Another quick video chat

Sometime about 2:30 p.m., we'll be hosting a live video chat. Come join us as we talk about upcoming changes to Ringorang.

Also we'll enjoy some Hangman action, as well as another game.

You can watch the video cast below and take part in the chat.

A quick interview with Banshee

Celina, known as "Banshee," is doing fairly well in our latest Ringorang challenge, the Red Carpet Rangle. She's currently in ninth and has a good shot to finish in the top 10 this week. Here's a quick interview we had with her earlier this week.

GLENN: How did you find out about Ringorang?

CELINA: One of my friends on Unfiction heard about it and got a bunch of us involved in, like, week 3 or something. We as a group puzzles and trivia so it was a great fit :)

GLENN: Do you have a funny moment playing Ringorang? Like, did you wait to go to the store, or were you in the bathroom or cooking?

CELINA: I've held off eating, going to the restroom, and/or going home from work while waiting for a question at least ONCE every day. I have run across the room while cooking or washing dishes to answer questions. The most fun was during Christmas, the whole family helped me by clicking the RingODinger's Play button when a question came in and I was busy in the kitchen. :D

GLENN: What is that avatar on your Twitter? Is that part of a bigger mural or painting? Did you do that yourself? And what does it all mean?

CELINA: My avatar is a clip from the label from a beer called Red Banshee Ale by the HC Berger Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colo. (sadly, closed in 2002). My husband spotted the beer when we were visiting family, and knowing that's my nickname from way back, bought me a bottle. I then took the image from the website and cut it down to make my avatar :)

The nickname Banshee came from when I worked in telephone customer support - I have low tolerance for stupidity so would often put customers on mute and curse them out, loudly... hence "Banshee". The "red" was added because I'm a redhead and I guess there are alot of other Banshees out there so had to make it unique :D

GLENN: What makes Ringorang interesting for you?

CELINA: I love trivia of all types, and testing my knowledge against others. I've often said my brain is so full of useless trivia, there's no room for anything else in there... like, birthdays and appointments and deadlines. This is why I have a Treo and Outlook :D

GLENN: So far, we've done a football contest, Oscars contest, Twiistup contest and a few other themed competitions. What themed competition would you get excited for that we haven't done yet?

CELINA: I would be so amazingly thrilled if there were a Bond Trivia week - to the point that I would probably become an insomniac and stay up all week to answer them all! I've been a Bond fan since Goldfinger and have won several Bond trivia contests in the past - and for Christmas we got the Ultimate Bond Movie Collection so it's all fresh in my mind now! BRING IT ON!!! :D

GLENN: We were thinking of having shorter tournaments. Would you prefer a one-day, or a weekend tourney if you had to choose one or the other, and why?

CELINA: I would personally have to go with a one-day tournament because my weekends are *ridiculously* busy - I actually have more time during the week than I do the weekends :p

Oscars hints today ... while listening to Three 6 Mafia

Having fun with the Red Carpet Rangle? It's been fun learning about everything related to the Oscars celebrations, past and present. I only caught the highlights because I was at a tournament. Turns out, I would have been disappointed because the "Voice of God" wasn't honored. And so, in a world where Ringorang's latest contest is coming down to the wire, I think it's time to dish out some hints.

Or, maybe not.

The race has been so close so far that maybe we should let things play out, because everyone 11th through 20th still has a shot of getting into the top 10 and receiving a prize, probably not as big a prize as the 12 digits that The Dark Night earned.

Wow, in checking the future questions, I thought that Titanic was the all-time nominations getter. But I guess it shared the honor with another movie. Speaking of honors, I never knew that Mr. Modesto himself has never won a "competitive" Oscar award. That's like saying "Boom goes the dynamite" in a way.

Alright, enjoy the rest of the tournament. Come Friday afternoon, we'll have a survey for you to fill out, to gauge your thoughts on the competition.

Interview on StartupsLive.tv

Our CEO, Robert J. Feeney, joined the cast at startupslive.tv earlier today to talk about all things Ringorang.

You can watch the interview here.

Testing bonus city

The developers have given we the people here in the locker room a test version of Ringorang which includes Bonus City. So far, it has worked, and I'm very happy. We're going to keep testing it, but initially, things are looking up.

For those who have just joined Ringorang: Bonus City was awarded when you answered 3 questions correctly in a row. You received an extra 150 for your troubles.

There is no official word on when it will be put into the regular game.

Other observations:

* -- I got 3 in a row and got Bonus City. Then I intentionally did correct/DNP/correct/correct and got Bonus City. Good thing to note is that it is giving Bonus City BEYOND the first one.

* -- When it says PLAY and you press No, your streak isn't broken.

* -- Timed out breaks your streak (Yes! This is something I've wanted implemented personally)

Big congrats to Faeryqueen

She received 300 dallions on a question earlier today. Here's the proof.

We were wondering if it was ever possible to score 300 dallions. I guess it is.

Congrats again!

Who will be the next to do it?

Definitely not a shampoo bottle

In reference to the 4 p.m. question:

"Which actress said, 'It's not a shampoo bottle now!' after hoisting her Oscar for Best Actress?"

The answer was Kate Winslet.

I'm sure you fans of the Oscars saw this last night.

Pre-Red Carpet Rangle T-shirt winners

In case you're wondering who the lucky recipients are in the Pre-Red Carpet Rangle T-shirt drawing, here you go.


Pre-Red Carpet Rangle T-Shirt winners on 12seconds.tv

Congrats to the winners; you'll be receiving an e-mail notification very soon, explaining how you can get your prize!

That was enlightening and funny

Big credit goes to our man Cisco for this 2 p.m. question:

Who received the first acting Oscar for a non-English language performance?

Sofia Villani Scicolone was the answer to the trivia question. You might know the person at Sophia Loren.

But the joke answer might have been more hilarious than the trivia being informative. For those who missed it, the joke answer was Dora the Explorer. That might have been the funniest joke answer I've seen so far.

Yes, big props to Cisco for that one.

What works better for you?

As I mentioned during the video cast on Friday, one of the questions on our recent survey involved the possibility of two competitions during the week:

1. We run two tournaments at the same time, and have no weekend tournaments.
2. We run a weekday tournament, then a 2-day weekend tournament.

