THE AMAZING RACE: TOON ZONE RULES

Welcome to another fine addition to Toon Zone's family of reality-based games: THE AMAZING RACE: TOON ZONE.

The game shares the basic premise as the television show from which it was stolen...er...influenced. Teams of two must race around the world, passing through various checkpoints; at the end of every leg of the race, a team will be eliminated. The first team to the finish line is declared the winner.

What do you win? Well...the fact that you "won" should be enough. A snazzy avatar will also be in your possession if you make it onto the final podium - that being the top three. Hey, what can I say - money's tight right now, and besides, just as with all travels, getting there is half the fun!

AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR. FUN...or else.

THE STORY

Last night, while you were all asleep, I snuck into your houses and stole $38461.54 from each of you. Multiply that by 26, and you get approximately ONE MILLION DOLLARS. That is the reason the 26 of you have paired up and decided to chase me around the globe to get your hard-earned money back (and then some)! It shouldn't be that hard...there are only so many places I can run on this planet, and it is a small world, after all.

Sound like a corny premise? Well, yeah, but this is a "reality" based game, after all. Besides, I had to work myself into the game somehow.

STARTING THE GAME

All the teams for this game have already been assembled. Take some time to read this thread - and understand it thoroughly - before you go on your global quest. Fear not, if it doesn't make TOTAL sense to you, I will be throwing in a preliminary "practice leg" that will get you to the starting line; this "practice leg" will be posted sometime on Thursday, July 21, 2005.
Once everyone makes it to the starting line, the game will unfold as follows:

As soon as the starter pistol goes off, I will vanish from sight with all your winnings. Left behind will be a clue to your next location where I can be found.

DEFINITIONS

The race is divide into a number of different "legs". One leg is the equivalent to one "round" of the game. Each leg consists of a handful of "checkpoints"; each checkpoint will consist of a number of questions that, when answered correctly, will tell me that you knew where you were and then grant you the opportunity to continue on in the game. The final checkpoint of each leg acting as the "pit stop", where you will check in. The last team to check into this pit stop at the end of each leg will be eliminated. (Note: There are a few non-elimination legs in this game, but I won't be spoiling exactly when those are just yet.)

LEG: A leg is each round of the race. Everyone will be given a week to complete each leg.

CHECKPOINT: There are numerous checkpoints on each leg. Each one must be passed (read: correctly answered) in sequence in order to continue forward.

PIT STOP: The final checkpoint of every leg; it is here where everyone checks in, and the final rankings for that leg are tabulated. Here, everyone takes a rest until the following leg is posted; the last team on each leg to check into the pit stop is eliminated.

GAMEPLAY

Sound confusing enough? OK, let's give an example...

Each leg will be posted sometime every Monday morning/afternoon; every time I make a post or announcement, I will note it in both Pacific and Eastern time.

PRACTICE LEG #1
CHECKPOINT A:
A clue (or clues) about the location. From these clues, answer the question (or questions) which I ask.
CHECKPOINT B:
A clue (or clues) about a second location. From these clues, answer the question (or questions) which I ask.
CHECKPOINT C; PIT STOP:
A clue (or clues) about a third location. From these clues, answer the question (or questions) which I ask. The last team to check into (read: ANSWER CORRECTLY) the questions for this checkpoint are eliminated from the game.

To progress through each checkpoint each clue must be solved and be correct. At the beginning of each leg, all the clues to all the checkpoints on that leg of the race will be listed, but each must be answered IN ORDER so you can progress. These answers must be sent to me via PM by either one of your team mates.

Once you or your team mate submit your answers to me, you can NOT submit any answers to later checkpoints or any corrections until after I've written back to you. That means, YOU SHOULD BE VERY SURE YOUR ANSWERS ARE CORRECT BEFORE YOU SEND THEM TO ME.

You and your team mate are also permitted to answer all of one leg's questions in one fell swoop if you want - and if they are all correct, you have successfully completed that leg of the race. If any of the checkpoint answers are incorrect or incomplete, then you are not finished that leg of the race; you only progress as far as your last checkpoint that I have deemed as 100% correct and complete.

Here's an example of how such a thing would unfold, if you submitted answers to all your checkpoints all at once:

CHECKPOINT A: CORRECT ANSWER(S) A
CHECKPOINT B: CORRECT ANSWER(S) B
CHECKPOINT C: CORRECT ANSWER(S) C
-At this point, you will be immediately admitted into the pit stop.

CHECKPOINT A: CORRECT ANSWER(S) A
CHECKPOINT B: INCORRECT ANSWER(S) B
CHECKPOINT C: UNKNOWN ANSWER(S) C
-While Checkpoint C may be correct, you must correctly get B correct first before I even bother looking at Checkpoint C. Thus, at this point in the game, you would have only passed Checkpoint A completely.

I will never tell you which specific questions at a Checkpoint are not answered correctly; I will only tell you which Checkpoints have been answered correctly, and which Checkpoints you have yet to complete. It is up to you to find any errors in your ways.

