You are invited to come play and vote in the second half of the second round of the Free IF Playoffs!
Register below to show your support by clicking “Going” below, and, for those new to the tournament, please review the rules before casting any votes. A FAQ is available.
Final scores at the end of the match:
What a tremendous take-off for this segment – over 70 votes cast in the first half day!
The crowd is showing a strong preference for Savoir-Faire over Bronze in the only matchup to pit two works by the same author against each other.
Anchorhead is the current high scorer at 9-3 against Alias ‘The Magpie’ in the hottest race of the segment.
Almost equally active is Inside the Facility vs. Spider and Web, where the “full parser” entry is leading 8-3.
A very close race is developing between The Impossible Stairs and The Mulldoon Legacy, as of this writing tied at 4-4.
Scoring continues at a substantial rate, with a third more votes having been cast at the end of Day 1 than in the very active last segment.
Inside the Facility vs. Spider and Web is now the hottest match, where the score in now 12-4 in favor of the Inform 6 work.
The Spectators is making a strong showing against Slouching Toward Bedlam, where an earlier lead by the latter of 6-2 has been reduced to 6-5 by new voting, including a vote switch.
The Impossible Stairs is also showing some staying power against The Mulldoon Legacy, having battled its way to a 5-5 tie following an early lead of two by the megapuzzler.
TADS flagbearer Worlds Apart currently leads at 6-5 versus Photopia, where a steady flow of votes for the latter has almost erased the former’s early lead.
Votes continue to come in at a rapid clip, with over 100 now counted.
Six is the magic number right now, with the scores on no less than three different courts tied at 6 all: Slouching Toward Bedlam vs. The Spectators, The Impossible Stairs vs. The Mulldoon Legacy, and Worlds Apart vs. Photopia.
Toby’s Nose has pulled ahead of The Weight of a Soul and currently leads by two at 6-4.
Cannery Vale, the tournament’s last remaining choice entry, is at this moment lagging Repeat the Ending by three at 7-4.
With the first quarter mark now behind us, the initial rush has left a mix of very close and very uneven races.
Classics Spider and Web, Savoir-Faire and Anhorhead have all far outstripped their newer opponents (Inside the Facility, Bronze and Alias ‘The Magpie’, respectively) with leads ranging from eight to twelve points.
Repeat the Ending has a significant lead over Cannery Vale at 7-4, and a lesser lead is held by Toby’s Nose in its contest against The Weight of a Soul, which stands at 6-4.
In the three other courts, a standoff prevails between closely-matched opponents with current scores at 6 all. Neither challenger nor defender has a lead in the matches of Slouching Toward Bedlam vs. The Spectators, The Impossible Stairs vs. The Mulldoon Legacy, and Worlds Apart vs. Photopia.
Which is hardly surprising, because those particular “classics” are in a completely different league, in my opinion. All three are easily in my all-time Top 20.
The relatively tough time Photopia is having is more unexpected to me, but I’m looking forward to seeing what happens at the end.
With additional scoring across all courts, the votes continue to pile up at a prodigious rate.
The Spectators is showing remarkable staying power against Slouching Toward Bedlam, trading tit-for-tat with the classic supernatural psychodrama and currently keeping up at 7-7.
The Mulldoon Legacy has gotten a point over on The Impossible Stairs and now has an extremely thin lead at 7-6.
Similarly, Photopia has broken the tie with World Apart and is currently one up at 7-6.
The Weight of a Soul narrowed the gap between it and Toby’s Nose to just one, but the Sherlock story has scored again to restore its two point lead at 7-5.
In new scoring for Division 4, The Mulldoon Legacy has increased its lead over The Impossible Stairs to 2.
Slouching Toward Bedlam and The Spectators remain deadlocked at 7-7 as both sides take a breather.
Also: Welcome @Exemptus to FIFP Fans!
Here at the halftime mark, there has been new scoring in almost every game, and with 131 votes tabulated, this is already the segment with the most votes of the tournament to date. In most of the close races, a significant gap has begun to develop between leader and laggard.
Toby’s Nose has stretched its margin over The Weight of a Soul to three points at 8-5, matching the spread of Repeat the Ending vs. Cannery Vale.
Photopia has put two points on the board since the first quarter while keeping Worlds Apart to a standstill, with the current score at 8-6.
In Slouching Toward Bedlam vs. The Spectators, the Ectocomp challenger is just one point behind at 8-7, in what the history of the match so far suggests will be a temporary deficit.
The Mulldoon Legacy is also one up over The Impossible Stairs at 8-7, but the tournament’s second Dialog entry is by no means out with half the match remaining.
It looks like all teams are exhausted, with no new scoring since the half.
Spider and Web currently holds the largest lead of the segment at 18-4 over Inside the Facility. That’s one point of spread shy of the tournament record, which was Spider and Web vs. Violet, a game that ended at 15-5.
Fans continue to show a strong preference for Savoir-Faire over Bronze, with the scoreboard currently showing 16-3.
Anchorhead still holds a commanding eight point lead over Alias ‘The Magpie’ as fans show a similarly strong preference for the champion of horror over the champion of humor.
I love Savoir-Faire and am proud for Emily Short, but I feel bad for the opposing game; whoever made it must feel bummed.
Agree; this takes the concept of self-defeat to a totally different level.
With the third quarter mark most of a day behind us and only 24 hours remaining, all teams seem exhausted after a record-breaking first half.
Most matches seem well-in-hand for the leading team, but The Impossible Stairs remains hot on the heels of The Mulldoon Legacy at 8-7 and might still even the score or pull ahead.
Worlds Apart has a little farther to go to catch up, needing two to even things up at 8-6 against challenger Photopia, which is poised to win a major upset.
Both Toby’s Nose and Repeat the Ending are looking good in their final stretches against respective opponents The Weight of a Soul and Cannery Vale. Their matching three point leads, both currently at 8-5, would require record last-day scoring by their challengers to manage even a tie.
With just 12 hours remaining, the energy in the far court has gone through the roof as an apparent vote switch plus another new vote has suddenly put Worlds Apart ahead of Photopia ahead at 8-7!
No fan has yet proclaimed any reasoning behind the change, but whoever it was may have just made history as the clock ticks down to the end of the match.
The Impossible Stairs continues to cling tenaciously to the heels of The Mulldoon Legacy, down just one point at 8-7. However, as we’ve just seen, anything can happen in the final hours. Will a last-minute change of fortune put it on top? Stay tuned!