Our consensus here: We're split. Actually, we don't know. We see the benefits with both, which makes going with one over the other right now a tough call. Eventually, we'll have 500 weekday tournaments and 501 weekend tournaments running at the same time.

We're asking you the people to help us out. Let us know what would work best for you and why.

$22 for a sandwich?

Here was the 2 p.m. question:

At what Manhattan Eatery, originally dubbed "Queen's Head," did George Washington announce his retirement from the Continental Army?

The answer was Fraunces Tavern.

And it is still there today.

I was browsing through the menu. Funny how the first thing I see is a goat cheese salad for $14. But scroll down the list of items and there's a steak sandwich for $22 (and they put a double dollar sign, just to let you know it's EXPENSIVE at lunchtime).

If you've been there, let us know what it's like.

A big thank you, unless ...

I want to thank everyone that's participated in our recent survey. We in the locker room had some great discussions on the results and are looking at what you all will enjoy once we update these bugs.

Wait a minute, you didn't take the survey?!?!?!

OK, go here and answer the 10 questions. It takes a few minutes.

There was one result that has been a head-scratcher so far. Actually, "head-scratcher" is probably a bad term. Let's say that the result wasn't lopsided.

Q.8 Let's say we have two competitions going on. What would you prefer?
Option 1: Question Everything during the week, and then a two-day weekend tournament: 54 percent
Option 2: Question Everything and a second tournament running at the same time during the week, no tournaments during the weekend: 46 percent

I'll admit that this week was weird because there was just one question per hour, as opposed to two. So if you were to ask me today, I'd say let's do two tournaments at the same time.

Then again, I know that there are people who can't play the full week, and they'd be able to play a full weekend tournament. Therefore, having a weekend tournament would be beneficial.

Tough call. Let us know what works for you: Two tournaments at the same time or a weekend tournament?

A bad leap

The 10 a.m. PT question was very interesting:

1920s actress Peg Entwistle is most famous not for a role but for jumping off of what landmark?

The answer was The Hollywood Sign.

And for those wondering what that is, go here.

Entwistle played a role in Thirteen Women. If you've read the book or seen the movie, how was it? Yes, I admit I don't read much books based on non-sports topics, but if it's interesting, I'll check it out.

Educated guessing

I'm wondering who got the last question correct and how you came up with the answer.

"Who is the NFL's all-time leading rusher"

The answer was Emmitt Smith.

I knew the answer because I still remember the moment he broke the record, surpassing Walter Payton. It was as if he bowled over for a few yards. He stayed on the ground as his teammates gathered to congratulate him.

But I might be in the minority here, because Emmitt Smith was a contestant and eventual winner on "Dancing With the Stars." None of the other three guys that were choices were contestants on that show.

So, if you chose Emmitt Smith, did you because of his running or his dancing?

Win a Ringorang T-shirt in a totally different Oscars contest

Now that we're in full "Oscars" mode, we're adding yet another contest! And it is super simple!

Here's what to do: Guess the winners of the four categories below. Submit your answers in the comments section.

1. Best Actor
2. Best Actress
3. Best Director
4. Best Picture

Please submit it in that order.

The first person to get all four categories correct wins a Ringorang T-shirt. If nobody gets all four, then it's the first person to get three correct. And if there still isn't a winner, then we'll go with the first person to get two right.

Oh, and please let us know who you are based on your Ringorang game name.

You can only submit one guess, so make sure it's the right one.

You have until noon PT Sunday to submit a guess.

Ready? GO!

Double the Oscar fun - Two upcoming Academy Awards tournaments

This was just finalized this morning by the team.

In celebration of the Academy Awards, which is scheduled for Sunday, we're going to be running TWO Ringorang competitions based on the annual awards event.

TWO!

2!

Here's the schedule:

Tournament 1: Starts at 5 p.m. PT Friday and goes until 8:59 p.m. PT Sunday
Tournament 2: Starts at 8 a.m. PT Monday and goes until 4:59 p.m. PT Friday

Basically, you get a weekend tournament that starts right after the Week 15 competition is done.

Both competitions will be about the Academy Awards. You'll get questions based on past winners, Sunday's winners, notable snubs, fashion, movies that were nominated, and the "Oscar scene."

The two tournaments are separate of each other. Although they both have the same theme, dallions won't carry over from the weekend tournament to the second competition.

Questions in the weekend tournament won't be repeated in the full-week competition. And OBVIOUSLY you won't get "who won on Sunday" questions until the full-week competition.

I realize that a lot of people love the Academy Awards in some form or another, so here's your chance to shine.

The winner of the weekend tournament receives a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com. We'll also doing a drawing for five Ringorang T-shirts.

The prizes for the full-week competition will be as the same as a regular weekly competition (Amazon.com gift cards to the top three in $100/$50/$25 distributions, T-shirts to the top 10 players, and a drawing or other prizes).

= = =

Although I glance over the winners each year, the last time I really paid attention to the Academy Awards was during 2002. I was given the task of my editor to not only work a Sunday (which I usually wasted competing in high-score tournaments) but cover all of the local Academy Awards events in my hometown area. This included going to Spanish Bay, Asilomar, Carmel and Pebble Beach (yes, there was one in Salinas too, but it was low key).

There were some events that I had a lot of fun going to and I wish I would have stayed longer. Then there were other events that made me wonder why I went.

But at every event, there were debates going on all night. I mean, I've been to and hosted Super Bowl parties where we're breaking down the game from top to bottom. We even analyzed the punters and offensive lines. But at these Academy Awards parties that I covered, the eventgoers broke down every award, saying why this person or that person should win (and they even invoke sports-talk vernacular). Imagine 2002, when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington were the front-runners in the Best Actor/Actress awards. The debates were through the roof.

Just a side note that I found interesting; when I talked to actors that night, THEY ALL said that it was going to be a sweep for Halle Berry and Denzel Washington. When I talked to regular people and fans of movies, the votes were split.

So fire up the Academy Awards stick as you play Ringorang, it's going to be a fun few days.

Ringorang Survey No. 2

As many of you know, we ran two competitions last week. We had Week 14 of our Question Everything challenge, and we also had the Twiistup Throwdown challenge.

