The Goo Tourney is Almost Here!!!!!!!

Chris Lemler | November 14, 2011
I want to wish everyone the best of luck on winning this round.......We really have some great players this round and glad to see alot of the players come back. Good Luck everyone

Steve Dunn | November 14, 2011
Sigh. I finally get back on the goo wagon, looking good for the tournament... and I'm going to Barcelona on Wednesday.

Assuming I am still alive in the tournament by that time (not taking anything for granted) I will attempt to check in each day and keep playing. It's not going to be easy to spend significant time on hard goos, though - something tells me Kelli will feel pretty strongly we spend out time on other things...

Good luck, all.

Chris Lemler | November 14, 2011
Well it's nice to see you back into the game Steve

Scott Hardie | November 15, 2011
Good luck, Steve, but you have nothing to feel bad about it if you miss it. Barcelona is not worth missing for this. :-)

However, you did come this close to being paired with Aaron Shurtleff in a bracket. And that might have been worth it.

Fyi everybody, there's some weirdness going on with the way the server computes time. Even though the times are stored correctly in the database, when the code adds them up, it's adding 5 hours to every goo guess, as well as 5 hours to the timestamp of every turn and comment in the Pirate Paradise beta. I'm working with Miah to figure out what happened, and in the meantime, solve times remain hidden on goos. Please consult the current scores page to see who guessed faster. No worries about being penalized by this: It's affecting everybody equally, and like I said, the times in the database are apparently correct, so it should go back to normal when we figure out what's happening with the computation.

Samir Mehta | November 15, 2011
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Steve Dunn | November 15, 2011
Kelli has a conference and I am tagging along. So, fun for me, partial business for her.

Grandparents are taking care of the kids!

Ryan Dunn | November 15, 2011
Translation: Steve will be partying his nuts off in Barcelona.

Erik Bates | November 15, 2011
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Steve Dunn | November 15, 2011
The timed goos are a whole other thing. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Scott Hardie | November 16, 2011
I don't know whether I'd call them forced errors or unforced errors if I were making a tennis analogy, but players do tend to record more incorrect guesses when that clock is ticking. A few extra chances help to cushion the blow.

Erik Bates | November 16, 2011
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Erik Bates | November 16, 2011
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Justin Woods | November 16, 2011
But you did beat me at the live GOO Game ;)

Now I need to find a new picture!

Scott Hardie | November 16, 2011
Fyi about the solve times, I've figured out what the problem is, but the solution will take a while to implement. I'm going to have to change the way that entire site records times to the database on everything, such as this very comment that I'm writing now in TC. I've been planning for a while to improve and standardize my database timestamps anyway, but now it's a priority. So that the goo tournament is not disrupted, I'll convert the goo-specific code this weekend, and work away at the rest of the site as time permits. Solve times will continue to be hidden until it's worked out.

Scott Hardie | November 17, 2011
I've been forced to fix the solve times issue sooner than planned, after one player noticed that her guess was being counted as coming in after midnight when in fact it was made before midnight, due to the weirdness in how times were being calculated. This required me to take some of the pages offline temporarily, so sorry for the inconvenience. This issue should be completely fixed now and the game should be back to normal. Please alert me if anything still seems wrong.

I've reviewed every single guess made this week, and discovered one other instance where a player was unfairly affected by the computation errors. I've credited this player with one more extra chance to make up for the issue. I'd keep his identity private, but you can tell from the numbers on the page that it's Richard Slominsky.

If anybody's really curious, I can break down exactly what happened and what I changed to make it work. The short version is, in early October, the site migrated to a new server with different settings, which affected how time computation in my code works -- I keep track of time using two different formats, and one was affected by the server change while the other was not, putting them five hours apart when calculated against each other (EST vs GMT). I have now standardized all time formats in the code and database to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, no matter what server we ever move to in the future. Thanks for bearing with me on a difficult problem that came up at a really bad time.

Steve Dunn | November 17, 2011
I see lots of changes in the results. As long as you're satisfied everything is correct, I am cool with whatever. I thought the "after midnight" issue had affected me as well, but then assumed I'd simply been slower than Richard. Now it looks as though I didn't even match up with Richard?

