As we approach the end of the year, I’ve started thinking about what kind of play event might be fun in 2026. Last year, the winning idea was the People’s Champion Tournament, but there were two other ideas under consideration.
I’m trotting those ideas out again, plus adding another one that occurred to me recently:
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The IF Olympics – The idea here would be that players would form teams based on imaginary geography that draws on fictional polities found in IF. (The members of a country would be heavily encouraged to come up with a flag.) Following a “draft” of games to the various countries, the selected games would then compete in events based on the various sub-elements of a work, e.g. most evocative prose, best supporting mechanic, most surprising plot twist, etc. Members of a country would be expected to post examples from their competing “athletes” to demonstrate each game’s strength in the aspect focused on by a particular event. At the end, both countries and games would be ranked based on medals accumulated. To keep things fresh, games that were contestants in the Free IF Playoffs or the People’s Champion Tournament WOULD NOT be eligible.
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The Great Play Marathon – This would be a “competition” between players instead of games. There would be a selection of perhaps 20 or 30 games (called the “field”) from which each player would play a “course” of 6 to 12 that they choose. This would be a longer event (lasting several months), with people posting their thoughts/impressions/reviews as they go, and various awards for players would be issued at the end, such as fastest course completed, toughest course completed, most useful reviews, etc. Games on the “field” would be selected randomly from among the top 3% rated games on IFDB, which should offer plenty of options for new choices to any one player (mathbrush excepted). Games that were contestants in the Free IF Playoffs or the People’s Champion Tournament would be allowed if they came up during random selection, since part of the reason for these events is to get people to play games that are on their “someday” list.
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Demolition Derby – This would be somewhat similar to previous tournaments, in that it would be a single-elimination tournament with only one winner. Every participating player would submit one or more choices, and from these would be chosen a field of 16 “cars” to be entered. At the start of each week, a subset of cars (initially four pairs at a time) would be pitted against each other in one-on-one matchups assigned at random. Players would play the currently-contending games throughout the week, and post portions of game transcripts to discuss. Voting would be held over the weekend at the end of each week; the winner of each vote would remain in the derby and its opponent would be removed. The last “car” standing is the winner. For this event, games that were contestants in the Free IF Playoffs or the People’s Champion Tournament WOULD NOT be eligible.
Do any of these sound like fun to you?
- The IF Olympics
- The Great Play Marathon
- Demolition Derby
I’m just gauging interest at this point, and timing has not been decided. Any and all thoughts about the various ideas are welcome; last year several suggestions proposed in the discussion were adopted.
