Signups are now open for Tagtree Thicket, the 21st season of Smogon's Survivor series. Explore the Paldean wilderness in a brand new season and compete with other players to emerge as the Sole Survivor and net the $50 grand prize! See below for a link to the game server, and stay tuned for some updates here in the thread.
This season's main hosts are myself (Clouds), Kira, Fish, and My Big Diggersby. In addition, Broil, Ayia, Ian, Psypsypsypsypsythe, and KoolAid will be on board as helpers assisting with different areas of production. Art for this season is done by the talented Han, which you can see on display throughout the server & in the logo!
We do ask that you only sign up for this game if you're able to be committed to being active for the full length of the game. This game has between 20-30 slots available and will last around 1.5 months. You don’t need to spend every second checking it, but activity is important. Not to mention, games are more fun when they’re active! If you're interested in learning what this is all about but aren't sure about playing, there's a draft game available to spectators with a prize of $10 handed out to the winner.
If you're new to Survivor, here is a brief explanation that will help explain how it works:
The game starts with the players divided onto 2 or more tribes of an equal player amount. You are only allowed to talk amongst your own tribe. These tribes compete in challenges to win immunity. The winning tribe(s) are safe, and the losing tribe(s) go to “Tribal Council”. At tribal council, the tribe must vote out one of their own people. The players have 24 hours to talk about who they are voting out, and privately submit a vote. The votes are then revealed without revealing who voted for who, and the player who gets the most votes is eliminated from the game.
There is likely to be a “swap” at some point, in which the players are randomly assigned to new tribes. You may or may not be placed on a new tribe with people from your old tribe.
Once the players whittle down to a small enough number, a “merge” occurs. At this point, all players are placed on the same tribe. When challenges occur, players compete for individual immunity instead of tribal immunity. This means that if you win a challenge, you are safe from being voted out, and everyone else is at risk. In the merge, everyone gets to vote for who goes home. All (or almost all) of the players voted out in the merge go to something called the jury. Once there are 2 or 3 players left in the game, those 2 or 3 players have to plead their case to the jury about why they should win. The jury then gets to vote for who they think is most worthy of being the Sole Survivor.
There is likely to be a “swap” at some point, in which the players are randomly assigned to new tribes. You may or may not be placed on a new tribe with people from your old tribe.
Once the players whittle down to a small enough number, a “merge” occurs. At this point, all players are placed on the same tribe. When challenges occur, players compete for individual immunity instead of tribal immunity. This means that if you win a challenge, you are safe from being voted out, and everyone else is at risk. In the merge, everyone gets to vote for who goes home. All (or almost all) of the players voted out in the merge go to something called the jury. Once there are 2 or 3 players left in the game, those 2 or 3 players have to plead their case to the jury about why they should win. The jury then gets to vote for who they think is most worthy of being the Sole Survivor.
Before signing up, check out the rules:
Basic Rules
1. Don't seek help from people outside of the game. Do not talk to people about the game with people not on your current tribe.
2. Do not talk to other players outside of the designated server for the game.
3. No impersonating other players.
4. All Smogon/Circus behavior rules are enforced. Notably, this includes:
• Don't be excessively harsh to other players, hosts, or members of the production team. This includes threats of any sort, which could lead to removal from the game and further forum punishments.
5. Don't share screenshots to players inside the game about game related content. They may be posted in your confessionals though.
No posting logs of chats with other players. It doesn’t matter whether they are real logs or fake logs, or whether it’s one line or a hundred lines, you may not send them to other players. (Feel free to send them in your confessional though!)
If there is a serious game-related problem, please don't hesitate to reach out to a host! We're here to help!
Rules are subject to change at Host Discretion. . . .
Channels and Communication
• There will be a designated Discord server for the game with private channels for the individual tribes as well as 1 on 1 chats for every combination of players on each tribe.
• To have an alliance chat with 3 or more players you need to make a channel using the bot in your submissions. Once any alliance is formed, a new chat/channel has to be created if members are to be added. Ask someone on production if you need help.
