Hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas and that their FPL teams are doing well during these tough times!

It seems to me that there’s no better time than now to put out ideas for possible new side games for next season, 2011/12. Obviously this is some way into the future, but if we tried this after the end of this season I don’t think there would be so many people on here as often.

In the following posts, I’ve set out a handful of ideas for new/revamped side games, the first of which I will definitely be running. With luck, one or two of them might come to fruition in a form approximate to what I’ve laid out here.

To avoid any confusion - I will only be running the first one, Campeonato, myself. The other ideas are open for ANYONE READING that wants to take on, change/adapt to what they want, and then run. I don't want or require any credit for anything that anyone else does.

You’ll notice that I’ve tried to keep things simple. In my opinion, simplicity is the way to go. I think that to a certain extent the reason we didn’t have so many side games this season is that data capture and calculation process has become overly complicated sometimes, which must put off potential new organisers from running games. Also, simplicity means people will much more easily be able to understand how things work, so that should encourage more people to join side games.

Please please please do post your own ideas for side games. Hopefully this can turn into a good workshop which in seasons to come potential side game organisers will look to for inspiration.

‘Campeonato 2012’ FPL

I WILL BE RUNNING THIS, THAT IS A DEFINITE

What’s this then?

If you know about Argentine football, you’ll know that they play a ‘double’ season, the first half is called Torneo Apertura (Opening) and the second half is called Tornero Clausura (Closing). What I’ll be organising is such a split season, but over the calendar year, so Apertura will be between GW20 and GW38 of 2011/12, and Clausura will be between GW1 and GW19 of 2012/13. So, there’ll be two Torneo champions, with the combined scores from both generating the ‘Super Campeon’.

Is that it?

No. In addition to the overall Campeonato, split into Apertura and Clausura and based on the usual FPL points, everyone will also be competiting in Head-to-Head leagues, which I will refer to as ‘Liguilla’ (Mini league).

For Apertura, everyone in the competition will be allocated into one of three Liguillas depending on their team value: Liga Debit - high team value, Liga Credit - low team value, and Liga Primera – teams are specially selected by me primarily based on their performance during 2010/11 in FISO side games.

For Clausura, again there will be three Liguillas, but their composition will be different again: To stay in Liga Primera, one must avoid coming in the bottom two or finishing Apertura below Average, while the Debit and Credit champions are sure to be promoted and more depending on how bad Liga Primera was(!), and the other Liguillas allocation criteria will be different (I haven’t decided what yet, and probably won’t reveal until after Apertura, proper Latin American style!).

Anything else?

I’ll be looking to get around 55 or more to compete, the Campeonatos (Tornero and Super Campeon) tables will be Excel generated so it won’t take up a private league slot, while the H2H Liguillas will be FPL private leagues, with codes sent by me via PM. Reregistering on the competition thread would be mandatory before 2012/13 in order to get the new FPL ID’s and confirm people are still interested.

Eliminator

What’s this then?

Couldn’t get any simpler – the worst performer each week is eliminated until two remain for GW38. Kind of like an FPL version of Fifteen to One. FPL private league, so all that the runner of the league has to do is boot out the dregs each week and name and shame on the thread!

So only 39 can enter?

No. Hopefully way more than 39 would enter, and special multiple elimination rules would be part of the fun (or horror!). For example:
• Irregular Gameweeks (more or less than 10 games) automatically mean double (or more) eliminations
• Pre-determined multiple elimination GWs, i.e. Boxing Day, New Years Day, GW37.
• If more than one is tied for worst, the elimination could be carried over to the next GW.

Davis Cup

What’s this then?

Just like the tennis, players enter as pairs and compete in singles and doubles rubbers on the road to the ultimate prize.

How could it work?

• All matches (and tie/competition draw, which is pre-determined before the opening of the Davis Cup, including World Group Playoffs) follow the traditional Davis Cup format – spread over three GWs, the first GW are singles rubbers, the middle GW is the doubles rubber, and the end GW is the reserve of the first GW singles rubbers. In the event of a tie in FPL points, tie-breakers would be used to determine the winner of a rubber.

• There will be three Davis Cups in the FPL season; DC1 during GW1-GW12, DC2 during GW14-25, and DC3 during GW27-38. GW13 and GW26 are registration weeks.

• There is an absolute maximum of 32 pairs (62 players) entering a Davis Cup cycle.

• Players find a partner, and enter the competition as a team – I’d suggest as club teams rather than national teams. Partners must not be team mates in FISO 5AS.

• At the start of the FPL season before DC1, the top 16 pairs (ranked by the better player’s 2010/11 FPL ranking) are automatically entered in the World Group and begin Round 1 matches in GW1.

• If there are more than 8 remaining pairs which did not automatically qualify for the World Group, Qualifying Playoffs occur to determine who will play the losers of the World Group Round 1 in the World Group Playoffs. The winners of the World Group Playoffs will enter the World Group in the next Davis Cup cycle and continue during the present Davis Cup in a ‘plate’ competition.

• Pairs which remain in/are promoted to the World Group for the next cycle CAN NOT change. However, pairs which lose in the Qualifying Playoffs and World Group Playoffs MUST change partners (either existing players or new players) for the next Davis Cup and must enter as a new team which has not previously been used.

