Samanayrs

With August being the big birthday celebration month for both the Samanayrs and Sushi, the Samanayrs have prepared some birthday fun. This month, some new Samanayrs have come to the Song of the Rainbow Hotsprings and have got together to hold a race. This race will be quite different from previous races in the fact that your Samanayrs will not be racing. Instead, a group of prehistoric Samanayrs will be racing against one another and you will be "betting" on who will win.

New to Racing or just want to refresh yourself on the rules and how it works? (rules this month are a little different, see below)
Check out this thread: http://www.samanayrs.net/forum/viewtopi ... =43&t=2333
Don't own a Samanayr but still want to participate?
Check out this post: http://www.samanayrs.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2333&p=29561#p29561


Prehistoric Gambit

This is a special race. The course is a fairly generic field/forest course with a stream running through it so aquatic Samanayrs may take part. The Samanayrs entered in this race have already been chosen (and currently do not have owners).


As the racers have already been chosen, you will be "betting" on which Samanayr you think will win the race.

Betting
At any point before the start of the race, you may submit a bet on which racer you think is going to win the race.

Once the race starts, bets for new players may be taken on a case by case basis, depending on how the race is going, but this is not guaranteed. Obviously it wouldn't be fair for a new player to come in and bet on a Samanayr that is just about to cross the finish line, but if the race has only just started and everyone is pretty much on par, you bet may be accepted; however, it must be posted rather than sent by pm.

The number of people betting on a Samanayr will also affect the "odds" of a Samanayr winning the race. Too may people betting on one Samanayr may cause them to be overconfident, and slow down a little, whereas those with few people betting on them may receive speed boosts as they wish to prove themselves.

0-2 bets = no effect
3-4 bets = -1 to speed
5+ bets = -2 to speed

I will try to update the amount of bets each Samanayr has as often as possible, in the race post below.

What else can you do?
Everyone who wants to participate as a member of the audience receives 10 tickets, even if you haven't placed a bet. I'll be trusting you guys to keep track of your points, so you don't have to formally post how many you have left, but you may if you'd like. These tickets can be used to influence the race to help or hinder some of the racers. Tickets can be traded in to the Sharian at a booth beside the race course for the following items:

1 ticket = goodwill spell : may have a small positive effect at some point in the race
1 ticket = ill-will spell : may have a small negative effect at some point in the race
3 tickets = tail wind/current spell : has a slight positive effect on racing speed for a turn or two
3 tickets = head wind/current spell : has a slight negative effect on racing speed for a turn or two
5 tickets = slippery banana peel : acts as a small obstacle that may stop the racer from moving that turn

To use an item, just post in bold what item you will be using and what racer you would like to influence. You don't have to post that you are buying an item, that's more for fun and you are welcome to roleplay a bit. Items may be used at any time throughout the race and most will take effect on the next round after the one currently in progress when posted. Good will and ill-will spells are somewhat unpredictable in nature and therefore the effects may vary and there is even a chance of it completely failing.




Prizes in this race will be the Samanayrs placing first, second, and third. The other Samanayrs will then be used as prizes in other Birthday events.

If multiple people end up betting on a winning Samanayr, the winner will be randomly chosen from those people and the rest will receive a cupcake, a one use breeding item that can give the foal one of the following traits: mini, vestigial feathered wings, folded ears, upright hair, bob tail




To place a bet, send a PM to my account, silvermoondragon, on the forum(pm’s sent to Sushidragon may get missed), with the subject as Prehistoric Gambit and the following form filled out:

Username:
Samanayr ID:
Samanayr Name:

Bets will be open until the race starts tomorrow Aug 16, 7:00 pm PST

Here are the current number of bets on each Samanayr so far. I will update these as often as I can.
Question: 2
Flash: 2
Lure: 0
Notch: 2
Equid: 3
Pursuer: 2
Tusk: 2
Strike: 2
Blood: 0
Snared: 0
Scaling: 2


First: Equid of the Prehistoric Past and Yuiven
Second: Scaling of the Lush Jungle and Yildun
Third: Question of the Ancient Fields and tierasa

Missed the race? Here's an animated GIF of the festivities:

Ok, hopefully I've managed to clearly explain the rules. Please let me know if you have any questions!