Scott Hardie | November 17, 2011
I have before-and-after screenshots of the scores page if it helps. Nobody is paired differently in any brackets than they were.

The thing with Richard affected you too, Steve; I should have worded that more carefully. Your guess on Tuesday's goo came in before midnight, but was credited after midnight. As soon as I fixed the computation, you ceased to lose that extra chance on Tuesday, so you have one more now. It's the same as the person who noticed that her guess was not being counted who prompted me to fix this right away.

Once your guess on Tuesday was counted, it was faster than Richard's, costing him a chance. That means he would suddenly disappear from the tournament today if no steps were taken. He shouldn't be suddenly eliminated from the tournament over this, so I gave him an extra chance to make up for the one he's been using for a few days now that suddenly disappeared.

Mike Rothstein | November 19, 2011
1 second, I'll take that. But it looks like the matchups stay the same for the next goo - why do I feel like all I did was stir the dragon?

Scott Hardie | November 19, 2011
One second! Nice!

One, two, or possibly three players will be eliminated on Monday. I think we'll have a winner around the end of the month. The game takes off weekends, but will run on Thanksgiving and the day after.

Steve Dunn | November 19, 2011
OK so apparently the sports goo was easy for everyone except me...

Scott Hardie | November 19, 2011
Blame it on Barcelona.

Samir Mehta | November 19, 2011
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Steve Dunn | November 19, 2011
Barcelona is great. Playing the goo tournament while here adds a dimension that few other people on Earth would understand.

Nice to have the weekend off.

Chris Lemler | November 19, 2011
Well be safe and enjoy the rest of your trip

Samir Mehta | November 19, 2011
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Erik Bates | November 22, 2011
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Steve West | November 22, 2011
Sorry to rub salt in the wound but my competing time was comparatively slow - I could see you bettering that.

Scott Hardie | November 22, 2011
Will the tournament become easier or harder to play on Thanksgiving and the day after?

Erik Bates | November 22, 2011
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Erik Bates | November 22, 2011
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Scott Hardie | November 22, 2011
Bummer. :-(

I stopped publicly rooting for any players a long time ago, because it's inappropriate given my role. But when I did, I rooted for whichever player had been playing the longest without already winning the game. That wasn't just an attempt to be diplomatic; I genuinely wanted that person to win. I had and still have no personal preferences among the players, which is easy because I like everybody here. :-)

This season, I was so glad to see players take my advice and pursue a perfect regular season, all 50 goos solved. This wound up being a difficult batch of goos and nobody pulled it off, but it was a great effort. I remain convinced that solving all 50 goos provides a huge advantage -- not an insurmountable one, as Ryan proved against Russ -- but one worthy of the prolonged effort to get there. I hope to see people try again next season, and that includes you, Erik. Good luck winning the real deal.

Erik Bates | November 22, 2011
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Scott Hardie | November 23, 2011
We'll probably say it again Thursday, but have a great Thanksgiving -- Erik and everyone.

Chris Lemler | November 23, 2011
Had a fun time with the tourney Scott and I wish the best of luck to the rest of the great competitors in the tourney

Steve Dunn | November 23, 2011
Oooooh, Justin, nice play today. Congrats.

Justin Woods | November 24, 2011
I should of waited till the morning wasn't thinking last night at all, I was just talking to Joanna about that GOO yesterday... Good job Steve D.

Scott Hardie | November 24, 2011
We will be down to four players tomorrow, then either two or three on Monday. This is exciting. :-)

I've heard from players who prefer fewer extra chances and a shorter tournament, and I see some advantages in that. But personally, I think we're on to a pretty good thing with 1-4 chances per player and an approximately 12-day tournament. This feels like the way it should be.

Steve Dunn | November 24, 2011
Thanks Justin! Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Scott Hardie | November 25, 2011
That's some damn fine goo solving. I threw some tough goos at you players this week, but you solved them quickly. The level of play this week has been top notch.