This is the first time to my knowledge we've run two competitions at the same time. For me, it was a welcome change, getting a question at a much more frequent basis. I also liked how one of the tournaments was about anything and everything, while the other tournament was based on a sole topic.

But that's my opinion. We want to get your thoughts. We've set up a second survey regarding the two tournaments last week.

Please take part in the survey, because the team and I will examine the results and come up with ideas for the future.

Go here to participate in our survey.

If you have any questions, let us know here or on the feedback forum.

One more thing. The survey does not address whether players should be divided based on past success. For example: We run two tournaments at the same time, but you could only participate in one based on how well you've done in the past. We'll get into that at a later time.

Thanks for taking part in the survey!

Breaking down yesterday's hints

Let's just get it out of the way, I'm betting that almost nobody got yesterday's hints.

"But Glenn you noob, where were the hints?" you ask? Well, they were in yesterday's entry.

They were in this paragraph:

Study up on those Five Books but don't use the Seven Dirty Words while drinking that one beverage made up by the pharmacist Caleb Bradham. And if you watch a movie that features the former Mayor of Carmel-By-the-Sea, be sure to find out if it has music from the Chairman of the Board. If you don't do that, then you might have to read a book on The Governator's homeland while singing this popular verse ... "Your heart's been aching but, you're too sad to say it."

Now, we will break it down:

Study up on those Five Books (Moses) but don't use the Seven Dirty Words (George Carlin) while drinking that one beverage made up by the pharmacist Caleb Bradham (Brad's Drink). And if you watch a movie that features the former Mayor of Carmel-By-the-Sea (Clint Eastwood), be sure to find out if it has music from the Chairman of the Board (Frank Sinatra). If you don't do that, then you might have to read a book on The Governator's homeland (Austria) while singing this popular verse ... "Your heart's been aching but, you're too sad to say it." (Rick Astley)

Seven clues in a paragraph, and I didn't have to drink any Sanka. Good stuff.

By the way, later today we're going to have another survey regarding the Twiistup Throwdown. So stay tuned.

Pay attention!

We had so much fun at Twiistup 5 last week in Santa Monica. But in the midst of fun, I noticed that there were at least two people taking pictures of everyone at the event.

I searched Flicker and have so far found one picture of me and the team (and Horse_head).

I'm searching for more pictures involving the team. I'm not certain how many times the rest of the team was hit by the flashing lights, but I know I was hit twice. One of them was while I was (horribly) playing Rock Band. If you know of any Twiistup pictures involving me or the team, let us know!

= = =

A couple weeks ago on the live videocast, I mentioned the difference in typing tests. Book tests and Internet tests produced way different results. You could type the same paragraph, and the book test would give you a score of 50 to 60 words per minute, while the Internet test says you're at 110 to 130 words a minute. I still remember those book tests. Below is an example of what would be on a book test.

Study up on those Five Books but don't use the Seven Dirty Words while drinking that one beverage made up by the pharmacist Caleb Bradham. And if you watch a movie that features the former Mayor of Carmel-By-the-Sea, be sure to find out if it has music from the Chairman of the Board. If you don't do that, then you might have to read a book on The Governator's homeland while singing this popular verse ... "Your heart's been aching but, you're too sad to say it."

What typing test is more legitimate? Books or the Internet? I know you cannots trusts the intrawebs, but maybe there's a recognizable Internet test out there that rivals some books.

A brief videocast (maybe ...)

Sometime about 2:30 p.m., we'll be hosting a live video chat. Come join us as we talk about the Question Everything Challenge, the Twiistup Throwdown, and other subjects

Also we'll enjoy some more Hangman action.

You can watch the video cast below and take part in the chat.

Thanks to all at Twiistup

Just wanted to give a big "THANK YOU" to everyone we met last night at Twiistup 5 in Santa Monica. Everyone here at Ringorang had a great time.

In case you are coming on here for the first time, I want to invite you to sign up for the Twiistup Throwdown (if you haven't already). Even though it's Friday and the competition will end at 6 p.m. PT, just for playing a question today gets you in the running for our drawing of several great prizes.

Our grand prize in the drawing is the Blade Runner Five-Disc Complete Collectors Edition.

You can sign-up for the game here.

Twiistup Ticket Raffle!

Dying to get into tonight’s SOLD OUT Twiistup 5 in Santa Monica? Ringorang is raffling off one ticket to players of the Great Twiistup Throwdown. Here’s what you need to do:

1. If you haven’t already, sign up to play The Great Twiistup Throwdown at http://twiistup.ringorang.com, download our client, and start answering some twiisted trivia Qs!
   
2. Send an e-mail to contact@ringorang.com with the subject line “Twiistup Tiicket.” You MUST include the following information: your name, your Ringorang user name, and a phone number we can reach you at.

We’ll do our random drawing at 4:00pm PST, give you a call, and put you on our list! Make sure you give us a good phone number… this isn’t for our records, only so we can reach you right away. If you don’t pick up, we’re pulling someone else’s name!

UPDATE 4:30PM: We have a winner....

Jeff a.k.a. Horse_Head!

Thanks to all who entered and enjoy the rest of the game. Remember, we still have Blade Runner up for grabs!

A buffer before answering

If you have gotten 300 dallions for answering a question, please stand up.

To the three people lying, you may now sit down. Nobody has gotten 300 dallions. Ever. I tried during Groundhog's Day to get 300 dallions, and the closest I reached was 296. Someone else got 298, and a couple people got 299.

With that in mind, here's an idea that was resurrected thanks to Quilaels, one of our players.

What if you had several seconds to examine the questions and answers, AND THEN the countdown begins? This gives you a chance to not only think about the question, but get as many dallions as possible, which right now is 300.

Quilaels said 5 seconds at least. I was thinking 2 seconds at most.

Would it even be a good idea? Is it making the richer rich? Who benefits the most?

I see the argument both ways. It can be a benefit, but how much of a benefit? So you score 2 seconds faster than normal, that's barely 20 dallions a question. Extrapolate that over an average day of performance (six) and that's 120 dallions. And keep in mind that if you are excelling 2 seconds better, chances are that everyone is.

