Welcome to the Eyewire Cup!

Grab your vuvuzela, the 2018 Eyewire World Cup is here! All countries are eligible but only the top 8 from the qualifiers will advance to the next round. Three additional rounds will determine the country that reigns supreme as the champion of Eyewire.

The rules are going to be different from our regularly scheduled competitions, so read on to make sure you’ve got the 411 before we get started.

We’ll open up the cup with a couple of familiar competitions to get you pumped for this month’s event.

On Friday, June 22nd at 11 am ET things will kick off with a fun mix of sports and science trivia, and will wrap up with a Trivia Power Hour on Sunday, June 24th at 11 am ET.

We’re also bringing back the ever popular Hunt at 12 am ET on Saturday, June 23rd! You’ll have until 12 pm ET on June 28th to complete it.

Eyewire Cup

There will be a in-game leaderboard for the duration of this competition located in your profile.

The Eyewire Cup will consist of 8 teams from 8 Eyewire countries which will compete in head-to-head matches until we end up with one winner! Each round will be an elimination round, with no rematches.

Special Badges!

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

Participation badge – Play during any event in the Eyewire Cup to earn this badge
Eyewire Cup Winning Team badge – Anytime your team wins a one-to-one match, everyone on the team will receive the winning team badge. This badge is unique to this competition, and differs from the VS winning team badge
Starting Lineup badge – Win this badge for being one of the very top players on your team. See details below for the starting lineup in each round
MVP badge – In each match the player with the overall top score will be declared the MVP and will receive the MVP badge, as well as a point bonus. In the Qualifiers the top contributor from each of the 8 teams that make it into the Cup will be considered the MVP.
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
Eyewire Cup badge – Everyone on the winning team during the Eyewire Cup Final will receive a special Eyewire Cup 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! More details to follow, so stay tuned!

Qualifiers

So how will we choose which countries get to compete? Well, we won’t be choosing, you will!

The Eyewire cup will kick off with a week of qualifiers for the 8 coveted spots in the cup.

The winning countries will be chosen based on the total amount of points earned by all players playing for that country. We’ll know which country you’re playing for based on the flag you use in your profile. You can choose whatever country you like! You can play for your home country, you favorite World Cup country, or even just a country you like the shape of. The choice is yours!

To change your country flag go to your profile > settings > select your country. Points earned will stay with the team you were on when you earned them.

The Qualifiers will run from Monday June 25th at 12 pm ET, to Sunday July 1st at 12 pm ET. Everyone who joins the Eyewire Cup during this period will earn 1.25x their score for the entire week!! If your country makes it to the next round we’ll give anyone who earned points towards it a 5000 point bonus, and the MVP of each of those countries will get an additional 2500 points.

Quarterfinals

Once the Qualifiers have completed the top 8 teams will move into head-to-head combat in the Quarterfinals. You may choose any of the 8 teams which have qualified as your team. CHOOSE CAREFULLY! This may be the last time you’ll be able to pick your team during the competition. If your team wins and moves onto the next round we’ll ask that you continue playing for that team until it is eliminated.

**From here forward your profile country flag will no longer be an indicator of which team you belong to. You can keep your team flag or switch to another flag, but it will have no bearing on your team affiliation or team score.**

During the Quarterfinals:

8 teams total will compete
Your team will be matched at random against another team
The competition will last 48 hours – Tuesday, July 3, 12 pm ET – Thursday, July 5, 12 pm ET
All teams will compete during the same 48 hours
The starting lineup will consist of the 3 best players on each team
The points earned by the starting lineup on each team will be weighted at 2x the rest of the team
The starting lineup on each team will earn 100% of their 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 in each match will earn an additional 10,000 points
The MVP will earn an additional 5000 points

Semifinals

Once the Quarterfinals have completed the winning team from each match-up will move on to the Semifinals. If your team won you will stay on that team in the Semis. If your team lost you can choose to join any of the teams that are participating in the Semis.

During the Semifinals:

4 teams total will compete
Your team will be matched against another team based on total points earned in the previous round
The competition will last 48 hours – Sunday, July 8, 12pm ET – Tuesday, July 10, 12pm ET
All teams will compete during the same 24 hours
The starting lineup will consist of the 5 best players on each team
The starting lineup on each team will be weighted at 2x the rest of the 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 players on the winning team in each match will earn an additional 10,000 points
The MVP will earn an additional 7500 points

Final

There can only be one winner of the Eyewire Cup, and this is the place to find out which country will take the cake and that sweet sweet Eyewire trophy home with them! If your team is a winner of the previous round, once again you will be playing for that team in the Final. If you were on a losing team you may join either of the teams competing in the Final.

During the Final:

2 teams will compete for the title of Eyewire Cup Champion!
The competition will last 24 hours – Thursday, July 12, 12pm ET – Friday, July 13, 12pm ET
The starting lineup will consist of the 10 best players on each team
The starting lineup on each team will be weighted at 2x the rest of the 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 will earn an additional 10,000 points

All About Scoring

Why is scoring set up like this?

The top players on each team during each round are considered our “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!

What if I’m super awesome and the rest of my team is dragging me down?

We will be giving out an MVP badge and MVP bonus points to the top overall player in each match – no matter whether their team wins or loses. If you are one of the “starting lineup” players, you will also receive your bonus multiplier whether your team wins or loses.

How do I know where I rank on the leaderboard?

We’ll be setting up a special leaderboard just for this competition! We’ll send you a notification when it’s available.

For Sports! For Science!