Welcome to the TAR19 Casino Game, the wacky internet game in which...

Wait, what's this?

A Wild Detour Approaches!

A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its pros and cons. In this Detour, internet surfers will choose between Play and Go Home.

In "Play", internet surfers will take these 20 points and have a great time robbing the TAR Casino Game of their riches.
In "Go Home", internet surfers will close their browsers and miss out on the fun.

Have you made your choice?

Not yet?

Well, maybe I should give you a brief explanation about what this TAR Casino Game is all about.

The TAR Casino Game is a game in which players make wagers on the outcome of each leg of The Amazing Race. Because this is a family show and internet gambling is kind of, well, "illegal" we just play for fun. Every player is given 20 points (or "JimBucks" for some) from the start, with the goal of accumulating as many points as possible until the end the game. The player with the highest total at the finale is the winner, and gets the prize of Supreme Bragging Rights until next season rolls around.

Last years winner was ARNutz, who is, uh, nuts about The Amazing Race. Will someone prove nuttier this season and take the crown? Only time will tell.

Players must adhere to a series of ordinances (henceforth called "rules") that govern play.

We tried a season without any rules but it didn't end well. One player immediately claimed infinite points and then the other players arguing for something called "backsies", which prompted the infinite points to be split up into separate pieces of infinity. And then people started pulling each others' hair...

...We don't talk about that season.

Ye Olde Rules

1. 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.

2. Every week, you may choose to wager your points on the various teams. Later on, there will be limits on the max bet you can lay down, which will be covered in full next week. This season is definitely a limit game, mostly because people hate the no limit format so much.

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.

6. All entries must be entered before showtime: Sunday, September 25th, 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.

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 1.

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

31st Century Example - You've got 20 points and you choose to wager them on the following fictional teams...

Fry/Leela - 10 points
Bender/Zoidberg - 5 points
Amy/Kif - 3 points

Bank 2 points.

Now let's pretend Fry/Leela finished 1st, Bender/Zoidberg finished 10th, and Amy/Kif finished 9th. Your score would be...

Fry/Leela - 10 points * 2 = 20 points
Bender/Zoidberg - 5 points * .5 = 2.5 points
Amy/Kif - 3 points * .7 = 2.1 points
+2 points banked

Total = 20 + 2.5 + 2.1 + 2 = 26.6 = 27 points (rounding)

Overall, you'd gain 7 points for the week and have 27 points to wager for next week. A pretty good result overall, eh?

Here are the teams you will be wagering on.

TAR19 Teams Remaining
Amani/Marcus
Andy/Tommy
Bill/Cathi
Ernie/Cindy
Ethan/Jenna
Jeremy/Sandy
Justin/Jennifer
Kaylani/Lisa
Laurence/Zac
Liz/Marie
Ron/Bill

And that's that! Good luck everyone!

I think the "Play" Detour option is definitely the better choice of the two, myself.