That might not be much, but here's where things kick in. In getting extra time to answer questions, you get them right. Thus, you're more likely to get Bonus City (don't worry, it's coming back) and you can get even more dallions.

There is, however, some challenge in trying to answer a question, with no buffer, in 20 seconds. How fast can you read and answer? It's a challenge, even for us here.

Let us know your thoughts. Would you like to see a buffer? If so, how long? Should there even be a buffer?

Players' Choice Tourney: Friday's Qs

Players Choice Tourney: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

Friday 12:00am - 5:59pm PST

mrjudkins: Which actor played James Bond in the 1969 film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"?

• George Lazenby <<<<
• Sean Connery
• Roger Moore

NCFriend: What team became North Carolina's first major professional sports team in 1974?

• Charlotte Hornets <<<<
• Carolina Hurricanes
• Charlotte Checkers

DiscipleN2k: The phrase "balls to the wall" is said to have originated with which group?

• Fighter pilots <<<<
• NASCAR drivers
• Billiard players

jivebotic: Which rapper got his first big break in a Baskin-Robbins commercial at the age of two?

• P. Diddy <<<<
• Jay-Z
• T.I.

Blizzard: What phobia do you suffer from if you have intense fear of Halloween?

• Samhainophobia <<<<
• Hallophobia
• Bateatsbatophobia

krnsidez: What singer was born in Santa Barbara, CA and Kissed A Girl and liked it?

• Katy Perry <<<<
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Kanye West

tygr20: Nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," what MLB slugger has the highest batting average of all time with .367?

• Ty Cobb <<<<
• Ted Williams
• Lou Gehrig

sloney: "MO," the acronym commonly used by law enforcement, stands for what?

• Modus operandi <<<<
• Misdemeanor offense
• Major opportunity

faeryqueen21: What is the name of the fictional 1898 novella that tells a story eerily similar to that of the real life 1912 sinking of the Titanic?

• Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan <<<<
• The Tale of the Unsinkable Ship
• Iceberg

rewil: Whose distinctive voice was featured singing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in the 1966 television special?

• Thurl Ravenscroft <<<<
• Boris Karloff
• Bela Lugosi

PashaPhares: Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet, but could also be called the Rust Planet, due to the presence of what chemical on its surface?

• Iron oxide <<<<
• Nitrogen
• Carbon

MrToasty: A Gibson is a drink made with either gin or vodka with dry vermouth and what ingredient?

• Cocktail onion <<<<
• Olive
• Maraschino cherry

MrFantastic: Which Greek philosopher, Plato's mentor, was charged with impiety and forced to drink poison at age 70?

• Socrates <<<<
• Aristophanes
• Aristotle

ondafone: What city was divided, almost overnight, by a wall that went up on August 13, 1961?

• Berlin <<<<
• Belfast
• Beirut

balancingact: I have just taken a reading on the Douglas scale, and another on the Beaufort scale. Where am I?

• At sea <<<<
• In space
• Underground

dak: Some people, especially in South Cadbury, say that an old Iron Age fort in South Cadbury was actually my castle. Who am I?

• King Arthur <<<<
• Robin Hood
• Charlemagne

alexd2: What father of modern astronomy was sentenced to house arrest by the Catholic Church for stating the sun was the center of the solar system?

• Galileo Galilei <<<<
• Isaac Newton
• Albert Einstein

gravyboy: The first American to become royalty was New Orleans-born Alice Heine, the second wife of Albert I, prince of what country?

• Monaco <<<<
• Belgium
• Jordan

Our favorite word

I used to cover the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. For those who don't know, it's one of the very few times during the year that pros team (like it or not) with amateurs and celebrities.

It was a fun time on the golf course watching the pros and celebrities play. Also, if you ever get to walk the three golf courses in Pebble Beach, it is awesome (no, I didn't feel out of place, just the only guy there who got to the event in a truck instead of an Aston Martin).

Since it's a pro-am event, what's the one thing the tournament organizers have to look out for? Sandbaggers. Yup. After the 1995 incident, they're in full force trying to catch suspects.

So I guess you can sandbag anywhere.

Playing with a "team"

Sometimes the answer to a question is so obvious to me, but I hesitate and choose another answer because I second guess myself, and I miss it. Ugh.

A question yesterday was just like that:

"The homosexual meaning of 'lesbian' is attributed to the romantic poet Sappho, who made her home on what Greek island?"

And I said to myself, "Naw, it couldn't be Lesbos, that'd be way to easy."

Gahhh!

= = =

This past weekend, I bought "NASCAR 09" because I wanted to play another racing game aside from Mario Kart Wii. Funny how the store clerk said that "Nothing compared to Mario Kart." Yeah, if you like losing and winning when you shouldn't, then there really is nothing that compares.

Anyway, the one thing that always struck me as weird when it came to NASCAR is that players win a race, but they're part of a team. Look at Hendrick Motorsports. They have Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the beast Jimmie Johnson. Now, based on the races I've seen, they're all going for the checkered flag, but they work together to get rid of other drivers. Uh, what?

Well, if someone could explain that, let me know.

How does this tie to Ringorang? I'm sure this idea is far down the future since we have other issues to take care of, but I wanted to throw it out here.

What if you were to team with two or three other people, with the winning "team" winning a prize? There would still be individual prizes for first, second and third. (and I bolded that so people realize that it's an addition to the game, not an overhaul).

I don't know how we would compile the finishes, whether it's based on dallions (most would win) or ranking points (least would win). I can see the negatives and positives with both. I would probably be more inclined to do ranking points.

The problem with using dallions is that one person could literally carry the whole team. Someone could score an insane amount of dallions while the other two or three do almost nothing, yet the team wins. That reminds me of this San Francisco Giants commercial I saw repeatedly during the 2003 season.

With ranking points, one person can still carry the whole team, but it wouldn't be as heavy, and the weakest link could be the big difference.

Two teams:

Team 1
Player 1: First place, 15,000
Player 2: 10th place, 2,500
Player 3: 200th place, 250
Ranking points: 211
Dallions: 17,750

Team 2
Player 4: Second place, 8,000
Player 5: Fifth place, 6,000
Player 6: 11th place, 2,499
Ranking points: 18
Dallions, 16,499

Which scenario works better? The team that won with the most dallions or the team that had the three players in the top 15? This example is the extreme situation, where you have a scrub that doesn't do much but is on the winning team.

