Stupid is as Stupid Does

Well, that middle section of the leg was an absolute mess.

DIRECTIONS: Transfer this stuff in a wheelbarrow!
RESPONSE: We don't know how to read instructions!
DIRECTIONS: Locate Ghana on a map!
RESPONSE: We can barely find the U.S.!
DIRECTIONS: Use a special decoder to solve the puzzle!
RESPONSE: Let's just circle random words! And these kids need circling too!

It was funny that the other Detour task was them having to play a game for children. By then, they pretty much deserved it.

Week 3 Results
1st place - Connor/Jonathan (2x)
2nd place - Gary/Mallory (1.9x)
3rd place - Chad/Stephanie (1.2x)
4th place - Katie/Rachel (1.1x)
5th place - Nick/Vicki (1.1x)
6th place - Brook/Claire (.9x)
7th place - Jill/Thomas (.8x)
8th place - Nat/Kat (.1x)
9th place - Michael/Kevin (0x)

A Tough Week

For the first time this season, the group as a whole lost points. There were certainly several individual gainers, but as a group, it wasn't a great week. Nat/Kat's poor performance dragged down some scores, and Brook/Claire's .9x didn't help much easier. We did have some nice Jonathan/Connor wagers, though.

Speaking of which, the Greatest Gainer Award goes to Georjanna, who had a monster of a week, climbing an absurd 29 ranks to #12 overall. Considering there are 44 players total in the game, that is a pretty amazing feat! Way to go!

The Perfect Bet Award goes to mikey, Georjanna, and popeave for all doubling up this week with All-In bets. Well, popeave threw a few points at Gary/Mallory, but when rounding up, it turned into a 2x week. Besides any Gary/Mallory bet was a pretty astute pick, I think. Congratulations, all three of you!

Leaderboard
1. Yogi - 74
2. louislam - 60
3. popeave - 60
4. sarah1234 - 56
5. vennui - 53
6. kidflash212 - 41
7. mikey - 40
8. FFantasyFX - 39
9. chiubakka - 36
10. cahaya - 33
11. Jims02 - 31
12. Georjanna - 28
13. ARNutz - 25
14. flipxycd - 24
15. Travelor - 24
16. AvidRealityWatcher - 23
17. Element King - 23
18. jbenz - 22
19. Snidget - 22
20. Seana - 22
21. Belle Book - 21
22. samboohoo - 21
23. esquire - 21
24. MzTee - 20
25. HauntedOne - 20
26. Estee - 20
27. Silver03 - 20
28. Molaholic - 19
29. bbenzenberg - 19
30. KwietOne - 19
31. CTgirl - 18
32. HistoryDetective - 18
33. Weez - 16
34. Ontheroadagain - 15
35. Deshawnator22 - 15
36. IanQuentin - 15
37. michel - 13
38. vince3 - 10
39. kduck - 10
40. Starshine - 9
41. beau_30 - 9
42. shilfiell - 9
43. taffnic - 3
44. 5cats - 2

Yogi's still holding onto the top spot, but people are gaining a lot of ground. Last week, 21 points separated ranks #1 and #2. Now, 21 points separates the Top 5. We're going to have a close race!

Week 4 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.5x
3rd place - 1.4x
4th place - 1.2x
5th place - 1.1x
6th place - Break even
7th place - .5x
8th place - .3x
9th place - 0x

New Players Still Welcome!

Through the next week, the Casino Game is open to new entrants. Each player who begins the game this week will receiver 5 points to use. Please refer to the previous week's thread for the rules.

New Rule - Loser Bonuses!

You know those teams that consistently finish poorly that you would never, ever even consider betting on? Well, you might want to consider them a little now. We're bringing in Loser Bonuses.

Here's how they work. Next to some of the racers' names is a number in parenthesis, such as (+0.1) or (+0.2). That means any wager you place on that team will get an extra couple of multiplier points tacked onto the regular multiplier they earn. Any place they rank will get that multiplier tacked on, with the exception of last place, which will still earn 0x.

That means if the team with a (+0.2) next to their name finishes 1st this week, they'll score 2.2x instead of the regular 2x. 2nd place would earn 1.7x instead of 1.5x, and so on down.

Remember, the only exception is last place, which will always get 0x. We don't want this to be a completely safe bet, do we?

I'm keeping a running tallies of each team's previous 3 weeks' payouts. Using those averages, I determine which teams have performed the worst overall. This is based on the payout tables before any extra Loser Bonuses are factored in.

For example, Nick & Vicki has been awful this season so far.

In Week 1, they finished 10th with a .4x multiplier.
In Week 2, they finished 8th with a .5x multiplier.
In Week 3, they finished 5th with a 1.1x multiplier.

Average it all together, and they at .6x for the past three weeks. An "average" team would just go 1x overall. Therefore, Nick & Vicki need to be bumped up by (+0.4) to get them back to average.

I only keep track of the last 3 weeks, so next week that .4x multiplier in Week 1 goes away, and maybe their average improves. Maybe.

TAR17 Teams Remaining
Brook/Claire
Chad/Stephenie
Connor/Jonathan
Gary/Mallory
Jill/Thomas
Katie/Rachel
Michael/Kevin (+0.2)
Nat/Kat (+0.2)
Nick/Vicki (+0.4)

So, do you go for the extra bonuses and go for a huge payoff, or is it still just not worth it? It's up to you!

These bonuses are either going to be fun, or they'll break the game in the most horribly hilarious way.