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This is where you will track your points for the 2025 Summer Reading Contest.

As soon as you’ve registered, make a post to keep a tally of your featured comments here. Failure to do this may result in your comments not being counted towards your group’s total. Remember not to edit-lock anyone else’s posts. 

You may also use this thread to discuss strategies, chat about the contest, and keep tabs on your competition using the leaderboard.

🏆The Bakers (Cat, RK and IcePrincess): 418.5
🏅The Review Bored (Cavus, Yellowcake and Mousecore): 165.5
🏅The Resistance (Fluxion and Darksoul): 160.5

☼ Rapid Reviewers ☼

The Final Draft (Fresh, Goodnight and Petros): 190*
*Comprised almost entirely of points from Cat before she was switched 

Grill Night and the Newbies (Liminal, Kage and Yummyfood): 96.5
The Worst (Shadowdrake, Benholman and NotSoSpecial): 78
Penguin Paparazzi (ProminentPenguin, Jster and Clayfinger): 41

𓊝 Cruising Critics 𓊝

Team 3 is Fucked (Darius, Mizal and Suranna): 14.5
Team 5 (Corgi, Milton and MrAce): 8
Mercer Gang (Anthraxus, Enter and UnescapableDeath): 7.5
The Thug Shakers (Bezro and Stargirl): 5.5

⚘ Stranded at Sea ⚘

No one!

You may refer to this spreadsheet for a more detailed breakdown.

Last edited: 27/8

🥇Cat: 237
🥈RK: 171.5
🥉Cavus: 86.5

⋆ The Prolific Ones ⋆

IcePrincess: 84
Fluxion: 76.5
Mousecore: 46
Liminal: 41.5
Benholman: 37.5

≫ The Somewhat Skilled ≪ 

Shadowdrake: 28
Clayfinger: 24.5
YellowCake: 18

𖥧 The Amateurs 𖥧

Fresh: 8.5
Anthraxus: 7.5
Milton: 7.5
Prominent: 7.5
Darksoul: 7 (note: his only review got unfeatured so it's uncertain whether it would count)
Jster: 6.5

𓋼 The Time-Challenged 𓋼

Yummyfood: 4
Stargirl: 3
Anthraxus: 2.5
Petros: 2
Suranna: 2
Bezro: 1.5
Goodnight: 1

Gray Area: Your points are from past reviews, so you will be shamed unless you write a featured review

Mizal: 9 
Darius: 3.5
Corgi: 0.5

𖦹 The Soon-To-Be Shamed 𖦹

Enterpride: 0
MrAce: 0
Kage: 0
NotSoSpecial: 0
UnescapableDeath: 0

Disqualified

Daiki and his alt, TDuck

Last edited: 27/8

Reviews: 22

Featured: 21 (96%)

Team: The Review Bored (w/ Fluxion (formerly), Yellowcake and Mousecore)

Games reviewed (Dates based on CEST time):

• In 3 (Length 5, 01/06, Featured)
• Spy Mission (Length 6, 02/06, Featured)
• As Ink (Length 7, 06/06, Featured)
• Slavic Pagans (Length 6, 11/06, Featured)
• Polaris (Length 6, 12/06, Featured)
• Avoiding Termination (Length 6, 18/06, Featured)
• Warden (Length 3, 18/06, Featured)
• Of dreams and daemons (Length 6, 21/06, Featured)
• Clearstone (Length 5, 22/06, Featured)
• Little Mage's Potion Shop (Length 7, 26/06, Featured)
• Fey Light (Length 6, 28/06, Featured)
• Don't get distracted! (Length 3, 28/06, Featured)
• Prometheus Academy (Length 6, 01/07, Featured)
• Rogues (Length 8, 07/07, Featured)
• Farewell, My Childhood Self (Length 5, 12/07, Featured)
• Siren (Length 5, 13/07, Featured)
• A UFO at School (Length 2, 26/07, Featured)
• Broken Wings (Length 2, 27/07)
• The Last Stand of Cole Mercer (Length 5, 17/08, Featured with the Strengthen card)
• Custer's Last Stand (Length 6, 18/08, Featured with the Strengthen card)
• These Shackles Souls (Length 7, 27/08, Featured)
• El Paso (Length 6, 27/08, Featured)

Also my old comment on Basement Rats got featured on 15/07 so I'm now stuck with half a point permanently grafted onto my score.
Also also I got bonus 2 points from Ogre because he's a cool ogre.

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
1 - 4	1	3	3
5	2	5	10
6	5	9	45
7	7	3	21
8	10	1	10

Points total: 91.5

Current reviews: 3

Current featured: 3

Current teammate(s): Liminal and whats his name

Most recent reviews:

Searching for Sunsets 

Red Fools 

Battlefield Commander

Team: The Bakers

Teammates: YellowCake

Total Points: 177.5

Story length	Points Awarded	# of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
1-4	1	18.5	18.5
5	2	9.5	19
6	5	17.5	97.5
7	7	3	21
8	10	2	20

Featured Reviews:
1. Mission Sunshine(4/8) *****FEATURED******
2. End of Creation(5/8) *****FEATURED******
3. Polaris(6/8)**********FEATURED********
4. 99 Problems but a Girl Ain't One(5/8)****FEATURED*****
5. Paradise Violated(6/8)*********FEATURED*******
6. Edithe Zilonis(4/8)********FEATURED*********
7. Mazkil(6/8) ***********FEATURED*************
8. Lasso of time(6/8) **************FEATURED************
9. The Ghost People(4/8) ***********FEATURED***********
10. Of Dreams and Daemons(6/8) *********FEATURED*********
11. The story of Count Osmond Jorgensen(3/8)**********FEATURED*********
12. Eyes on a Moon of Blindness(6/8)***********FEATURED********
13. Saturday Bike Ride(6/8)*****FEATURED******
14. Blue Light Saga(2/8)******FEATURED******
15. Sins of the Father******FEATURED******
16. Ineptitude 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO********FEATURED********
17. A Very Special Choose Your Own Adventure(5/8) *******FEATURED*****
18. Rings of Stone(5/8) *****FEATURED*******
19. The COVID Assignment(5/8) *****FEATURED*****
20. The Multiverse Chalkboard(5/8) *****FEATURED*****
21. Father Leofwine is Dead(6/8) ******FEATURED******
22. A Chosen Hero(6/8) ******FEATURED*******
23. The Sable Sea(3/8) ******FEATURED*****
24. Nautilius(3/8) *****FEATURED******
25. The Reign of Terror(6/8) *****FEATURED******
26. Prophecy(7/8) ******FEATURED******
27. When Rock Meets Watermelon(5/8) *****FEATURED*****
28. Mute(4/8) ******FEATURED*****
29. Elvis at the Beauty Contest(3/8) ****FEATURED*****
30. The Only Lights in the Darkness are Flames(3/8) *****FEATURED*****
31. When the Music's Over(6/8) *****FEATURED*****
32. Rogues(8/8) ******FEATURED******
33. The Carnival, Ginny, and I(3/8) *****FEATURED******
34. Spell of Slumber(7/8) ***FEATURED******
35. Pitka’s Fables(3/8) ******Featured******
36. Sabbatical Report Presentation(6/8) ****FEATURED****
37. Durwood Mansion(6/8) ******FEATURED******
38. Suzy's Strange Saga(8/8) ******FEATURED*******
39. The Knight Order of the Golden Sun(6/8) ***FEATURED****
40. Ground Zero(7/8) *****FEATURED*****
41. El Paso(6/8) *****FEATURED*****
42. Vanvid(6/8) ****FEATURED*****
43. Diplomat(6/8) *****FEATURED****
44. The Secret of Daphne(6/8) ****FEATURED****