While it will not be necessary on every question, you are more than able to submit URLs to link to places on the internet where you found your information, to ensure that you are correct. I have tried to be as thorough as I could with my hunting for correct, objective answers - but if there is ever a dispute or the potential for different answers for one question, these supplied links, if they're from a credible source, can be taken into account.

When answering, you can only submit your final answers ONCE (for Checkpoint 1, Point 1 & 2, or all three) before it is viewed by myself. If you send it more than once, the first submission you made will be the one checked. You will be notified ASAP by the moderator of the game whether it is correct or not (they will say which you got correct, in order, but halting immediately at the first incorrect answer in sequential order). If your answers are incorrect, you may resubmit different answers afterwards, and the cycle continues until either A) you get them correct, B) the leg ends, or C) you get eliminated.

Every submission will be noted as to at what time it was recieved. This is the ultimate tie-breaker.

NOTE: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR SPELLING. MISPELLED ANSWERS ARE CONSIDERED INCORRECT. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

TYPES OF CLUES

As for the clues themselves, they would be thorough - or sometimes scant, but definitely solvable. I don't want anyone getting lost on my race! The clues I've strewn throughout the game are a combination of literal, pictoral, trivial, mathematical, linguistic, and historical clues. Each will be different, but if you solve them correctly, they will provide hints towards revealing the correct location of that checkpoint. For each question, I would also say how specific I want the answer...a country, city, state, street, building, monument, landmark, whatever. Everything should be able to be solved using either your brains, encyclopedia, or a good search engine - or a combination of all three.

OTHER FEATURES:

FAST FORWARD

A number of Fast Forward challenges have been created for predetermined legs of the race. These fast forward clues will be posted immediately, alongside the "regular" checkpoint clues for those particular legs of the race.

Whomever answers the Fast Forward clue on each leg of the race may surpass all other challenges on that leg and go directly to the pit stop; this will not necessarily guarantee you first place, but it will definitely prove to be helpful. It IS possible to correctly answer the Fast Forward and still place last.

Answers to these Fast Forward clues will be PMed to me just as you would any answers for regular checkpoint clues.

There are some limitations on the Fast Forward, though.

1) Only one team on these legs can complete the Fast Forward; once one team completes it, no one else can use the Fast Forward, and they are forced to go the long way through the various checkpoints. Two teams can compete head to head for the Fast Forward question, for example, but only the first correct answer I see will be accepted.

2) Teams can only use a Fast Forward clue ONCE during the entire course of the race. Therefore, you must figure out when it's most advantageous to do so. (If you're already far in the lead, for example, there is no need to go for the Fast Forward clue.)

IMMUNITY

The Immunity challenges, like the Fast Forwards, are only present on a few pre-determined legs of the race. If one chooses to answer the Immunity challenge clues, and they answer correctly, that means they are immune from being eliminated on that leg. (Yes, they're that valuable.)

Anyone that completes an Immunity clue - and answers it correctly - must still answer the clues to all the other checkpoints on that leg.

Winning an Immunity challenge in no way guarantees that you will come in first; it will, however, guarantee that you won't be last.

There are some limitations on the Immunity challenges, though.

1) Only one team on these legs can complete the Immunity challenge; once one team completes it, no one else can be awarded Immunity, and they are forced to go the long way through the various checkpoints. Two teams can compete head to head for the Immunity challenge, for example, but only the first correct answer I see will be accepted.

2) Teams can only use a Immunity clue ONCE during the entire course of the race. Therefore, you must figure out when it's most advantageous to do so. (If you're already far in the lead, for example, there is no need to go for the Immunity clue.)

ELIMINATIONS

Eliminations happen the following ways on elimination rounds:

-If everyone gets their questions correct, the last team to arrive is eliminated.

-If there is only one team that fails to respond to the clues in by the end of that week, then they are eliminated.

There are a handful of "non-elimination legs" in the Amazing Race; there is no penalty for coming last here, provided that you got all of your checkpoint clues correctly. You will still need to be present at that location for the following leg of the race, after all.

As a kind request, I am asking you all to not take longer than a week to complete these challenges. It is rather difficult to keep up with the game if you fall way behind. We'll see if this pans out the way I hope...

POINTS

Ultimately, the points don't mean a thing - but they'd provide a fun, numeric way to indicate how well you've done on the race. On any leg of the race, this is what the points would be worth:

Place 1st: 12 pts
Place 2nd: 11 pts
Place 3rd: 10 pts
Place 4th: 9 pts
Place 5th: 8 pts
Place 6th: 7 pts
Place 7th: 6 pts
Place 8th: 5 pts
Place 9th: 4 pts
Place 10th: 3 pts
Place 11th: 2 pts
Place 12th: 1 pt
Place 13th: 0 pts
NON-ELIMINATION (but last) 0 pts

These points are then added into a cummulative tally as each leg of the race is completed.

* * * * * * * * *

That's about it! I hope this answers all of your questions! If you have any, feel free to post in this thread.

Remember, we'll have a practice leg initiate on Thursday, July 21, 2005. Playing a mini-round of the game should help answer a lot of questions and get the bugs out of the system.

-TimTwoFace
The Amazing Race: Toon Zone Moderator