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Semi Official Scoring

Below are the proposed scoring rules. Please remember that you get points for ANY player on the Favorite Player list, even if they aren't your favorite. The official Favorite Players roster is available via the page links at the top of the blog.

I'll invite comments below. I had a good framework (last years' scoring) to go by, but I assembled this mess on my own. I may or may not make changes to it. When it is done, it will be moved to the 2010 Rules page. I'm sure that I'll be making rulings during the contest.

The ratios below (1:12 or 1:24) indicate the approximate odds per pack of finding any type of card per the Topps wrappers.

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SEMI-OFFICIAL SCORING RULES

(still being tweaked)

Scoring will be based on the player/individual/place/etc named on the front of the card. If it is a card of Reyes sliding into home plate that is covered by one of the Molina boys and Reyes is named on the front, you only get points for Reyes.

Favorite Teams only apply to the MLB teams. The Keokuk Braves do not equal the Atlanta Braves.

BASE CARDS

0 base card
+1 Your Favorite Team base card

+4 Your Favorite Player base card
-1 Any Yankee base card

+1 For any base card of a Yankee on the Favorite Players list

+2 Other Favorite Player list base card

+2 Short Print base card (#301-350)

+2 "Crack the Code" player card (excludes "Crack the Code" promo cards)
-1 points if you pull base card of:

• Carlos Zambrano (#91) (recent dugout actions)
• Milton Bradley (#114) ("negativity" with the organization)
• Johnny Damon (#197) (I didn't like his book)
• A.J. Pierzynski (#198) (I cannot spell his surname correctly)

+1 points for pulling the base for:

• Betelgeuse (#68) (Loved the movie)
• Johannes Gutenberg (#129) ("To heck with Fixed Type")
• Area 51 (#130) (Where all the cool kids play)
• X-Rays (#185) (Röntgen getting some props)

Combine points if it qualifies for multiple categories. Example: Slangon pulls an Angel Pagan base card (#323), which is Short Printed. Angel is in a Mets uniform. How many points does Slangon get for pulling this card?

Short Print player (+2 ) from your Favorite Team (+1) = 3 points

MINI CARDS

-1 Any Yankees
+2 Sherlock Holmes (#110)

+1 Mini of player on your favorite team
+3 Mini of any player from Favorite Players list
+5 Mini of your favorite player

+2 A&G Ad Back Mini Parallel 1:5

+3 Black Bordered Mini Parallel 1:10

+3 Short Print Mini Parallel

1:13

+5 Framed Mini Autographs 1:40

+6 A&G Ad Back Short Print Mini Parallel 1:65
+8 Black Bordered Short Print Mini Parallel 1:130

+10 No Card Number Mini Parallel 1:140

+20 Bazooka Ad Back Mini Parallel 1:280

+40 Framed Mini Parallel Printing Plates 1:799
+60 Wood Mini Parallel 1:3,542

+1 points for pulling the mini of:

• Betelgeuse (#68) (Loved the movie)
• Johannes Gutenberg (#129) ("To heck with Fixed Type")
• Area 51 (#130) (Where all the cool kids play)
• X-Rays (#185) (Röntgen getting some props)

-1 points for pulling the mini of:

• Carlos Zambrano (#91) (recent dugout actions)
• Milton Bradley (#114) ("negativity" with the organization)
• Johnny Damon (#197) (I didn't like his book)
• A.J. Pierzynski (#198) (I cannot spell his surname correctly)

Combine points if it qualifies for multiple categories. Example:

Mini Any Favorite Player (+3 ) with A&G back (+2) = 5 points

OTHER INSERTS

+2 National Animals 1:8

+3 Lords of Olympus 1:12

+3 Monsters of the Mesozoic 1:12

+4 World's Greatest Wordsmiths 1:24

+4 Sailors of the Seven Seas 1:24

+2 Short Print 1:2

+3 Baseball Highlight Sketch Insert 1:10

+20 Rip Card 1:285

+25 Framed Cloth Cards 1:365 (silks, not relic / jersey / pants cards)
+100 Cut Signatures 1:110,000
+125 Book Cards 1:127,825
+175 Monsters of the Mesozoic Relic Redemption Card 1:174,000
+200 Framed DNA Relics 1:200,000

HITS

+8 Relic (Jersey / Pants / etc)
+12 Short Printed Relic (#301-350)

+15 Autograph

MULTIPLIERS FOR HITS
x1.2 If any of those pulls are of a player from your Favorite Team

x1.7 If any hits are of players on the Favorite Players list

x3 If it is your favorite player

Divide by 2 for all Yankee hits, excluding Favorite Players

BOX TOPPERS / LOADERS

+5 N43 Box Topper
+8 Cabinet Card Box Topper
+20 N43 Relics
+30 N43 Autographs
+50 N43 Autograph Relic

+10 N43 of player from Favorite Player list
+20 N43 of your Favorite Player

If your Favorite Player is a Yankee, you get full points for that player only. All other Yankees are worth points as noted.

