Alice in Neuroland: The Queen of Hearts’ Marathon

Lina, Nurro, White Rabbit, marathon, Eyewire, citizen science, alice in wonderland

It turns out that attending the Mad Tea Party really might be helping you out: partway through, the White Rabbit leaps out of some neuro-bushes and frantically scampers across the table. “Wait just a minute!” you call, finally managing to throw your arms out and stop it in its tracks. “Stop running! Have you seen Alice?”

“Yes, of course I’ve seen her, but you must let me go or I’ll be late for the Queen’s Dendriding event!” cries the White Rabbit, very indignant. “And it won’t do to be late! It’s a 24 hour Dendriding marathon, and if you don’t attend the whole thing, the Queen of Hearts has a nasty habit of cutting off heads!”

“Why are you going to such a perilous thing, then?”

The White Rabbit puzzles over this for a moment. “… I don’t know. But I answered the RSVP and now I must attend. Look, if you want to find Alice, she’s going there too. That is, we’re really all in her brain, and she’s dreaming, so of course she’s going. If you can survive the marathon, too, maybe we can wake her up from this madness.”

So… you have some Dendriding to do. Starting at 8:00 AM EDT on 4/25, you will have 24 hours to complete 1-2 cells, impress the Queen of Hearts, and then presumably extract Alice from this recursive neural nightmare!

Swag (generously sponsored by @susi): 1 shirt, 1 mug, 1 poster, and 3 sticker sheets will be raffled among the top 25% of participating players!

Bonuses for Normal Play

Trace 20 cubes – 2,000 point bonus
Trace 50 cubes – 5,000 point bonus
Trace 150 cubes – 20,000 point bonus
Trace 300 cubes – 40,000 point bonus
For every 150 cubes above 300 cubes – 2,500 point bonus

Also, many of you will be eligible to rename the cell afterward, as follows:

  • Each player who traces at least 50 cubes will win the right to vote on a name for the marathon cell.
  • Each player who traces at least 200 cubes will win the right to nominate a name for that vote.

If the first cell finishes before the 24-hour mark, a second marathon cell will be launched to see if it can finish by that mark as well. Should the second cell indeed finish on time, it will earn the second-place name vote.

Special Guidelines for Scythes

Full info is here on the post for our first Scythe Marathon, but just to remind you of the current scheme:

Bonus: Instead of 5,000 points for SCing 100 cubes, for a marathon this reward doubles to 10,000! To maximize your possible bonus potential, we recommend that you first focus on tracing your fill and then starting your SC mission. That way the cell grows quickly and you hand yourself at least 30k or 50k total.

Naming: Admins will be counting every 3 SC votes as 1 cube added to your cube count for naming eligibility. So, for instance, you can trace 100 cubes, SC 300 cubes, and still earn nominating rights, or achieve the same result by tracing 150 cubes and SCing 150.

Now trace away!

Artwork by Daniela Gamba