As part of this year's Anniversary festivities,we held our third annual Guess the Results contest to go along with the Awards Ceremony on the forums. Here is a basic summary of the contest.
Contestants tried to guess the top three finishers in each of the 60 Award Categories. They were awarded five points for a correct first-place guess, three for a correct second-place guess and two for a correct third-place guess, as well as one point for any of their guesses finishing in the top three though not finishing in the predicted spot (example: a guess for first place coming in third). Contestants received five bonus points for an award they presented (since they weren't able to guess the results because they already knew the results for those awards) and five points for a trifecta, the almost-impossible event of picking the first, second and third-place finishers all in the correct order.
In 2009, I competed along with Stooben Rooben and Tucayo and narrowly edged out Stooby for the victory. 2010's contest had four competitors: Tucayo, SMB, Gamefreak and I. I won by a considerable margin. This year, an unprecedented 11 users competed. Nine of the 11 predicted the results for all 60 awards, one (DaisyGaga) predicted Mario and Fail, and one (Snowstalker) picked the first-place finishers for the Mario category only and did surprisingly well.
Smasher 101 took the early lead by winning the Userpedia and 'Shroom categories with Gamefreak75 and New Super Mario close behind. Gamefreak then won the Fail Awards and it was a tight race to the finish. Gamefreak also won the Mario category, but Baby Mario Bloops ended up as the surprise winner. He didn't place first in any of the four categories but he stayed consistent throughout the competition and edged out Gamefreak, 428 to 426. New Super Mario finished in third and Smasher finished fourth after a weak showing in the Mario category.
As one of the many prizes given out to the best performers in the Guessing contest, Mafia game and Brawl tournament, Baby Mario Bloops was given an interview!
Ralph: What strategy did you use to win the guessing contest?
BMB: I really just looked back at last year's. When I couldn't, I did my personal favorites. The best trifecta's I got were the ones I based my personal judgment on.
Ralph: I used a similar strategy last year. Tends to work quite well. What do you feel were the high points of this year's ceremony?
BMB: The high points for this year was probably the Mafia game. No doubt that it would draw a lot of attention. I mean hey, there were like 35+ people, way more than most things.
Ralph: The Mafia game was certainly a lot of fun. What do you think can be improved for next year?
BMB: I think that some more advertising and finding a way to get more people involved into the awards could really help us. I think that is what is holding us back right now from expanding are awards that we would love to really do.
Ralph: I agree that advertising can be improved. Despite the increases in attendance and participation, a poll organized by the Poll Committee following the awards showed that 80% of respondents hadn't heard about the awards. Do you have anything to say on the SSBB Tournament?
BMB: It wasn't like I was the host or anything...but in all seriousness, for the first tournament, I think it went well. The scheduling of each round was WAY off, and much of the information was slightly off, but other than that, it went good. I think it could be 10x better next year if it happens again.
Ralph: Though it was our first time holding a Brawl tournament, I think it went well. It's tough to coordinate getting all the people together at a time that's convenient for as many people as possible. I did like your idea of using a chatroom for the tournament. I think that we should definitely use that again if we hold game tournaments next year.
Thanks to BMB for participating in the interview and thanks to all the participants in this year's ceremonies!