If the Yankees are your Favorite Team, that is your problem and you must accept any and all penalties for all cards that are not of your favorite player.

More Info You Need To Know

All of the cards at a discount that were allocated to Gint-A-Cuffs 2 from our sponsor at Blowout Cards have been sold off. I'd like to thank Chris at Blowout Cards for his willingness to sponsor Gint-A-Cuffs 2.

The official rules, when they are posted, will be accessible from the top of the page. Also, there is a page for the Favorite Players (and Favorite Teams, if you forget).

After the cards are released into the wild, I would ask that someone please send me a copy of the official checklist. There will be scoring addendum. Addenda? I'll be making some scoring tweaks after I know what's really in the product this year.

Commissioner's Rulings Start Now

So, the product hasn't yet shipped and I'm already having to make some rulings. Sheesh, this is going to be a long summer.

Anthony mentioned that he might have to drop out from the contest because his card supplier might not get his cards to him in time to rip, score and post. I don't want to see him drop out. I've talked with Anthony via email. Summing it up without sharing too much info, Anthony is a member of the US military. He's stationed in Europe and soon he'll be deployed to another area of the world. Knowing that the military mail can move a tad slow, especially when it is trying to find the recipient that is on the go, it might be difficult for Anthony to get his box on time. I'm ruling that Anthony gets to be part of GAC2 with all the rights and responsibilities that it entails. He'll keep his Favorite Player, Javier Vasquez. All other members will get the scoring benefits from Javier Vasquez cards pulled. Yes, this is an unusual circumstance, but we go with what we got. Hopefully the cards will find Anthony and he can participate.

Two other bloggers want to be included. They submitted their requests past the official deadline. I'm extending that deadline and will include them. Todd Uncommon from Todd Uncommon's Tomb and Scott from Hand Collated will be added shortly, but I need to know their Favorite Players and Favorite Teams.

And I had overlooked Teddy from Mack's Mets. Sorry about that. I've corrected it.

Countdown is at 2 days. Or three. Depends when it ships. If anyone still wishes to join the absolute last day will be Wednesday, June 30, 2010. Let's go with 11:50pm that night. Eastern. You've been warned.

Public domain Gint-a-Cuffs art

Travis, who is the Vice President of Design Propaganda at PunkRockPaint, Inc. (and also a participant in this year's fiasco contest), shared this image with me. He said: I found this a while back. Feel free to use it. So I am.

The Countdown Begins

Topps, for whatever reason, has pushed back the release date for their 2010 Allen and Ginter cards. Semi-reliable sources indicate that it won't be available until June 30th.

Fine, I say. That gives me more time to tweak the scoring rules.

I hope to have them up later today. Maybe this weekend. The Old Planter is laid back. I'm taking a cue from him.

Even after the rules are in place there will probably be some changes / additions as more card information is revealed.

Thanks for your patience. And thanks to Beardy for the fantastic image that I lifted. Actually, he is on retainer for producing official images for any and all Gint-A-Cuff events.

GAC2 Rules - the beginning

I've been reviewing last year's rules. I decided to scrub them all and start fresh. That got too time consuming, so I reviewed them again and have started to tweak.

We currently have 21 23 contestants signed up for Gint-A-Cuffs II (GAC2). Not quite as many as last year, but there's still time. Please comment somewhere on this blog to let me know if you want in.

Here's the rules you should know now:

• The deadline to sign up as a participant in GAC2 will be on Friday June 25, 2010. That is the tentative release date for Topps 2010 Allen & Ginter. If you haven't signed up by then, too bad. Sit on the sidelines. Wait 'til next year. Amended: Deadline is now Wednesday June 20, 2010. That is the new tentative release date.
  
• Each contestant can post a MAXIMUM of two (2) boxes towards the official scoring, and only the box with the higher score will count.
• The final day to post any official Gint-A-Cuffs breaks will be on Sunday, August 15th, 2010. The winner will be announced later that week.
• Prizes will be awarded to the top three (3) point scorers. First prize, generously provided by Topps, will be an unopened hobby box of 2010 Allen & Ginter. Second and third place winners will each receive a copy of Strat-O-Matic's baseball game, courtesy of Strat-O-Matic.
• Each contestant must select their Favorite Player (FP) and their Favorite Team (FT) and inform the Commissioner. A blog entry has been set up to allow participants to declare their FP and FT. FPs affect scoring for all participants. FT only affects the participant who chose the team for themselves. FPs cannot be duplicated. If Beardy selects Nick Markakis for his FP, no one else can select Nick. First come, first served. FTs can be duplicated. If two participants want to select the Nationals, that's fine.
• How to post your results: Please go pack by pack and list every card. Only those cards worth positive points need to be scanned and posted. Please list your score by pack. Please keep a cumulative score.

