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by menyak » Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:26 pm Fantasy Football Cafe Matchup Meltdown
In many survivor formats, one freak result can end your whole season in September. That's why we've created a game with longer gameplay, where luck isn't quite as large a factor:
Welcome to Fantasy Football Cafe's Matchup Meltdown, where your powers of football prediction will be tested to the limit.
Gameplay
Each week of the season, you try to predict the winners of as many NFL games as possible. The catch? You're only allowed to make predictions for as many games as you predicted correctly the previous week...
Gameplay is simple. To begin the season, each player predicts the winners for all 16 NFL games played in Week 1. For every prediction that turns out to be incorrect, you can choose one game less the following week (correct predictions and the corresponding number of predictions you may make the following week will appear on your entry).
If a game is postponed beyond the weekend, or if a game ends in a tie, your predicted winner will be considered correct.
If you fail to predict even one game correctly, you are eliminated. The winner is the last player remaining in the game.
Example: In Week 1, you correctly predict 10 of the 16 winners. In Week 2, you can then choose any 10 games, where you'll again attempt to predict the winning team.
If 8 of your 10 Week 2 predictions turn out to be correct, you'll then be able to choose 8 games in Week 3, etc.
Should you be good enough (and lucky enough) to have more than fourteen predictions remaining by Week 3, when the first NFL teams have their byes, your extra predictions will not be lost; you'll be able to use them as soon as you no longer have more predictions than scheduled games.
To make your predictions, simply post to the weekly game thread and fill in the form that will show up above the usual text box. (You may only choose one team from each game. Please make sure you submit the correct amount of predictions; if you accidentally submit more predictions than you're entitled to, the teams listed first will count.) Note that all picks are final and can't be changed once submitted, so you'd better be sure of yourself. After submitting your pick, it's your own responsibility to verify it actually shows up in your post. In case of technical problems, please contact the moderator of this game and/or PM menyak.
In the first weeks of the season, you're able to choose any games you like. But do think twice before betting on those easy favorites - as the competition progresses and the number of picks available to you starts melting away, so does the number of games you may pick! Which games you can choose depends entirely on the picks you made in previous rounds, as the WebHamster (the Cafe's diligent, robotic rodent pet) will learn from your picks and try to give you a hard time by locking away those matchups that seem to be no-brainers to you. If a team you've constantly picked as a winner meets a team you've consistently picked as a loser, chances are that the game's HI (Hamster Intelligence) module will block it. So it's up to you to preserve your options and make well-balanced choices over the course of the season. Picking a good team to lose against a very good team, or a bad team to win against a very bad team (instead of going for the very best team against the very worst), will ensure that you can still pick (or pick against) these teams when you need it most.
Regardless which matchups you chose in previous rounds, the WebHamster should always offer you at least twice as many matchups as you have picks available (or three matchups total, whichever number is greater).
Bye Weeks and Safety Weeks
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you simply can't get online to submit a prediction. And sometimes, the week's matchups are simply so tricky that you'll want to give them a miss. That's what the bye week is for: each player may miss one week of the season, for whatever reason, and will still be able to make the same number of predictions the following week. (This also means that players may join the game after Week 1.)
Any further missed weeks will count as safety weeks, in which players automatically lose half of their remaining predictions, rounded up.
Example: In week 6, you still have 7 predictions left, but don't submit any predictions. Your bye week goes into effect, and you'll still be able to make 7 predictions in week 7.
If you again submit no predictions in week 7, you'll be down to 3 predictions in week 8.
Secret Submissions
To prevent others from duplicating your strategy, you may hide your predictions by clicking on the 'Hide my scores' box. However, we encourage you to do so sparingly - it's more fun if everyone can see what the other players are doing.
Deadlines
The deadline for submitting your tips is flexible - it depends on the earliest game you choose for the particular weekend. As an example, if you have only one tip left and the game you choose is on Monday, submitting your tip Monday morning will be early enough.
IMPORTANT: Please note that if any game on your list has already started, it means that all your predictions for that weekend will be invalid. In this case, that week will be counted as your bye week, or, if you have already used your bye, as a safety week.
Melting Point
As the game progresses, we will decorate a number of players for advancing in the contest by awarding them the Matchup Meltdown Survivor icon. The exact number of players to receive the icon will be determined by the game's Melting Point - a value that can be found in the game's Results & Standings thread after the game has begun. Once the number of players still in the game drops below that Melting Point, all remaining players will get the icon.
Tiebreakers
If more than one player is still standing at the end of the season, the game continues into the NFL playoffs (and those players will also earn our profound respect).
If all remaining players are eliminated in the same week, the game will continue with each of those players having one prediction.
If more than one player is still standing at the end of the playoffs, the player with the highest score in the Player Pickoff contest (a player-based game held in the playoffs which is similar to Matchup Meltdown) shall be crowned the winner.
Prizes
Instead of common gold and jewels, our winners receive titles, icons, and bragging rights. Let the games begin...
© 2003-2006 Stefan Micke.
been busy with work and hafa crap
who woulda guessed 
