Let's Gamble!

Welcome to the 17th installment of the TAR Casino Game, hosted right here at Reality TV World. We're back again for another game of big wagers, big risks, and big payouts. After all, what's a season of The Amazing Race without silly wagers riding on it?

To all returning players, I'd like to offer a big "Welcome Back!". I always miss talking smack chit-chatting with y'all about The Amazing Race, so it's great to see you again! For all you new folks checking out this game for the first time, another big "Welcome!" for you!

I shouldn't get ahead of myself, though. Here's the rundown on this TAR Casino Game thingy.

What's the TAR Casino Game?

The TAR Casino Game is a game in which players make wagers on the outcome of each leg of The Amazing Race. If you make good wagers and your teams do well, then you'll gain more points to use next week. If they don't as well, you'll go back a little bit. But even if you have a couple bad weeks, there's always time to catch up to the other players. We've seen people win the game after losing almost half their points in the first week!

Every player is given 20 points 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.

Currently enjoying his bragging rights is the TAR20 champ, IanQuentin. Normally in a game like "Survivor", he'd be a big target, but there ain't much you can do about it here... Except, of course, make better wagers than him. Can he repeat, or will we have a new champ? We shall see.

So, if you're new to these parts and are just checking us out, go ahead and register! Play a few rounds of the game, see how much you like it. Worst case scenario, you're out 5 minutes of your week. But it really is a lot of fun to make your picks and root for them each week. I recall during a few footraces to the finish line last year that were really exciting because of it.

Here be the full rules to the game.

The Big Book 'O 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.

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 30th, 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 - 1.7x
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

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

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

10 points - Jim/Pam
5 points - Michael/Dwight
3 points - Andy/Erin

Bank 2 points.

Now let's pretend Jim/Pam finish 4th, Michael/Dwight finishes 9th, and Andy/Erin finishes 2nd.

Jim/Pam - 10 points * 1.3 (4th place) = 13
Michael/Dwight - 5 points * .5 (9th) = 2.5
Andy/Erin - 3 points * 1.7 (2nd) = 5.1
+2 points banked

Total = 13 + 2.5 + 5.1 + 2 = 22.6 = 23 points (rounding)

Overall, you'd gain 3 points for the week and have 23 points to wager for next week. Not too shabby, eh?

Here are the teams you will be wagering on.

TAR20 Teams Remaining
Abbie/Ryan
Amy/Daniel
Caitlin/Brittany
Gary/Will
James/Abba
Jaymes/James
Josh/Brent
Nadiya/Natalie
Rob/Kelley
Rob/Sheila
Trey/Lexi

And that it! Let's go out there and get those points!

Posting this early, since I'll be out of town this weekend. Don't mess up the thread while I'm gone!