Unfeatured Reviews:
BLANK
Reviews made before the contest that were featured during its duration (counts for half points):

45. Sterling City(5/8) - Featured on 7/3/2025. Comment originally written on 1/17/2025. 2 points/2 = 1 point

46. Prayer For Destruction(4/8) - Featured on 7/3/2025. Comment originally written on 12/26/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5 point

47. Terrorist(4/8) - Featured on 7/1/2025. Comment originally written on 12/3/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5 point

48. The Shameful Dead(3/8) - Featured on 6/30/2025. Comment originally written on 12/7/2024. 1 point /2 = 0.5 point

49. A Day In Hell(3/8) - Featured on 6/22/2025. Comment originally written on 12/18/2024. 1/2 = 0.5 point

50. Of the Struggles Faced Under the Light of a Metal Shrouded Star(3/8) - Featured on 6/19/2025. Comment originally written on 5/22/2025 - 1 point/2 = 0.5 point

51. A Bird in a Cage(4/8) - Featured on 6/2/2025. Comment originally written on 5/12/2025. 1 point /2 = 0.5 point

52. Broken Bonds(6/8) - Featured on 7/14/2025. Comment originally written on 1/4/2025. 5 points/2 = 2.5 points

53. Basement Rats(4/8) - Featured on 7/14/2025. Comment originally written on 2/8/2025. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points

54. The Boy Who Would Be Duke: Journey to Agincourt(6/8) - Featured on 7/15/2025. Comment originally written on 12/14/2024. 5 points/2 = 2.5 points

55. The City and The Tower(2/8) - Featured on 7/18/2025. Comment originally written on 12/3/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5

56. Spy Mission(6/8) - Featured on 7/26/2025. Comment originally written on 11/28/2024. 5 points/2 = 2.5 points

57. Sterling Suburbs(3/8) - Featured on 7/26/2025. Comment originally written on 1/7/2025. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points

58. Dispiteous(2/8) - Featured on 7/31/2025. Comment originally written on 12/17/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points

59. Blackwell's diamonds(3/8) - Featured on 7/31/2025. Comment originally written on 11/8/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points

60. Encaged(5/8) - Featured on 08/06/2025. Comment originally written on 1/5/2025. 2 points/2 = 1 point

61. The Penguin Without Feet(5/8) - Featured on 08/08/2025. Comment originally written on 1/8/2025. 2 points/2 = 1 point.

62. Team 7: The Estranger's Interactive Story(3/8) - Featured on 08/19/2025. Comment originally written on 12/6/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points.

63. Bright Days(3/8) - Featured on 08/27/2025. Comment originally written on 04/28/2025. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points.

64. Albus Potter:The next Generation Year 1(3/8) - Featured on 08/27/2025. Comment originally written on 12/24/2024. 1 point/2 = 0.5 points.


Total # of Reviews so far: 64(44 Featured and written during the contest and 20 written before the contest but featured during the contest so they count for half points)

Featured(so far): 64
Unfeatured(so far): 0

Reviews: 24

Featured: 9

Total Points: 41.5

Team: Grill Night and The NewbieS

Games Reviewed:

• Temple Of Spades (Featured)
• Locked Out (The Movie) (Featured)
• Locked Out (The Movie) Episode Two
• Locked Out (The Movie) Episode Three (The finale of the Locked Out saga. Reviews of longer storygames to come.) (Featured)
• A very short, half-assed review of Shadow Of A God-King for the mini-contest, because the only other one was Mizal and the contest ends tonight.
• Les Adventures De Sebastian Length: 2 (Featured)
• So You Want to Join A Cult Length: 3 (Featured)
• U R: A Magician Length: 2
• The Rise Of The Shirlynx: Adventures in Modern History Length: 3
• Queer Tales For Autistic Folk Length: 3
• Tales From The Basement Length: 6 (Featured)
• Pitka's Fables Length: 3
• Suzy's Strange Saga Length: 8 (Featured)
• 8 Goals, 28 Rolls Length: 1
• Behemoth Length: 1
• Forest Of Darkness Length:1
• How Well Do You Know Your British-English Length: 1
• Holloween Adventure 2: Return To The Halloween Dimension Length: 1
• Twenty-Three Length: 1
• Will The Real J. Jonah Jameson Please Step Forward Length: 1
• How To Play A Game Length: 1
• Ground Zero Length: 7 (Featured)
• The Last Stand Of Cole Mercer Length: 5 (Featured)
• Mole Length: 2 (Featured before contest, 0.5.)
• Your Fate Like Clockwork Length: 8 (Featured)
  
  Ogre’s Bonus: 2 points

 

Team: The Worst

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
Example: 6	5	3	5 x 3 = 15
1 - 4	1	10	10
5	2	1	2
6	5
7	7	2	14
8	10

Total Points: 26

Stories Reviewed:

• This Is Not A Storygame (1 length review featured 6/2/25)
• Bright Days (3 length)
• Night Shift (2 length review featured 6/3/25)
• Gaiety and Sorrow (7 length review featured 6/6/25)
• Lazarus Cage (2 length featured 6/7/25)
• Shadow of a God-King (7 length featured 6/14/25)
• Gay and Depressed in Prison (2 length featured 6/28/25)
• A Bird in_a Cage (4 length featured 6/17/25)
• Don't get distracted! (3 length review featured 6/15/25)
• The Rise of the Shirlynx Adventures in Modern History (3 length featured 6/17/25)
• Mole (2 length featured 6/17/25)
• Of the Struggles Faced Under the Light of a Metal Shrouded Star (3 length featured 6/19/25) 
• Of dreams and daemons (6 length featured 6/28/25)

Points Scoring

In light of the new scoring system for reviews, it would be appreciated if you could keep track of story length on your posts. You may use this table if it helps:

 

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
Example: 6	5	3	5 x 3 = 15
1 - 4	1
5	2
6	5
7	7
8	10

Total Points:

I will copy this table and fill it out... just curious though... it says we accumulate points daily. If we get switched teams do we keep our points and take them with us? Or do they stay with that team?

That's a really good question :D

You definitely keep your individual points score. As for the points you earned with that team I think they will stay with that team and then you need to start earning points for your new team after you swap (otherwise everyone will be trying to steal certain members for their personal points rather than their reviewing abilities). This is my interpretation but leave this with me and I'll clarify it soon :D

As Will said, the points would stay with the team. Any card-related powerups only affects team points, e.g. doubling your points for the day doubles the team's score but not individual rankings. This also prevents teams from just stealing the top scoring member on the last few weeks of the contest to win. 

I do not envy those who have to track daily point totals... all of our threads are setup to track total points without a way to track points for just the day... 

Perhaps I can add a date to the "games reviewed" section to help? 

Well it's sure not me lol. I'm assuming also that Mystic has some kind of spreadsheet set up to track overall activity for teams already though, because I don't see many planning to do that either and it's not going to be as simple as adding up the numbers of the people in them at the end.

I'll be keeping a spreadsheet of points earned each week, along with the cards that are used and the effect they will have. But adding a date to your games reviewed section would definitely be helpful.

Yeah, I've added it where I list the games reviewed for you. I have no clue how this is working... but I feel the dates will be important. I did make a decision that the date commended, not the date the review was left, is what is listed.

Also good to see Mizal shirking responsibilities! I guess CYStia does never change.

