A Whole New Goo Game

Scott Hardie | December 5, 2010
The new round doesn't begin until midnight, but here's unveiling the new format of Celebrity Goo Game a day early. I hope you like it!

Chris Lemler | December 5, 2010
Scott this should be a very interesting round looking forward to it

Erik Bates | December 6, 2010
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Steve West | December 7, 2010
Terrific look! This should be great. Here's to coming in second!

Scott Hardie | December 7, 2010
Thanks for the feedback. Love you too, Erik. And the site design, new rules, and theme weeks as well. This game makes me happy.

Ryan Dunn | December 7, 2010
Love it. And I share Man Love for Scott.

I only wish the goo link didn't guide me away from funeratic.

Scott Hardie | January 9, 2011
If you liked the redesign of the goo game, check out the new look of Gothic Earth. This time the changes are just cosmetic, but it's another big step for the site. I have similar plans for the remaining sections of Funeratic in 2011.

Scott Hardie | February 6, 2011
Wondering how your performance so far will affect your odds in the tournament? The Current Scores page now shows a projected tournament chart, with brackets for each pair of players. This is a hypothetical projection based on current scores that are still changing; the actual seeding won't be final until midnight on February 14.

As you can see, the higher your regular-season score, the less competition you will have across the chart. If you face a "bye" for the day (no opponent), you must still solve that day's goo in order to advance, but not having to race for time against an opponent should make for a nice little reward for those players who have earned the highest scores. If an entire bracket fails to produce a winner by midnight, it will become a bye for whoever triumphs in the next opposing bracket.

This chart will automatically expand to cover as many players as the game has in the current round. You'll see what I mean on the first day of the spring season, when it rapidly expands from 2 names to 4 to 8 to 16, then eventually grows to 32 names like it shows now.

Don't like your seeding? Solve as many States of the Union goos as you can by tomorrow night, then do the same in next week's "Muppet Mimics" theme. The tournament is coming up quickly!

Scott Hardie | February 14, 2011
The tournament is about to begin. Here's a breakdown of what to expect:

- All players who solved at least one goo are in the tournament, placed into brackets according to their regular season scores. Those brackets have fluctuated up to now, but they'll be locked in as of midnight tonight.

- For the first 24 hours that each tournament goo is online, only tournament players will be able to see it. All other players (and site visitors) will be able to see it and guess freely after this 24-hour period. Just like a normal week of the game, the goos will stay online until next Sunday night.

- To solve a tournament goo as a tournament player, you'll be asked to activate the goo when you arrive at the page. Once you click this link, the site will count the number of hours, minutes, and seconds until you solve the goo. There's no need to start until you're ready.

- You will be eliminated from the tournament if either 1) you fail to guess each goo correctly before midnight, or 2) you take more time to solve it than the other player in your bracket. If your opponent is a "bye," you must still solve the goo by midnight to advance, but you can take your time.

- In the event that both players in a bracket fail to solve a goo, the outcome will be a bye for whoever triumphs in the opposing bracket. If ALL players are eliminated on the same day, then that goo will be stricken from the tournament and all players who failed to solve it will continue as if it had not happened. (This is the only scenario in which you can survive after failing to guess correctly.)

- If you guess a different spelling and I'm not there to mark it correct right away, don't worry; your time is counted from the moment of activation to the moment that you guessed. If a guess is still pending after midnight, both players in that bracket will be able to participate in the subsequent day's goo until the guess is reviewed by me, after which point one of them will be retroactively removed from the tournament.

- In the event that both players in a bracket guess correctly in the exact same amount of time down to the second, that tie will be resolved by a special tiebreaker goo, the details of which will be announced if it happens. In future rounds, I intend to track time down to the millisecond to avoid this kind of scenario, but for this round we're going with a tiebreaker goo if it comes up.

If it's not clear, this is going to be the format of Celebrity Goo Game for a long time to come. I intend to make small tweaks (like counting by milliseconds as I mentioned), so please offer suggestions if you like, but the bracket system is intended to stay in place for good. From my end, everything should happen automatically; all I will need to do each time is create extra-hard goos for the tournament and contact the winner about a prize. I'm glad that the game has achieved some stability at last.

Good luck, everybody! And have fun. :-)

Scott Hardie | February 14, 2011
One more thing: Most goos do not report who guessed incorrectly, since that information is of no consequence in the game (although some players find it interesting). But when a tournament player guesses incorrectly at a tournament goo, that information does influence the game, so it is displayed.

There is no shame in guessing a tournament goo incorrectly. These goos are harder by design, especially without a theme to guide you. There will be incorrect guesses throughout the week.

Scott Hardie | February 15, 2011
I guess this goes without saying, but since I was explicit about everything else, I may as well be clear: If all other players are eliminated on a given day except one, and that one player guesses the goo correctly, that player will become the winner no matter how many days are left. There will be no need to solve any further scheduled goos in the tournament since elimination will be impossible at that point.

Ryan Dunn | February 15, 2011
Scott. I love you. I love you with a passion. I love this site and this community that you've created. I have man love for you, sir. But this...this new goo format...sucks balls.

