Final Results: 06-30-2002
  142
  74
  48
  45
  45
  38
  36
  32
  24
  24

 

 

Congratulations to M. Leith, who nearly won before the first kickoff by contriving 24 scoring opportunities in the first round (most other players had only eight). He also wisely ignored pre-tournament favorites France, Argentina, and Italy, all of which performed poorly at the top of the other queues. When Laughton.org asked him to describe his method, he wrote:

Since there are six matches in each group and the most predictable results would likely occur during the group stage when the least fancied sides are still around, I picked all the teams from the groups which seemed to offer the best prediction chances (Brazil's, Germany's, Spain's and Japan's). In each of those groups there were probably at least three matches with good prediction chances. Also, come the "last sixteen" stage, four matches were scheduled between the qualifiers.

Spain looked a fair bit better than their group opponents, although Slovenia had beaten Russia recently. Brazil seemed likely to win their group although Turkey would be very tricky opponents. China had little experience at this level. In Japan's group, Belgium had beaten France before the tournament, but the group looked close except for the likelihood that Tunisia would lose a lot after apparently not scoring during the African Nation's Cup finals. Germany always seem to do well in the finals, and Ireland had looked good in reaching the finals ahead of Holland.

- M. Leith

M. Leith wins a copy of the board/card game HellRail. Loosely inspired (very loosely) by Dante's Inferno and the Industrial Revolution, this is a competition between railroad engineers in the afterlife. Each must convey newly-arrived souls to their various final destinations. Whoever does so most efficiently gets to keep his job; the others become hapless passengers on one last ride!
Star One and Peter Masika win copies of Fluxx, a card game in which players have an opportunity to change the rules on every turn. Faring poorly under the current rules? Play a new Objective or Rule card and you may suddenly find yourself in the most advantageous position. Nine out of ten players wish Queue Ball offered the same opportunity!
Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope you had as much fun playing as I did creating this contest. All players will be be notified of future contests by e-mail.

Q-Master "D"

PS: For anyone who didn't play Queue Ball but would like to be notified of future contests, there will soon be a Subscription Page on this website.

 

World Cup Match Scores
SEN 1
FRA 0		 IRE 1
CAM 1		 DEN 2
URG 1		 GER 8
SAU 0		 ARG 1
NGR 0		 SPA 3
SLO 1		 PAG 2
SAF 2		 ENG 1
SWE 1
ITA 2
ECU 0		 MEX 1
CRO 0		 BRZ 2
TUR 1		 COS 2
CHI 0		 BEL 2
JPN 2		 KOR 2
POL 0		 GER 1
IRE 1		 USA 3
POR 2
RUS 2
TUN 0		 CAM 1
SAU 0		 DEN 1
SEN 1		 FRA 0
URG 0		 ENG 1
ARG 0		 SWE 2
NGR 1		 SPA 3
PAG 1		 BRZ 4
CHI 0
CRO 2
ITA 1		 SAF 1
SLO 0		 MEX 2
ECU 1		 JPN 1
RUS 0		 COS 1
TUR 1		 TUN 1
BEL 1		 POR 4
POL 0		 USA 1
KOR 1
DEN 2
FRA 0		 GER 2
CAM 0		 IRE 3
SAU 0		 SEN 3
URG 3		 SWE 1
ARG 1		 NGR 0
ENG 0		 PAG 3
SLO 1		 SPA 3
SAF 2
BRZ 5
COS 2		 TUR 3
CHI 0		 ECU 1
CRO 0		 MEX 1
ITA 1		 JPN 2
TUN 0		 BEL 3
RUS 2		 KOR 1
POR 0		 POL 3
USA 1
ENG 3
DEN 0		 GER 1
PAG 0		 SPA 1.3
IRE 1.2		 SEN 2
SWE 1		 BRZ 2
BEL 0		 USA 2
MEX 0		 TUR 1
JPN 0		 KOR 2
ITA 1
BRZ 2
ENG 1		 GER 1
USA 0		 KOR 0.5
SPA 0.3		 TUR 1
SEN 0		 GER 1
KOR 0		 BRZ 1
TUR 0		 TUR 3
KOR 2		 BRZ 2
GER 0

Abbreviations: ARG Argentina   CHI China   BEL Belgium   BRZ Brazil   CAM Cameroon   COS Costa Rica   CRO Croatia   DEN Denmark   ECU Ecuador   ENG England   FRA France   GER Germany   IRE Ireland   ITA Italy   JPN Japan   KOR Korea   MEX Mexico   NGR Nigeria   PAG Paraguay   POL Poland   POR Portugal   RUS Russia   SAF South Africa   SAU Saudi Arabia   SEN Senegal   SLO Slovenia   SPA Spain   SWE Sweden   TUN Tunisia   TUR Turkey   URG Uruguay   USA United States  

