Social Wrighty presents Forum Sheep game for 2024 Rules have been posted

[Wrighty]

Increase total squad to 25 and make it a 17 team

How about two extra rounds where Wrighty is the round master

And we make it a cap of 25 players and pick your top 17 for voting like you say

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

How about two extra rounds where Wrighty is the round master

And we make it a cap of 25 players and pick your top 17 for voting like you say

Sounds good, def like a top 17. Everyone will have heaps of opportunities to fill a squad

 

[Wrighty]

Thanks Mr Brownstone snd Inruin

The only other rules question I had was

For each qualification question make sure there are at least 25 possible alternative players as the answers

Is 25 a good number for the contestants to pick from for bidding
Should it be 20 to make it easier for the round master to come up with a question

There are 11 contestants

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

Thanks Mr Brownstone snd Inruin

The only other rules question I had was

For each qualification question make sure there are at least 25 possible alternative players as the answers

Is 25 a good number for the contestants to pick from for bidding
Should it be 20 to make it easier for the round master to come up with a question

There are 11 contestants

I think 20 is plenty.

 

[Wrighty]

I think 20 is plenty.

Thanks
Have attempted to clean up the rules in the opening post just now including a rule of having 20 players possible for each qualification question

And just to reiterate have changed the rules since initially posting them that you are allowed to bid and acquire as many players as you like each auction be it silent or open. Ie no more restriction to three as initially indicated.

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Hey could I suggest we limit the silent auction to 3 players max, possibly even less, otherwise doesn’t it take away the sheep rule? If it’s open slather then way less likely to pick someone a bit more obscure that others haven’t thought of or prioritised.

Should the questions each round be quite narrow (ie aim for less than 30 players available each round)?

If there 150 player choices a couple of players will have multiple bids and everyone will get there 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th choices and the squads are full after 6 rounds

Wont narrowing the candidates result in more bidding against each other rather than picked up players cheaply?

I suppose it depends how it all plays out during the actual game.

 

[Wrighty]

Should the questions each round be quite narrow (ie aim for less than 30 players available each round)?

If there 150 player choices a couple of players will have multiple bids and everyone will get there 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th choices and the squads are full after 6 rounds

Wont narrowing the candidates result in more bidding against each other rather than picked up players cheaply?

I suppose it depends how it all plays out during the actual game.

I will add a rule against overly broad qualifying questions and I as moderator will just outlaw any qualifying question with tons of possible answers

I don’t think that will play out though based on the way the game is incented but I will put a rule in there just in case as you make a good point Wizards

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

I do still wonder if the game will work better if everyone is forced to choose the players they want to prioritise rather than blanket bidding. It would become more strategic if say you had a max 3 choices per round & there were maybe 2 really standout immortal choices & then another 8 really good options - do u target one of the immortals with your limited picks, knowing full well that everyone else would really want them as well, or do you instead target one of the next tier down in the hope that u can get some value for money while everyone else chases immortals. In my opinion that would be more fun than everyone being able to play it safe & bid for anyone & everyone that looks appealing.

 

[Wrighty]

I do still wonder if the game will work better if everyone is forced to choose the players they want to prioritise rather than blanket bidding. It would become more strategic if say you had a max 3 choices per round & there were maybe 2 really standout immortal choices & then another 8 really good options - do u target one of the immortals with your limited picks, knowing full well that everyone else would really want them as well, or do you instead target one of the next tier down in the hope that u can get some value for money while everyone else chases immortals. In my opinion that would be more fun than everyone being able to play it safe & bid for anyone & everyone that looks appealing.

I am mulling on this

My working assumption is that there will be blanket bidding from. Some people because that will be there strategy
Others will be circumspect as you only have 25 spots in your squad

If you blanket bid three or four rounds in a row then you will probably fill half your squad

If it was an unlimited number of squad members and not a cap of 25 then I would agree with you

Originally I was going to have a three selection cap for the silent auction but was finding the rules complex as the open auction was going to have no restriction

Fondly to say all my thoughts I suspect the round masters will not be too generous with offering a plethora of all time greats each round. Each round master has a bounce $400k they get to spend in that round so they will know they can probably take out the top dog player and they then may or may not may manage the amount of remaining talent in the round available to others. That won’t be a big factor as it will be hard to control things too much with the qualifications questions but it will be part of the mix of what regulates this game and makes it a challenge

All that said I am going to have a think on your suggestion for an hour or so

 

[Inruin]

One thought I had around salary cap. Obviously everyone will see what you have spent in the open round. Can we keep the silent rounds secret in terms of winning bids so late in the game no one knows what you have left to spend.?

And what is the rule if by some fluke the same amount is bid in a silent auction for a player?

 

[Wrighty]

One thought I had around salary cap. Obviously everyone will see what you have spent in the open round. Can we keep the silent rounds secret in terms of winning bids so late in the game no one knows what you have left to spend.?

And what is the rule if by some fluke the same amount is bid in a silent auction for a player?

