My original idea was to run my own contest. Silly me! As if I have the time to tally (correctly, OMG) hundreds of votes every week. Ha ha.
Instead, I picked the easy thing. I’m partnering with a site that hosts office pools called funofficepools.com. Check out the widget on the sidebar. Just sign up and make your picks. Here’s the link: join mjsbigblog’s pool.
Sooooo….yeah. Prizes! I haven’t figured out the details, but there will be prizes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Fun! Sign up!
The rules of the game…after the jump:
- Pick the American Idol winner at the beginning of the season - if you’re correct, you get 40 points. If your selection finishes 2nd, you get 20 points. If your selection is 3rd, you get 10 points. Note - if your pool allows you to join late, you will get less points (decreases each week) if you pick an overall winner late.
- Pick who is sent home each week. You have 20 points to allocate to who you think will be sent home each week. You can bet all your points on one person, or spread your 20 points among multiple contestants. You receive the number of points you allocate to the person who is eliminated.
- Bonus questions - this is an optional feature in the pool as designated by your pool commissioner. Bonus point questions are created by Fun Office Pools and are typically worth 2-5 points each. A sample bonus question is “Who is in the bottom three?”. Your pool can have 0, 1 or 2 bonus questions each week.
- American Idol Final 24 differences - for the final 24, you select your overall winner once the final 12 people are announced. Also, when they are reducing the contestants from 24 to 12, you pick four people each week (each worth 5 points) and the picks are due before the Thursday show each week.
Related Posts
Great idea, MJ. I just joined and made my picks for this week. This should be really interesting and fun. :)
I’m in! Go Luke!!
I just joined!
Indeed, go Luke!!!
Whee! What fun! I just did it myself.
I agree Go LUKE!!! Not only is he incredibly easy on the eyes, he’s another Hoosier(three in the competition)! I can’t WAIT to hear him sing.
This is such fun!
I just realized the standings are out on the front page. How cool is THIS?
Yay! How fun! I signed up, but haven’t made my pics yet. Thanks, MJ!
I joined too! Neat idea!!
We can change our picks after we watch them perform right?
This is fun! I guess now I’ll have to vote to make sure I’m right :).
I just joined. My daughter and I were both looking at the list, and already we disagree. This is going to be fun.
Rickey from Rickey.org is doing the same in his blog. I’m gonna do both!! Yay!
This is great!!! How much fun is this?
I read it that you can wait to vote until Thursday if you want. It will be interesting to see how it changes after the two performance nights. This is really something to bring us together. I love it.
*waves to steve-o* Nice to see you.
Saweet
Well, I just logged in and made my picks.
Let the smack begin!!!
St. Lucia, Luke is a member of an acapella group called “Chapter 6,” You can listen to their music on their myspace page.
Take a listen. They’re really good.
I joined, this should be fun. I am going to wait until the performance show to vote though. Some newbee may just surprise us so I will wait until then. Let the games begin.
Hi CarieB!!!
Cheers, Steve-O!!!
Guys, how do you change the title of links, like what lady bebeop did above?
I joined!
Joined!!!! :)
Carrie:
Click link. Type or paste in the http link. Click OK. The link will paste into the comment box with some code. After the > type in what you want to call the link. Then, click the link button again.
To be clear on the rules - you have til Thursday at 8 EST to make your picks. You can change your picks up til the deadline, so it doesn’t hurt you to make picks now. During the first 3 weeks, you’ll be choosing 2 guys and 2 girls that you think will be going home. Once it gets to the final 12, you’ll have 20 points each week to assign to who you think will go home - you can bet it all on one person or spread the points out over several people. You also get points if you can pick the overall winner. You can make your overall pick anytime and change it up till the 1st elimination show after they hit 12 people (so you have to pick an overall winner from amongst the top 12). There are also two bonus questions each week to answer. We’re always looking for bonus question suggestions, so if you have any ideas leave the ideas here or on the discussion board on funofficepools.com.
ACK! I’m a little verklempt and fangirly! I went to the link provided by LadyBeBop and LUKE is online right now! SQUEEE!! Of course I immediately closed the link. I want to meet my future husband in a more dignified manner.
MJ.
Thank YEW! :)
One thing frequently debated is who will sing first and who will sing last. That could be a bonus question if we can have questions that must be answered before the air date.
We could also guess when the first time (or to whom) the judges will say their favourite catch phrases. When will Randy say “DAWG”, when will Simon say “That was absolutely ghastly” (or “I’ve seen better performances at a Belarusian brothel”) and when will Paula rattle off some new age nonsense.
Finally, the big bonus question, who will they mess around with by making them “pick a group” on final 7 boot night?
Thanks for setting it up, MJ! There was so much fodder to choose from, it really was a crap shoot choosing for this week.
Going to go join the pool. Sounds like fun, thanks MJ.
Yay! This will be fun!
How come I can’t submit the choices I made as to who whill be eliminated? I currently have mine as the default. When I pick my choices, the Submit form disappears. :(
oscar, because you have to pick the overall winner first. It won’t hurt to do it now because you can always change it up till the week of the Top 12.
I’m In :)
oscar - the submit button goes away if you don’t have 2 guys and 2 girls selected. we had a javascript bug we discovered last night that prevented it from reappearing sometimes, depending upon how you clicked the person you were choosing (you can just click the row or picture - you don’t need to click the checkbox). the bug has been fixed, so you shouldn’t have any trouble making your picks.
primeminister - you don’t have to pick your overall winner first in order to make your weekly picks, but i agree it doesn’t hurt to pick now - you can change it up till the elimination show that drops them from 12 to 11.
Hope everyone is enjoying the pool - suggestions for improvements and/or criticisms are welcome.