Team 7- IcePrincess Petros

Length of Story
7

Points Awarded
7

Number of featured reviews
1
points scored
7

Have I done this correct?

For keeping track of one commended review it is fine, just use commas on Length of Story and Points Awarded when you have more and use a little sum (like 3+7=10, for example) on Points scored to help us keep track :)

Team: #3 with Mizal and Darius

 

Reviews: 

Escaping the Pit of Sin, by Yummyfood (3/8) (Featured)

Gay and Depressed in Prison, RKrallanor (2/8) (Featured)

 

Points I have: 2

Those of you who are tracking individual games reviewed, I'm sure it would help a lot if you also noted the game lengths next to any you had featured.

In fact, everyone should do this. I mean, I'm not saying I will spitefully miscount anyone who makes it harder for me when it's time to award points....but that sure is a sentence I just typed.

Team: ?

Reviewed: 0 Featured: 0 Team total: 0

Points Scoring

In light of the new scoring system for reviews, it would be appreciated if you could keep track of story length on your posts. You may use this table if it helps:

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
1-4	1	none yet lol	none yet lol
5	2	none yet lol	none yet lol
6	5	none yet lol	none yet lol
7	7	none yet lol	none yet lol
8	10	none yet lol	none yet lol

Total Points:

Stories Reviewed:

Here we go.

Point Tracking (Total - 2):

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	# of Standard Reviews	Points Scored
1-4	1	0	1	0
5	2	1	1	2
6	5	?	-	?
7	7	?	-	?
8	10	?	-	?

Story Tracking:

Story Title	Date Reviewed	Story Length	Score Given
Detective 2: Han Island	6/2/25	5 (16,152)	7
Mouldy Oldiez	6/2/25	3 (7812)	5
The Brave Polar Bears	7/3/25	5 (16947)	5

Featured:

KOBOLD KEBABS  Play length: 4

A Bird in a Cage  Play length: 4

Alpha Wolf Play length: 6

Eternal Play length: 8

The Pure, the Vile, and the Deadly Play length: 7

Death Song Play length: 6

Blow Your House Down Play length: 6 (half points)

Winter, After the Harvest Play length: 7 (half points)

The Knight Order of the Golden Sun Play length: 6 (half points)

Gay Old Time Play length: 6 (half points)

Night Shift Play length: 2

Necromancer Play length: 7

A Titanic Experience Play length: 5

 

Point Total: 50

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team: ~The Review Bored~ (CavusRex and Mousecore)

Progress so far:

(Space reserved to screw with people who wonder why a space would be reserved within an editable post, making them waste time reading this sentence....)

Reviews: 52.

Mole. Play length: 2. (Featured)

The Knight Order of the Golden Sun. Play length: 6. (Featured)

A Hill to Die On. Play length: 3.

A Prayer For Destruction. Play length: 4. (Featured)

Wholesome Dog's Birthday Adventure. Play length: 2. (Featured)

Propheteering. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Dog Day. Play length: 2.

The City and the Tower. Play length: 2. (Featured)

Day of the Dead--One Soul's All Souls Procession. Play length: 2.

Saturday Bike Ride. Play length: 6. (Featured)

Color Your Own Adventure (webcomic) . Play length: 1.

Julia. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Avarga. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Tane no Monogatari. Play length: 1.

Temple of Spades. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Awakening of the Tower (Roguelike RPG). Play length: 2.

Forgotten Rose. Play length: 1. (Featured)

Merlin: Origins.. Play length: 5.

Love is for the Birds.. Play length: 3. (Featured)

The Little Princess of the Forest. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Slaying the Scourge. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Paper-Mache. Play length: 6. (Featured)

Nautilus. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Treatise on Heartly Manners. Play length: 6. (Featured)

Halloween Fright. Play length: 2.

A City Lost. Play length: 4. (Featured)

Terrorist. Play length: 4. (Featured)

The wolves of the sea. Play length: 2. (Featured)

The End of Creation. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Biscuits and Ghosts. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Siren. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Inseparable. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Twin Arrows. Play length: 5. (Featured)

The Mayoral Campaign.Play length: 2. (Featured)

Ineptitude 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO.Play length: 2. (Featured)

The Christmas Crossing. Play length: 4. (Featured)

Sacrifice. Play length: 2. (Featured)

Leroy and Mika's Organic Poetry. Play length: 1. (Featured).

Orpheus. Play length: 2. (Featured).

...In Love And War. Play length: 2. (Featured).

Highschool. Play length: 2. (Featured).

Seraph Serenade. Play length: 2. (Featured).

The Make-Believe Sandbox. Play length: 2.

Snow Love. Play length: 2. (Featured).

Late Night Visit. Play length: 2. (Featured)

Seasons Change. Play length: 2. (Featured)

Losing and Gaining Love. Play length: 2. (Featured).

My Sweet Anna. Play length: 2. (Featured).

Without You (1). Play length: 2. (Featured).

bombardat. Play length: 1.

You are a Fish. Play length: 1.

Monster. Play length: 4. (Featured).

***

Featured: 38 (So far, my batting average is [perfumed] ass. Fortunately, I have good teammates.)

Points I should have: 64 (4 featured length 6, 7 length 5, 30 length 4, 3, 2 and 1. Yummy yummy points).

I see you... scrolling by without a care, looking for the latest post. Well, since you're down there... here are some shameless self-plugs for stories you can review for the contest in increasing order of length:

The Shameful Dead. Length: 3. Genre: Horror.

Slay the Dragon. Length: 3. Genre: Medieval dick jokes.

Chivalry. Length: 5. Genre: Medieval fantasy.

By the Light of Day. Length: 6. Genre: Horror/vampires.

Fey Light. Length: 6. Genre: Grimdark fantasy.

Shadow of a God-King Length: 7. Genre: Grimdark fantasy.

How do you guys make the fancy table? I'm a bit technically challenged here.

Do you want me to stick the one Mystic made into your post?

I'm just going to do without myself and just mark it all out in a big list like God intended.

That would be amazing!

https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_tables.asp

Here's how you can code one out through html which will convert it into the fancy table.

Thanks!

Well let me know if you need some help straightening your post out once you're done experimenting. (You may want to look up break line tags.)

Oh yeah, I copy pasted cavus’s table and ended up trying to fill it out. I better fix up some of the html, thanks again!

Team: #5 with Corgi213 and MrAce321

Reviewed: 2
Featured: 1
Team total: 1

Game/Date/Length/Worth:

(Milton) Gaiety and Sorrow / 7-8-2025 / Length 7 / 7 points

My Total Points: 7

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
Example: 6	5	3	5 x 3 = 15
1 - 4	1	12	12
5	2	8	16
6	5	7	35
7	7	4	28
8	10	0	0

Reviews: 39

Featured: 30 (so far)

Team #7: Winter's Wrath

Points: 91

Games Reviewed:

