The Bird's the Word

Scott Hardie | July 29, 2017
It's my pleasure to announce a simple late-summer tournament for Rock Block, The Bird's the Word. It's a double-round-robin tournament, very similar to last year's Rockin' Robin, except this one won't be played live via videoconference. I've given up trying to find a good date to do that, so instead, we'll just play it via standard weeklong concerts, a few at a time. I'll randomly pick three pairs of players, spawn concerts for them, wait for those concerts to play out, and then spawn a few more. If additional players join or re-join Rock Block before the tournament's over, we'll make room for them with additional concerts.

There are some good prizes waiting to be claimed, but I hope it's fun for everyone regardless of the outcome. Enjoy the tournament, and good luck!

Scott Hardie | July 29, 2017
Normally I like to give advance notice when one of these tournaments is going to start, but circumstances are a little weird this time. I hope that giving everyone a full week to play each turn makes up for the lack of notice.

Aaron Shurtleff | July 29, 2017
Oh, well that sounds pleasant! I wonder who I'll get to play against first. I sure hope it's not Darth West, the Tournament Slayer!

*checks concerts*

...sonuvacrap.

Just kidding! (Except for the Tournament Slayer stuff...sheesh that's some domination!) Looking forward to it! Good luck everyone!

Steve West | July 29, 2017
SSSHHH HOHHH, SSSHHH HOHHH. Your lack of confidence is disturbing. The force is strong in you as well. And the play rules for our first match kind of suit your cards not mine... Good luck to all as well!

Chris Lemler | July 29, 2017
Well I'm probably gonna get my butt kicked :)

Chris Lemler | July 29, 2017
Scott does any victories in this tournament go towards any achievements that a player is going for?

Scott Hardie | July 29, 2017
Yes they do. If you're trying to win X concerts within Y days or something like that, then a concert victory in the tournament will count.

Erik Bates | July 31, 2017
[hidden by request]

Aaron Shurtleff | September 13, 2017
I'm sorry everyone who keeps waiting on me to finish matches. I am all over the place lately. I am trying to get it together, I swear!

Aaron Shurtleff | September 20, 2017
A small part of me wants this to end in a three way tie (and not just because I would be one of the three!).

Of course, it is also possible to have a three way tie for second place! Such fun!

And the tiniest part of all wants Steve to win, because that tiny part imagines the rule that you get for winning a tournament is AWESOME, and thinks it's funny that only Steve wins tournaments, and he never gets to enjoy the awesome rule. :P

Steve West | September 20, 2017
It's a small price to pay for the glory of winning! But c'mon, get your winning act together here (joking!!!).

Scott Hardie | September 21, 2017
The play rule that one gets for winning a tournament IS awesome, in my humble opinion. And it's useless to Steve as long as no one else has it. So with all due respect to Steve who himself is awesome, my hope is for anyone else to win, so that the rule can finally see some use.

I'm really enjoying this tournament! I have got to run more of these. I keep wanting to do either a giant high-concept tournament that I don't really have time to program, or a live tournament that is too hard to schedule. I need to remember that small, simple, non-live tournaments like this one are loads of fun too. I will try to schedule more like these soon (not double-round-robin necessarily, just tournaments that are about this size and complexity).

In future tournaments, are there rule tweaks that you would like to see? I for one would like to see shorter turns, three days or five days instead of the full seven days, but I'm flexible.

Chris Lemler | September 21, 2017
Can you make it handicap do to the rock block king....lol

Scott Hardie | September 21, 2017
The "classic" version of Rock Block did have a rule in place that previous winners were ineligible to win tournaments again, for precisely this reason, that a small sample group would tend to produce one winner over and over again. That rule was unpopular and sometimes criticized, and I rescinded it in time for Justin to win his second tournament before that game ended. I don't think I'll introduce the same rule again, but -- tossing this out to everyone -- would a handicap for previous winners be unfair?

Steve West | September 21, 2017
Just for the record - I'm good with that. I'd still like to be eligible to win first place prizes but defer the championship to the "runner-up" if that makes sense. I'm not sure it does.

Aaron Shurtleff | September 21, 2017
I don't know how I would feel about a handicap. I guess on one hand, it could be a badge of honor to have to have limitations put on you to allow others to beat you. But I think it would be a hollow victory if I had to be given an advantage to beat the former champion.

What about, if the singular domination continues, a tournament themed around defeating the unnamed champ? That way, he or she could still have fun competing, but there would have to be a non-that-person winner? I am sure we could find a good song theme to use for this!

That would be a little intense for the champ though, since everyone has to go through him... might need to think about that more...