A blog entry will be set up to allow participants to ask scoring questions of the Commissioner.

As commissioner of GAC2 I encourage everyone to be honest. No combining hits from multiple boxes, or forgetting to list out those Yankees or other cards that might cost you some points. We're all professionals here and there are rules.

Individual scoring of cards is being worked on and rigorously tested.

Remember, if you haven't yet ordered your box Blowout Cards is providing boxes to the participants at a discount. Details can be found here.

Favorite Players, Favorite Teams

If you are participating in GAC2, please let me know who your favorite player (FP) is and who your favorite team (FT) is.

You might want to check out Sports Card Radio's checklist for the 2010 A&G set. This is as official as it gets right now. You don't want to select a player and not have them be part of the set.

FPs affect scoring for all participants. FTs only affects the participant who chose the team for themselves. FPs cannot be duplicated. If Beardy selects Nick Markakis for his FP, no one else can select Nick. First come, first served.

FTs can be duplicated. If two participants want to select the Nationals, that's fine.

I'll make the list here.

Beardy (Mojo & Beardy's Fantastic Card Blog)
FP: Nick Markakis
FT: Baltimore Orioles

FanofReds (Nachos Grande)
FP: Johnny Cueto
FT: Cincinnati Reds

Marck (The Collective Troll)
FP: Carl Crawford
FT: Tampa Bay Rays

Tunguska (Long Fly Ball To Because ...)
FP: Roy Halladay
FT: Chicago Cubs

--David (Indians Baseball Cards )
FP: Derek Jeter
FT: Cleveland Indians

Travis (PunkRockPaint)
FP: Adrian Gonzalez
FT: San Diego "Super" Padres

Baseball Dad (All Tribe Baseball)
FP: Grady Sizemore
FT: Cleveland Indians

AdamE (Thoughts and Sox)
FP: Kevin Youkilis
FT: Boston Red Sox

Night Owl (Night Owl Cards)
FP: Clayton Kershaw
FT: Los Angeles Dodgers

Cardsplitter (The Call of Cardboard)
FP: David Ortiz
FT: Boston Red Sox

Play at the Plate (Play at the Plate)
FP: Michael Young
FT: Texas Rangers

Teddy (Mack's Mets)
FP: Stephen Strasburg
FT: New York Yankees

Sharpe (Sharpe Since 92)
FP: Joe Mauer
FT: Minnesota Twins

Dan (The Other World)
FP: Chase Utley
FT: Philadelphia Phillies

Kelly (Baseball Obsession-itis)
FP: Dustin Pedroia
FT: Boston Red Sox

gcrl (Garvey Cey Russell Lopes)
FP: Matt Kemp
FT: Los Angeles Dodgers

The Wax Wombat (Wax Wombat!)
FP: David Wright
FT: Toronto Blue Jays

Motherscratcher (Achiever Card Blog)
FP: Evan Longoria
FT: Cleveland Indians

Community Gum (Community Gum)
FP: Ryan Howard
FT: Chicago Cubs

Ryan (Ryan's Memorabilia Blog)
FP: Adam Jones
FT: Baltimore Orioles

darkship (MidWest Cardboard)
FP: Joakim Soria
FT: Chicago Cubs

Slangon (Condtion: Poor)
FP: Ryan Braun
FT: New York Mets

Jeremy (No One's Going To Read This Blog)

FP: Matt Holliday

FT: New York Mets

22Byrdman22 (22Byrdman22)
FP: Kendry Morales
FT: Anaheim Angels

Anthony K. (Balk Four)
FP: Javier Vasquez
FT: Houston Astros

Bud (First Day Issue)

FP: Ken Griffey, Jr.

FT: Seattle Mariners

Chuck (HamRamMobtown)

FP: Hanley Ramirez

FT: Florida Marlins

Todd Uncommon (Todd Uncommon's Tomb)
FP: Adam Dunn
FT: Oakland A's

Scott (Hand Collated)
FP:
FT:

Thrifty Ryan (Card Cache)
FP: Joey Votto
FT: Cincinnati Reds

dayf (Cardboard Junkie)
FP: Jason Heyward
FT: Atlanta Braves

Comment below.