1. Don't Get Distracted (length: 3) 06/03/2025

2. Gaiety and Sorrow (length: 7) 06/03/2025

3. Bright Days (length: 3) 06/03/2025

4. Can Anybody Escape? (length: 2) 06/03/2025

5. These Shackled Souls (length: 7) 06/04/2025 *FEATURED*

6. A Hero's Odyssey (length: 6) 06/04/2025

7. Alpha Wolf (length: 6) 06/04/2025 *FEATURED*

8. A Chosen Hero (length: 6) 06/05/2025 *FEATURED*

9. Dark Nigh (Noir) (length: 5) 06/05/2025

10. Hastings, 1066: Aftermath (length: 7) 06/10/2025

11. Farewell, My Childhood Self (length: 5) 06/11/2025 *FEATURED*

12. The Path of Death (length: 7) 06/11/2025 *FEATURED*

13. Durwood Mansion (length: 6) 06/21/2025 *FEATURED*

14. Lasso of Time (length: 6) 06/22/2025 *FEATURED*

15. A Graveyard Smash (length: 5) 06/22/2025 *FEATURED*

16. The Titanic Experience (length: 5) 07/09/2025 *FEATURED*

17. An Unusual Mirror (length: 4) 07/09/2025 *FEATURED*

18.Tower of Riddles (length: 5) 07/10/2025 *FEATURED*

19. 5 Floors (length: 1) 07/11/2025 *FEATURED*

20. Winter, After the Harvest (length: 6) 07/13/2025 *FEATURED*

21. Land of the Setting Sun (length: 5) 07/13/2025 *FEATURED*

22. Disney Trivia Quiz (length: 2) 07/13/2025

23. Saoirse (length: 7) 07/17/2025 *FEATURED*

24. Buried (length: 3) 07/18/2025 *FEATURED*

25. Kitchen Nightmares but Gordon Ramsay Contractually Permitted to Kill the Owner During Filming (length: 3) 07/18/2025 *FEATURED*

26. What A Terrible World (length: 6) 07/19/2025 *FEATURED*

27. Siren (length: 5) 07/25/2025 *FEATURED*

28. Boobs!!! (length: 1) 07/25/2025 *FEATURED*

29. Choose Your Disease (length: 3) 07/25/2025 *FEATURED*

30. Cows vs. Aliens! (length: 6) 07/26/2025 *FEATURED*

31. Awakening of the Tower (Rougelike RPG) (length: 2) 07/26/2025 *FEATURED*

32. ...In Love and War (length: 2) 07/26/2025 *FEATURED*

33. Biscuits and Ghosts (length: 5) 07/26/2025 *FEATURED*

34. Cold Lies (length: 3) 07/27/2025 *FEATURED*

35. Snow Love (length: 2) 07/27/2025 *FEATURED*

36. Losing and Gaining Love (length: 2) 07/27/2025 *FEATURED*

37. Wholesome Dog’s Birthday Adventure (length: 2) 07/27/2025 *FEATURED*

38. Surviving Pre-School (length: 3) 07/27/2025 

39. Prophecy (length: 7) 08/19/2025) *FEATURED*

@iceprincess21

You should've seen A Chosen Hero over the period of YEARS where the description was part of the actual first page, before he finally got annoyed enough at people laughing at it that went in and edited.

Ebon was Mormon so the meme was that it was written his first gold drinking half a beer. "A world on the cusp of disaster. Two sides on the verge of destroying each other, but there is hope. In the form of a hero. Now this will hero..., will they be able to rise into the mantle of hero?"

I'm just going to point out that The Review Bored has somehow amassed a grand total of 34 points in the first week. Maybe someone should win a Mini Challenge and use a Sabotage card to slow them down.

They're followed by The Worst with 11 points. Grill Night and the Newbie and Team 7 have 5 points each. 

The rest of you better hurry up. 

To be fair I probably won't submit a review for the mini challenge considering I just finished one for another 7 length game, but at the same time I kinda want to finally give something an 8 and that would be the prime candidate.

I also just finished a 7 game story with review today... I was thinking about a shorter one but might try to make the deadline. Weekends are going to be tough to find time for me.

At least the points are more efficient for these! I'm assume we still get points if our review gets featured from doing the challenge?

Most likely, but the odds of being featured are lower considering there's already 3 featured reviews to beat and more will likely pop up.

I heard the admins upped the # of featured reviews from 3 to 5! So you probably will, since your reviews are really thorough

Thanks, they're about as thorough as they can without delving into spoilers since I write more for the potential reader than the author and pretty measly compared to yours.

Makes sense. Winning and getting points would be ideal, very efficient use of time... I guess I'm trying it, haha. I was going in reverse order of the newest stories, but I think this one was on there anyway.

I did hear the mods changed the featured reviews and can confirm that I made it onto a story as the 4th featured review. That basically opens up every story again. Just getting back into the review game, but it seems like you are doing well getting reviews featured as well! We might all bump off one of the 3 existing comments of everyone tries on this challenge.

Sometimes if a review is pretty good on a story an old one just gets replaced. Especially if the old one was a bit of a place holder anyway.

I've upped mine to 7. Maximum amount of comments shown on the title page is 10, after that you have to click that little link that shows you the rest of them.

Suranna was the only one on Team 3 that had any serious plans to review a game this week, and we haven't heard from her. There's no need to hurry though smh, we've got months.

That's the first step on the path to The Pit of Shame :D

I underestimated how difficult it is to update the leaderboards frequently on a phone, so here, you may use this spreadsheet to keep track of the competition until I regain access to my laptop.

Yeah that would be awful lol. What happened to the laptop?

Oh, I'm just on holiday lol. I didn't realise how it sounded like there was a laptop problem. 

Welcome to the Review Contest announcements. I am your host, Mystic Warrior, and I'm here with a live commentary of the summer boat race!

The disparity of points between The Review Bored and everyone else continues to grow. They're speeding into the distance with 52 points, leaving the other teams in more turbulent waters. This team is doing so well that two of their captains---Cavus and Mousecore---are in first and third place, respectively. Their other teammate, Fluxion, is at a solid fifth place. 

The Worst is steadily sailing through the seas, largely due to the efforts of Shadowdrake, who has secured the third place spot. He is assisted at the helm by Benholman, currently tied at sixth place. Their third member is nowhere to be seen. 

Cruising behind them is Grill Night & The Newbie. Yet, it appears that RK---who is in fourth place---is steering the ship, rowing the oars and adjusting his course, while his other members attempt to...are they swimming behind the boat? Well, at least they're trying, which is more than can be said of many other competitors at the moment.

Next, we have Winter's Wrath, where two relatively new members seem to be holding their own. Although this is their first race in these uncharted waters, both IcePrincess and DarkSoul are currently out-sailing a number of veterans, turning the waves beneath their boat into a thin sheet of ice.  

As for the remaining participants, some have been silently mapping out their paths and waiting for their wind to carry them forward, while others have yet to leave the dock. But most of them seem to be taken ill with a mysterious affliction known as apathy. This malady was first reported at a recent dinosaur fight at the Thunderdome arena, but sources state the mods have it under control, ordering a genocide of infected individuals to prevent contagion. 

But on a slightly more cheerful note, let's congratulate our recent winners for our first two mini-challenges! They also have shiny new weapons aboard their ships. 
 

 

 

Hooray us! And I guess congrats to those who won the last mini challenge and those who scored actual points while the others keep trying to figure out which side of the oar they're supposed to use. I just finished reassembling my PC which means I can get back to reviewing again.

Awesome. But I think I've sneaked into 4th place now with some recent features, jumping from 9 to 16 points. Unless RK has also gained momentum. Such a competitive match.

I was expecting this, you wrote a ton of reviews so it was only a matter of time before they got featured.

Good job Flux! I hope to regain that 4th place spot soon. Otherwise, all that's standing between all 3 members of the review bored occupying each of the top 3 places is shadow. Stay strong shadow!

I'll do my best! I was worried you guys would catch me, but I also had a few comments get featured today... awesome job everyone! We are avoiding the pit of shame and (hopefully) genocide.

Hey... Hey RK, can we get back on the ship now? Please?

Yahoo!

"The Worst", you guys better watch out! Grill Night and the Newbie is making rapid progress!

Did... Did I say that? Uh, well, I'll just be hanging on to the anchor desperately.

