Challenge 11: Zodiac Race

The story of the Chinese Zodiac Race is one of the most well known in Eastern Mythology. It is said that at one point the Jade Emperor wanted to select 12 animals to be their guards, and so they held a race where a series of animals had to cross a river, the first 12 would be guards. The Ox was a strong and powerful animal and was about to finish first, but the Rat had taken a ride on the Ox's back and jumped ahead of the Ox before the finish, winning the race. Next came the Tiger and Rabbit, who were incredibly fast, but still the Tiger was faster. Fifth came the Dragon, and their son was promised to be sixth by the emperor, but the snake tricked the emperor by claiming to be their adoptive sun. Next came the polite Horse and modest Goat who each let each other go fist during the race. The last four who finished were the Monkey, Rooster, Dog and the Boar.

However today we wish for you to tell a new tale. One that takes place long after the initial race, when the rat grows tired and wants to retire from the zodiac, and so a new race would be held to determine the new order. One when many fans of the animals would be willing to assist the animals to try and help their favorites gain victory.

To do this you will be playing a game called Thumbtacks, with a twist. The rules of Thumbtacks are simple, for each of several rounds, you will pick a number of points between 1 and 50. In each round, you will gather the number of points you select, with a few exceptions--if you submit the highest unique number in a round, you collect zero points. If you submit the same number of points as anyone else, you collect zero points (for that submission). For rounds with multiple submissions, submitting the same number as anyone else only invalidates that submission.

An example round would look like this:



Now that you know the basics of thumbtacks, allow me to explain the twists of this challenge. Primarily, instead of submitting for yourselves, you will instead be submitting for a different animal each round according the chart below.



For example Player 4 would submit for the Tiger in Round 3, the Ox in Round 4 and the Boar in Round 5. Please submit IN YOUR CONFESSIONAL like the following example:



During each round the submission for each animal will be revealed and each animal will score points according to the rules of thumbtacks. Additionally this game will take place over 11 Rounds between the next two days, with Rounds 1-5 being submitted today and 6-11 being submitted tomorrow. All rounds for a given day will be revealed at the same time, so be sure to submit for them all in the same place.

Additionally, each of you will be given two animals to support, one will be public knowledge and one will be known only to you, however no two people will be given the same combination of 2 animals. At the end of 11 rounds, the totals of each animal will be revealed and your score will be the total of both of your animals' points. The Players with the TOP 3 SCORES WILL WIN. In the event of a tie between fewer than 3 people all people will win, however if more that 3 people tie for first/more than 2 people tie for second/any people tie for third. Only the people before the tied position will get immunity. I.E If 1 person has 90 points and 3 people have 89 points, only the person with 90 points is immune. But if instead only 2 people have 89 points, all 3 are immune (the 90 point person and both 89 pointers).

Finally, unlike most challenges not only are you allowed to, but you are encouraged to discuss this challenge and your submissions with each other both publicly and privately. Your publicly known animals are below, good luck to you all!

Public Animals


Round Submissions:




Time Expectations: You may spend as long as you wish, up until the deadline, making your decision.
Communication: Discussion about this challenge is freely allowed.