Help spread the word about the Twiistup Throwdown and we'll hook you up!

We know that you enjoy playing Ringorang, whether it's been just today, a week, or 13 weeks. How about telling people you know?

Twiistup is coming up later this week, and we're currently running the Twiistup Throwdown challenge. In light of the event, we're asking you to bring in new players and spread the word about Ringorang.

It's a super-simple process. Tell as many of your friends and family members about Ringorang. If 10 of them sign up (and you have to tell us who they are), you'll receive a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com. If another 10 sign up, you'll get a second $10 gift certificate. And so on and so on.

We know that a lot of you have confessed a love of the game. So why not tell your family and friends about it? We'll hook you up with a gift!

= = =

Update (since I've taken this twitter style of explaining really quickly to this blog, and that's come back to haunt me, I guess): Ok, so if you got your 10 new friends playing the game, here's how to let us know.

1. Send us an e-mail to contact at ringorang.com (we either hate spiders or have arachnophobia, so replace the at with @) with the headline MY TEN FRIENDS

2. Let us know your Ringorang username as well as your 10 friends' usernames and/or e-mails.

3. Wait, there's a 3? Nope, there's no 3 here. You're all set.

Quick update

We believe we've resolved the "No Network" issue (where you would answer a question and the "No Network" screen would show up, thus you don't win or lose any dallions, nor do you get to see the answer).

If this issue still continues to come up, please contact us here (leave a comment), through Twitter or the feedback forum.

Thanks for all of your patience!

Players' Choice Tourney: Thursday's Qs

Players Choice Tourney: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

A quick word as to the order of last week's player-written Qs: they were randomly shuffled. With the exception of two Qs in a row from the same person, I didn't intervene as to the sequence of delivery. Unfortunately, some really fantastic nuggets of trivia went out at odd hours of the night (at least in our time zone). Maybe maybe maybe we'll just have to reuse some of these questions in the future... ;)

Thursday 12:00 am - 11:59 pm PST

maximro: The ideas in Charles Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" were largely informed by his voyage aboard what ship?

• HMS Beagle <<<<
• HMS Bounty
• HMS Endeavour

rewil: "Mr. Snuffleupagus" is quite a mouthful, but there's no need to be so formal. What is the Sesame Street character's first name?

• Aloysius <<<<
• Snuffy
• Cyril

sloney: Which of these items is not produced by weapon manufacturer Smith & Wesson?

• Engine parts <<<<
• Cologne
• Bicycles

playhouse76: What actor appeared in only 5 feature films in his career before his premature death, each nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award?

• John Cazale <<<<
• James Dean
• Heath Ledger

Mr. Toasty: At what temperature do the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales coincide?

• -40
• 100
• 0

DiscipleN2k: A lens that is thicker at its center than at its edges is said to be…

• Convex <<<<
• Concave
• Concentric

redct: What company bought the popular voice-over-IP chat company Skype in 2006?

• eBay <<<<
• IAC
• Yahoo!

tresbien: What was voted as the greatest movie of all time on the American Film Institute's list of Top 100 films?

• Citizen Kane <<<<
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Casablanca

faeryqueen21: Soylent Green is made of what?

• People!
• Cow!
• Dog!

tygr20: Paired with Karl Malone, which Hall of Fame Utah Jazz point guard faced the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls in back-to-back NBA Finals series?

• John Stockton <<<<
• Jeff Hornacek
• Deron Williams

NCFriend: Which North Carolina Outer Banks Island was cut in half by a hurricane in 2003?

• Hatteras Island <<<<
• Bodie Island
• Roanoke Island

Blizzard: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld wrote a children's book about what holiday?

• Halloween <<<<
• Easter
• Christmas

bateatsbat: What is the name of the cold soup invented by Louis Diat that features pureed leeks and potatoes?

• Vichyssoise <<<<
• Borscht
• Gazpacho

PashaPhares: George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are the second father and son to both serve as US President. Who were the first?

• John and John Quincy Adams <<<<
• Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson
• Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt

jivebotic: The file type "JPEG" is an acronym for what?

• Joint Photographic Experts Group <<<<
• Juxtapose Photographic Entity Graph
• Juxtaposed Pixels Exif Grade

hotst3pper: Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini, now part of what modern day country?

• Nepal
• Tibet
• India

squashie: Abandoned because of its heavy industrial pollution, what community was eventually renamed Black Creek Village?

• Love Canal <<<<
• Three Mile Island
• Chernobyl

AgentLex: Before it came to Disneyland, the "it's a small world" ride premiered at the New York World's Fair in what year?

• 1964 <<<<
• 1954
• 1974

SourdoughSam: Saigo Takamori is known by what nickname, given his heroic last stand against the Meiji government in the Battle of Shiroyama?

• Last Samurai <<<<
• Last Ninja
• Last Yakuza

juanaday: In 1859, James Clerk Maxwell proved that the rings of what planet could not be solid, since they would then break apart?

• Saturn <<<<
• Mars
• Venus

OGFunStuffs: In cooking, a smidgen is half a pinch, or how much?

• 1/32 of a teaspoon <<<<
• 1/2 a tablespoon
• 2 pints

dak: What non-charged subatomic particle was discovered in 1932 by James Chadwick, although not in hydrogen?

• Neutron <<<<
• Proton
• Electron

desmond: After Pakistan bungled its response to the Bhola cyclone, what country accelerated its push for independence?

• Bangladesh <<<<
• Kurdistan
• Nepal

substance: What city burned down the same night that a vicious forest fire ripped through Peshtigo, Wisconsin?

• Chicago <<<<
• London
• San Francisco

We're going to get Twiisted on the video chat

From 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., we'll be hosting a live video chat. Come join us as we talk about trivia, the status of our Ringorang application, and other items.

And we'll talk about Twiistup, which is coming up in a few days.

Also we'll enjoy some more Hangman action.

You can watch the video cast below and take part in the chat.

Going to lay the Twiistup Throwdown (well, I tried ... =P)

A lot of you got a nice little gift from us. A second game! And now that the worst-kept secret has been revealed, let me tell you more about it.