Can't hang on to the anchor forever lim. At some point, y'all got to get into the boat. But I'm not worried, we've got 2 months, and I'm sure you and yummy are cooking up some fantastic reviews. After all, what will grill night be without the food!

I was thinking I didn't have the stuff to get any more features, so I was trying everything: humor, flattery, cruelty, begging, borrowing, stealing, but nothing was working. It seems I may have panicked prematurely.

I felt this way and left a funny review on one of RK's stories... so I can confidently say length does not automatically get you featured, haha. I think mods were just busy over the weekend!

I do think your review made some really good substantive points that helped me writing, so I appreciate your efforts shadow.

You were correct that some of the stylistic choices were intentional, and some others were just because I'm a novice writer, I had a cooler idea than I knew to write, and I was so focused on putting funny sound bites, that I probably should have let things flow. The SPAG mistakes were all me, lol.

I actually wanted to make each thing their own storyline, so you gradually become a drug lord, or you start studying, make friends in prison, learn more about the world that the story is situated in. But then again, the story is meant as a parody, for this popular CYS series called Gay and Depressed. Basically, writers write a sort of spoof or intentionally comedic piece of writing centered around being gay and depressed, it's kind of become a CYStian inside joke.

I did have some more serious pieces written that I took down for revision, so currently the main thing I have to show is a giant gay joke. At least for now...

I hope it was somewhat helpful! That's what I'm here for. Some of the stylistic choices were obvious... and some were hard to tell. That style of writing can be really hard to judge/critique because of the humor element. 4th wall brakes in particular are almost always bad... but are a comedic tool when writing slap-stick comedy, as an example. 
 

Making a story longer is always better. It is also harder to accomplish with the same quality of writing. I had a story for a contest that really suffered from being too short and time-constrained about Merlin the Magician, so I understand the pains that come with actually writing something. It's very easy to review something and give advice, which is why I stick to that!

"Row!" Shadowdrake27 yelled, padding frantically as if the back of the canoe was on fire."Row! Row... row?"

 

He turned around to see how much distance they had put between themselves and the competition, only to see the review board motor ahead like a well-oiled machine. Horrified, he looked at the other contestants The Worst had managed to pass: two boats zig-zagged across the river unproductively as the rest floated with the river's current. "Well... this is interesting..." he muttered as something else caught his eye. Benholman was paddling smoothly--with his paddle sideways so the narrow edge caught the water.

 

"What are you doing?" Shadowdrake27 scoffed.

 

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Benholman snapped.

 

"Uhh... wait! Where is the new guy?"

 

"NotSoSpecial?" 

 

"Yeah, that's what I said, right?" Shadowdrake scratched his head and looked around.

 

That's when he saw it, NotSoSpecial running along the bank of the river with a could of dust hot on his heels. Peering into the distance, Shadowdrake27 tried to make out what was following him. The canoe tipped wildly and he had to drop his paddle and clutch the edge of the canoe to stabilize it before the entire thing flipped over.

 

"Dinosaurs!" Benholman exclaimed as the oversized reptiles came more clearly into view. 

 

NoSoSpecial looked back--then doubled his efforts as a unintelligible scream escaped his lips. His arms went flailing as his legs continued to churn while he screamed. His form was terrible--Shadowdrake27 noted mentally--but he was surprisingly effective as he gained ground on the herd of Dino's chasing him.

 

"Help!" NotSoSpecial managed to scream as he reached the bank of the river with no where left to run.

 

"They must have decided on genocide..." Shadowdrake27 muttered to himself with a shudder running down his spine. He wasted no time knotting a rope around the support in the middle of the canoe and testing it with two good tugs. "Catch!"

 

Shadowdrake27 tossed the rope casually, causing it to drop directly into the water. Benholman cursed and steered the Canoe towards shore as Shadowdrake27 picked up his paddle and helped. They managed to get to NotSoSpecial as the water got choppy from the vibrations of thousands of dinosaur legs pounding the shore.

 

"Thanks!" NotSoSpecial sighed in relief, stepping towards the boat.

 

"Not so fast," Shadowdrake27 said, putting an arm out to block the rescued teammate. "Can't have you tipping the boat, and I don't know if you can even paddle... Ben at least showed up on time!"

 

NotSoSpecial's eyes shot wide open and his jaw hit the ground. "You are going to leave me?" he whined.

 

"No! That would be crazy! Here, take this." As he handed over the end of the rope tied to the boat, Shadowdrake27 climbed back in and put a life jacket on his seat before sitting down and shifting back and forth to get comfortable.

 

"Any day now," Benholman chided while the dinosaurs closed in, kicking up sand that almost reached the canoe.

 

"Row!" Shadowdrake27 yelled, smacking the water like it owed him money.

 

Dinosaurs nipped at NotSoSpecial's heels as he was dragged into the water by a wrist. Benholman and Shadowdrake27 continued to struggle forward, dragging their new teammate away from genocide. The entire time he screamed, "Can I just get in the canoe?" 

For the love of CYStia someone commend this.

Thanks! I'm glad it wasn't boring... I'm out of pratice... but it was just for fun!

It was really funny! Poor NotSoSpecial, I hope he logs in and starts reviewing, although realistically, I think he may not.

You and Ben are a great team! Ben did really well in last year's contest, so I have full confidence that the 2 of you will do some great reviews

I have no doubt everyone will eventually get reviewing! It is a long contest and some people stated early on that they were busy for the first month or whatever. Ben is doing great, but he gave me some crap when our team was first formed, so I like to poke fun at him.

For the record, I definitely enjoyed your short story lol

I'm glad you enjoyed it! This was supposed to be funny, and I'm glad it was taken that way. 

Managing to climb all the way to second while taking the time to write something this funny? Man I'm slacking in comparison.

The Bakers: RK, IcePrincess, yours truly

Reviews Left: 56 (1-4 length); 7 (5 length); 18 (6 length); 10 (7 length); 1 (8 length)

Featured Reviews: 52 (1-4 length); 6 (5 length); 16 (6 length); 10 (7 length); 1 (8 length)

Total Points as of 27/08/25 (as noted by mods): 237

Reviews written after this date: 1 (6 length); 1 (7 length)

Featured reviews written after this date: 1 (6 length); 1 (7 length)

Total points: 249

Team: Penguin Paparazzi


# of Reviews (in order of Length)
-------------------
1-4 Reviews: 1
5 Reviews:
6 Reviews:
7 Reviews: 1 (1 Featured)
8 Reviews:

Featured: 1

Games Reviewed:
1. Mole (length: 2) 06/19/2025
2. As Ink (length: 7) 07/21/2025 [Featured]

Current team: Penguin Paparazzi.
Current teammates: jster02 and ProminentPenguin

Reviews:

• Saturday Bike Ride, Length: 6, Featured
• Broken Bonds, Length: 6, Featured
• Prometheus Academy, Length: 6, Featured
• The Pure, the Vile and the Deadly, Length: 7, Featured

Reviews made before the contest that were featured during its duration (counts for half points):

• The Laconia Incident, Length: 6

Length of stories	Points awarded	Number of featured reviews	Points scored
1-4	1	0	0
5	2	0	0
6	5	3.5	17.5
7	7	1	7
8	10	0	0

Total points: 24.5

Reviews: 2

Featured: 2

Team: Penguin Paparazzi

Games reviewed:

• Story B, Length: 3, 6/21/25,  Featured
• Of Dreams and Daemons, Length: 6, 6/27/25, Featured

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
1 - 4	1	1	1
5	2	0	0
6	5	1	5
7	7	0	0
8	10	0	0

Points total: 6

Boats battle against the tumultuous waves, as the summer sun scorches the skies. Still, several competitors soldier on, paddles against the currents, canoes inching forward.