 

Entries (in order of receipt at Laughton.org)
1
1 BRZ

      Points by Match        KOR d POL 3   BRZ d CHI 1   JPN d RUS 5   IRE d SAU 7   PAG d SLO 4   BRZ d ENG 4 

2 CHI
3 CRO
4 ECU
5 ENG
6 FRA
7 IRE
8 JPN
9 KOR
10 NGR
11 PAG
12 POL
13 RUS
14 SAU
15 SLO
16 URG
2
1 SPA

      Points by Match        GER d SAU 11   SPA d SLO 8   BRZ d TUR 2   COS d CHI 4   RUS d TUN 9   CAM d SAU 4   SPA d PAG 10   BRZ d CHI 14   GER d CAM 7   IRE d SAU 7   SPA d SAF 12   BRZ d COS 10   TUR d CHI 12   JPN d TUN 7   BEL d RUS 1   GER d PAG 8   SPA d IRE 6   BRZ d BEL 3   TUR d JPN 4   BRZ d TUR 2   BRZ d GER 1 

2 BRZ
3 GER
4 TUR
5 BEL
6 RUS
7 IRE
8 JPN
9 SLO
10 CAM
11 PAG
12 COS
13 SAF
14 SAU
15 TUN
16 CHI
3
1 CRO

      Points by Match        USA d POR 5   CRO d ITA 13   BRZ d BEL 3   TUR d JPN 13   GER d USA 4 

2 SLO
3 TUR
4 ARG
5 URG
6 GER
7 ENG
8 BRZ
9 IRE
10 USA
11 BEL
12 FRA
13 SPA
14 ITA
15 POR
16 JPN
4
1 FRA

      Points by Match        ARG d NGR 5   SPA d PAG 1   SPA d SAF 3   GER d PAG 3   BRZ d ENG 1   GER d USA 4   BRZ d GER 7 

2 ITA
3 ARG
4 BRZ
5 ENG
6 CAM
7 POR
8 NGR
9 RUS
10 JPN
11 GER
12 SEN
13 SPA
14 PAG
15 USA
16 SAF
5
1 FRA

      Points by Match        BRZ d TUR 10   SPA d PAG 8   POR d POL 4   GER d CAM 1   GER d PAG 5   TUR d JPN 1   BRZ d ENG 2   BRZ d TUR 10   BRZ d GER 4 

Player Comments:   Everything I know about World Cup football I learned from the British bookmaking firm William Hill. My picks are based on their wagering odds.

2 ARG
3 ITA
4 BRZ
5 SPA
6 ENG
7 POR
8 GER
9 CAM
10 RUS
11 POL
12 CRO
13 PAG
14 TUR
15 JPN
16 URG
6
1 ARG

      Points by Match        DEN d URG 4   BRZ d CHI 5   GER d CAM 9   BRZ d COS 8   ENG d DEN 3   GER d PAG 4   BRZ d ENG 3 

2 FRA
3 ITA
4 GER
5 IRE
6 BRZ
7 CRO
8 PAG
9 ENG
10 MEX
11 CHI
12 DEN
13 CAM
14 COS
15 SPA
16 URG
7
1 KOR

      Points by Match        KOR d POL 15   BRZ d CHI 10   JPN d RUS 4   IRE d SAU 9   PAG d SLO 3   BRZ d ENG 7 

2 FRA
3 BRZ
4 NGR
5 IRE
6 CRO
7 JPN
8 URG
9 PAG
10 ENG
11 RUS
12 SLO
13 CHI
14 SAU
15 ECU
16 POL
8
1 BRZ

      Points by Match        ITA d ECU 12   SPA d PAG 4   POR d POL 4   BRZ d COS 10   BEL d RUS 9   GER d PAG 5   SPA d IRE 7   BRZ d BEL 6   BRZ d ENG 13   BRZ d GER 4 

2 FRA
3 ITA
4 ARG
5 GER
6 SPA
7 BEL
8 POR
9 URG
10 PAG
11 COS
12 POL
13 IRE
14 ENG
15 ECU
16 RUS
9
1 BRZ

      Points by Match        RUS d TUN 2   ENG d ARG 6   BRZ d CHI 9   ENG d DEN 5   SPA d IRE 4   USA d MEX 5   BRZ d ENG 1   GER d USA 1   GER d KOR 10   BRZ d GER 2 

