Hey girls and guys, it's me again with a short-term idea.

Why not making a pick game inside RZA for the upcoming playoffs inside the regions and Elite on top?
That's 9 playoff brackets to watch at and to pick at.

The original idea was to do an actual Bracket-Challenge on all those brackets and who picks best wins a price.
But that does only work smooth, if you know the matchup rules well and do not make an error, or (that's how the big networks do it) have a software helping with the matchups and you just pick the winners.
We only have the forum and the enthusiasm of the managers here, with whatever pre-knowledge on playoff rules, so to avoid frustration and misunderstandings, I decided to go round by round.

What happens for a round prior the games?
I will setup per round a list of all matchups per region on the day after the last gameday, so Wednesday and Sunday.
For regions (time of kickoff behind the name)
Thunder 1 - 12:00
Fire 1 - 15:00
Sea Devils 1 - 16:00
Monarchs 1 - 17:00
Claymore 1 - 18:00
RZA Elite League - 18:00
Galaxy 1 - 19:00
Dragons 1 - 20:00
Admirals 1 - 21:00

and then for Rounds (date behind the rounds)

Wildcard Games - 16th of January
Divisional Playoffs - 20th of January
Conference Championships - 23rd of January
Bowls - 30th of January

You can then pick winners each matchups by just posting it (please just one post for the whole round ), basically until the game starts.
Post-date or Edit-date do qualify.
So, any post prior gameday 12:00 is OK, afterwards it gets tricky.
If you do post your pick on gameday 12:01, Fire would be excluded, the rest OK.
Or you edit your post at 21:01, then ALL will be excluded, since there is no history of the post.
If you want to change a pick (which I hope will not happen too often) you better post a new post with the old as quote and the change.

There will be also a tie-breaker matchup I will s e l e c t per region and round, most likely the closest one.
For that one you need to pick the total points scored in the game.


What happens after the games?
I will do the scoring of each round and participant on the next day.

Scoring system will be for a correct pick:
Wildcard Games 1 Point per correct pick
Divisional Playoffs 2 Point per correct pick
Conference Championships 4 Point per correct pick
Bowls 8 Point per correct pick

Plus, I will look at the tie-breaker pick.
The actual value of the game, the sum of all points scored by the teams, will be subtracted from the pick and the difference, which can be positive or negative, will be taken as absolute value, so always positive, and then added every round.
No pick at the tie-breaker gives MAX possible margin = 60 points.
The less points you have in that era, the better you are in the tie-breaker, which happens when to participants have the same amount of points in the pick game.
In the quite unlikely case that after the 4 rounds we have winners with the same amount of points in picking AND tie-breaker points, I will consults Peter.

Prizes
I did consult with Peter he agreed to spend prizes.

Confirmed are:
WINNER gets 1 Month Supporter Account
RUNNER-UP gets 30 Credits

Example
From last season, wildcard round, Fire Region

Initial post:
2023-10-24 15:00 Wildcard Playoff
Aberthaw Dolphins @ STEELERS Winner?
Lincoln Towncars @ Champ Chompers Winner?
Niceville Norsemen @ Bonaval Acorns Winner?
Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers @ Gangsta Guns Winner?

Tie-Breaker-Game: Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers @ Gangsta Guns Total Sum of scoring?

Pick post:
Aberthaw Dolphins @ STEELERS Winner? STEELERS
Lincoln Towncars @ Champ Chompers Winner? Champ Chompers
Niceville Norsemen @ Bonaval Acorns Winner? Bonaval Acorns
Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers @ Gangsta Guns Winner? Gangsta Guns

Tie-Breaker-Game: Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers @ Gangsta Guns Total Sum of scoring? 25

Scoring:

First the results
Aberthaw Dolphins @ STEELERS 14:36
Lincoln Towncars @ Champ Chompers 34:27
Niceville Norsemen @ Bonaval Acorns 39:3
Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers @ Gangsta Guns 26:28

Tie-Breaker-Game: Pitcairn Bounty Mutineers @ Gangsta Guns Total Sum of scoring is 54 Points.

Points on the picks
1 Points on STEELERS pick, since right pick
0 Points on Champ Chompers, since wrong pick
0 Points on Bonaval Acorns, since wrong pick
1 Points on Gangsta Guns pick, since right pick

Points on Tie-Breaker is 25-54 = -29 Points, abolute value is 29 points

TOTAL SCORING for the picker in that round: 2 Points with 29 points on tie-breaker

What else?
You can pick as many games you like, don't have to pick all 9 brackets, even your chances on winning will be limited.
The game ends with the last bowl and I will announce the winner(s) likely on the next day.

This is meant as fun game and I will do this more or less all my hand, so I would appreciate some effort of the participants to have readable picks as post. In doubt, I will exclude the pick(s) or even the participant.

If you have questions, let me know.

Your enthusiasm astonishes me. Didn't you mention that you'd need a break after this whole College Football Block of Granite thing?

But it's of course a great idea. I'd be in, the only hesitance for me would be to pick the exact scores. I'm not very good at picking games (as you might have noticed last season in the Elite Forums ), and I'll have a hard time getting the winner of each match-up right. Picking the scores also would qualify me for last place almost certainly

Yes, that's true. But sometimes you get strange ideas and are all fired up on that and then you commit, right?
I'm building an excel, which hopefully will do most of the calculation and all I have to do is, put in the picks.
But if all members pick, I'm almost for certain lost. But I think that's not realistic, more 10-15 people or so.

As you can imagine, those few rounds and such simple scoring system might lead to an unknown amout of ties, likely. So a tie-breaker is needed.

That reminds me, I need to put in the rule for NOT setting a score, which would mean biggest margin possible, 60 points.

Sure picking the RIGHT score is tough, also the RIGHT amount of points total, but that's an easy way to get something to count on for tie-breaking.
At ESPN I did always put in 55 for the NFL game.

The main part is picking the WINNER, which is likely much easier and since the points do double each round, many are in the mix for a longer period, I hope. If this would be a bracket in total, you do this before the 1st game and then you die, slowly. Since every wrong pick, especially in 1st round, does cascade down to the next round.
March Madness (College Basketball final tornament) is known for Bracket picking and even the US President has to do one (if he is cool) and there I do often have at the end only 1 final four participant right, haha.

It is supposed to be fun, not stress.

as usual, great idea jack.

and a good incentive to look whats happening inother regions. I would be in

Confirmed!

Good idea Jack

updated the prize info, no as confirmed.

Thanks Peter!

Great idea, and maybe I can beat Crill for once !

Count with me!