[squeakland] The Squeakland Tally Contest (win an RC plane with video)

[Timothy Falconer]

Hi everyone,

As we prepare for our two month Etoys publicity drive (starting  
November 1st), I'd like to make things a little more interesting.

Let's have a contest.    The winner gets  a brand-new HobbyZone Super  
Cub LP with a lightweight Fly Cam One attachable video camera, shipped  
anywhere (that's legal) in the world.

I'm personally donating both.  The plane is very fun, and very easy to  
fly. Also, if you win, you'll be able to do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiNxzXixlOc


Here are the rules:

1. you must be 18 years or older to enter the contest, or have the  
signature of a guardian or parent.  Proof will be required upon winning.

2. you must guess three tally totals as they will appear at midnight,  
New Year's Eve, as the Times Square ball drops in New York City.

The tally totals are:

a. Squeakers (number of people that have signed the squeaker list)
b. Accounts (number of people that have signed up for a showcase  
account)
c. Projects (number of publicly visible projects on the Showcase)

see: http://squeakland.org/tally

3. Lowest score wins.  To determine it, subtract your guesses from the  
corresponding new year's value for each total, then add the absolute  
value of the each difference.

Example:

squeakers ... joe's guess (5000) ... new year's value (4500) ... abs  
diff (500)
accounts ... joe's guess (3000) ... new year's value (3500) ... abs  
diff (500)
projects ... joes guess (1000) ... new year's value (7000) ... abs  
diff (6000)
score = 7000

4. These bonuses will apply:

a. subtract 500 from your score if you're the last publicly visible  
project in 2009
b. subtract 300 from your score if you're from the top NON-USA country  
in the list at new year's
b. subtract 200 from your score if you're at the PURPLE level at new  
year's
d. subtract 100 from your score if you're at the BLUE level at new  
year's

see: http://squeakland.org/showcase/ranking.jsp

5. Initial guesses need to be emailed to me before November 1st starts  
(midnight) in New York.

6. You'll be allowed three "mulligans" before December 1st where you  
can change any one of your guesses (one per mulligan).

7. Each mulligan will enact a 100 point penalty, which will be added  
to your final score.

8. Any obvious attempts at cheating will disqualify you.  (Adding  
Squeakers or accounts yourself, reposting duplicate projects, etc.)

9. Disputes will be decided by me.  I'll try to be as fair as  
possible, though I suspect some will see things differently.  My  
plane, my call.

10. The winner will hopefully agree to send some fly-by video of a  
"Squeak if you love Etoys" sign, that we'll send, which we'll later  
use on the Squeakland website.


Anyway, I hope this remains friendly and fun.   The trick, of course,  
is making good guesses.

A few hints . . .

* we currently average about 300 web visitors a day, some new, some  
returning.  We've peaked at 6000 web visitors in a single day.

* the peak was because of a magazine article.   We *will* be seeking  
multiple magazine articles and other forms of publicity during this  
time.

* the addition of multiple languages on the website will greatly  
increase our possible audience

* we will have "tell a friend" functionality to allow for some social  
networking, including facebook, twitter, and blog buttons for  
individual projects

* schools will create multiple accounts, usually in one shot (I just  
now saw 14 accounts from the same school create accounts).


So ask yourself . . .

How many people do you think like Etoys in the world?

How many can we reach before the end of the year?

How many new people will we reach before the end of the year?

How many will create accounts, or share projects?


I've already made my three guesses (though I can't win), which will  
remain private like everyone else's.   All will be revealed on New  
Year's Day.

Have fun!

Tim

--
Timothy Falconer
Squeakland Foundation
http://squeakland.org
610-797-3100
--
"Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do."  ...  
piaget





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