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TowersStreet League of Enthusiasts 2022: Any Interest?

Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. As some of you might know, I ran a Planet Coaster Speed Build Competition over the closed season (well, part of it…) after gaining the idea from CoasterForce, and that seemed to go down quite well among those who participated. And I now have another idea for a game that could be good fun that came from the same place, if any of you are open to it.

Now I bet you’re all thinking “What game are you planning that would work during the open season, Matt? We’re all busy visiting parks!”. But what if visiting parks was the game? What if you could gain points for each park you visit, and the attractions you experience while there?

Let me present to you The TowersStreet League of Enthusiasts! If you’re a member on CoasterForce or an active reader of the site, you may have heard of the League of Goons competition, which is run each year by Hixee, one of the site moderators. This will be quite similar. For those of you concerned about plagiarism; don’t worry, this will not be direct plagiarism of the CoasterForce contest by any means. I sought Hixee’s permission to do this, and I will also change certain aspects of it, to put my own unique spin on the concept.

For those of you who don’t know how the concept works, let me go over some of the rules…
The Rules
Registration
  • If you would like to participate, please register in this thread with a post stating your username and also your location.
  • For location; please don’t post your exact address or postcode, as that would be a big privacy issue, but please specify the city or town you live in. Or if you feel that that would be too revealing or not an accurate depiction of where you’re based, please provide your postcode area. By postcode area, I don’t mean your entire postcode, but rather the first part of it; for instance, if you lived in Alton Towers’ postcode of ST10 4DB, you would specify ST10 as your postcode area. Just go with whichever of the above you feel would be precise enough for me to get a basic idea of the area you live in, but broad enough that it doesn’t pose you any privacy concerns. Please specify country and/or county/region as well; in the case of town and city names, there can often be more than one place with the same name.
  • If you’re wondering how I use location; I will input whatever location you provide into this website (https://gridreferencefinder.com/) to work out how far away you are from the park you are visiting, as this is one of the factors that influences how many points you get for each visit (I’ll explain in more detail further down).
Submission
  • A separate submission thread will be made for each month of the year. Submissions for a particular month will close at the end of the following month, as I’m aware that some people may take a little time to get around to logging their visits and writing things like trip reports. For instance, the submission thread for June will close on 31st July. As I’m starting midway through 2022 this year, however, I will also make submission threads for January, February, March, April and May that will shut on 31st July, as I don’t want any potential points from the first 5 months of 2022 to be missed.
  • A submission template will be provided in each topic. Please follow this template as closely as possible.
  • If you make a multi-day visit to a park, please log each day of your visit separately.

Scoring (Park Visit)
  • The first thing to gain you points is the act of simply visiting the park.
  • The number of points you gain will depend upon how many days you have spent at the park in question in the year being observed (so 2022, in this instance). If this is your 1st-10th day at the park in 2022, you will gain 50 points. If this is your 11th-20th day at the park in 2022, you will gain 40 points. If this is your 21st day or above at the park in 2022, you will gain 30 points.
  • One exception to this is if you work at a theme park. If you work at a theme park, days you spend working at said park will not gain you any visit points. However, if you experience any attractions while on the job, you can still gain points for them, so still log your day and just specify that it is “Work” so that I know you cannot gain any visit points.
  • You can also gain some bonuses dependant on circumstance.
  • If the park is new to you, you can gain a 10 point bonus, but please only claim this on your first day in the park if you are experiencing it on a multi-day visit.
  • If you visit the park during a specified event (such as Mardi Gras at Alton Towers), you can gain a 5 point bonus. The event must be an official event advertised by the park in some capacity. You only need to visit the park while the event is on to gain this bonus, but some things you might do that are part of the event (such as event-specific shows) can gain points within the relevant attraction category.
  • If you visit the park on the official first or last day of the season (where applicable), you can gain a 5 point bonus. No points are possible here if the park is year-round.
  • You can also gain two types of distance-related bonus. You will gain 2 points for every 100km away from your specified location the visited park is, and you can also gain 2 points for every 100km away from your last park day the visited park is. I know 100km sounds like a long way, but it is only 62 miles, so that is far enough away to be outside the immediate area, but not so far away that it’s completely unattainable. For clarity, distances are straight line distances, measured as the crow flies. I will measure this myself using the above location site; there is no need for you to do anything or declare anything to get this bonus.
  • One final thing; you will only be eligible for visit points if you experience at least one attraction or show during your visit. Simply entering the park and leaving again does not make you eligible for visit points.
  • Also, visit points for each park visited in a day where multiple parks are visited will only get you one set of visit points for each park, so if, for instance, you visit Islands of Adventure, then leave to visit Universal Studios Florida, then return to Islands of Adventure later in the day, you will only receive visit points for 1 visit to Islands of Adventure and 1 visit to Universal Studios Florida.

