
Maria/Tiffany
Marcy/Ron
Meghan/Cheyne
Mika/Canaan
Sam/Dan
Zev/Justin

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Good luck everyone!

Whoever wins the bonus each week, remember, you have to play the Payout Table too. So don't be too mean.