• Private voice chats for alliances and 1-on-1s can be created by the Production team on request! Please talk about your VCs with other tribemates in your confessionals - we'd love to be in the loop! . . .
Gameplay Procedures
The game is divided into Challenge and Tribal phases, each generally taking place over around 24 hours of real time.
• During the Challenge phases of the game there will be immunity challenges. Immunity challenges decide who is safe and who has to go to Tribal Council. The details of the challenge will be posted at the start of the Day phase.
• Tribal Council will occur at the Tribal phase after the Immunity Challenge. During Tribal Council, the players vote to see who is eliminated from the game. The game will begin in the Tribe Stage and progress into the Individual Stage as the game approaches the end. During the Tribe Stage, tribe swaps (where members are divided up into new tribes) may occur.
• During the Tribe Stage of the game, challenges will be won and lost as a whole tribe. The tribe(s) that lose(s) in the immunity challenge will have to go to Tribal Council and vote someone out.
• During the Individual Stage, challenges will be won and lost by a single person. The winner of the immunity challenge cannot be voted upon but will be able to vote. The winner of the immunity challenge has up to 6 hours from when tribal council starts to give away their immunity to someone else on their tribe. . . .
Challenges
Immunity challenges are the tasks that players or tribes will compete in to win immunity and be safe from Tribal Council. The nature of the challenges themselves will vary.
• During Tribe (Team) challenges, some players may have to sit out some of the challenges (usually to make even teams). Players cannot sit out during two consecutive challenges unless otherwise stated.
• Scripting / autohotkey (AHK) programs are not permitted during challenges. Contestants are expected to manually do the challenges themselves. In general, third-party informational resources will be allowed for some of the challenges, ex: YouTube, Bulbapedia, Pokemon Showdown commands, etc. Contestants are welcome to ask whether a specific resource is allowed on a challenge-by-challenge basis.
Advantages
Special advantages, including but not limited to idols and extra votes, may or may not be hidden in the discord server and may be rewarded to the first player(s) to find them.
• Advantages can only be played during the advantage period, and not prior to a revote. However, advantages played during the advantage period will still have their effects apply during a revote. You may preplay your advantage in your submissions in case of not being online for the advantage period.
• If a player chooses to play an advantage, they cannot undo this action. If the advantage requires choosing a specific player, players cannot switch the target once they've used it. More on advantages can be found in #season-information.
Tribal Council
During Tribal Council, each player at the council submits one vote for the player they wish to eliminate from the game in their submissions channel.
• Voting deadlines are typically 24 hours after the immunity challenge. The voting stage will start immediately after a challenge and end at the deadline or when all votes on the tribe have been cast. Extensions will be rare and extremely situational, so don't expect them.
• You may switch your vote as many times as you wish. Just make sure that you submit your vote before the deadline.
• You may not intentionally vote for yourself at a Tribal Council. If we have reason to believe this has been done with intent by not submitting a vote by the deadline, disciplinary action may be taken.
• The vote total will be revealed to the tribe at the end of the night, but the hosts will not announce who voted for who.
• After the votes are submitted (but before they are revealed), there is a 5-minute advantage period wherein players can play advantages.
• Players voted out will not be allowed to post long paragraphs of final words. At maximum, you are allowed to post a sentence or two.
• Players voted out cannot be communicated with following their removal from the game. There will be absolutely no communication between eliminated players and alive players regarding the game until it reaches its conclusion.
• Beginning at a certain point, those voted out will form the Jury. The Jury is special in that they follow the game to vote for a winner at the end of the game.
There will be a "live Tribal Council" held 20 minutes before the votes are revealed where the hosts will ask everyone questions similarly to how Jeff does on the show. It's not mandatory to be there but it's more fun!