Steve Dunn | November 26, 2011
Nice playing, Mike Rothstein. I would not have been surprised or disappointed to lose to you yesterday.

So, Scott, how is this going to work on Monday?

Scott Hardie | November 26, 2011
It will be Dunn vs. Dunn on Monday, with the survivor taking on Justin for victory on Tuesday (assuming Justin passes the bye to get there).

Ryan Dunn | November 26, 2011
Yer going down, Dunn!

Scott Hardie | November 26, 2011
I don't know how many people saw the trivia item after the goo of arsonist William Cottrell expired. When I first created that goo, I screwed up by using a photo of the very similar-looking singer Travis Cottrell by mistake. I owe an apology to all players, but especially to the three people who guessed Travis, one of whom would be going into the final three next week with an extra chance. I'm very sorry that it happened. I feel lousy about it, but I imagine that the affected players feel worse.

I haven't always ruled consistently over the years when a guess lands in that fuzzy area between correct and incorrect, and it's time for that to end. After this tournament is over, I intend to publish a list of exactly what will happen in certain unusual circumstances like this one, and stick to it forever. I've also begun double-checking images that I find for source photos, especially for every tournament goo, to avoid any repeat of this.

Scott Hardie | November 27, 2011
A few people have asked why Justin will get a bye on Monday, so let me clear it up publicly.

Each day in the tournament, remaining players are sorted first by the number of goos solved in the regular season (descending order), then by their lifetime scores (ascending order). If there's an odd total, a bye gets added to the bottom of the list as an extra "player" to make it even. So the remaining players will be sorted like this on Monday:

Justin (48 season, 1288 lifetime)
Steve (48 season, 1410 lifetime)
Ryan (40 season)
bye

The player at the top and the player at the bottom are then paired off as a bracket, then second to the top and second to the bottom, and so on.

Scott Hardie | November 27, 2011
I don't know if "bracket" is the right word any more since we stopped using traditional brackets, but you get the idea.

Steve Dunn | November 28, 2011
I find it hilarious that on the day of the Dunn vs. Dunn showdown, the "bracket spotlight" is on Justin vs. bye!

Steve Dunn | November 28, 2011
Oh wait - now the bracket spotlight is on our matchup. I guess it rotates?

Scott Hardie | November 28, 2011
It picks a random bracket to profile every time the page loads. For certain pairs of adversaries who know each other, such as Ryan vs Steve or Chris vs LaVonne or even two people who previous squared off at GooCon, it sometimes shows extra text reflecting their relationship.

Chris Lemler | November 28, 2011
Hey Scott are there gonna be any bonus goo's after this tourney?

Scott Hardie | November 28, 2011
Yes. There will be three bonus goos later this week.

Of all the people who could have knocked Ryan out, it must hurt that it turned out to be Steve in the end.

More impressive goo solving today. Keep it up.

Steve Dunn | November 28, 2011
Actually it doesn't hurt at all!

And as my reward for beating Ryan today... I have to face Justin tomorrow! Yikes.

Good luck Justin. I will have no regrets whichever way it goes tomorrow.

Justin Woods | November 28, 2011
Good luck to you as well, I don't know if I can keep up with your fast times though. You are fast!

Erik Bates | November 28, 2011
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Justin Woods | November 28, 2011
Thanks for the encouragement Erik!!! ;)

Chris Lemler | November 28, 2011
Well its gonna be great to see two great competitors face each other!!!!!!!Best of luck to the both of you!!!!!!!!

Chris Lemler | November 29, 2011
Congrats on the hard fought battle Justin

Steve Dunn | November 29, 2011
Congratulations Justin. You deserve it. Heck of a run you've got going on this site!

Justin Woods | November 29, 2011
Thanks Chris.

Thanks Steve that was close, I thought it was over after 2 minutes. well played!

Steve Dunn | November 29, 2011
Man, I figured it was over as soon as I put up my time. I had the right answer typed in, but hesitated to pull the trigger because I wasn't 100% certain.

I was kinda hoping you would guess it in 40 seconds so I could console myself knowing I never had a chance.

