LAST EDITED ON 09-28-11 AT 09:59 PM (EST)

I don't know why I stopped using these cool banners that people were kind enough to make. This one was made by the wonderful user Cygnus X1.

All Good Failures Go Unpunished

Well, that was a trainwreck.

It's been awhile since we've seen a premiere with so many normally game-ending bad decisions. We had Kaylani and Lisa almost pull off the shortest race in history, with a grand total of 1 country visited. We also had Bill and Cathi wandering aimlessly through Taipei looking at tall buildings for 4 hours. And Liz and Marie managed to start the season by doing a pitch-perfect Kami/Karli (TAR5) impression, second-to-last finish and all.

And, somehow, none of these people were eliminated. Huh.

Week 1 Results
1st place - Ernie/Cindy (2x)
2nd place - Jeremy/Sandy (1.5x)
3rd place - Justin/Jennifer (1.3x)
4th place - Ethan/Jenna (1.2x)
5th place - Amani/Marcus (1.1x)
6th place - Laurence/Zac (even)
7th place - Andy/Tommy (.9x)
8th place - Ron/Bill (.8x)
9th place - Kaylani/Lisa (.7x)
10th place - Liz/Marie (.5x)
11th place - Bill/Cathi (0x)

And We're Off!

This is normally where I put such prestigious awards like the Greatest Gainer Award and the Perfect Bet Award, but we just finished Week 1. I can't be giving out awards yet. The scores speak for themselves.

Oh yeah, and a certain Element King just celebrated a birthday this past Sunday. Having The Amazing Race for your birthday is a pretty nice present, eh?

Happy Birthday Element King!

Leaderboard
1. flipxcyd - 40
2. KwietOne - 40
3. beau_30 - 40
4. Max Headroom - 40
5. ARNutz - 40
6. 5cats - 40
7. Yogi - 40
8. CTgirl - 40
9. vennui - 40
10. FFantasyFX - 40
11. michel - 40
12. Jims02 - 40
13. louislam - 38
14. Booted - 35
15. chiubakka - 33
16. Belle Book - 29
17. Ontheroadagain - 28
18. Puffy - 26
19. alemattos - 26
20. sarah1234 - 25
21. cahaya - 25
22. Molaholic - 24
23. samboohoo - 24
24. qwertypie - 24
25. Scuba Steve - 24
26. Wallflower66 - 24
27. jbug - 22
28. jbenz - 22
29. Starshine - 21
30. MzTee - 21
31. Weez - 20
32. Element King - 20
33. bbenzenberg - 20
34. IanQuentin - 20
35. LeftPinky - 19
36. esquire - 18
37. Snidget - 18
38. kidflash212 - 17
39. popeave - 13

Very close race for the top spot, with flipxycd taking the #1 spot by virtue of posting first. Ties are normally broken by the previous week's ranking, but I gotta use something this first week, right?

New Players Welcome!

Through the next 3 weeks, the TAR Casino will be open to new entrants. As mentioned previously, all new players this week will be given 15 points to play. For the official rules, please consult last week's entry.

We can't have a season of the TAR Casino Game without at least 40 players. So if no new player signs up, I'll have to go make Estee play.

Week 1 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.7x
3rd place - 1.5x
4th place - 1.3x
5th place - 1.1x
6th place - Break even
7th place - .9x
8th place - .7x
9th place - .5x
10th place - .3x
11th place - 0x

Max Individual Bet - 25 points

Max Individual Bets Are Back!

As mentioned in the rules, this season of the TAR Casino Game is going to be a Limit Game, meaning the dreaded-yet-lovable Max Individual Bet is back. The Max Individual Bet is the maximum amount that a player may wager on a specific team. This week, it's a 25 point limit.

Now, if you have more than 25 points, you can still use them all. You just can't bet them all on one team. You could theoretically bet the max on one team and then bet whatever's leftover on someone else.

This limit is based on the median score in the rankings, rounded to the nearest 5 points. So, if you want to bet more, you'll just have to blame Ms. Median sarah1234.

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

Good luck!

Don't worry, michel, my fantasy team is due for a slump this week. I can feel it in my bones.