MARATHON OF THE GREAT CLUBS

You know your club rocks. Prove it.

This competition is a fast and furious relay race of poetry that will run for a week, starting tomorrow. Please read the rules below carefully because it is a new concept for most. Ask as many questions as you need- this thread is for general discussion to ensure everyone understands the rules (and starts plotting strategies in their clubs!) before the game starts tomorrow at 00:00 3 Oct PnQ time. Then, I shall post special and separate threads for each club for their submissions and individual scoreboard ONLY. There will also be another thread (which will allow for general discussion) for an overall scoreboard that will be updated several times each day of the competition. Here we go!!

THE THEMES FOR EACH ROUND
1. 21 syllables
2. Tanka
3. Water
4. Free verse
5. Include the word "microscope"
6. Wild card (pick any theme from this list)
7. Cats
8. aabab rhyme scheme
9. PnQ member
10. Alliterative verse
11. Five lines
12. Halloween
13. Toilet
Once all 13 rounds are completed by your team, go back to Round 1 again to start a new lap!

THE POINT SYSTEM
* Each submitted poem, if it complies with the theme of the round, will earn an easy 5 points straight away for your team, regardless of quality.
* Poems will also be roughly judged for quality- a maximum of 5 points can be earned for a high quality poem (giving a maximum total of 10).
* But be strategic- what does your team need/value most? Speed and consistent team participation is important! This contest is rare because quantity can easily trump quality for the benefit of your team. Almost anything will do!

HOW TO RACE
* The Great Marathon starts on 00:00 3 October, PnQ time.
* Anyone can start the race for their team by submitting a poem for the first round in their club's special submission thread, to be posted shortly in this forum (submissions before the start time will be disqualified). These threads are reserved for the specific team's poem submissions ONLY, not for comments or chit chat.
* Another team member then completes the second round, and so on.
* A person who has submitted a poem MAY NOT submit another entry until a certain number of further rounds have been completed by other members of their team. This depends on the total number of active members in your club. See the first post in your club's special submission thread for this.
* All poems MUST be submitted in the club's special thread by the member who has written it.
* You may plot your team strategy within your club. CLUB LEADERS, it is up to you to do all you can to get your team's entries racing along. Bribe, threaten, shame, PM, blackmail...but get those rounds completed!
* With each entry, please list the Lap #, Round #, and the theme with your title.
* If all 13 rounds have been completed, the team can start from the Round 1 theme again to earn more points in further laps. These laps are unlimited.
* The team with the most points wins. Individual team members who gain the most points will also be recognised.
* It all ends on 00:00 9 October, PnQ time.

GOOD LUCK!!

Fast and Furious indeed ...ooohh my God! Lol.....
Hhhmmmm I love the Toilet idea, inspiring I must say!

I love the blackmail, shouting, swearing... part :P hahha
lol, real fun

Just to make sure I did not misunderstand like, I do round one ? 21 Syllable

Larry (ee.g) do round two ? a Tanka ? until the 13 are done by all the members, then we can start over, right ?

if yes, it will be very easy to plot it

edit:

LOL abed you don't want me doing that hahhaha

Yes I think Abby meant that rania!

hahhaha lol :p

To be honest, I didn't get that! It is the first clubs challenge I've ever participated in, haha, so I didn't really get how will I plot strategies with my team?? Can you please explain..

Hahahahahah lol Hellon!

Nope, I mean..should I post here who wrote this poem and who wrote that one??? orr they should be unknown.. and yes onething ...I didn't get how the 13 rounds will be run...a member will write a tanka for example ..then another writes a freeverse, so on, until we are finished?? then..??

Hellon, yes, it's a bit harder. If you have a poem up your sleeve, let a TC member(s) know by PM and hopefully they'll let you know. But first in, best dressed usually works best anyway!

Nana...that's right. But let me say, from experience, that strategy quickly goes out of the window by the third or fourth lap- it usually becomes a race where ANYONE online submits almost ANYTHING for the rounds to keep the team going!

Nano, you post poems in your club's special thread, to be posted shortly. The poems are submitted in this thread by your club's members, the authors of the entries. After 13 rounds are completed, you start all over again and again until the race stops.

I'm going to start posting the special club threads here now. It's going to take a while because I have to wait 10 minutes between making each thread. Please don't post anything in them.

Time to beat MM with a walking stick.

Easy to understand rules, thanks Abby.

Really? I look at them and go cross-eyed myself. Everyone, ask me questions! All the best with your team, Mel!

One thing, Abby, you did not say how many other members must do poems before a given member can repost

So far so good! Thanks Abby.

Larry, I believe that is coming in the individual club threads.