Such is the goo game. Lots of twists and turns. I was lucky in this round that several goos just "clicked" for me immediately - that certainly does not always happen. And anyway, the Dunn brothers still get to hang two Final Four banners (Final Three banners?) at Christmas this year. I'll take it.

At some point, though, it must be said, Scott is going to have to implement some kind of salary cap, restrictor plates, or affirmative action program to level up the playing field around here. You're like Terry Bradshaw's Steelers, winning everything all the time.

Scott Hardie | November 29, 2011
Way to go, Justin! You are the game's 50th winner. This is your fourth victory in 13 months. Steve's right; it's a heck of a winning streak. :-)

It might be tempting to downplay some of Justin's success over the last year by saying that the new format plays to his strengths or he got lucky with the byes, but that's just not true. Justin worked hard for these victories, and I imagine that this season was the hardest-won yet. There were some outstanding competitors this season, especially in the waning days of the tournament.

Regardless of the outcome, those were some interesting times on the final goo -- not too quick, not too long, and very close to each other. I still really have no idea what makes for a difficult goo, because I expected Monday's goo to take ~5 minutes and today's goo to take ~1 minute, instead of the other way around.

About "affirmative action"... I have considered changing the way that players are sorted into brackets. The first sorting criterion would still be descending order of goos solved in the regular season, because it's the primary incentive to keep playing strong for all ten weeks. But the second criterion, instead of being ascending order of lifetime scores, could be ascending order of previous victories instead. (Since there are a lot of ties on that list, especially if you count players with zero victories to date, then ascending order of lifetime scores would probably have to stay as the third sorting criterion.) The idea would stay the same, that less-accomplished players should have a small but important advantage over more-accomplished players; it just changes the definition of "accomplished" to being about victories instead of total goos solved. What do you all think of this possibility? It's just an idea that I've been kicking around, not something that I'm inclined to do, since I'm inclined to keep the rules the same for the sake of keeping them the same. But I can be persuaded if it's really in the game's best interests.

As mentioned above, we'll have three bonus goos to fill out the rest of this week, then begin the 51st season on Monday. I have most of the new season worked out already, comprised of good themes cut from Fall 2011 or from GooCon for various reasons, and some timely themes that belong in the winter -- and yeah, that dreadful Mothers of Invention theme will finally make its appearance. I'll announce the new schedule no later than this weekend.

Steve West | November 29, 2011
Congrats, Justin. As Steve said, you've got quite a streak going. Keep at it.

Erik Bates | November 29, 2011
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LaVonne Lemler | December 2, 2011
Way to go, Justin ---- quite a victory! Congrats!

Scott Hardie | December 2, 2011
Three consecutive victories you've earned, Justin... Nobody else has pulled that off in the modern era of the game. A few players have managed to earn double victories - Steve West, Russ (twice), Amy, Elliot - but nobody else has won three in a row since Matthew in the early days, when it was a very different game. Kudos.

Justin Woods | December 2, 2011
Thanks Steve W. Erik, LaVonne and Scott.

it's nice to be mentioned with those hall of fame players...

I look forward to my 4th in a row now! ;-)

Scott Hardie | December 4, 2011
As I mentioned above, it's long past time for me to declare official rules for what happens in obscure circumstances, such as a guess where the first name is right but the last name is wrong, or vice versa. The complete list is now online, and I'll add to it if new incidents occur that aren't here.

If these rules had been established before the William Cottrell goo, it would have been stricken from the tournament rather than costing some players an extra chance because of my mistake. I still regret that it happened at all, and I hope this list ensures a fairer outcome if it happens again.

Erik Bates | December 5, 2011
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Scott Hardie | December 5, 2011
My pleasure. I'm glad to have them written out and formalized. It took me more time than I would have liked while I'm trying to focus on finishing Pirate Paradise by the end of the month, but it was worth it.

For the record about the possible rule change that I mentioned above, sorting tied players by number of wins so that frequent winners have a small disadvantage against less accomplished opponents: It's not in play for this season, but I might add it to the game at the beginning of some season in the future.