2 ENG
3 GER
4 USA
5 SAF
6 FRA
7 DEN
8 ARG
9 MEX
10 CHI
11 SPA
12 ITA
13 KOR
14 RUS
15 IRE
16 TUN
10
1 POL

      Points by Match        ARG d NGR 6   JPN d RUS 1   POL d USA 12   BRZ d ENG 2   BRZ d GER 11 

2 ARG
3 BRZ
4 FRA
5 ENG
6 ITA
7 POR
8 NGR
9 CRO
10 SWE
11 MEX
12 CAM
13 USA
14 GER
15 JPN
16 RUS

 

Rules

THE SIMPLE RULES: Pick 16 of the countries participating in the 2002 World Cup football tournament. Arrange them in a column, or queue, with the ones you think will fare best at the top and the ones you expect to fare worst at the bottom. Send your queue to contest@laughton.org no later than May 30, 2002. I'll do the scoring and let you know if you win.

 

THE ANNOYING BUT NECESSARY DETAILS:
  • Anyone with an e-mail account is welcome to play.
  • Your entry must contain 16 country names. You may abbreviate the names, but be sure your abbreviations are easily understandable. No country may appear in your queue more than once. Be sure to read the SCORING section below before deciding which countries to pick and how to arrange them in a queue.
  • Put your name at the bottom of the queue; please limit the name to no more than 32 characters. This name will appear on the official entry and results pages on this site. Feel free to use your real name, a nickname, or a pseudonym, but I'll toss out any that I consider unfit for publication. Your identity will not be revealed on this site unless you choose to put your real name on the entry.
  • You may add some comments after your name. Perhaps you'd like to let people know what city you live in, what football team you like, or what strategy you used to compose your queue. Space and good sense permitting, remarks will be included when all entries are posted here on May 31.
  • Mail your entry to contest@laughton.org no later than May 30, 2002. Your entry must be received by midnight, US Eastern Daylight Time.
  • You may enter more than once, but you must submit multiple entries with different names.

 

AN EXAMPLE OF A PROPERLY FORMATTED ENTRY:
It isn't necessary to number the countries, but doing so may help you organize your queue. 
    To:  contest@laughton.org
    From:  sblatter@fifa.net
    Date:  May 29, 2002
    Subject:  contest entry

     1. France
     2. Brazil
     3. Ireland
     4. Croatia
     5. Paraguay
     6. Korea
     7. England
     8. Russia
     9. Japan
    10. Uruguay
    11. China
    12. Saudi Arabia
    13. Ecuador
    14. Slovenia
    15. Poland
    16. Nigeria

    S. Blatter

 

SCORING: The World Cup tournament consists of 64 matches. You will be awarded points after each match in which the winning country appears in your queue higher than the losing country. The number of points awarded is based on the countries' relative positions in your queue. If the country in position 1 defeats the country in position 16, you gain 15 points. If the country in position 5 defeats the country in position 6, you gain one point. You cannot gain any points for a match unless both teams appear in your queue. You get no points for ties or for matches in which the winner appears in your queue below the loser. After the final match, the player with the most points wins. Standings will be posted on this site periodically throughout the competition.

TIEBREAKER: In the event that two players have accrued the same number of points at the end of the tournament, the one who has accrued points in the greatest number of matches will be declared the winner. If this test also results in a tie, then the player whose entry was received first will be declared the winner.

PRIZES: A small prize will be awarded to the winner. If a lot of people enter, maybe I'll give second- and third- place prizes too.

 

ADITIONAL USEFUL INFORMATION: Participating countries are divided into eight groups of four countries. Each country plays every other country in its own group, and then the top two teams from each group advance to the next round. To assist you in composing your queue, the groups are listed below. Good luck!
     
GROUP
A		 Denmark
France
Senegal
Uruguay		   GROUP
B		 Paraguay
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain		   GROUP
C		 Brazil
China
Costa Rica
Turkey		   GROUP
D		 Korea
Poland
Portugal
United States
 
GROUP
E		 Cameroon
Germany
Ireland
Saudi Arabia		   GROUP
F		 Argentina
England
Nigeria
Sweden		   GROUP
G		 Croatia
Ecuador
Italy
Mexico		   GROUP
H		 Belgium
Japan
Russia
Tunisia
 

Questions? Complaints? Comments? Send e-mail to david@laughton.org (a.k.a. Q-Master "D").