Ties
In case of an initial tie, there will be 24 hour re-vote cycle where you can only vote for the players the tied votes were on. You may only communicate with your tribe members in tribal chat between the announcement of a tie and the re-vote. The players who the vote was tied on will not vote in the re-vote. If everyone chooses to lock their vote early, the tribal may be resolved at that times.
In case of a second tie, a discussion period will begin. If the non-tied players are able to come to a consensus about eliminating one of the tied players, then that player will be eliminated. If they are unable to come to a consensus, the person who leaves will be determined by a random name picker. The players who tied for the most votes both times will be safe from this tiebreaker, along with players with individual immunity or players with an idol played on them. . . .
Final Tribal Council and Winning the Game
The goal of the game is to reach the Final Tribal Council, which typically occurs with just two or three people left in the game. You cannot win the game unless you make it to the Final Tribal Council.
• At the Final Tribal Council, the remaining players in the game speak to the Jury and try to convince the jury that they deserve to win the game.
• Each finalist is allowed to write an opening statement speech on why they deserve to win the game. Following opening statements, each Jury member will have the opportunity to ask the finalists questions. They may say or ask whatever they want. An open and public dialogue may occur, and back-and-forth conversations with many members is encouraged.
• When everyone is done speaking, the jury will vote privately on who wins the game. Whoever gets the most votes wins.
1. Don't seek help from people outside of the game. Do not talk to people about the game with people not on your current tribe.
2. Do not talk to other players outside of the designated server for the game.
3. No impersonating other players.
4. All Smogon/Circus behavior rules are enforced. Notably, this includes:
• Don't be excessively harsh to other players, hosts, or members of the production team. This includes threats of any sort, which could lead to removal from the game and further forum punishments.
5. Don't share screenshots to players inside the game about game related content. They may be posted in your confessionals though.
No posting logs of chats with other players. It doesn’t matter whether they are real logs or fake logs, or whether it’s one line or a hundred lines, you may not send them to other players. (Feel free to send them in your confessional though!)
If there is a serious game-related problem, please don't hesitate to reach out to a host! We're here to help!
Rules are subject to change at Host Discretion. . . .
Channels and Communication
• There will be a designated Discord server for the game with private channels for the individual tribes as well as 1 on 1 chats for every combination of players on each tribe.
• To have an alliance chat with 3 or more players you need to make a channel using the bot in your submissions. Once any alliance is formed, a new chat/channel has to be created if members are to be added. Ask someone on production if you need help.
• Private voice chats for alliances and 1-on-1s can be created by the Production team on request! Please talk about your VCs with other tribemates in your confessionals - we'd love to be in the loop! . . .
Gameplay Procedures
The game is divided into Challenge and Tribal phases, each generally taking place over around 24 hours of real time.
• During the Challenge phases of the game there will be immunity challenges. Immunity challenges decide who is safe and who has to go to Tribal Council. The details of the challenge will be posted at the start of the Day phase.
• Tribal Council will occur at the Tribal phase after the Immunity Challenge. During Tribal Council, the players vote to see who is eliminated from the game. The game will begin in the Tribe Stage and progress into the Individual Stage as the game approaches the end. During the Tribe Stage, tribe swaps (where members are divided up into new tribes) may occur.
• During the Tribe Stage of the game, challenges will be won and lost as a whole tribe. The tribe(s) that lose(s) in the immunity challenge will have to go to Tribal Council and vote someone out.
• During the Individual Stage, challenges will be won and lost by a single person. The winner of the immunity challenge cannot be voted upon but will be able to vote. The winner of the immunity challenge has up to 6 hours from when tribal council starts to give away their immunity to someone else on their tribe. . . .
Challenges
Immunity challenges are the tasks that players or tribes will compete in to win immunity and be safe from Tribal Council. The nature of the challenges themselves will vary.
• During Tribe (Team) challenges, some players may have to sit out some of the challenges (usually to make even teams). Players cannot sit out during two consecutive challenges unless otherwise stated.
