!! C a l v i n b a l l !!

[rcannon100]

Calvinball, the only true Freezing Saddles game, where the rules are constantly made up and the points don’t matter.

I am Tim the Enchanter, keeper of the score, final arbiter of the rules.

Your quest is to seek thee the gameball, hidden secretly amongst the cycling trails inside the beltway (but not to be found in any federal park).

Seek the game ball. Maketh up a new ordinance for the game. Hide the sacred ball. Post your new ordinance along with guidance on how those who follow can seek the gameball. Thou shall find, hide and post within the same hours 24.

For finding the gameball, ye shall be awarded 5 points, less a point for each day that passeth before the gameball is once again uncovered.

Ye may find the gameball but once during each orbit of the sun.* Ye may possess the gameball but once every other turn.

If your new ordinance nets three likes, ye shall likewise be award points equaling five and your ordinance shall be implemented as law of the game, which all who play must loyally adhere.

This be not organized competition. This be Calvinball. New rules are obliged to follow the spirit of Saint Calvin and Saint Hobbes. New ordinances shall not thee be bills of attainder but must generally apply to all fools of venture into our midst. New ordinances cannot benefit the ordinance’s scribe uniquely. New ordinances should make the court jester smile upon thee, and shall not place any in existential peril.

If a new ordinance shall contravene an old ordinance, the ordinance with highest net likes shall be declared the law.

Those who play shall seek their reward as follows:
• Rosalyn Award :: The player with the ordinance that has acquired the most net likes at the time of the next find
• Miss Wormwood Award :: The player with the most implemented ordinances
• Spaceman Spiff Award :: Best Calvinball
• Calvin Award :: Tim’s Award of Mystery (oooooooooohhh)
• Hobbes Award :: The Hobbes Prize is to be awarded to the person whom played but scored the least amount of points.
• Susie Award :: Most swag points
• Lost Dog Rescue Award :: Best picture of your dog

** Consider Thee Calvinball a Hot-potatoe game – not a hide-and-seek game. This be not geocaching. More, we wish the Calvinball attain perpetual motion, constantly moving, from pilgrim to pilgrim. (Translation: dont make your hides hard or your rules constraining. The more silliness the better)
** NOTE This is not a winner take all game. “The points dont matter“

[IMG]https://foreignpolicymag.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/87978-calvinball.jpg?w=306&h=313[/IMG]

* The Sun orbits around the earth. Only heretics would suggest otherwise. We burn heretics. Well, only if they weigh the same as a duck.

Topic

[Steve O]

@Judd 170213 wrote:

Is there a provision for what happens if a non Calvin ball player steals the Calvin ball?

If you make a new Calvinball, you may include this QR code, which links to this thread. So someone who finds it can be completely confused at least.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15959[/ATTACH]

[jrenaut]

@Steve O 170216 wrote:

If you make a new Calvinball, you may include this QR code, which links to this thread. So someone who finds it can be completely confused at least.

Counterpoint – anyone who follows a QR code on a weird magnet they found somewhere is probably in need of constant professional supervision.

[reji]

The orange tractor is a big clue y’all
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15960[/ATTACH]

[Steve O]

@reji 170237 wrote:

The orange tractor is a big clue y’all
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15960[/ATTACH]

Someone got it, it seems. There is a rectangular spot in the snow and two separate bicycle tire tracks to and from the location (one set is yours, reji, I suspect).

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15961[/ATTACH]

[josh]

That’d be me, Steve O. Went back for round 2, can’t believe I missed it the first time. I’ve swapped out the Calvinball for another consumable that’ll warm you up (well the magnet’s still there, the gin is gone).

My rule: Hints must be given in the form of a haiku (with additional elements, i.e. photos, allowed).

Hint: The Calvinball is here (if not obscured, would be visible in the photo). This location is the real deal, you could say.

[josh]

Oh and adhering to the first ordinance, here is a post with the new gameball.

[rcannon100]

@Steve O 170254 wrote:

Someone got it, it seems. There is a rectangular spot in the snow and two separate bicycle tire tracks to and from the location (one set is yours, reji, I suspect).

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15961[/ATTACH]

I thought you were not playing FS this year. Are….. are you on the Slacker team???? (The team for the people who dont wanna be part of the point competition but still wanna play the pointless games???)

