Are you natsu enough to play a game of GTB?

[Kintamayama]

Hi!

We at what remains of the GTB offices after the arrest are quite gleeful to see we already have two entries before we even invented the game. Additionally, all trains between Harajuku and Camden Town on the Circle Line are suspended indefinitely. Buses will shuttle your eyebrows daintily.

We are slightly amused that participation improved somewhat last basho, causing us to grow a bushy mustache and shave our weasel's armpits. Please call your friends NOW and scare them with false stories of a nuclear attack, then calm them down by telling them about the virtues of GTB and how playing it will solve all personal problems except acne. (I am told that most people in Hackney have acne.) Send this to 25 people you know and you can play for free!!

Still..

A Sumo maniac's work is never done .. This is an invitation to all gamers and non-gamers and their overextended families to play the world famous between bashos "Guess the Banzuke" (GTB) game. This is not an easy game to play (as opposed to love, which was such an easy game to play), and may take a few minutes to mustard. Yet, it is most fulfilling and satisfying, a close second to knitting furniture.

If you've never played before, you should, so join the fun and experience nipple-hardening bliss!!

The erotic nifty entry form is online as you read.

Rules in 14 languages (though I confess I don't see any plausible reason for this, as my hit-counters say all 14 pages have been hit three times in the last 4 years..)

English, German, French, Italian, Finnish, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian ,

Polish, Estonian, Japanese, Hebrew, Russian, Yiddish and Dutch!!.

I'd like to thank Zenjimoto, Hoshifransu, Hoshifransu, Kaikitsune,

Leonishiki, Heiyu, Bandey, Kojamuri, Senpai, Amanogawa, Koukai, Rabbi Akiva and Faustonowaka (in

order of above languages..) for their translations, time and good hygiene. I would also like them (or anyone else..) to check and see if everything

is still correct, as I have to change dates and stuff in languages I don't comprehend, yet use translation software, to some avail.

Tiebreaker-Most total guesses, then, the earlier entry, then, the first person who can recite any Shakespeare sonnet ("Dubai or not Dubai" is not a sonnet) backwards while playing badminton. (We are either good at badminton, or bad at goodminton - we will discuss it with our shisho and decide in the morning).

No late entries will be accepted, as we are tough and will not give in to light banter.

For rules, standings and sittings:

http://www.dichne.com/Guess.htm

For the nifty entry form:

http://sumodb.sumogames.com/gtb/gtbentry.aspx

For the "new" archives:

http://sumodb.sumogames.com/gtb/gtbarchive.aspx

For the writings of Naiyou Ganaiyou :

http://www.nosubstance.com/

DEADLINE- Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 18:00 GMT, on condition that the world will still be revolving by then. If not, I WIN!!

Good luck!!

Kintamayama, without the written permission of Andoreasu and Doitsuyama

Edited March 28, 2010 by Kintamayama

[Randomitsuki]

Your bimonthly GTB invitations should be turned into a book. I'd buy it.

[Asashosakari]

It's Monday 00:01 here and this was officially the first and likely best laugh I'll have all week. Maybe I'll remember to enter GTB this time, too! (Frickin' Olympics...)

[Kintamayama]

Thank you for the kind words. I live for the chance I get to write these, knowing full well that 80% of forum readers will not read an invitation to a game they all know-that's what drives me to dribble the drivel.

[Chisaiyama]

Personall, I never fail to read your entertaining invitations. I admit the first couple of times when I got them in my mail box via the SML I just deleted them thinking they were just boilerplate, but then about the third time I notice and odd eye-catching word or two and stopped to read the thing before hitting the delete button. I've been hooked ever since. I would be most dismayed should it ever just become a boilerplate invitation. Keep up the good word..er work!

[Kintamayama]

I would be most dismayed should it ever just become a boilerplate invitation. Keep up the good word..er work!

A boilerplate invitation.. Nice.. I may use it next time-it's really funny..

[Kintamayama]

YEGADS!! DEADLINE TOMORROW!! HELP!!

If this goes on, we will have the lowest number of players since the invention of man.

[Doitsuyama]

YEGADS!! DEADLINE TOMORROW!! HELP!!

If this goes on, we will have the lowest number of players since the invention of man.

I am doing a late entry right now. The middle of the banzuke is seriously empty this time, and it's a crap shoot to guess where the make-koshi rikishi will be placed - especially given the curious decisions of the banzuke committee lately... maybe that's a reason for the low participation?

[Fujisan]

And mine is on its way......

I haven't missed a basho yet since I started playing.....So I'm not missing this though I may bomb badly...

[Asashosakari]

I am doing a late entry right now. The middle of the banzuke is seriously empty this time, and it's a crap shoot to guess where the make-koshi rikishi will be placed - especially given the curious decisions of the banzuke committee lately... maybe that's a reason for the low participation?

And it's gonna be the first banzuke by the revamped judging committee, so there's another wildcard.

FWIW, my guess looks very mid-1990s...Mokonami M15w 9-6 -> M9e, Wakakoyu J1w 9-6 -> M15e. ;-)

[Doitsuyama]

I am doing a late entry right now. The middle of the banzuke is seriously empty this time, and it's a crap shoot to guess where the make-koshi rikishi will be placed - especially given the curious decisions of the banzuke committee lately... maybe that's a reason for the low participation?