Scoring (Roller Coasters)
  • You can gain points for each roller coaster ride you experience at a park.
  • Each individual roller coaster ride will gain you 15 points.
  • You can also gain some bonuses for coaster rides.
  • If the coaster is new to you, you can gain a 3 point bonus. Please only claim this for your first ride.
  • You can gain a 3 point bonus for each front row or back row ride. However, please note that coasters are only eligible for this if the train/car has 4 or more rows; awarding this bonus for a ride on a coaster like Spinball Whizzer, where either front or back is guaranteed, is a bit pointless. I should also note that in the case of spinning coasters with full length trains (such as Storm Chaser, or an XTREME Spinning Coaster), please use the position you are initially batched into in the station to determine whether you’re eligible for this bonus.
  • You can gain a 3 point bonus for a solo ride on a coaster. You must be the only person in the entire train/car to be eligible for this, and a coaster is only eligible for this bonus if the train/car has 4 or more seats.
  • You can gain a 3 point bonus for being on the first or last public ride of the day. This bonus can only be gained if the ride is ridden during normal park opening hours and while the ride is open to the public. Rides taken during exclusive ride sessions, such as those provided at some enthusiast events, do not count.
  • You can gain a 3 point bonus for riding a coaster if it is “new for 2022”. Any coaster that is being actively advertised as “new” by the park is eligible here, so rethemes also count.
  • Riding record breaking coasters will also net you a bonus dependant on the magnitude of the record held. There are tons of things that could qualify as record breakers by some metric, but to keep things simple, I decided to keep it to the notable records of height, speed and length. Riding the tallest/fastest/longest operating coaster in a country will net you a 5 point bonus, riding the tallest/fastest/longest operating coaster in a continent will net you a 10 point bonus, and riding the tallest/fastest/longest operating coaster in the world will net you a 15 point bonus. If a ride holds multiple records, you will get a separate bonus for each (for instance, riding The Big One would see you get bonuses for both “tallest operating coaster in the UK” and “longest operating coaster in Europe”), but please only claim this bonus for the highest order of magnitude of the record. So if you ride Red Force, for instance, please only claim the bonuses for “tallest operating coaster in Europe” and “fastest operating coaster in Europe”; please don’t claim extra bonuses for tallest/fastest in Spain. Please only claim these bonuses once for each individual coaster within an individual park day; do not claim these bonuses again on successive re-rides.
  • I will also allow you to get a bonus for record breaking coasters among what you have personally ridden. Riding the tallest, fastest or longest coaster you have ridden will net you a 5 point bonus. Rules here are similar to the rules for record breaking coasters within specific regions or the world, so if a ride holds 2 records, both of these are worthy of points, but a bonus can only be claimed once within an individual park day.
Scoring (Water/Dark Rides)
  • You can gain points for each ride you have on a water or dark ride during your visit.
  • Each individual ride on a water or dark ride will gain you 10 points.
  • Please note that an attraction must have a water-based ride system to count as a water ride. A non water-based attraction with some water effects installed does not count as a water ride.
  • You can also gain some bonuses for rides on a water or dark ride.
  • If the ride is new to you, you can gain a 2 point bonus. Please only claim this for your first ride.
  • You can gain a 2 point bonus for a solo ride on a water or dark ride. You must be the only person in the entire vehicle/cycle to be eligible for this, and a ride is only eligible for this bonus if each vehicle/cycle has 4 or more seats.
  • You can gain a 2 point bonus for being on the first or last public ride of the day. This bonus can only be gained if the ride is ridden during normal park opening hours and while the ride is open to the public. Rides taken during exclusive ride sessions, such as those provided at some enthusiast events, do not count.
  • You can gain a 2 point bonus for riding a ride if it is “new for 2022”. Any ride that is being actively advertised as “new” by the park is eligible here, so rethemes also count.
Scoring (Other Attractions)
  • You can gain points for each experience you have on any attraction that does not fit into any of the above categories, such as flat rides, transport rides or any form of moving ride that can’t be categorised as a coaster, water ride or dark ride. Walkthroughs and other types of attraction that aren’t necessarily rides can also be counted here, but they must have a specified entrance and exit.
  • Each individual experience of an attraction in this category will gain you 5 points.
  • If the attraction is new to you, you can gain a 1 point bonus. Please only claim this for your first ride.
  • You can gain a 1 point bonus for a solo experience of an attraction in this category. You must be the only person in the entire vehicle/cycle to be eligible for this, and a ride is only eligible for this bonus if each vehicle/cycle has 4 or more seats.
  • You can gain a 1 point bonus for being on the first or last public ride of the day. This bonus can only be gained if the ride is ridden during normal park opening hours and while the ride is open to the public. Rides taken during exclusive ride sessions, such as those provided at some enthusiast events, do not count.
  • You can gain a 1 point bonus for experiencing an attraction if it is “new for 2022”. Any ride that is being actively advertised as “new” by the park is eligible here, so rethemes also count.
Scoring (Shows/Parades)
  • You can gain points for any show or parade you experience during your day.
  • Each show or parade watched will net you 5 points.
  • To count, a show must be advertised and timetabled. Roaming entertainment does not count as a show, but any show or parade that is scheduled for set times during the day does count.
Scoring (Extras)
  • You can gain 2 points for any on-ride photos or videos you wish to include, as well as any character meet & greet photos. On-ride photos and videos must have been purchased from the park; photos or videos of the purchase screens are not eligible.
  • You can gain 2 points for a trip report or any summarising post with a few bullet points talking about your day. I will read each trip report included and decide whether to award points on a case-by-case basis, but please be assured that the bar to gain points here is incredibly low. As long as you actually write in some degree of detail about your day and don’t just say something along the lines of “I went to Alton Towers today!” as your trip report, you’ll get the points for this.
Aim of the Game
Whoever gets the most points across the course of the year will win. I will concoct a prize of some form for the winner.