[cvcalhoun]

@rcannon100 170265 wrote:

I thought you were not playing FS this year. Are….. are you on the

Slacker team???? (The team for the people who dont wanna be part of the point competition but still wanna play the pointless games???)Isn’t the point to this that there are no rules? Including rules about having to be in Freezing Saddles?

[rcannon100]

@cvcalhoun 170266 wrote:

Isn’t the point to this that there are no rules? Including rules about having to be in Freezing Saddles?

No no. There are rules. Lots and lots and lots of rules. The point is to have as many rules as possible.

[Steve O]

@rcannon100 170265 wrote:

I thought you were not playing FS this year. Are….. are you on the Slacker team???? (The team for the people who dont wanna be part of the point competition but still wanna play the pointless games???)

When I find the calvinball, then I will make the rule that one may play calvinball whether or not they are participating in freezing saddles. Simple.
No, I’m not a slacker, because I do not believe in slackers.

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk

[rcannon100]

@Steve O 170270 wrote:

When I find the calvinball, then I will make the rule that one may play calvinball whether or not they are participating in freezing saddles. Simple.
No, I’m not a slacker, because I do not believe in slackers.

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk

Calvinball is a Freezing Saddles game, open to members of Freezing Saddles teams (be they competitive teams or the slacker team). I created the Slacker Team the second year of FS at the request of cyclists who, for whatever reason, did not want to be on a competitive team. The existence of the slacker team was never a matter of anyone’s belief. It was a team for those who wanted to participate in the reindeer games – and anyone who told poor rudolf that he could not play in the reindeer games because of “beliefs” was just an ideological crank. We have had a Slacker Team every year since. It has allowed non competitive people to participate. It has allowed people with cancer to participate. It has allowed people with broken feet to participate and feel a part of the community. No one should ever tell anyone they cannot participate in Freezing Saddles. That’s just stupid.

Calvinball is my game. It is a Freezing Saddles game. If you would like to play, you are more than welcome to be on the Slacker Team – that is what its there for. If you dont want to play Freezing Saddles this year, that’s fine too. But please dont play my Freezing Saddles game. And please stop giving people who want to participate in Freezing Saddles, but not compete for points, such a hard time (just like you, right now, dont want to compete for points – but want to play the reindeer games).

You are of course perfectly free to make your own game designed any way you want.

[streetsmarts]

@rcannon100 170269 wrote:

No no. There are rules. Lots and lots and lots of rules. The point is to have as many rules as possible.

that, I thought , was the point of freezing saddles. heck – that’s the point of riding a bike – right?! rules!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[dkel]

@Steve O 170270 wrote:

No, I’m not a slacker, because I do not believe in slackers.

It’s ok, Steve. The slackers believe in you.

[Steve O]

@rcannon100 170271 wrote:

Calvinball is a Freezing Saddles game, open to members of Freezing Saddles teams (be they competitive teams or the slacker team). I created the Slacker Team the second year of FS at the request of cyclists who, for whatever reason, did not want to be on a competitive team. The existence of the slacker team was never a matter of anyone’s belief. It was a team for those who wanted to participate in the reindeer games – and anyone who told poor rudolf that he could not play in the reindeer games because of “beliefs” was just an ideological crank. We have had a Slacker Team every year since. It has allowed non competitive people to participate. It has allowed people with cancer to participate. It has allowed people with broken feet to participate and feel a part of the community. No one should ever tell anyone they cannot participate in Freezing Saddles. That’s just stupid.

In the original thread for the 2018 game, slackers were replaced with “friends of Freezing Saddles.” There is no team, but people may participate from the sidelines. I am happy to be a “friend of Freezing Saddles,” but I do not want to be on a team of slackers, which does not exist this year, AFAICT.
This is the last and most definitive post I could find re this issue.
@jrenaut 167361 wrote:

RE: Slackers – we replace the Slackers team with a Friends of BAFS “leaderboard” page. Anyone not assigned to a team but desiring to participate can get their rides tracked here, go to the events, and generally hang around. Registrants after 250 can go here and get assigned to teams later if spots are available. If you register late and click “I want to compete”, you’re on the wait list for a team spot.

Importantly, riders on this page DO NOT GET tech support. That takes some of the pressure off the website people.

Also, riders on this page DO NOT SHOW ON LEADERBOARDS.

[DismalScientist]

Ah…
This is the purely semantic bullshit that makes this town run so well.:rolleyes:

[Author]

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