All right, players. I’m back from my “business trip” (campus exploring and apartment hunting at Brandeis, but mostly
chillin’ with Q and her Damn Awesome Fiancee), and ready to proceed with the second of our three challenges. Earlier, I PMed you guys and asked, from each of you, a list ranking the other four players by the order in which you’d most like to see them receive an exemption. I emphasized, and I’ll repeat it now, that this was by no means a brute “who’s your favorite player” judgment. Since no contestant is put at risk when the Mole receives an exemption, a player’s wisest move would be to favor not the other players she necessarily likes the best, but those she most strongly suspects as the Mole. Besides, we’re all buddies here! So let there be no hard feelings when I reveal how everyone ranked each other, as below:
SEM:
- Ninety +3
- Belle +2
- Elliot +1
- Testbug +0
TESTBUG:
- Ninety +3
- Belle +2
- Sem +1
- Elliot +0
ELLIOT:
- Ninety +3
- Sem +2
- Testbug +1
- Belle +0
BELLE:
- Testbug +3
- Elliot +2
- Sem +1
- Ninety +0
NINETY:
- Testbug +3
- Belle +2
- Elliot +1
- Sem +0
TOTAL:
- Ninety 9
- Testbug 7
- Belle 6
- Sem 4
- Elliot 4
My my – top slots from not one not two but three other players! So is
Ninety just Mr. Popularity, over there, or has he taken over the reins as the people’s choice for Mole? As my dad would say, it’s probably half of one and six dozen of the other. Regardless, the team has spoken, and
Ninety is the one who stands to receive an exemption in this challenge. So what is this challenge all about, anyway?
Well. LET ME TELL YOU. There are eight boxes.
“Oh jeez,” I hear you say. “Another free giveaway mission. Where are the
puzzles, Pohatu. I liked ‘The Wiki Caper’. Why can’t we have more like that one.” Well, first of all, if you want puzzles, stick around to the final episode. And anyway, this is no mere-shmear giveaway. It’s a game about playing the odds, and searching for the right moment to make your move.
Four of these excitingly multicolored boxes contain exemptions, and trifling amounts of EP –
3 EP,
4 EP,
5 EP and
6 EP. The other four boxes contain no exemptions, but much more generous helpings of EP –
16 EP,
19 EP,
24 EP and
27 EP. I’m just tryin’ to shake up the numbers so everything isn’t in multiples of 5. What order are the boxes in? Quite random, and I’m certainly not going to tell you.
(However, for integrity’s sake, I’ve PMed myself the contents of the boxes, and will post the screencap after the challenge ends.)The way the challenge works is this. The four of you who aren’t
Ninety need to confer among yourselves, whether here in public or in private, and
you must each individually post in this topic voting to either “go” or “stop”.Since there are four of you, it would be possible to have a tie, so I’ll settle that in an easy way:
the first option which receives two votes will automatically be taken. Which means, for the smartasses, that yes, I won’t
actually always need to hold out for all four votes. Sheesh. Ingrates.
Now what does it actually mean to vote “go” or “stop”?
If the winning vote is “go”, then
Ninety will post here in the topic and choose one of the boxes to eliminate.
That box’s contents will be removed from the game. If the box contained an exemption, it disappears; and whatever EP prize was in the box is neutralized, and added to neither the team pot nor the Mole’s pocket. I’ll let you guys know what was in the box, and afterward, the voting will start anew, with the other four players again choosing whether to “go” another round or “stop”.
Once the winning vote is “stop”, then the challenge ends.
Ninety will post here in the topic and choose one of the boxes to keep. What happens next depends on whether the box contains an exemption or not.
If the box contains an exemption, then it’s bad news for the team. Ninety receives that exemption, and the team receives only whatever pissy little EP bonus was in that box. All other boxes that are still on the table are emptied out, and their EP prizes awarded to the Mole.
If the box only contains EP, then let the team rejoice. Ninety receives no exemption, and not only does the team score that particular EP bonus, they also clean up all the remaining money on the table. The Mole gets nothing.So, essentially, the task’s progression will consist of some number of “go”s, maybe none at all, followed by a “stop”. When should you move to “stop”? That’s the question that each of the four of you will need to answer, individually and as a group. Right now, if you “stopped” straight off the bat with no boxes eliminated beforehand, then you would have a 50-50 chance of either winning all the money on the table, or giving an exemption to
Ninety and practically all the money to the Mole. A dramatic, crowd-pleasing scenario, but maybe a bit too risky? After what happened to the
90 EP, it seems pretty clear you guys aren’t in the mood to gamble with high stakes. Better, then, perhaps, to vote “go” and see how your chances are altered with the elimination of a box? Maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll be one of the exemption boxes, thus increasing the probability that the team’s going to go home happy. Or maybe you won’t be so lucky and we’ll say goodbye to one of the bigger EP handouts. Either way, another “go” vote after that will swing the odds yet further. And yet further, and further, until the four of you collectively decide: when are these odds as good as they’re going to get? When is it time to bite the bullet and let
Ninety open a box?
The moment of truth is yours to schedule.
Everyone who isn’t
Ninety, please vote to “go” or “stop” now. And please feel free to verbalize your reasoning.