Others have yet to leave the port. As they idly stroll the shore, listening to the stories of sailors and the gossip of pirates, one rumor is particularly persistent. 

An old fisherman echoes this as he stares at an approaching storm. “It is coming. A card powerful it trumps fate itself. Some see it as akin to kidnap; for others, it is merely a reallocation of resources. But this much is true: it has the power to change…everything.”

(Stay tuned for this week’s challenge to be released on Friday!)

Don't you dare....😂

The one thing the review bored does not have is a stop card *laughs maniacally* 

Ah, but perhaps if this is truly a kidnapping card, maybe the stolen hero becomes an insurgent and ceases to review? Although now that I think of it, as last place, if the card carries such a use, it is clear who is going to be kicked to the curb in the event of a swap of prisoners. 😬

Perhaps... it's a long contest and many things will change a lot over the course of it. At the very least, you can rest assured that you are not hanging over the pit of shame like some people.

Don't worry, we totally wouldn't swap you for Cat the second we get the card.

Can you imagine? Came up with the clever name, cast away like a used condom? It would be like the founders of McDonald's allegedly promised via a handshake 1% in perpetuity, and now they stand with only single grain of rice compared to the wealth of the vast empire. Such will be my fate, should we win the card....

Reviews: 14

Featured: 11

Team: The Bakers (YellowCake, RKrallonor)

Points: 7 + (1 * 10) = 17

 

Games Reviewed(Length)(Featured or Not):

 

The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost (7) (Featured)

Lazarus Cage (2) (Featured)

Nautilus (3) (Featured)

PSYOPS (3) (Featured)

>DEVOTION (2) (Featured)

A Stack of Cats (2) (Featured)

Leroy and Mika's Organic Poetry (1)

The Song Binder (3) (Featured)

A Hill to Die On (3) (Featured)

A night in Dark Chicago (4)

The Backup by Anthraxus (3) (Featured)

The Shameful Dead (3) (Featured)

The Story of Count Osmond Jorgensen (3) (Featured)

Don't get distraced! (3)

Track your comments for Week 4's Mini Challenge here!

Week 4 Mini Challenge

Games Reviewed, Author (Featured or Not):

 

Lazarus Cage by CavusRex (Featured)

Nautilus by CavusRex (Featured)

PSYOPS by Fluxion (Featured)

>DEVOTION by Mizal (Featured)

A Stack of Cats by Mizal (Featured)

Leroy and Mika's Organic Poetry by Shadowdrake27

The Song Binder by corgi213 (Featured)

A Hill to Die On by corgi213 (Featured)

A night in Dark Chicago by Anthraxus

The Backup by Anthraxus (Featured)

The Shameful Dead by Fluxion (Featured)

The Story of Count Osmond Jorgensen by Fluxion (Featured)

Don't get distracted! by Clayfinger

Week Four Mini-Challenge Reviews

- The Siberian, by Yummyfood (featured)

- Halloween Fright, by Benholman44

- Inheritance House, by Shadowdrake27 (featured)

- Bound by Light, by MrAce321 (featured)

- Cannibal Apocalypse, by Enterpride (featured)

- The Lonely Inn, by Petros (featured)

- The Village That Was, by Goodnight_a (featured)

- >Devotion, by Mizal (featured)

- The Song Binder, by Corgi213 (featured)

Games reviewed:

Of Dreams and Daemons by Clayfinger, Featured

(These still count for regular points, right?)

To make it easier I'll just list games that did get featured:

- Fey Light by Fluxion
- Don't get distracted! by Clayfinger


Also as happy as I am that people jumped at reviewing Lazarus Cage (probably because it's short) I kind of want to recommend Nautilus as a game instead since it's a better read considering it had actual planning put into it and isn't that long either. Though upon checking it does already have quite a few decent reviews including one from Mystic that probably won't ever be beat considering she caught pretty much all subtext and symbolism with maybe one small inaccuracy that doesn't matter that much.

• Of dreams and daemons (6 length featured 6/29/25)

Mini Challenge Reviews:

Escaping the Pit of Sin, Yummyfood (featured)

Gay and Depressed in Prison, RKrallanor (featured)

Yay participation! Maybe I'll review one or two here for the Mini Challenge.

***

Reviewed for mini challenge so far: 11

Featured for mini challenge so far: 9

***

Merlin: Origins by Shadowdrake27. Play length: 5.

Love is for the Birds by Mizal. Play length: 3. (Featured)

The Little Princess of the Forest by Anthraxus. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Slaying the Scourge by MiltonManThing. Play length: 5. (Featured)

Paper-Mache by jster02. Play length: 6. (Featured)

Nautilus by CavusRed. Play length: 3. (Featured)

Treatise on Heartly Manners by enterpride. Play length: 6. (Featured)

Halloween Fright by benholman44. Play length: 2.

A City Lost by MrAce321. Play length: 4. (Featured)

Terrorist by benholman44. Play length: 4. (Featured)

The wolves of the sea by Yummyfood4. Play length: 2. (Featured)

Oh yeah, for those of us with the arcane power to edit posts, should we be replying to our posts to ping someone to read it when we edit it and add to it? Or are we good just editing the single post?

I would just edit. The mods can check here at the end of the night to do last minute features and rally the scores.

 

Also, your comment on Merlin Origins should be featured. I appreciate the feedback on that review. I was surprised to see a few news comments in my stories, and some of them are really really good.

I agree. Also I loved that story.

Well, that appears to be it. I tried to sneak in a few more late. Maybe a mod will review my Merlin review and slap on a couple features. So close to winning....

Flux, your terrorist review was interesting! I didn't even see the parallels the story had to Natural Born Killers until now.

That was the first thing I thought of. Weird. Your own review on that one was quite in-depth. Had I read your review first, I might have been a bit more forgiving in mine (although I don't think my review was negative, but it might have been more positive if I looked a little deeper than the tone and style). But starting with your sister moaning while you're banging her really kind of pulled me out of my ascetic, scholarly mindset and pushed me to my edgelord-radar mindset instead. :D

I liked both of your reviews

Reviews for week 4's mini challenge:

Broken bonds by Cat2002116, Featured

Team: Penguin Paparazzi :]

Mini challenge reviews:

Lazarus Cage by Cavus Rex (featured)

Shadow of a God-King by Fluxion (featured)

Team: The Final Draft

Mini Challenge Reviews:

"The Ghost People" by Fluxion ********FEATURED***********

Week 4 reviews:

Gay and Depressed in Prison by RKrallonor

Total: 1

Hi guys, I have a pulse now.

Reviews Completed: 2!!

Featured: 2

Team: The Final Draft

Review Links:

Lazarus Cage, 2/8 (Featured)

Shadow of a God-King, 7/8 (Featured)

Total Points Accumulated: 8

Congrats on avoiding shame!

Thank you, thank you. I plan on doing just a bit more than that here in the coming week.

This is kind of random, but any eager reviewers out there, could you review Prometheus Academy by Steve?

Currently, the only long review on that story is one I wrote back in March. It's a really gripping and cool superhero story, and I feel kind of bad that it doesn't have more feature worthy reviews. I figure that since this contest is about reviewing stories/giving feedback, someone may want to take a crack at this one.

It's also a 6 length, so you get 5 points, which is a pretty sweet deal! So how about it, anyone interested in reviewing Prometheus Academy?