Chris Lemler | September 21, 2017
Please don't kill me I'm stepping away from keyboard at this time. I seem to offending people and might get beat on later. Please take my comments with lol to be funny....haha. but all kidding aside if you good your showing it. I suck I need to see a RB psychiatrist. That's how bad I stink. If Im going to beat you I need a whole different tragedy like quit (just kidding). Even getting my ass handed too its always a fun game and less stress than work.....haha. Steve your a heck of a RB player I was just giving you crap didn't mean to offend you if I did. I will never quit playing rock block.

Steve West | September 21, 2017
Chris, no offense taken at all. Seriously and sincerely. I like Aaron's concept with a little tweaking, maybe. What if just one of the requirements to win would be to beat the most recent champ, whoever that may be.

Erik Bates | September 21, 2017
[hidden by request]

Chris Lemler | September 21, 2017
I like that idea Erik and Steve

Scott Hardie | September 22, 2017
Chris, I didn't feel or perceive any offense either. It's all good. Obviously I thought you were serious and not joking, but I don't see anything wrong with bringing up the idea even if you didn't mean it. :-) I've really been enjoying your comments in this and the day's other discussion.

The best solution is probably just to increase the number of chances to win. I started this new version of Rock Block intending to have a small tournament every three months or so, but the number of players has been too small at times to support that. We're currently at seven active players and that's enough for a tournament, so if it holds for a while longer, we'll play another one before the end of year, and hopefully more of them next year. The more tournaments there are, the more variety there will inevitably be in the list of winners.

At some point I will probably introduce a play rule unlocked by a simpler achievement: "participate in a tournament." If I had known that there were going to be so few distinct winners of tournaments, I wouldn't have put one of the best play rules behind the much harder "win a tournament" achievement. I might still move that around; I've been considering it.

I like these ideas so far; keep them coming. Each tournament is custom-buit with its own rules, so we can mix things up on a per-tournament basis.

Aaron Shurtleff | September 24, 2017
Dang! Congratulations, Steve!! I will always treasure that first match I won...since it might be the only match I ever win against ya! (And that was mostly due to the luck of the bands I think, honestly...)

So, Scott... If I should win my last match (which is no sure thing!), would we have to have a playoff match for second place? I think we both remain tied through all the tiebreakers, if I understand them.

Scott Hardie | September 24, 2017
My intention was for the tiebreaking only to apply when determining a winner, since the tournament can have only one winner. But looking at the rules now, that's not really how the text makes it sound. Let's see how the last concert ends and then take it from there.

Chris Lemler | September 24, 2017
Congrats Steve another job well done

Steve West | September 24, 2017
Thanks. A little bittersweet considering the final concert but how I do like to win. Nice job, Scott. Kudos.

Scott Hardie | September 29, 2017
Congrats on the win, Steve! You not only did an amazing job of coming back to win after falling behind, but this now makes your win rate four for four! Chris may have been joking but "Rock Block King" sounds very much like a title well earned. :-)

There's only one thing left to do before this ends, which is to determine an official second place and third place, since Aaron and i are tied for second. As I said above, I really only intended the tiebreaker for the winner, but that's not how the rules are written and I'll abide by the text. Aaron, if you want those ten extra ranks and bragging rights, you'll have to defeat me. I rolled a die to determine who would be the challenger and who would be the defender.

Prizes will be issued once that tiebreaking concert is over.

Aaron Shurtleff | September 29, 2017
Of course I want those ranks!!! I need to catch up to the stables you big boys are rocking!

Chris Lemler | September 29, 2017
Scott I was not joking. It is going to be tough to dethrone. He's a great player and Kudos to you on hanging on. It was a tough matchup. Great job 2 the both you.

Aaron Shurtleff | October 4, 2017
OK everyone! Scott and I are done slap fighting for #2. This tournament is over! Congrats to the victor and we're coming for you!

Scott Hardie | October 4, 2017
Yep! Good tournament, all. I am exhausted tonight and will deal with the prizes and other wrap-up asap in the next couple of days. Steve, congrats on the win. Aaron, congrats on second place. All, well played.

Scott Hardie | October 28, 2017
The next tournament is programmed and ready to play, but I'm saving it for December 2 so that we can get back on a seasonal schedule similar to the goo game. I'd really like to see us play a small tournament like this every season, as long as we have enough players to support them.

This next tournament will take into account the conversation that we had above about Steve continuing to dominate. The winner will probably be someone else this time, but not because of any kind of arbitrary handicap placed upon Steve.

I'll announce more details about the tournament a few days before it starts. I'm already psyched for this! :-)