Major League FPL (Principally British FISOers only, although an international version is conceivable)

What’s this then?

The name probably hints at it – a FPL sidegame version of Major League Baseball!

Say what?!

• A Major League (there could be more than one) would require exactly 24 players, no more, no less.

• A Major League would be split into two leagues – British League and National League. These leagues would be further split into three regional divisions each comprising 4 teams each – North, Central, and South.

• Places/franchises(!) would be hot property on a first-come-first-served basis as certain limitations would be in place to ensure reasonable regionalisation, i.e. only two franchises available for Scotland, Wales, Ireland, London. Players would give their franchises an American sounding name.

• Allocation of who goes in which league and division would be made so that the talent is fairly spread and city/country derbies would only occur during the Interleague games (more on that below...).

• It would be a Head-to-Head competition, but Excel generated, and for a reason (below...). In the event of a tie in FPL points, tie-breakers would be used to determine the winner of a game.

• The fixture schedule would follow a set pattern (which I have drawn up!) with the following criteria; franchises would play two 3 GW series (home and away) against each divisional rival, two 2 GW series (one home, one away) against their closest rivals by FPL10/11 rankings in the other divisions within their league, and a 3 GW ‘Interleague’ series against their closest geographic/city rival in the other league.

• The regular season would therefore run from GW1 to GW25, after which the divisional winners plus a wildcard would go on to the Divisional Series (Best of 3, GW26-28), then League Championship (Best of 5, GW29-34), and finally the World Series (Best of 5, GW35-38) in much the same way that the MLB works.

• If either the League Championship series or the World Series is settled early, an All-Star Game could be played. If there are two (or more!) Major Leagues, a one-off ‘Galaxy Game’ could also happen, although that would be considered an ‘exhibition’ game.

FPL Gran Turismo

What’s this then?

I am aware that something along these lines has been done before – http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/fpl-f1-teams-driver-links-results-and-tables-t15854.html - but here’s my take on how a racing game could be revamped.

Go on then?

• Players enter by posting what car they are currently driving, or the last car they owned, by including the cars Wikipedia page. Depending on the overall make-up of the entrants, players are arranged into teams corresponding to their car model and manufacturer, i.e. Team Ford Fiesta Mk V, Team Vauxhall Nova, Team Hyundai. If players don’t own or never have owned a car, they can be randomly assigned to the aforementioned teams to top-up small teams. The size of teams will be either 3 or 4 drivers, depending on uptake.

• The FPL season is split into 19 rounds – odd GWs are the qualifying sessions, even GWs are the races.

• Grid positions in qualifying follow the simple FPL points (transfers deducted) of that GW, with the usual tiebreakers.

• For the race, the top 10 in qualifying will be given a points ‘head start’ to represent their advantageous grid position, which is the same as the Formula 1 points system: 1st – 25pts, 2nd – 18, 3rd – 15, 4th – 12, 5th – 10, 6th – 8, 7th – 6, 8th – 4, 9th – 2, 10th – 1

• Finishing positions will be determined by FPL points (transfers deducted plus head start (above)). The Championship points system for races will also follow the Formula 1 points system: 1st – 25pts, 2nd – 18, 3rd – 15, 4th – 12, 5th – 10, 6th – 8, 7th – 6, 8th – 4, 9th – 2, 10th – 1.

• The Drivers’ Championship will be calculated purely on these race points, with the driver with the highest points total claiming the crown. The Team Championship will be calculated by adding the race point of all the drivers within each team, with the team with the highest points total claiming the crown.

• Retirements: Any drivers that finish a race on the same GW points (after transfers, excluding qualifying head starts) will be deemed to have crashed into each other. Any drivers that finish a race or qualifying with a GW score (after transfers) that is a square number will be deemed to have suffered some sort of mechanical fault and will take no further part in the race weekend.

• Abandoned Races: In the event that less than 5 matches take place in a Gameweek in which a qualifying session takes place, the finishing positions of the previous completed races will instead be used to determine the grid positions. In the event that less than 5 matches take place in a Gameweek in which a race takes place, the race will be deemed to be ‘non-championship’, with no Drivers’ or Team Championship points being awarded.

FPL Rugby Union

What’s this then?

Again, it’s been done before – http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/fiso-rugby-t44564.html – but I think a simpler solution would be to simply count all the subs and have a classic points league.

These are all magnificent

You'd need plenty of spare time/a very accomodating boss to get all these done though

Count me in

Well, thank you very much I've been brainstorming these over several months when I've had the spare 5 minutes here and there.

That Campeonato one is fully fleshed-out and is the one I'll be running for certain next season (2012 actually), the others I've put out there for others to look at and decide whether they'd like to have a go and, like I say, maybe 1 or 2 of them actually come to fruition.

Well Dude,
i dont know about Fantasy Footbal, but with your skills you should give the coalition a ring, they could do with your
enthusiasm and organizeational nouse.
Im definitely interested in most of them, for me the side games make it more of a season long interest, especially after the
Poor last couple of weeks ive just had.
Cheers.