Seems like a really interesting read. I'll give it a look when time permits. :D

Yahoo! Trust me, you'll have a ton of fun! Can't wait to see your review.

Anyone else, it's a really cool superhero story written by one of the best most irish authors on the site?

I feel like Steve doesn't really need advertising, but nevertheless I'll still do it. I feel like this is a story that could really use some great reviews! After all, beyond the points, trophies, cool MHD merch, and bragging rights, there's nothing more satisfying than reading a good story. In that respect, we're all winners. Right?

That was indeed a ton of fun. Thanks for the recommendation. :]

I have it on my list and since I won't be catching up to Cat or YellowCake for this mini challenge I might as well read something I was already interested in.

The wording of the challenge makes it seem like a team reward. Considering that you have 6 if you combine with Fluxion's reviews with yours, I wouldn't be so sure that victory is out of reach for your team. ;)

Unless I misread something the reviews are counted individually, and it's 1 point per review regardless of length which is why my most recent storygame has been taking the brunt of the (mostly deserved) bashing. My style of reviewing doesn't lend itself well to very short games which is why I don't really do those games unless I get really curious.

Oh nice! It's fortuitous that you were already going to read it, that's pretty awesome!

Just finished it a bit ago and I'm currently trying to figure out how to phrase my review in a way that doesn't bash it too hard because the game isn't bad, but it did annoy the shit out of me, and it's not just because it's essentially YA and I find YA painful to read. Kinda curious what others will think once they get to it.

Just saw your review! I do think it makes sense, and you are able to articulate your reasoning/view on the story elements in an incredibly precise way! I envy that ability of yours, you do a really good job of laying your reasoning out and analyzing characterization/narration.

It is very YA-coded, particularly with the romances between Luk and Mia, and Seamus and Shada. It's also very graphic at times, particularly with the depiction of Dr.Griffith, who's a terrifying villain.

I liked the points you made, and they provide a really interesting perspective!

I'm interested to see what Fresh, Shadow, Cat, and Clay think of this story!

Thanks, I was curious after I was done with it why you ended up liking it so much to recommend it (I don't read existing reviews before formulating my own opinion to avoid spoilers and influences) and after reading your review I agree with most positives you point out, just don't feel that strongly about them in comparison to the negatives with the exception of characters, and yes Griffith was probably the best one overall. A bit cartoony, but that works well for the general YA vibe. Maybe the one exception being that it deconstructs the superhero genre in a similar fashion to The Boys and other stories like it because it doesn't do that, mainly because its story centers around a school for supervillains as stated in the description and to me painting one superhero slightly gray through a single accident isn't quite enough to reach the same level of genre subversion.

Also if you're mentioning The Boys, a better parallel to mention would be Gen V which is a TV show in the same universe, but much closer to Prometheus since they're both YAish stories in a super school. I only saw a few episodes before the YA drama pushed me away, but it wasn't worse than the later seasons of The Boys.

I'll definetly check out Gen V! Thanks for the rec. I've been a fan of the boys and I heard about the spin off but I didn't really know much about it.

Actually prefer Gen V over the Boys to be honest.

Thank you for the recommendation! I will be sure to check it out this week.

Cool! Thanks Cat!

I can add it to my list too, since you asked. It's always nice to read a fun superhero story.

Awesome! I'm really glad you're checking this story out and I can't wait to see what you think of it!

Team: The Final Draft (Team 8)

Length of Stories	Points Awarded	Number of Featured Reviews	Points Scored
1-4	1	1	1
5	2
6	5
7	7
8	10

Featured Reviews:
Gay and Depressed in Prison by RKrallonor - 1

Total Points: 1

Current featured: 23

Current reviews: 29 ( counting only the ones that I reviewed when I joined the contest )

Current teammate(s): RKrallonor and yellowcake ( Bakers team )

Total points: 137

A little update of how things are going!
 

2025 Summer Reading Contest by Mystic Warrior

Nice video, I like it :)

Great video Mystic!

Actually made me laugh multiple times. Great work.

Also congrats to Daiki. Way to make everyone else feel inferior

Thanks, appreciate it.

Yeah as somebody who deliberately avoids reading any reviews before writing my own (with those opinions? I know how shocking) I am kind of inclined to rescind that congratulations, but I'll leave judgement to others.

"Why are we in 7th?"

Lol, little penguin I don't know how we aren't in last place. XD

Very cool video! I really enjoyed the various touches you gave for each character, fun!

Hilarious video, but I do have one featured review now (two if we are counting reviews featured now that were written before the contest). I am not doing good at not playing rimworld.

Whaaaat, nooooo, of course I love and appreciate my teammates!

...

(Rk please come back Kage may be a lost cause and I think Yummy just said "Nah I don't want to do this anymore I've avoided SHAME. I'm good, all done now.")

Anyway this was hysterical. Honestly a work of art. The music really ties it together.

I was busy. I'm back now. I would never join a contest and only review one storygame to avoid SHAME. Who would ever do something like that? Not me. No sir.

It's okay Yummy, I totally 100% believe you! We totally got this and can stay in the top 8! (I say top 8 because it's a LONG shot to stay in the top five.) We are TOTALLY DEFINITELY going to lock in now, right? 

Oh yeah its not like the next few weeks are the busiest time of the year for me or anything... nah, we've got this.

For sureeee.

Hi old friends! I feel like grill night and the newbies will easily be in the top 5! You guys have the 15 point boost and a good amount of points! 67 is a really good lead to go off of, plus yummy is back in the fold!

As long as you guys can keep kage focused on the contest, and not strenuously denying her crush on bezro, you should be fine!

I kind of forgot we had the block card. My new team has been through some interesting circumstances as of late, our latest member got disqualified so this contest has some interesting twists and turns!

LOL this is great.

Track your team's reviews for Week 6's Mini Challenge here.

Mini Challenge Week 6:

Blood in the King’s Court, by Orange. 6-length (featured)

Dungeon Stompage!, by BerkaZerka. 6-length (featured)

Aphrodite’s Orphan, by ThomasLaHomme. 7-length (featured)

In the Pale Moonlight, by Steve24833. 6-length (featured)

Kitchen Nightmares but Gordon Ramsay is contractually permitted to kill the owner during filming. 3-length (featured)

Mini challenge featured comments:

- Farewell, My Childhood Self
- Siren (Technically doesn't count since Fluxion also has a featured comment on it, but it's been on my to read list forever and I didn't feel like not reviewing 2 games in a row)

Mini Challenge Featured Comments:

1. Ineptitude 2: Electric Boogalo

2. Sins of the Father

People are doing well, just one more day :)

Week 6 Mini Challenge:

1. Farewell, My Childhood Self (featured)

2. Winter, After the Harvest (featured)

3. Land of the Setting Sun (featured)

 

Adding my own reviews.

First one already has a thousand features, but I've been meaning to read it:

The End of Creation.(Featured)

Biscuits and Ghosts.(Featured)

Siren. (Featured)

Inseparable.(Featured)

Twin Arrows.(Featured)

The Mayoral Campaign. (Featured)

Ineptitude 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO. (Featured)

The Christmas Crossing. (Featured after the contest)

Fighting to the end, baby! One more snuck in at the buzzard.

Lol, I'll update the results :D

Any particular reason I only got five? Those seven were all done before 11:59 EST. If you give Cavus Siren, still seems like six. Did I read the instructions wrong? (highly likely, as I am notorious for skimming forum posts) Or perhaps did I review stories which didn't qualify? (although all were commended)

Not that it matters since we won, but I'm just trying to see where the disconnect was. Or was my clock behind?