I want the salary caps to be updated after each round with the new available balance so that people can strategise against each other
I want this to be dog eat dog as much as possible
So the silent auction winning bids will be published and each contestant will need to post their updated war chest each round
If two silent auction bids are tied then no one wins the player so although bids are 100k minimum and increments of 10k you are encouraged to bid a specific amount like 270k vs a round number like 300k to avoid matching someone
The other alternative to this is that we allow bids down to the dollar in the silent auction but that makes tracking the war chest totals hard

The final reason I want constant transparency on the war chest balances is that way I can keep an eye on them that they are being totalled correctly and it will be disastrous if someone starting bidding money in error they didn’t have by mistake

 

[Wrighty]

I am mulling on this

My working assumption is that there will be blanket bidding from. Some people because that will be there strategy
Others will be circumspect as you only have 25 spots in your squad

If you blanket bid three or four rounds in a row then you will probably fill half your squad

If it was an unlimited number of squad members and not a cap of 25 then I would agree with you

Originally I was going to have a three selection cap for the silent auction but was finding the rules complex as the open auction was going to have no restriction

Fondly to say all my thoughts I suspect the round masters will not be too generous with offering a plethora of all time greats each round. Each round master has a bounce $400k they get to spend in that round so they will know they can probably take out the top dog player and they then may or may not may manage the amount of remaining talent in the round available to others. That won’t be a big factor as it will be hard to control things too much with the qualifications questions but it will be part of the mix of what regulates this game and makes it a challenge

All that said I am going to have a think on your suggestion for an hour or so

I have thought about it and will note the idea for future games but won't do it this time. There will be times when someone legitimately wants to bid on 4 or 5 players and will be frustrated by a three player rule. Secondly a three player rule will lead to occassions where the contestant is outbid on all three players they contest on and that will be a downer if it happens a couple of rounds in a row.

 

[Wrighty]

Defence

I have asked ChatGPT to summarise the rules so they are more readable see below in case this helps

---

Game Overview:​

• Players: 11 contestants.
• Rounds: 24 rounds total, each with a Silent Auction or Open Auction.
• Moderator: Wrighty (you, the moderator).
• Objective: Build the best balanced rugby league team (max 25 players) with a $12 million salary cap.
• Endgame: After the 24 rounds, players pick their top 17 for voting. No voting for your own team.

---

Key Rules:​

1. Bidding & Budget:
   • War Chest: $12 million for the entire game. Once you spend it, it’s gone (no loans, no do-overs).
   • Player Selection: Must pick players who have played at least one test match since 1980 for England, NZ, Australia, Tonga, or Samoa.
   • Max Players: Can pick up to 25 players. If you have fewer than 17 players by the end, Wrighty will assign filler players (not great ones).
2. Auctions:
   • Silent Auction: 12-hour bidding period. Minimum bid is $100K, bids must increase in multiples of $10K.
   • Open Auction: Same rules as Silent Auction, but the thread will close at a random time in the final hour to prevent last-second sniping.
   • Black Sheep Picks: If you bid on a player no one else does, you get the player for free and a $400K bonus refund.
   • Round Master’s Bonus: The round master gets an extra $400K to spend each round, or they forfeit it.
3. Player Restrictions:
   • Once a player is picked, they are unavailable to others (no trades or selling).
   • Round Master: Must choose a question with at least 20 qualifying players. No exceptions or negative questions (e.g., "Pick a Canberra Raider, but not Mal").
4. Team Building:
   • Max Squad: 25 players in total. At the end of the game, you must have a starting 17 in their natural positions. If you don’t, Wrighty assigns filler players.
   • Draft Order: Randomized, reverse snake draft.
5. Infringements:
   • Infringements: If you don’t bid in a round, you’ll be infracted. Three infractions = elimination.
   • Collusion: No team-ups or private chats. Violating this rule leads to mod killing.
   • Protests: Must be made publicly in the thread. No private messages except to Wrighty for rare issues.
6. Miscellaneous:
   • Player Tracker: Each player must track their picks and remaining budget in a separate thread to avoid infractions.
   • Respect: Play strategically, but be good-natured, especially when someone outsmarts you.

---

Quick Tips:​

• Be strategic with your bids, especially early on to avoid overspending.
• Pay attention to other players’ budgets and picks.
• Don’t forget to plan for the final rounds when filling your squad.

Good luck, and may the best team win!

 

[Wrighty]

Those Quick Tips at the bottom of the post are quite incredible to think about. I loaded all the rules into Chat GPT and asked it to spit them back to me much better written. But look what it has done. ChatGPT understands how the game works and has generated itself three tips for the players. AI is quite scary how smart it is.

 

[Wrighty]

There is no question in my mind we are going to get wiped out by AI just like all the Science Fiction movies predicted.
I asked ChatGPT to give me ten more tips on how to win this game and it gave excellent advice. Quite scary. When they invent AI robots to do your housework I am not going to let one into my house. I am 52 I am not going to fully embrace AI in my lifetime even though everyone else will as I am fearful of it turning on me.

 

[Worried2Death]

There is no question in my mind we are going to get wiped out by AI just like all the Science Fiction movies predicted.
I asked ChatGPT to give me ten more tips on how to win this game and it gave excellent advice. Quite scary. When they invent AI robots to do your housework I am not going to let one into my house. I am 52 I am not going to fully embrace AI in my lifetime even though everyone else will as I am fearful of it turning on me.

You've already taught it to play Wrighty's games better than you. Have you just replaced yourself?

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

There is no question in my mind we are going to get wiped out by AI just like all the Science Fiction movies predicted.
I asked ChatGPT to give me ten more tips on how to win this game and it gave excellent advice. Quite scary. When they invent AI robots to do your housework I am not going to let one into my house. I am 52 I am not going to fully embrace AI in my lifetime even though everyone else will as I am fearful of it turning on me.

If we asked ai to judge this games winners - then we will see it’s limitations

 

[Worried2Death]

If we asked ai to judge this games winners - then we will see it’s limitations

What if it predicts the final round positions of everyone on the ladder before round 1 starts? How did it it know?

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

What if it predicts the final round positions of everyone on the ladder before round 1 starts? How did it it know?

Well as long as it has me first we will know it’s accurate otherwise its just pulling names out of a hat

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

If we asked ai to judge this games winners - then we will see it’s limitations

Yeah that last game where AI decided the winners was a joke. It was way off picking the best team. Can’t remember whose it was, however there was a standout & it didn’t even make the final.