12 Days of Grim-mas Cup: A holiday tournament!

The holidays are upon us once again! As all good Eyewire girls and boys know, every year St. Grim (the omniscient being formally known as the Grimch) makes his visit to bestow gifts on his favorite minions. This year is no exception! Grim is hosting this year’s 12 Days of Grim-mas Cup – a 2 week tournament of holiday competition. Come have some hot cocoa, sing a few holiday classics, and play for points, glory, and science!

Did you participate in last year’s Eyewire Cup? Well then you might already be familiar with this type of competition. However, the rules for the Grim-mas Cup are not exactly the same, so please read everything to make sure you’re well informed!

Grim-mas Cup

The 12 Days of Grim-mas cup will consist of 4 rounds of competition, each 48 hours in length. Teams are created after the Qualifiers, and will then move through 3 additional elimination rounds. The 3 lowest ranking teams will be eliminated in each round, with the final round determining a Gold, Silver, and Bronze team champion.

Special Badges!

Throughout this competition there are a whole bunch of limited editions badges to win!  Let’s go over those now:

  • Grim-mas Cup Player – Play during any event in the 12 Day of Grim-mas to earn this badge
  • Team Captain badge – This badge is awarded to every team captain
  • Starting Lineup badge – Win this badge for being one of the very top players on your team. 
  • MVP badge – If you were the top player on your team at the end of any round you win this badge
  • Original Team Member badge – If you were on the same team from Quarterfinals to the Final, and you win the Cup, you’ll take home this badge
  • Gold, Silver, or Bronze Grim-mas Cup badge – Everyone who plays in the final round will receive a special badge
  • Best team name — Players will vote on their favorite team name. The Team Captain who came up with it wins this badge (not required to be in the final round to win). Any names chosen by HQ will not qualify for this badge.

Special Swag

Anyone on the winning team in the Final who plays at least 50 cubes will win a special limited edition swag prize! MVP on each of the Silver and Bronze medal teams also wins the specialty prize. More details to follow, so stay tuned!

Swag generously sponsored by @susi

Notifications

Notifications will be where all competition information and updates live. You’ll find the current round’s leaderboard in your notifications, which is also where you will sign up for a team. If you wish to participate in the Grim-mas Cup please check your notifications regularly.

Special Roles

The Starting Lineup consists of the top scorers on every team at the end of the round (see below for exact details on the Starting Lineup breakdown for each round). The Starting Lineup will be weighted at 2x the rest of the team in each round (so each point they earn is worth 2 points towards the team’s total score). The Starting Lineup members also earn personal bonuses in each round which are unrelated to their weight and do not affect the team’s score.

The MVP is the #1 player on a given team at the end of the round. MVPs earn an additional bonus on top of their Starting Lineup bonus.

The Team Captain is the player who created the team after the Qualifiers. Team Captains remain the same throughout the entire competition regardless of the Captain’s team ranking in any given round.

Qualifiers

The Grim-mas cup begins with 2 days (48 hours) of qualifiers on Monday, December 9th at 11 AM ET to Wednesday, December 11th at 11 AM ET. During this time period everyone plays for themself. Check the leaderboard to see your current standing.

At the end of the qualifiers the top 9 people will become Team Captains. Each Team Captain will choose a name for their new team.

*Because there is only one day between the qualifiers and the playoffs, we will ask all players to choose a team name before the Qualifiers are over. A notification will be sent out during the Qualifiers with a link to a form to submit your name. Your team name will be used if you end up being one of the top 9. If you do not choose a team name, HQ will have one assigned to your team.

During the Qualifiers:

  • Everyone competes as an individual
  • The top 9 players earn a bonus of 75% of their score + 5000 points
  • All other players earn a bonus of 50% of their score

Playoffs

After the Qualifiers end, there will be 9 new teams. If you are not a Team Captain you will choose one of these team to play on. You can join at any time during the Playoffs round, but remember that your points will only count starting from the time that you join. You must play at least 50 cubes to earn bonus points.

The Playoffs run for 48 hours from Thursday, December 12th at 11 AM ET to Saturday, December 14th at 11 AM ET.

During the Playoffs:

  • 9 teams will compete
  • All teams compete during the same 48 hours
  • The starting lineup will consist of the 3 best players on each team
  • The starting lineup on each team will earn 100% of their their base score in bonus points
  • All other players on each team will earn 50% of their score in bonus points
  • The MVP on each team will earn an additional 5000 points
  • The bottom 3 teams will be eliminated at the end of the round

Semifinals

After the Playoffs, the top 6 teams will move onto the Semifinals. If your team did not make the Semis, you may choose to join a new team. You can join at any time during the Semis, but you must play at least 50 cubes to earn bonus points.

The Semifinals run for 48 hours from Sunday, December 15th at 11 AM ET to Tuesday, December 17th at 11 AM ET.

During the Semifinals:

  • 6 teams will compete
  • All teams will compete during the same 48 hours
  • The starting lineup will consist of the 4 best players on each team
  • The starting lineup on each team will earn 125% of their score in bonus points
  • All other players on each team will earn 50% of their score in bonus points
  • The MVP on each team will earn an additional 7500 points
  • The bottom 3 teams will be eliminated at the end of the round

Trivia

After the Semifinals begin, we’ll also have some fun trivia questions for you! Trivia will be holiday, sport, and science themed this time around, so get to studying!

Trivia runs from Sunday, December 15th at 2 PM ET to Tuesday, December 17th at 2 PM ET and will conclude with a power hour at 2 PM ET on December 17th.

Final

The top 3 teams from the Semis move onto the Final. If your team did not make the Final, you may choose to join a new team. You can join at any time during the Final, but you must play at least 50 cubes to earn bonus points.

The Final runs for 48 hours from Wednesday, December 18th at 11 AM ET to Friday, December 20th at 11 AM ET.

During the Final:

  • 3 teams will compete for the title of Grim-mas Cup Champion!
  • The starting lineup will consist of the 8 best players on each team
  • The starting lineup on each team will earn 150% of their score in bonus points
  • All other players on each team will earn 50% of their score in bonus points
  • The players on the winning team will earn an additional 10,000 points
  • The MVP on each team will earn an additional 10,000 points

Closing Ceremony

We’ll celebrate your great achievements in the Grim-mas Cup on Friday, December 20th at 4 PM ET. We’ll also be promoting players to new ranks! Click here to request a promotion.

FAQ

Why is scoring set up like this?

The top players on each team during each round are the “Starting Lineup.”  Giving more weight to these players means that even if the teams are uneven, each team will have a fair chance at winning their match. It may also encourage even teams because there is an incentive to join a smaller team and have a greater chance to gain a bonus from being one of the top players on the team.

Because the starting lineup pulls more of the team’s weight, we’ll be rewarding you with some pretty great bonuses!  The bonuses for the starting lineup increase with each round, so you’ll want to play hard to make it to the top of the leaderboard by the Final!

How do I know where I rank on the leaderboard?

Check your notifications! All competition information including rankings will be available in there.

Can I change my team?

Once you join a team you pledge allegiance to that team for the rest of the competition!

You may only join a new team if your team was eliminated from the competition, or if you are just joining.

Artwork by Daniela Gamba