Here are the official rules of the Stat Challenge contest:

1) Games included in each week's challenge are games that are started and finished within the time period stated in the contest. This includes games that start on the final day of the time period and extend past midnight (usually west coast games.) It also includes games re-scheduled from earlier in the season or from the early part of the time period that get played in their entirety during the time period (such as a rained out game that becomes part of a double-header the next day.) It does not include games that are suspended and not played in the entirety during the time period.

2) You must enter your email address and a screen name and these must be exactly the same from week to week if you want to earn a cumulative score and compete in the contest. Please choose a unique screen name that includes at least a last initial (for example Kim B or Kim1982 instead of just Kim.) Your email address is essentially your password and will not be publicly shared or used by Baseball-Reference.com for promotional purposes. Also, importantly, only your first entry for a weekly contest counts. If you make a mistake or decide later you want to change your answers, too bad.

3) For each question, you will assigned a score equal to the difference between your guess and the actual answer. For example if the answer to a question is 25 and you guessed 30, your score for that question is 5. If you guessed 20, your score is also 5. For the weekly Stat Challenge your total score will be the sum of the scores on each of the questions. Weekly rankings are determined by the players with the lowest total scores. There are no weekly prizes.

4) Each week, the people with the 10 lowest total scores earn points as follows: 1st place 10 points, 2nd place 8 points, 3rd place 6 points, 4th-6th place 4 points, 7th-10th place 2 points. In the case of ties, points will be averaged. For example if 2 people tie for first place, they will each receive 9 points.

5) The prize for the person with the lowest score each week is a 6-month subscription to the Play Index. If you are already a paid subscriber, your subscription will be extended for 6 months. If two or more players tie for the best score in any given week, the winner will be the person who submitted his or her entry first. I am hoping to also offer a season-long prize as well--we'll see about that.

6) All decisions I make are final. If there are disputes or mistakes I will try to resolve them in the fairest way possible, and you will have to accept whatever solution I come up with. Also, anybody whom I suspect of cheating, trolling, or trying to interfere with the contest will simply be kicked out.

7) All of the Stat Challenges we've had to date do not count toward this new season-long contest.

8) Most importantly: have fun!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 6:58 am and is filed under Stat Challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.