In honor of Twiistup 5, which is taking place next week in Santa Monica, we'll be running a competition called the Twiistup Throwdown.

If you care to join us (and why not), go ahead and head to the My Games section. You'll see the Twiistup Throwdown icon. Click on JOIN GAME and you're set. Yes, we've made it THAT EASY!

Right now, you'll receive a Twiistup Throwdown question once every hour. This is IN ADDITION to the hourly question you've been receiving from us with the All Purpose Question Everything Challenge. Yes, this means you'll receive two questions within every hour.

The Twiistup Throwdown will last until Feb. 13. We'll continue to have more information about it as the days go by (including on the videocast later today).

Please keep in mind that the scores are not intertwined. Therefore, what you do during the Twiistup Throwdown won't affect the Question Everything challenge, and vice versa.

How will you know what game you're playing when a question arrives? I think visibly, it should be obvious. But if not, the label at the top of the game client will either say "Question Everything" or "Twiistup Throwdown." And you will always be asked whether you want to play or not. In case you weren't around earlier in the week, you are no longer penalized for passing a question, so feel free to concede if you don't know.

Let me get my announcer voice for the next paragraph.

The winner will receive a GRAND PRIZE! The Blade Runner Five-Disc Ultimate Collectors Edition available on Blu-Ray. And it comes in its own briefcase!

OK, back to my normal voice.

We'll also be running a raffle at the end of the Twiistup Throwdown. One person will win the Blade Runner Five-Disc Complete Collectors Edition. No briefcase here, but it is still very awesome. And to 50 other people, you will win a Ringorang T-shirt!

If you have any questions, be sure to e-mail us, talk with us today on the videocast, or head to the feedback forum for more.

Good luck!

Just curious

Would answering all 105 questions correctly in a weekly challenge be equivalent to this ...

The latest game updates

Hey everyone, there's been a few things about the game that we've addressed here and in other places. Just want to give you a quick update on what's going on.

First off, remember how you were penalized for pressing Pass? You are no longer penalized for pressing Pass. That's right. You don't lose dallions for pressing Pass. So feel free to concede!

That's the good news. The bad?

Well ... we know that a lot of you have not been getting your bonuses for getting 3 in a row correct. Sometimes it's been working, but other times, it hasn't. Our developers are telling us that this situation is tied into the result screen (the screen that shows you whether you got the question correct or incorrect or whether you passed or let the timer run out).

Also, remember how you don't get to see whether you got the question correct? The game quickly goes to the stand-by screen and you don't know what you've done.

Both issues are being addressed at the same time by the developers, so it is very likely that you're going to continue seeing some unusual behavior until they're fixed. We're trying to get the problems resolved as quickly as possible.

If you have any questions, please let us know either here or on the feedback forum. Thanks!

Players' Choice Tourney: Wednesday's Qs

Players Choice Tourney: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

Wednesday 12:00 am - 11:59 pm PST

alexd2: You might recognize 17 year-old graphic artist Spencer Elden as the swimming baby on the cover of what rock group's seminal 1991 album?

• Nirvana <<<<
• Sonic Youth
• Soundgarden

OGFunStuffs: Martin Luther King, Sr. and Jr. are named for German theologian Martin Luther, the key figure in the formation of what Christian denomination?

• Protestantism <<<<
• Roman Catholic
• Eastern Orthodoxy

igor: The Order of Mapungubwe, named for an ancient African nation, was first awarded to whom in 2002?

• Nelson Mandela <<<<
• Fidel Castro
• Yasir Arafat

SourdoughSam: What eventual US President began his first year as president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947?

• Ronald Reagan <<<<
• Jimmy Carter
• George HW Bush

everbalance: What rock 'n roll "king" had the middle name Aaron?

• Elvis Presley <<<<
• Buddy Holly
• Chuck Berry

juanaday: Which American Revolutionary's ancestral home is the English village of Sulgrave in South Northamptonshire?

• George Washington <<<<
• Thomas Jefferson
• John Adams

MrFantastic: The Codex Atlanticus, a notebook of artistic and scientific sketches, features what left-handed artist's peculiar mirror writing?

• Da Vinci <<<<
• Michelangelo
• Rafael

jivebotic: "Tommy" is a musical film based on which band's 1969 album?

• The Who <<<<
• Pink Floyd
• Led Zeppelin

What company produced 2004's notorious "wardrobe malfunction" Super Bowl halftime show, and has not produced one since?

• MTV <<<<
• Comedy Central
• E!

maximro: According to the nursery rhyme, Jack Sprat could eat no what?

• Fat <<<<
• Fish
• Eggs

sai: What is the main ingredient of guacamole (and also the ingredient for which it is named in Nahuatl)?

• Avocado <<<<
• Eggplant
• Tomato

turfgod: What "Boyz N the Hood" filmmaker was, at age 23, the youngest person ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar?

• John Singleton <<<<
• Craig Brewer
• David LaChapelle

zaila: Billie Jean King defeated which Wimbledon champion and self-proclaimed "male chauvinist pig" in a 1973 exhibition?

• Bobby Riggs <<<<
• Bjorn Borg
• Jimmy Connors

desmond: A company called Manganese Bronze was once the sole provider of what city's iconic black cabs?

• London <<<<
• Paris
• Berlin

hotst3pp3r: Half of what city, including the Hagia Sophia, was destroyed during the Nika riots, which erupted after chariot races in the local Hippodrome?

• Constantinople <<<<
• Rome
• Bucharest

balancingact: Eliot Spitzer resigned as what state's governor, when he was caught with a high-end call girl named Ashley Alexandra Dupre?

• New York <<<<
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania

tygr20: Led by Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, what university's basketball squad was nicknamed Phi Slamma Jamma?

• University of Houston <<<<
• University of Notre Dame
• University of North Carolina

mrjudkins: Which screenwriter coined the now well-known phrase about making movies in Hollywood: "Nobody knows anything"?

• William Goldman <<<<
• Orson Welles
• Quentin Tarantino

bateatsbat: Who is the author of "The Collector," a novel that has been the inspiration for at least five serial killers and forty murders?

• John Fowles <<<<
• Aldous Huxley
• Thomas Harris

PashaPhares: You may know PashaPhares as the Kingorang. In what Middle-Eastern language does "pasha" mean "king"?