Scott Hardie | February 15, 2011
I love you too. I'm glad to have you here. Can you be more specific about the new format? Is it because the first goo apparently turned out to be so difficult that it eliminated more players than it advanced? Is it because the format makes it too easy for nearly half the players to forget to play during the first day and thus not stand a chance? I'm open to tweaks like offering eliminated players a second chance, albeit not until next round.

Ryan Dunn | February 15, 2011
#1: Absence of categories

#2: No incentive to make effort during "regular season." All you have to do to qualify for the tournament is answer 1 goo(so far as i can tell).

Anyone? Bueller?

Scott Hardie | February 15, 2011
Absence of categories in the tournament must be a bitch to play, I imagine. When we have a "final goo" at GooCon, even it gets an announced category all by itself, to give you something more to go on than the clue. I considered writing a "theme of one" for each of the tournament goos, but opted against it, since there's a wider body of players in the tournament and more difficulty is appropriate.

If you mean no categories in the regular season too, well, I guess so. I would think the themes would make the game easier in general than categories did, since there's a very narrow range of possibility for a correct answer based on the information provided. I did want to make the game easier, but my primary goal was to make it more fun -- I wonder, from your perspective as a player, has themes every week helped to accomplish that?

I realize this isn't everybody's opinion, but if I were a player, I would consider better seeding to be sufficient incentive to play better during the regular season. Look at Russ: He worked hard to solve all 50 goos, he wound up facing easier opponents in the top half of the chart than the bottom (statistically speaking - no offense), and now he has a clear, paved path to the final day with no obstacles as long as he can guess correctly. That's a pretty sweet reward for outscoring everybody else.

But regardless, the point of playing isn't really to win in the end. It's to have fun throughout, and I'd expect that it's a lot more fun to play during the sillier, easier, less-intense regular season than during the tournament week when the game suddenly gets mean and tough. But hey, that's just my opinion, and yours is yours. It's all good. :-)

For the record, if people want to solve one goo during the round and then enter the tournament three months later, they're welcome to do that. It's fine in my book or I would have set some kind of minimum. I don't think that's a very good way to have fun playing the game, but if putting forth minimal effort towards the stated objective is really how they enjoy the game, then more power to them.

As for yesterday's sudden and widespread eliminations after months of anticipation (are we sure this isn't a Rock Block tournament?), Mike Eberhart once suggested that we play a double-elimination tournament instead of single. I didn't give it much thought at the time since we were soon to move away from bracketed tournaments, but I'll give it more consideration now. I don't think it would amount to a substantial format change.

Ryan Dunn | February 15, 2011
My eyes are bleeding a little. I'm not trying to be too over dramatic, it's just that my eyes are bleeding.

Samir Mehta | February 15, 2011
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Jon Berry | February 15, 2011
I gotta agree with Ryan, on the category part at least. As a non-American, I really relied on categories to be able to push myself in a direction, the only reason I could play competitively last round was because of categories guiding me.

Sometimes now it feels like there's things other people would guess instinctively (like the christmas day goo that was only text) that I would have little chance of being able to figure out without categories.

That's the biggest change for me, for instance yesterdays, I just... I had no idea what I even was looking for.

Theme weeks DO help, but sometimes, even themes needed categories. Remember Peanuts Weeks? Marcia Howard would have been astronomically impossible without categories.

Steve West | February 15, 2011
First let me share that I also feel equal man-love for Scott.

The level of difficulty is understandably harder in the tournament. I accept that. But it seems to me that the whole point of the bracket system was to pit player against player for purposes of elimination. It's not just that more people were eliminated than advanced but not a single player was eliminated by another player's comparitive time. Russ got all 50 and has a clear, paved path, sure. The top half of the bracket, myself included, were all eaten by lions. I mean, really. Eighty-five percent eliminated by the first Goo?

I find the need for categories also. I did fairly well in guessing Goos but found it pretty tortuous. Just for the record, I like the bracket concept. I like the maneuvering for seeding. I just hate trying to play a basketball game against a tough opponent on a court full of man-eating lions. Hungry ones.

Scott Hardie | February 15, 2011
I'll comment on the above asap; gotta run right now. I just wanted to mention that an error in my code allowed Jon, Amy, and Steve West access to today's goo prematurely, which explains Jon's guess on the page (for those who can see today's goo). The issue is now fixed.

Steve Dunn | February 15, 2011
I find the game a lot more difficult and less fun without categories.

Lori Lancaster | February 15, 2011
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Steve West | February 15, 2011
Allow me to elaborate. I'm finding it more frequent that the clues only make sense to me after the Goo has been revealed. Without the categories I'm floundering in a sea of vague possibilities. I flounder anyway with the categories but at least I know I'm in the general area. Without the categories and an indecipherable clue, I'm finding the hunt hopeless and sadly, funless.

Scott Hardie | February 16, 2011
About the tournament: This seems to be another sad case of my inability to gauge a goo's difficulty. I meant for Monday's goo to be harder than usual, but I didn't mean for it to be that hard. Sorry. For what it's worth, many people simply didn't activate the goo at all, more than I expected.