All the ones I selected were from the front page. But perhaps I got a couple of new stories by mistake or something?

EDIT:
Also I deleted this for a second because I thought it would go better in a PM, then someone replied, so I undeleted this, then they deleted their reply, lmao. Maximum awkwardness. Didn't get to fully read it which makes it better.

I suspect it's because the challenge was for featured stories, not commended ones, if I'm reading the post correctly.

It kind of confused me because it said commended reviews on featured stories (is a commended review a featured review?). So I just went with the ones on the main page, since that was the advice given in the mini challenge thread, which said, "All those found on the Storygames main page, subtitled Storygame Categories". Each of mine were found there.

Again, it doesn't matter, I just want to see if I misunderstood something. I already had forgotten you can't have duplicate reviews for teammates, so I'm sure I missed something. If not, no big deal since we won anyway.

🤔

A commended review is a featured review. I think it is a miscount because I counted up all the featured reviews in the last hour before the competition ended because I had work later so either those last 2 or 3 featured reviews didn't show up for me in time or, more likely, they were featured in the last hour of the competition. Either way I'll update the record to take these into account, like you say it doesn't affect the overall result (though it does mean more points for yourself individually and your team collectively so well done :D)

Thanks. That solves the mystery. I did three in the last hour.

One would think this was laziness and procrastination. But nay, it was strategy. I hoped to lull the competition into believing the score at the time would hold in order to blindside them with a last second flurry of attacks. Muahahahahahahahahhhahaha!!!!

The odds of charging a bandit gang unarmed are roughly the same as successfully navigating through an asteroid field. Thanks for the review on Twin Arrows.

Hello, Ninja! It's been awhile.

Hi Shadow. Welcome back!

Reviews: 4
Featured: 2
Total Points: 1.5
Team: The Thug Shakers
Games Reviewed: Wholesome Dogs Birthday Adventure Length:1 (Featured before contest)
Nick the Computer Guy (Unfeatured) Length: 2
Virtual Video Game Length: 2
Vira and Cupcake (Unfeatured) Length: 4

Comments: 3

Featured: 3

Links:

Queer Tales for Autistic Folk : 3/8 length

Les Aventures de Sebastian : 2/8 length 

A City Lost : 4/8 length

Featured Reviews: 1

Points: 5

I am afraid that unfeatured or previously featured (same thing) reviews are not counted for points in the reading competition. You do get to keep the site point and commendations though, I think.

Does it keep me safe from the pit of shame?

No.

Lol

:(

As usual, please track your reviews for Week 8's Mini Challenge as a reply to this post.

Mini-Challenge Week Eight Reviews

…In Love And War (featured)

Story A (featured)

90 Minute Storygame: Prepare To Die (featured)

Behemoth (featured)

Celestial lies: Chapter One (featured)

This Is Not A Storygame (featured)

Falling Asleep (featured)

Mole (featured)

Monster

Week 8 Mini Challenge Reviews
virtual video game

Week 8 Mini Challenge Reviews:

1. Siren *FEATURED 07/25*

2. A Graveyard Smash *FEATURED 07/26*

3. Boobs!!! *FEATURED 07/26*

4. Choose Your Disease *FEATURED 07/26*

5. Cows vs. Aliens! *FEATURED 07/26*

6. Awakening of the Tower (Rougelike RPG) *FEATURED 07/26*

7. ...In Love and War *FEATURED 07/26*

8. Biscuits and Ghosts *FEATURED 07/26*

9. Cold Lies *FEATURED 07/27*

10. Snow Love

11. Losing and Gaining Love *FEATURED 07/27*

12. Wholesome Dog’s Birthday Adventure *FEATURED 07/27*

13. Surviving Pre-School

Week 8 Mini Challenge Reviews:

 

Behemoth

Forest of Darkness

How well do you know your British-English?

Holloween Adventure 2: Return to the Halloween Dimension

Twenty Three

Will The Real J. Jonah Jameson Please Step Forward?

How To Play A Game

Mini-challenge 8 featured reviews:

* A UFO at School

My Week 8 Mini Challenge Reviews:

1. Leroy and Mika's Organic Poetry. (Featured).

2. Orpheus. (Featured).

3. ...In Love And War. (Featured).

4. Highschool. (Featured).

5. Seraph Serenade. (Featured).

6. The Make-Believe Sandbox.

7. Snow Love. (Featured).

8. Late Night Visit.

9. Seasons Change.

10. Losing and Gaining Love. (Featured).

11. My Sweet Anna. (Featured).

12. Without You (1). (Featured).

13. bombardat.

14. You are a Fish.

15.Monster. (Featured).

I really liked Monster, btw. Seeing Cat review it got me interested. Not bad at all. Kind of made me feel gross, but that's why I love it.

Please track your reviews for the final Mini Challenge of this contest as a response to this post.

1. El Paso - Reviewed on 08/24/2025

Week Twelve: The Final Mini Challenge

HOW NOT TO WRITE- A Pokemon Adventure - Part 1 - Chapter I - Section A: The Beginning of the Start (featured)

Hunting the Ripper (featured)

Spell of Slumber (featured)

 

Mini-Challenge featured reviews:

- These Shackled Shouls
- El Paso

I'm a little late to this, but I finally did a review for The Life and Death of the Pinball Wizard.

An Update (Spoiler: it's getting very competitive now)

As the competition is coming to an end, Will and I spent hours noting down and cross-checking every single storygame for each competitor. Turns out a lot of the stated points were inaccurate, whether due to past reviews getting unfeatured, people not factoring in previously written reviews, or not adding the points they've won from Mini Challenges to their overall totals. (Mods, if you unfeature any reviews in the next few days, please let us know). 

So ignore EVERYTHING you thought you knew from the previous leaderboard. Here's the newly updated member scores, which even include some people who haven't posted in the tracking sheet:



There are a few caveats which you can see from the main leaderboard post. Still, the main thing to note is this: there's only a 10 points difference between 3rd and 5th place (which is essentially one review of an 8 length storygame). Some of the ranks are very close too, like the 1 point difference between 9th and 10th place. And even if you're not planning on making top 10, surely there's at least one person who is ranked above you now that you want to score better than...right?

Oh, and some of you with points may still end up shamed if you haven't written any new reviews during the duration of this contest. Don't say I didn't warn you :)

After noticing the disparity I double checked my points and realized that I forgot to count the bonus from using the Strengthen card which was active for 2 reviews giving me extra 7 points instead of 2 so technically my total at the moment is 91.5 unless I'm forgetting something else. No idea how it is for Mousecore I'll let him figure those out.

Also yay both me and greatest team to ever exist are back in the top 3 again.

Unfortunately, the cards only affect team points. Individual points are made up of written reviews and occasionally points won from challenges. Congrats on being back in top 3.

Ah fair enough, thought it applies to both. Doesn't currently change my individual position either way but in that case my points are 84.5 unless I'm somehow miscounting something.

Ogre awarded you two points for week 11's mini challenge.

Oh I must've missed that. Thanks Ogre

Hmm, my review for 'The Laconia Incident' was featured during the contest but it was created before I joined. That's why I tallied it for half points.

Oh, I somehow missed that. Thanks for letting me know! Updating the table now.

Personally, I was only keeping track of my review points, rather than any I won from the mini challenges.

I'm going to update my tracking post with, 'total comments as confirmed by mods', then start adding in any new points I get.

It's alright, we've already added those so there is no need to trouble yourself with it, unless you'd like to double check the figures.