• Kurdish <<<<
• English
• Farsi

MrFantastic: Some countries fight for independence. Others become independent when they get kicked out. What country was kicked out of Malaysia in 1965?

• Singapore <<<<
• Burma
• Papua New Guinea

ondafone: All the smaller planets in our solar system could be placed inside the largest planet. What planet is that?

• Jupiter <<<<
• Saturn
• Neptune

AgentLex: Which Disneyland ride is in a different "land" in every Disney park where it is present?

• Haunted Mansion <<<<
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

am: Chris Martin came up with the Coldplay album title "Viva la Vida" after seeing the phrase on a painting by which Mexican artist?

• Frida Kahlo <<<<
• Diego Rivera
• Pablo Picasso

A purpose of the weekend tournament

I had a lot of fun with the weekend tournament, and it wasn't because I knew the subject, but it gave me a few ideas. One of them, I'll be presenting to you today.

On the surface, it's a seven-day tournament, but here's how it would go:

On Saturday and Sunday, there's a weekend tournament. If there is ANY prize awarded, it will go to the winner, and it won't be big (probably a T-shirt or a Ringorang gift bag).

I'll get to prizes at the end here. Follow me, game wise.

But here's the kickers: The top 15 players that finish in the weekend tournament will get to play in their own weekly competition for the big prizes. Everyone else will play in the main weekly tournament.

The questions will be the same for everyone, regardless of division.

At the end of the week, the winner of the Exclusive Tournament remains in the exclusive group. The winner of the Everyone-Else Tournament gets bumped up to the exclusive group. Other than that, everyone else is essentially a free agent, and the cycle starts over.

For the upcoming weekend tournament, only the top 13 players will get into the Exclusive Tournament, and everyone else plays in the Everyone-Else tournament.

This solves one big problem that could come up or that people say is prevalent now; the same people always finishing in the top 10. There have been suggestions by people to separate the great players from the rest of the field. I think 15 players is good enough. Could it be 20? 30? Or maybe 10?

But in order to get into that Exclusive Tournament, where the prizes shine like the sun, you have to compete in the weekend tournament. If you don't, then you're stuck in the Everyone Else tournament, where perhaps only the winner gets something, or the top three earn prizes that aren't as all stellar as the Exclusive tournament.

We're not forcing the good players into an exclusive group. We're only telling two players, the ones that proved themselves in the past week's events, that they have to be in the exclusive group.

There's no timetable for this, so don't expect this anytime soon. And it may turn out to be totally different.

Players' Choice Tourney: Tuesday's Qs

Players Choice Tourney: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

We really appreciate all the questions you submitted, and we want everyone else to properly appreciate it, too. Since each question has just a few seconds of glory, during which you might miss who the author was, we thought we'd post up each day's alottment of questions. (We're also still working on the bug where the answer screen flips over too quickly...). The answer choices were not necessarily in this order.

We won't bother with Monday's set of Qs, since... well, you know...

Tuesday 12:00 am - 11:59 pm PST

zaila: In a speech near the Berlin Wall on June 26, 1963, who said, "Ich bin ein Berliner"?

• John Kennedy <<<<
• Richard Nixon
• Ronald Reagan

hookjd: Alexander Bliss was given the only titled and signed (and therefore "definitive") copy of what Abraham Lincoln speech?

• Gettysburg Address <<<<
• Emancipation Proclamation
• A House Divided

turfgod: What 1971 film features a young thug named Alex who has a passion for violence, robbery, and Beethoven?

• A Clockwork Orange <<<<
• Straw Dogs
• The Deer Hunter

mediaway: Which Gyllenhaal family member played Billy Crystal's child in "City Slickers"?

• Jake <<<<
• Maggie
• Stephen

Fiery_Bacon: The Tampa Bay Rays made their first World Series appearance in 2008. When was the team founded?

• 1998 <<<<
• 1988
• 1908

fluugen: What Russian pilot, the first human in space, is buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis?

• Yuri Gagarin <<<<
• Sergei Korolyov
• Dmitri Shostakovich

pb: What famed "Electric Ladyland" guitarist received a posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy in 1992?

• Jimi Hendrix <<<<
• Jimmy Page
• Keith Richards

alexmi: The figure of speech "Catch-22" comes from the title of the novel by Joseph Heller, a B-25 bombardier who set his story in what war?

• World War II <<<<
• The Crusades
• Vietnam

Oriza: Standard bass guitars typically have how many strings?

• 4 <<<<
• 5
• 6

faeryqueen21: What fictional characters' names are printed beneath J.R.R. Tolkien and his wife, Edith, on their tombstones?

• Beren & Luthien <<<<
• Aragorn & Arwen
• Gandalf & Frodo

rewil: The Golden Gate Bridge is painted what shade of orange?

• International <<<<
• Nautical
• Burnt

Blizzard: What is the last letter of the Greek alphabet?

• Omega <<<<
• Zeta
• Zed

tygr20: Peyton Manning was selected with the first overall draft pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. Who was second?

• Ryan Leaf <<<<
• Randy Moss
• Donovan McNabb

bateatsbat: Who developed the scale used to calculate the heat of different chili peppers and hot sauces?

• Wilbur Scoville <<<<
• Benjamin Franklin
• Auguste Escoffier

fishjp: Who was the first person to hit a hole in one in golf AFTER being elected President of the United States?

• Dwight Eisenhower <<<<
• Richard Nixon
• George W. Bush

Gregoryn: Vincent D'Onofrio, current star of the TV's Law and Order: Criminal Intent, played a role in what classic 1987 film?

• Full Metal Jacket <<<<
• Lethal Weapon
• The Untouchables

jamesi: What classic Jane's Addiction song starts with a dog barking?

• Been Caught Stealing <<<<
• Tahitian Moon
• Who Let the Dogs Out

mrjudkins: Which country did "Rocky Horror Picture Show" creator Richard O'Brien grow up in from 1942 - 1964?

• New Zealand <<<<
• Australia
• England

sloney: "Family Matters" was a spin-off of what other Chicago-based sitcom?