If this race turns out ok and people enjoy it, I may see about adapting it as a race type where people race their own Samanayrs as well as betting on, and influencing other racers.

Sadly I will not be around for the races but I do wish them all the best of luck.

Question, darling Silver, and if you need me to delete this and PM it to you, I can, and I'm sorry if this was covered and I'm just confused- what if one of the winning Sams has not been bet on? Who would get it?

I think I'm going to be more excited once our Sams can do these sorts of races, but I'm still excited! I'm also lucky I got less busy, right when this is about to kick-off.

It was really hard to choose who to bet on, but my tickets are ready for the pandemonium to commence.

Good luck to all of the racers - and bettors

@ Seren - no problem, questions are always welcome. That's actually a really good question, that's one of the reasons I decided to have the odds, to try and encourage people to spread out their bets and hopefully prevent situations where there were no bets on one Sam or everyone betting on the same one. Although, about an hour or so after posting the race I realized that I was giving a bonus to Samanayrs with no bets, essentially making the situation of a Samanayr not being bet on winning more probable... This would be fine in a normal race since the racer's owner would still win, but in this case it doesn't quite work. Therefore, I'm going to remove the 0 bet bonus for this race, unless there are objections. Ideally, we'll get at least one bet on each racer, or those with bets will win, otherwise, I'll probably continue the race until we get placings for three Samanayrs with bets, and those with no bets will be then used for other events with the added prestige of having placed in a race.

tldr - I'll be removing the 0 bet bonus, and the race will continue until there are three placing Samanayrs with bets on them. No one will get Samanayrs with no bets and they will be used in other events.

Also, as this is a ground and water course Lure and Blood have just as much chance of winning as the others, so don't forget about the aquatics!

The prehistoric Samanayrs all stand in a line, ready to start the race.

Woohoo! I'm looking forward to this one.

This should be a lot of fun! *gets tickets ready*

Off go the racers, but very soon they start to come across our first obstacle, a large fallen tree.

Omen prances eagerly in place, wishing she could be in the line-up... But instead decides to get in on the action the only way she can... She swaps a ticket for a good-will spell, and gives a swirl...

"Tusk..." She barks, as she crushes it to release the magic.

Darn, hope this is still early enough but I would like to bet on Blood. Dunkleosteus (I believe) are awesome <3

Username: Echos
Samanayr ID: 1353
Samanayr Name: Blood of the Primordial Sea

A few racers are tripped up by the fallen tree, but other racers move on, wondering what might lie ahead.


@ Echos - That's fine, it's still early enough and there are no bets on her yet so yay

((I'm going to maybe have to cut out for my brother's birthday, so while I'm still here...)))

Eyes wide and shivering with excitement, Peek carefully counts out three tickets... Then eagerly accepts a tail wind spell from the vender in response, hurrying back to the sidelines and flinging it skyward to activate it.

"F-f-f-for T-t-tusk!"

((Done to 6 for me))

Retinue shakes her long mane as she watches the race. This is not going well. She heads to the Sharians and swaps a ticket for a goodwill spell. She breaks it open and calls out "Question"!

*so, so pleased that someone recognized Blood as a Dunkleosteus mimic* Buck-tooth fangs really are kind of the best!

And...Tail Wind Spell on Scaling! (3/10 tickets spent)

Snap watched the race, pacing back and forth as the competitors took off. She had placed her bet on an equally fierce looking mare and was confident Blood would able to outdistance the others. But still- a little help never hurt. Open the tailwind spell she cried out Blood's name hoping it would give her the push to pull in with the front runners.

EDIT: Hehe Janalee, I took paleobiology in college. One of my favorite classes even though we never made it past the Devonian.

The racers continue their run across the field, wondering when the next obstacle will appear.


Kentouma's goodwill spell floats across the racers, it happens to activate right away, giving Tusk a +1 speed for this round

Eyes narrowed in decision, Pursuer trades in a ticket for a good will spell and cradles it in her front hooves as she turns back to the race... Tusk she thinks hard, and blows the shimmery spell into the air.

(5 left for me! )

Missive, always eager to help out a fellow equine (and quite liking the look of Equid), fluttered over to spend 3 tickets and purchase a spell for the mare. Closing his eyes, he breathed out his command... "Tailwind spell for Equid, if you don't mind!"

(7 remaining for moi!)