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Notes from the organizer: PLEASE READ THIS (ALL!!!!!!) BEFORE ENTERING – TO THOSE WHO WEREN’T AROUND FOR THE FIRST ONE, THIS IS NOT A NORMAL TOURNAMENT. TO THOSE WHO WERE, THERE ARE A FEW KEY CHANGES.

For those of you who weren’t around for series 1, let me explain. Some of you may remember a TV show from a few years ago called The Mole – it was about a team of people competing to have money awarded to a prize pot, whilst also competing as individuals to win that prize pot. In amongst all that there would be a solitary saboteur trying to muck up the efforts of the team. The Mole. In the first series, 18 people passed by the wayside, until our champion Jen Steadman was victorious, realising that Dan McColm had been The Mole all along. You don’t need to be good at Countdown to win this tournament. You just need to be good at making notes, watching the signs and most of all, at playing the game.
Each week of the tournament, the players will take part in 2 tasks. Here is the 1st change for this series. Last season we were doing these tasks on a Tuesday and a Saturday. This time around the Tuesday will be switching for a Wednesday, in order to open up a day for a few people who may not have been able to play first time around. Each task you play will be for a number of days. Some will be worth more than others. The days that are won will go at the end, straight to the winner’s subscription. Jen pocketed 5 months free subscription at the end of the last one, so it’s no miserly prize.
Of the 2 tasks in the week, entrants MUST play 1, but they may play both if they so wish. You do not need to pre-declare which one you wish to play in. Just show up, and you’ll be included. Each player will be allowed 1 week for the whole process (roughly 10-12 weeks) where they don’t show up at all, due to a holiday or an overly busy week. After that it will be up to your fellow players to decide what should happen to you. And on the basis of last series, they won’t be kind.

Bear in mind, that the tournament itself won’t start for another 2 months, to give me plenty of time to run about doing all the admin that needs doing, choosing the right Mole, and launching a couple of features that will hopefully make this tournament more fun!
The tasks will be varied, and often somewhat surreal. Logic puzzles, codebreaking, teamwork games, or just normal gameplay are all things that may rear their head up during the series, and probably more as well. Last series I said that where possible you wouldn’t lose rating or prorank points. Well this series, this doesn’t have to be an issue, because BIG CHANGE ALERT!!!!!!!!

Charlie has kindly agreed to let me pseudonym accounts, which he will give unlimited trial member games, as well as unlocking some more variants for me to use in tasks. Each player will get drawn a pseudonym at random, before being provided with a questionnaire to fill in, allowing themselves to build their own character. This will mean that people are free to act how they wish and not worry about moving too far away from how people expect them to be. You can feel free to be as sweet and lovely, or as nasty and conniving as you like. Bear in mind though, there will be penalties if your character is discernible as you by other players, either from the questionnaire details or from your in chat manner.

The accounts you will be using will be for MOLE USE ONLY. I will be setting them up, I will be holding the passwords to them, and they will be locked as soon as you are eliminated. I’m doing this on faith, so please do not use them to get a heads-up on the duel, or the like. I’m sure however I can trust you all.
At regular intervals (usually once a week) you will be given a 10 question quiz, asking you for details about The Mole that you should have discerned in the period leading up to it. After each quiz, the person(s) who answer(s) the fewest questions correctly, will be eliminated.

Tactics are a key part of the game. Last series we had people deliberately throw tasks to make themselves look like the mole. We had people pair up with other players in order to share information. But then we had some people in those coalitions stab their partners in the back to further their time in the competition. Some people were nice as pie to gain trust, whilst others tried to kick up a fuss to put a greater sense of jeopardy in the team.
The last thing of course is to mention the Mole him/herself. I haven’t decided on a Mole for series 2, so if you wish to be considered for the role, please make yourself known privately (I will not be considering anybody who ignores this message and posts their interest publicly.

Series 1 was huge fun; let’s make series 2 even better. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Ran from: 4 December 2013 – 15 February 2014. Format: 15 Rounder. Matches: One-off. Approved.

Signed up: Jon Stitcher, Jason Turner, Marcus Hares, Dave Mattingly, Graeme Cole, James Bradley, Michelle N, Thomas Carey, Andy Platt, David Barnard, Kieran Bray, James Rowan, Dicky Boy, Peter Fenton, Rachel W, Graham Harrison, Callum Todd, Alan Young.

Fixtures: 0. Completed: 0.