• Perfect Strangers <<<<
• Married… With Children
• Punky Brewster

NCFriend: Which sub-range within the Appalachian Mountains contains the highest point east of the Mississippi?

• Black Mountains <<<<
• Blue Ridge Mountains
• Great Smoky Mountains

DiscipleN2k: In the Star Wars universe, the Empire pilots commonly flew TIE fighters or bombers. What does TIE stand for?

• Twin Ion Engine <<<<
• Tempered Iridium Extrusion
• Toscan Interplanetary Equipment

chick: What city, the birthplace of Beethoven, was the provisional capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990?

• Bonn <<<<
• Munich
• Berlin

redct: Which satirical comedy by the famous "2001" director had a pie fight as an alternate ending?

• Dr. Strangelove <<<<
• A.I.
• Spartacus

MrToasty: Actor Robert Patrick's character in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" is designated as what model number?

• T-1000
• T-800
• T-888

A very important notice about the game

To those playing this week's challenge:

If you pass when the question is on your screen, you will lose dallions based on when you pressed "PASS." This is NOT supposed to happen, and we didn't even know about it until just recently.

That's the short version.

= = =

Here's the long version:

When the screen says "PLAY?" and you click NO, you are not penalized.

But when you say YES, it is time to play. At this point, if you press PASS, you will lose dallions based on when you pressed PASS.

Let's say you press PASS with 250 dallions remaining. You will lose 250 dallions. If you press it with 299 dallions left, you will lose 299. If it's 100, then you lose 100.

We've informed our developers about this, and hopefully it gets fixed right away. If you have any questions about this, please let us know here or through the feedback forum.

= = =

UPDATE 4:29 p.m.: If you let the timer run out, you will not lose dallions. So if you don't want to lose dallions, let the timer run out.

Responding to the survey

Because of the weekend tournament, we have a survey that we're currently running, to get your thoughts on the competition.

I wanted to address some of those questions and the results so far. If it changes, I'll re-examine them.

Based on numbers only, how would you compare your finish in the weekend tournament to that of a normal weekly tournament.

I have made cracks in the past about how many people would leave us if we have a sports game. But according to the survey, most people said they did "A lot better" or "About the same" as a normal weekly tournament. I was thinking that people would say they would do "A lot worse."

Regardless of the topic, how likely are you to participate in a future weekend tournament?

I was going to be surprised if "unlikely" was the leader. But it isn't.

If we were to start weekend tournaments, should they be restricted?

The options were the following:

No
Anyone but the top 10
Anyone but the top 20

The overwhelming response was "No." That surprised me a little bit, considering that we have received requests to impose a moratorium of some sort. I'm not certain that we should. Maybe we will and maybe we don't.

I'll have some thoughts about this in a later entry. But I want to get your thoughts on this. If it was restricted, who do we restrict? Top 10? Top 20? Previous winners? Only the current winner?

We got you, babe!

Players Choice Tourney: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

You're probably wondering why you're reading this post.

You're probably wondering why you're reading this post.

You're probably ... oh, OK.

The point of this blog post is to tell you that the same question you were receiving was intentional. You may now leave your comments below.

When I came in to the office this morning, I couldn't wait to see what the players were saying. It was kind of subdue at first because it was still early in the joke and people might have still been joining the start of the tournament.

But as the day went on, I was laughing at everyone that kept telling us that we were giving out the same question. I thought about responding but I realized that the best response was no response. So let the "complaints" keep coming in!

Then, one of our players said through Twitter that he got the joke, saying Groundhog Day. And I got worried because, if everyone saw that post, the joke wouldn't work anymore. But there were still players that didn't get it. And up until this point, I'm betting that there aren't people that don't get the joke.

I think what "helped" us was our failure of last week, which was not a joke at all. All of the mistakes from last week were real, everything. But that was not a set up for today's joke. We were really hoping to run a one-week tournament based on the Super Bowl using the new AIR client. We even thought about canceling the joke if the program continued to run poorly. But as you all figured out during the weekend, everything was just about right.

Now, let's talk about this in the competitive sense. If you knew the joke, what would you do? If it were me, I wouldn't have said a word to anyone. Because today, how fast could you answer the question?

If you know what's coming, you're able to hover over the answers and get a fast score. A person that didn't know the joke wouldn't be able to prepare.

For the last three questions, I got 288, 284 and 294 dallions. Absolutely no way I would have gotten those amounts if I didn't know the joke.

By the way, we thought about doing this for a couple weeks. I don't remember who came up with it first; everyone said it was me, but I am totally at a loss. Don't get me wrong, Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies of all time. I got laughed at in high school because I started reciting various lines, including this famous one ...



My friend Adande (the guy that showed us how to do perler bead necklaces) did a spoof regarding Groundhog Day.



OK, so by now, you only have a few more hours to pad your score (because now that you know the joke, take advantage of it). You will get new questions tomorrow.

I wonder what else we have in store. Well, why you ponder that, listen to this song, which was the song Bill Murray woke up to on Groundhog Day ...

Weekend tournament survey

I really enjoyed the weekend tournament. I thought it was a lot of fun to see a 2.5-day sprint to the finish. There was no time to relax. If you wanted to finish in the top three, you really couldn't be wrong.

Now, I wanted to get your thoughts on it. Was it ideal? Should we do it more often? Should it be restricted?

These are the things we want to know. My hope is that we can have 5-day tournaments and 2-day tournaments. And then after that, maybe we can have a 10-hour, one-day tournament. Imagine how tense that would be. Ten questions for one prize. If you're absent on a question, you're virtually done.

Alrighty, take the survey here, then come back and leave your thoughts. Thanks!

The Players Choice Tournament

Welcome to Week 13 of the Ringorang weekly challenge.

I'm going to enjoy this a lot because we here in the dugout get to sit back and see what kind of questions you came up with. That's right, this week is the Players' Choice Tournament.

Every question from now until 4:59 p.m. west coast time Friday was created by our players.

Also, if you haven't seen the game page, go check it out. I have to give a big shoutout to all of our players as well as Dreamentia for the graphic. The folks at Dreamentia put it together, but they couldn't have done it without the players' avatars and pictures. See, we told you something good was coming. ;)

Stay tuned throughout the week, because we'll be giving tips and hints. And if you have any questions, let us know!