Church lady: Oh, nevermind

That's right, Mel. Larry, your team's thread has just been posted. Your team's special "wait number" is 8 rounds, as listed in the fourth dot point under "how to play". This is because you have 17 members in your team.

You don't need to bother sending your poems to Jane as all members are required to submit their own poems in their own team's threads. Just let her know if you've already reserved a round for yourself, or if you'll be out of action during such and such a time period...that sort of thing. In general, I think the best thing to do is just submit something whenever it's your turn next! But just check to see if TC has a strategy in mind (they probably won't, knowing them).

ORRRRRR.... simply join TC as a club member for the duration of this contest, Hellon?? :)

Hahaha...will be great to have you back, if only for a week.

Yeah, just repeating, authors MUST submit their own poems for the rounds in the team's special threads out here. That's the fundamental part of what makes this a race- the activity, the waiting, getting ready to pounce when the moment is right.

Club leaders, please reiterate that in your clubs because not all people are familiar with these main forums.

^ done.

and I cannnnooot, i repeat CANNOT believe that you made a round about TOILET, LOL...speechless.

edit: hahah @ hellon.. lol your sense of humor is on fire!

You know me, Nana.

Filthaaaaaaay.

Hahahhahaha lmao, okay just let me make sure about this, one last time LOL..

if I chose round number 2, and Larry wrote round number 1.

I was online, Larry (not yet)

Am I supposed to wait for Larry to be online and post his 1st tound like is it really a MUST to be gradual ? please no :P just some mercy :O

Hellon, you've been accepted.

So where's TC's special thread, ey?

Is PnQ time Latvian time?

Nana- if you've written a round 2 poem, then yes, you must wait for another team member to submit the round 1 poem first, in your team's thread. Then you can submit another poem after the required number of rounds have been completed by other members of your team.

Hellon- yes.

Jane- it's coming. Posting threads is a slow process with the bloody time rule.

Larry- no idea. All I know is that if a poem is entered a minute sooner or later than the start and finish time, it will be disqualified. This is especially important at the start because all teams must start on Round 1, and it MUST be after the start time. If it's submitted beforehand, it or another poem for Round 1 must be submitted again on time.

Umm, why does TC have to complete just 2 rounds?

Grr, so mean.

Okay, I've finished posting all the club threads, ready for frantic poem submissions starting from midnight.

Few important points in summary:

* All poems must be original and submitted in the team's thread BY THEIR AUTHOR. This is NOT an anonymous contest at all. This is about timing and placement.
* Team members, please check the fourth dot point on your "How To Play" section in your team's thread- this tells you the minimum number of rounds you must wait till it can be your turn again. It is different for every team, depending on its size.
* Any poems placed out of turn, out of time, or not complying directly to the given round's theme will be disqualified. This may result in penalties/delays for your team.
* Please check your club's threads and this thread for any updates.
* Feel free to check my policing of all these threads as well. If you see any errors in the marathon that I haven't picked up, please notify me.
* Haaaaaave fun!

I know it looks dodgy, Myryn, but my formula for the minimum for all teams was:

For the first 3 members: 1 round
+ 1 round for the next two members

TC only has six members. Clubs with more active members have more people to fill in the gaps so the minimum round "wait number" is higher.

This is why it is important for those active members in your club to contribute something (almost anything!) for the sake of your team's progression. It's a high pressure situation!

Give in now you other dorks TC has already won

WON... OK.. Just wimp away...

Of course Abby, I was kidding.

Ah, the meaniest man in town, Boo.... Radley!

Lol @ Nicko. What a cheeky brat.

Nicko, if you keep posting in other club's threads (and even in your own when it's not your round), I'll deduct points from TC.

I'm wearing carefully-applied red lipstick and a leather corset and I'm not afraid to use this whip.

Abby, could you please state the current PnQ time?

The time is just under your name - I assume it's this clock that we're following?

Yes so..in 3 hours, if I am not mistaken ?
2 and a half

No matter who posts, the time is shown in the reader's local time zone. For instance, my time on my post TO ME reads 9:52 am. You will see it differently

EDIT In fact, it proves there is a 3 minute discrepancy between my cell phone provider's time & PnQ time.

No in like 13 hrs the contest starts

No, Larry, it is showing 2 and a half hours before my time. So I'm gonna guess that PnQ runs on North American central time zone? That's UTC-06 for anyone who needs to know.

Double checked and yes, the site's server is located in Houston. So that's the time we're going by.

Wow, never knew that. I feel so honored that, sniff, my own little town plays host to this whole site!

So its at ten pm, pacific time then? Yikes.

Haha, Larry that's awesome. I especially enjoyed the sentimental sniffle.

LOL it's when I see one of the members posting his/her poem, that's it!