Top games - they all sound really good and what I like is there are a good split between those you need to really participate in and others where you can enter and let the action begin.

Please count me in - although will check the signup page as well

Some nice ideas - good one


This sounds similar to the old Royal Rumble game which ran a few years ago but eventually faded away.

Here are the links from the 07/08 version

Royal Rumble UPDATE 07/08
Admin: Karrde
Status: Running - GRRRRRRR!
Main thread - Round 1 - Round 2 - Round 3 - Rounds 4,5 & 6 - Round 7 - Round 8 - Round 9 - Round 10 - Round 11 - Round 12 - Round 13 - Round 14 - Round 15 - Round 16 - Round 17 - Round 18 - Final Eliminator

The need for fixed numbers can be mitigated by having more than one elimination per GW if needed and there is also room for not only lowest score each week getting thrown out of the ring but also other combinations of matchups - down to how much time an admin wants to spend on it - in it's simplest form though it's very similar. Was also quite fun.

Count me in for all of them please. All sound brilliant.

Had a bit of free time on your hands Taca?

Fantastic imagination, can't wait to see some/all of these ideas in action!


PS. Interesting to see your basketball idea - I've been thinking of an NFL-based game for a long time but never found the time / got round to doing it.

I really should stress at this point that I'll only be doing the first one, Campeonato. The others are ideas I've had that other FISoers might like to take on, change to how/what they want, and then run themselves. It'd be nice to have that much time, but alas I do not!

A cunning edit

Lol, perhaps. Absolutely I don't want people to get the wrong idea though, as I say if anyone has any other ideas then it's worth posting.

Oops, sorry Taca I just unwittingly stole this one (tho my version is a little differently structured) - only thought to check this thread after I'd posted it all up. I'll expect the letter from your lawyers soon

Lol don't worry, there are no patents pending

Just signed to ur Racing SG, looking good. In all seriousness, without wishing to presume an interest, ANY AND EVERYONE can steal ideas from this thread EXCEPT the Apetura/Clausura idea which I'll be running next season.

FPL Pick & Stick

Simple idea for a side-game. You pick a team of 11, formation 4-4-2 with an unlimited budget. There are only 3 rules.
1. Unlimited budget.
2. Only 1 player per league team.
3. No captains, no substitutions & no transfers.

This is a bit of a copy from the Fantasy Kickers game that runs, but uses the FPL scoring.

Players transfering during the January transfer window will still be deemed to be playing for their original club, so if your team is valid at the start of the season, then it's valid all year.

I don't mind running this, as it's very low maintenance & doesn't necessarily need an update each week. TBH, it only needs 1 update all season, but that's probably a bit unfair on anyone who enters.

For reference, this season's best score was :
Foster 153

Baines 178
Hangeland 154
Cole 150
Huth 138

Nani 198
Adam 192
Kuyt 177
NZogbia 167

Tevez 185
Odemwinge 171

Total 1863

Shaggy - That sounds great, especially with a transfer window.

Thought I'd bump this considering the season is over and thus the cycle goes again. As I said, I'll do the top one for certain, but I'll do the Eliminator one as well if no one else wants to - should be dead easy to run anyway.

FPL Ryder Cup

I'm sure this has already been done but we get 24 players signed up to play. Then 2 captains are chosen from these 24 (maybe the best 2 rated players from the 10/11 season). They then pick 11 players to join them using the method of capt 1 choosing one player; capt 2 choosing two players, then captain 1 chooses 2 players and then keep doing this until all players are chosen.

2 parts to the Ryder Cup:

Part 1
GWs 1-18: 4 ball

Part 2
GWs 20-38: singles

GWs 1-18: 4 ball
captain 1 will group their players into 6 pairs. They will then go up against Captain 2's 6 pairs. This will be done anonymously so the captains will need to pick their pairs and playing order carefully.

Then Pair A from Capt 1 will play Pair A from Capt 2 and so on.
The aim is to win the hole for your team, combining the totals of the 2 players from the same team.

Scoring to be refined but something like:
Transfer negatives to be used (eg -4 if 2 transfers made)
If either team's combined total is more than 30 points than their opponents, they win the hole. Less than 30 points, the hole is halved.
Each team that wins their personal 2 on 2 game, gains 1 point for their team & captain.

GWs20-38: singles
Captains then choose an order for their 12 players to play 1 on 1 vs oppositions 12 players.
Same rules above except you win the hole if your total is 15 points more than your opponent, otherwise hole is halved. Each winner gains a point for their team

End of game, count the points - you can work out the rest

Any thoughts?

It was certainly done a few seasons ago using FISO goals, rather than FPL.

Sounds good, a sort of elongated 5AS into 12AS played over a whole season instead of 1 week.

And as Shaggy has pointed out to me, in the polite form of a PM, the singles part of the competition would have to run from GWs 21-38.

There was an FPL based Ryder Cup that ran for a couple of years - last one in 07/08 I believe...

FPL Ryder Cup 2008
Admin: Yer Old Da
Status: Complete
Sign-up - Qualifying - Main Thread - Team USA - Team Europe

Good/Fun game.