World Cup 2018 pool


It's been two years, so you know what that means... All you lovers of football, and of predicting things, it's your time to shine!
Predict the results and win fantastic prizes!

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Participate


Main pool

Go to this site to enter your predictions for the group matches (the knockout matches will follow later). This creates a ready-to-go message for you to send to me via PM (don't use email). If the form doesn't work for you (it requires javascript), there's also a template you can use. Do NOT use anything else! Your predictions will be processed automatically, so if your list is in another order or has some teams the other way around, things will go wrong.

Make sure you enter your predictions the right way around! Quite a lot of people made mistakes in previous editions.
After sending your predictions for the group stage in, you may still change some, but only until the start of the tournament. There will be no more changes after that!
Note that you will also be asked to predict the results of the knockout stage (16 matches) when the time comes. I will provide more details by then.
Due to the way in which my system is set up, the number of goals for a team may not exceed 35.


Random pool

Just pick a number (integer) between 10 and 99 (inclusive). I will use this as the 'seed' for a random number generator, with which I will generate predictions for you. Of course you cannot pick a number that someone else has already chosen! Check the list in the post below to see what numbers are taken; I'll try to update it regularly.
No need to PM me in this case; just make a post.


Note: you are free to participate in both pools!


Participation fee

Sepp Blatter	€ 1,000,000
First-time participants	€ 0
Former winners	€ 0
People under 18	€ 0
Owners of a red car	€ 0
Alex Penev	€ 0
Everyone else	€ 0

These prices are for each pool (main and random) separately. If you compete in both, you get a 25% reduction from the total.
Payment has to be made before the start of the first match.


Deadline

The start of the first match (Russia - Saudi Arabia starts: 06/14/18 at 08:00:00).

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Scoring system


It's the same as last year, which is mostly the same as always:


Group stage

A correct prediction gains you 5 points. If you're only correct about which team wins (or tie), you get 2 points.

Example:
Team A - Team B: 1-0

Prediction	Points
1-0	5
2-0	2
1-1	0
0-1	0

Knockout stage

Predict the results of the knockout matches (when the teams are known). Your prediction will be compared to the score after 90 minutes; this excludes extra time.
If you predict a tie, also predict which team will win in extra time or on penalties.
If a team wins in extra time or on penalties and you got the winner right, you get one (extra) point.

Example:
Team A - Team B: 1-1 (Team A wins 2-1 in extra time)

Prediction	Points
1-1 (A wins)	6
1-1 (B wins)	5
0-0 (A wins)	3
0-0 (B wins)	2
2-1	1
1-0	1
0-1	0

Points for the final are doubled.

More about the knockout stage when the time comes.

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Prizes

1st place: 99% of all participation fees

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Old pools


World Cup 2006: http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1147614410 - winner: Steve Meakings
Euro 2008: http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1212500147 - winner: Thomas van Leeuwen (TvL)
World Cup 2010: http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1273945154 - winner: Timur Ahmad (Zwiebel)
Euro 2012: http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1338200675 - winner: Chris Clark (Zarkov), random: Aron Langerak
World Cup 2014: http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1401402439 - winner: Patrick Hewson (PLH), random: Trystan Pugh
Euro 2016: http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1464289558 - winner: Kyle Begley (kyleb30), random: Patrick Hewson (PLH) && Scott Abbey (IsThatAGoodTime)

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TL;DR

Go here and follow the instructions. Also post a number between 10 and 99.
(Or just read the post you lazy bastard.)

I'll participate in the random pool I guess.

21.

^ I set the range to 10-99.

(This was a repeat of my 2016 performance, for those of you who don't remember it.)

94 please  

Aww yis.

16 for random please.

And I'm drunk with BPA right now and he wants 67. He'll make another account at a later date.

I'll take 69 for the random pool, just to deny Kyle

27 rando pool. Thanks!

I'll order a number 99 please.

32..............

^ They're separate pools, so there's no need to have different names. The people in the main pool typically outperform the entire random pool anyway (except the ones who use random predictions in the main pool).
Your name will be added to the main list as soon as I've seen your PM.

Picking 96 for the random pool

I'll take 14, Johan Cruijff.