• Scripting / autohotkey (AHK) programs are not permitted during challenges. Contestants are expected to manually do the challenges themselves. In general, third-party informational resources will be allowed for some of the challenges, ex: YouTube, Bulbapedia, Pokemon Showdown commands, etc. Contestants are welcome to ask whether a specific resource is allowed on a challenge-by-challenge basis.
Advantages
Special advantages, including but not limited to idols and extra votes, may or may not be hidden in the discord server and may be rewarded to the first player(s) to find them.
• Advantages can only be played during the advantage period, and not prior to a revote. However, advantages played during the advantage period will still have their effects apply during a revote. You may preplay your advantage in your submissions in case of not being online for the advantage period.
• If a player chooses to play an advantage, they cannot undo this action. If the advantage requires choosing a specific player, players cannot switch the target once they've used it. More on advantages can be found in #season-information.
Tribal Council
During Tribal Council, each player at the council submits one vote for the player they wish to eliminate from the game in their submissions channel.
• Voting deadlines are typically 24 hours after the immunity challenge. The voting stage will start immediately after a challenge and end at the deadline or when all votes on the tribe have been cast. Extensions will be rare and extremely situational, so don't expect them.
• You may switch your vote as many times as you wish. Just make sure that you submit your vote before the deadline.
• You may not intentionally vote for yourself at a Tribal Council. If we have reason to believe this has been done with intent by not submitting a vote by the deadline, disciplinary action may be taken.
• The vote total will be revealed to the tribe at the end of the night, but the hosts will not announce who voted for who.
• After the votes are submitted (but before they are revealed), there is a 5-minute advantage period wherein players can play advantages.
• Players voted out will not be allowed to post long paragraphs of final words. At maximum, you are allowed to post a sentence or two.
• Players voted out cannot be communicated with following their removal from the game. There will be absolutely no communication between eliminated players and alive players regarding the game until it reaches its conclusion.
• Beginning at a certain point, those voted out will form the Jury. The Jury is special in that they follow the game to vote for a winner at the end of the game.
There will be a "live Tribal Council" held 20 minutes before the votes are revealed where the hosts will ask everyone questions similarly to how Jeff does on the show. It's not mandatory to be there but it's more fun!
Ties
In case of an initial tie, there will be 24 hour re-vote cycle where you can only vote for the players the tied votes were on. You may only communicate with your tribe members in tribal chat between the announcement of a tie and the re-vote. The players who the vote was tied on will not vote in the re-vote. If everyone chooses to lock their vote early, the tribal may be resolved at that times.
In case of a second tie, a discussion period will begin. If the non-tied players are able to come to a consensus about eliminating one of the tied players, then that player will be eliminated. If they are unable to come to a consensus, the person who leaves will be determined by a random name picker. The players who tied for the most votes both times will be safe from this tiebreaker, along with players with individual immunity or players with an idol played on them. . . .
Final Tribal Council and Winning the Game
The goal of the game is to reach the Final Tribal Council, which typically occurs with just two or three people left in the game. You cannot win the game unless you make it to the Final Tribal Council.
• At the Final Tribal Council, the remaining players in the game speak to the Jury and try to convince the jury that they deserve to win the game.
• Each finalist is allowed to write an opening statement speech on why they deserve to win the game. Following opening statements, each Jury member will have the opportunity to ask the finalists questions. They may say or ask whatever they want. An open and public dialogue may occur, and back-and-forth conversations with many members is encouraged.
• When everyone is done speaking, the jury will vote privately on who wins the game. Whoever gets the most votes wins.
Here's a link to the series database (maintained by ajhockeystar) to get a glimpse into our history:
Now for signing up: all you need to do is simply fill out the application form and join the server!
Please note that cuts do have to be made when the number of signups exceeds spots available. Don't get discouraged though, we welcome everyone to sign up!
Applications will close on Wednesday, March 8th at 11:59 PM EST. The cast will be revealed in the server on Friday, March 10th at 6:00 PM EST. See you then!
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