And it's gonna be the first banzuke by the revamped judging committee, so there's another wildcard.

FWIW, my guess looks very mid-1990s...Mokonami M15w 9-6 -> M9e, Wakakoyu J1w 9-6 -> M15e. ;-)

True, the results last basho were similar to that era... Mine are the same, only Mokonami at M8w (Tokusegawa is M9e here).

[Randomitsuki]

Argh, I wished I had missed the deadline.

I was just looking at my handwritten notes for GTB, just to realize that it contained 44 rikishi. As it is, I assigned M3 twice each, then failed to notice that upon entering. As a consequence, I have a banzuke without Kitataiki and Asasekiryu, and every guess from M4 downwards will be about one rank off. ;-)

[Asashosakari]

Hey, the way this banzuke looks from M7 to M12 being off by one rank in the upward direction may well mean you've scored more points in that area than the majority of players...

[Kintamayama]

Here are the results for the Natsu 2010 game:

86 entries - how sad is that.. Still, we must celebrate the players who played in this very tough basho. The winner, for the second time, is Pastanoyama!! He edged out Ullishimaru by one point. Asashosakari is the overall leader. It was one of the most disastrous bashos for the top ten players, who usually all end up KK. This time, three of them finished with big MKs. All results can be viewed here.

A quaint fact-last basho's yusho winner Bealzbob finished with one point more than the last place.

Milestones (and quite impressive ones this time..):

Tamanaogijima - 60th basho!!

Heriokuno - 50th basho

Itachiyama - 50th basho

Kaiomitsuki- 40th basho

Randomitsuki - 40th basho

Bafa - 40th basho

Susanoo - 4oth basho

Meyeryu - 30th basho

Shimodahito - 30th basho

Tainosen - 20th basho

I'd like to thank you all for playing in this 73rd basho, and now- on with the Ba-show!!

Edited April 25, 2010 by Kintamayama

[Asashosakari]

It was one of the most disastrous bashos for the top ten players, who usually all end up KK. This time, three of them finished with big MKs.

And that's the new 10. From the top 10 prior to the basho 8 were active and no less than 6 finished MK.

Edit: From the "precedents aren't worth anything" file...

For 2009.11:

Sw Kotoshogiku 6-9 -> M2e

M5w Takekaze 9-6 -> M1e

This basho:

Sw Toyonoshima 6-9 -> M1e

M5w Homasho 9-6 -> M2e

Edited April 26, 2010 by Asashosakari

[Sokkenaiyama]

I must say I'm about the happiest guy right now to miss the deadline. Steve Davis saved my hide when he decided to beat John Higgins and make me happier than I shoulda been.

[Kaiowaka]

Waouw, 2nd place at the general !!!!! I am very happy to see that.......................! (Sign of approval...)

[Doitsuyama]

And here are the much anticipated GTB selection stats which clearly show that we still are going through a tough adjustment period. Okinoumi, Mokonami and Toyonoshima were ranked lower or higher than anybody's guess (and by no less three half ranks in Okinoumi's case). Other rikishi also were placed far out of the majority's guesses which says something (and it doesn't sound pleasant here).

[Asashosakari]

It's too bad Kuramarujo didn't play this time, because from what I've seen in his guesses over the years, the ultra-lenient demotions for the joijin MKs would have been right up his alley...

[nomadwolf]

And here are the much anticipated GTB selection stats which clearly show that we still are going through a tough adjustment period. Okinoumi, Mokonami and Toyonoshima were ranked lower or higher than anybody's guess (and by no less three half ranks in Okinoumi's case). Other rikishi also were placed far out of the majority's guesses which says something (and it doesn't sound pleasant here).

Sooo, ah, what's the sort order on that table? Obviously not actual new rank. I thought "consensus" rank based on the largest vote count for a given rank, but that doesn't explain Kitataiki/Wakanosato. "Average" rank based on picks?

[Doitsuyama]

And here are the much anticipated GTB selection stats which clearly show that we still are going through a tough adjustment period. Okinoumi, Mokonami and Toyonoshima were ranked lower or higher than anybody's guess (and by no less three half ranks in Okinoumi's case). Other rikishi also were placed far out of the majority's guesses which says something (and it doesn't sound pleasant here).

Sooo, ah, what's the sort order on that table? Obviously not actual new rank. I thought "consensus" rank based on the largest vote count for a given rank, but that doesn't explain Kitataiki/Wakanosato. "Average" rank based on picks?

Yes, it's how the banzuke should have been made, going by average guessed rank. I thought this sorting gives that additional info which wouldn't be easily available otherwise. Actual ranks can be seen in the darker fields.

Edited April 28, 2010 by Doitsuyama

[Asashosakari]

Low-priority request: Would it be possible to link each field in the matrix to the list of players who placed that rikishi at that rank? Sometimes I'm curious to know e.g. who the two players are with Kotokasuga in their guesses, but that's not easy to find out.

[Doitsuyama]

Low-priority request: Would it be possible to link each field in the matrix to the list of players who placed that rikishi at that rank? Sometimes I'm curious to know e.g. who the two players are with Kotokasuga in their guesses, but that's not easy to find out.

Done. The links are not in the fields as I decided to make that list for all selections for a rikishi - so the links are in the columns, just click on the rikishi names on the left or right.