So, those are the rules and how this will work! If you’re interested, please register your interest below by posting in the way specified up in Registration, and if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to talk to me!

If there is sufficient interest, I will get some submission topics up for January, February, March, April, May and June later on, with submission templates to go off of.
 
I’ll start by registering my own interest.
  • Name: Matt N
  • Location: GL15, Gloucestershire, England, UK
 
That’s an interesting idea for those that want to do it.

Personally I just enjoy a nice fun day out at a park several times throughout the year, I wouldn’t want to turn it in to a competition sport! Feeling that you had to rush to get somewhere or do something or cram in a park just to get some points on the internet or move up a leaderboard, that sounds like that would actually detract somewhat from the enjoyment of visiting parks in order to experience a a nice day. But of course others might view it in a different way and might see it as a fun challenge.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
That’s an interesting idea for those that want to do it.

Personally I just enjoy a nice fun day out at a park several times throughout the year, I wouldn’t want to turn it in to a competition sport! Feeling that you had to rush to get somewhere or do something or cram in a park just to get some points on the internet or move up a leaderboard, that sounds like that would actually detract somewhat from the enjoyment of visiting parks in order to experience a a nice day. But of course others might view it in a different way and might see it as a fun challenge.
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The idea isn’t really to think about it or let it influence your park days as such, more to see how many points your park visits might gain. I wouldn’t want this having any big influence on anyone’s park days, as after all, it is just intended as a bit of fun.

I do League of Goons over on CoasterForce, and I don’t really think about it at all when I’m at the parks; it doesn’t influence my day in any way. I just do it “for the craic”, just to see how many points my park visits gain!
 
Matt N said:
The idea isn’t really to think about it or let it influence your park days as such, more to see how many points your park visits might gain. I wouldn’t want this having any big influence on anyone’s park days, as after all, it is just intended as a bit of fun.

I do League of Goons over on CoasterForce, and I don’t really think about it at all when I’m at the parks; it doesn’t influence my day in any way. I just do it “for the craic”, just to see how many points my park visits gain!
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I like the idea, but it looks very complicated. Plus it would have been better to do this at the beginning of the season; for example, I went to Thorpe back in April and most rides I rode were new to me. I assume that past visits this year do not count?
 
Skyscraper said:
I like the idea, but it looks very complicated. Plus it would have been better to do this at the beginning of the season; for example, I went to Thorpe back in April and most rides I rode were new to me. I assume that past visits this year do not count?
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I’ll do submission threads for all the months leading up to now so that any visits in January, February, March, April or May can be counted, so that visit would definitely count if you wanted to log it. I don’t want to miss any points from earlier in 2022 just because I’m thinking of starting in June.

I’ll do all the point calculations and complicated things myself; all you have to do is simply state the park you went to, the date you visited and what you did, with any potential bonuses you want to claim listed at the side. I’ll show off the sort of template I’m thinking of in a submission thread if I get enough interest in the idea.
 
rob666 said:
As I neither count, or rank, I think I would sooner nail my bits to the National platform than compete in this.
Good luck to those that do.
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Fair enough!

It appears interest is a lot lower than I might have anticipated. Fair enough; I think CoasterForce, where I got the inspiration from, tends to be made up of slightly more hardcore enthusiasts compared to the more “casual fans of theme parks”-type vibe on here, so I think I misread the room on here slightly… sorry about that.
 
Matt N said:
Fair enough!

It appears interest is a lot lower than I might have anticipated. Fair enough; I think CoasterForce, where I got the inspiration from, tends to be made up of slightly more hardcore enthusiasts compared to the more “casual fans of theme parks”-type vibe on here, so I think I misread the room on here slightly… sorry about that.
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No need to be sorry at all Matt! I think you might be right in that CF might have a slightly more hardcore enthusiast user base that are very much in to ranking, counting, tallying, and so on but I’m sure that there are members here that will be keen to participate and use it as an opportunity to hit some parks and make some trips. There are plenty of ways to enjoy this hobby so to make a little game out of it, it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but hey, it’s good for anyone it appeals to.
 
Matt N, sweetheart, it's so complicated I went simply loopy 🤯 Perhaps make it less wordy and much less rules specific so more enthusiasts would be inclined to join?
 
Rowe said:
Matt N, sweetheart, it's so complicated I went simply loopy 🤯 Perhaps make it less wordy and much less rules specific so more enthusiasts would be inclined to join?
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In hindsight, I decided to scrap the idea as I appreciate that it was perhaps a bit too complex to work properly in practice.
 
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