LAST EDITED ON 09-20-10 AT 03:57 PM (EST)

20 Points For Everyone

Everyone who has opened this thread has earned 20 points. Or 20 JimsBucks, as some people call them.

Now, you can either take those 20 points and leave, but what's the fun in that? Stick around and maybe you'll turn those 20 points into hundreds... Most people usually do. It's a miracle this Casino is still running after 12 seasons.

I actually make all my money by giving out so many complimentary cocktails during the season, that everyone gets drunk and forgets to cash out their points at the end of the game. It's weird that no one ever comes back to claim them.

So how do you get more points? By betting on The Amazing Race teams. Place your bet(s) on the teams, and the better they do, the higher you score. The worse they do, the worse payout for you. It's that simple.

Last year's winner was Yogi, defeating a pool of 46 players. Will Yogi repeat, or shall someone jump into the limelight? We shall see.

The 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 20 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. Later on, there may be limits on the max bet you can lay down, which will be covered in full next week. For now, don't worry about the limits.

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, September 26th, 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.

For example, here's the Payout Table for Week 1.

Week 1 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.6x
3rd place - 1.4x
4th place - 1.2x
5th place - 1.1x
6th place - Break even
7th place - .9x
8th place - .8x
9th place - .6x
10th place - .4x
11th place - 0x

This is going to be based off of the final rankings at the end of the episode when they arrive at the Pit Stop.

Example - You've got 20 points and you choose to wager them on the following fictional teams...

Barack/Joe - 10 points
John/Sarah - 6 points
Ralph/Matt - 2 points

Bank 2 points.

Now let's pretend Barack/Joe finished in 1st place, John/Sarah finished 2nd, and Ralph/Matt finished, say, 10th.

Barack/Joe - 10 points * 2 = 20 points
John/Sarah - 6 points * 1.6 = 9.6 points
Ralph/Matt - 2 points * .4 = .8 points
2 points banked.

Total = 20 + 9.6 + .8 + 2 = 32.4 = 33 points (rounding)

Overall, you'd gain 13 points and have 33 points going into next week... A pretty nice gain overall. It's amazing how you seemed to know Barack/Joe and John/Sarah were going to do well, though.

Here are the teams you'll be wagering on. Check out their bios on CBS.com's page for The Amazing Race for more information.

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

Good luck!

And for once, I actually didn't have to scramble for a last-second gimmick idea for this season. If you're interested, it's going to be a variation of TAR10, but taken in a different direction.