I think a double-elimination tournament will help to make up for these kinds of mistakes on my part, and it will give players some extra latitude as well, so that a single error (forgetting to play, guessing too fast, etc) will not instantly spoil months of anticipation. It shouldn't be that hard to program as I imagine it in my head, although the chart won't be as cut-and-dried as the version on the page now. I'll give it more thought, but I'm definitely inclined toward making that improvement.

About the categories: I knew going in that the elimination of categories would be unpopular, as much as the elimination of "intended difficulty" declarations once upon a time, but in this case I'm more willing to reconsider. I am not 100% decided, but currently leaning toward some kind of category designation next round. I'll have a decision soon. This wouldn't replace themes, just add to the information on the page already.

About controversy in general: I had hoped that the new format would be such an improvement to the game that it would spell the end of these kinds of controversies, but I probably shouldn't have. Players and I have disagreed about many aspects of the game since it began, and we probably always will. It's fine. I do very much welcome feedback for better and worse... especially the man-love.

Lori Lancaster | February 16, 2011
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Ryan Dunn | February 16, 2011

Jon Berry | February 16, 2011
I'm honestly speechless. That's the funniest thing I've ever seen from Scrubs.

Steve Dunn | February 16, 2011
Whoa, whoa, I just took out his appendix.

Samir Mehta | February 16, 2011
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | February 16, 2011
What everybody else said. Except for the man-love.

Chris Lemler | February 16, 2011
I feel the love....lol

Scott Hardie | February 17, 2011
Wait, we were talking about platonic man-love?

Steve West | February 17, 2011
Uhhh...yeah. Of course I was... Ummmm... Brenda!

Scott Hardie | February 18, 2011
If you've been eliminated from the tournament, you can't see the outcomes of guesses for the current day's goo, only what the brackets tell you. And lately they've been sending out confusing signals if you don't have the full picture, so allow me to clear this up:

- Yesterday in Justin vs Samir, Justin had the faster guess and the goo said so, but the bracket incorrectly reported that Samir was triumphant. With my apologies to both players, I corrected the display on the chart a few minutes later.

- Today in Joanna vs Justin, a correct guess was withdrawn by request, altering the bracket outcome that has been displayed since this morning. This was not due to an error on anybody's part. Out of respect for the player, I will let them decide whether to share any details or keep it private.

Joanna Woods | February 18, 2011
It wouldn't have been a real win for me because of Extenuating circumstances. Sorry for the disruption in the tournament. Next round is mine....lol

Scott Hardie | February 19, 2011
We have a winner! Russ has solved today's very difficult goo faster than Justin, earning him his sixth victory. He's now the winningest player of the modern era of the game, and second only to Matthew in overall wins. A year after his induction to the Hall of Fame, he continues to dominate this game. Well done, Russ! And it's no small feat for Justin, Joanna, and Samir to have made it past that tough first goo, so well played, all.

To those who asked: If Justin and Russ had both failed to guess correctly, then today's goo would have been removed from the tournament (anybody could still solve it for fun) and a new tournament goo would have taken its place on Monday, extending the competition until we had a winner. As it is, all five tournament goos will be open for guessing tomorrow, and the answers will be revealed on Monday.

The 2011 inductee to the Hall of Fame will be announced next week, then the game will resume with the Spring 2011 season on March 7. I am not 100% decided yet, but currently leaning towards three tweaks to the format (the floor remains open for discussion on all three):
- Make it a double-elimination tournament instead of single-elimination, so it takes two failures to be knocked out.
- Attach a category designation to each goo indicating what field of fame they come from, in addition to the themes that group each set of five together.
- Hide the times next to each player who solves a goo until both players in a bracket have guessed, to keep players from waiting to see how well their competition performed before they try.

Scott Hardie | February 19, 2011
And as long as I'm celebrating Russ's excellence at this game, let me also point out that he just became the third player to solve 1500 goos in total. He's also only six goos away from having the longest streak of correct guesses in the game, a goal that should be much easier to reach now that the tournament is behind him.

Oh, and he's now tied with Matthew and Mike for the most perfect rounds.

Scott Hardie | February 27, 2011
I appreciate the feedback both favoring and opposing the return of categories. It has really helped me make the right decision, which is to bring them back. The list is a little modified from its previous incarnation, but the idea is the same. If you subscribe to the calendar on Dashboard or the site's RSS feed, you'll know in advance what any goo's category is, except for tournament goos.

Scott Hardie | March 4, 2011
The hiatus between rounds is a real pain. Starting next season, I'll fill the gap with bonus goos, which don't affect the competition and are just there to pass the time. It works out for me too, as I have too many goo ideas that don't fit well into a theme, and too many theme ideas to spend a normal week on a "grab bag" theme of unrelated goos.

Lori Lancaster | March 5, 2011
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Tony Peters | March 5, 2011
trying is a good point....unlike Amy it usually takes me a while to figure out and school eats a lot of my time