Nickelsearcher 15,000 Post Contest - Round 9

Welcome to Nickelsearcher 15,000 Post Contest

Edits have been made to these rules in red font on 4/27/26 as the contest evolved.

Many of you enjoyed participating in my 10,000 post contest, and the friendly battle was on for some really nice handmade by me limited edition fine craft items.

Keith67 was the champion last time. You can read about it here:

https://goccf.com/t/444644

You now have the opportunity to participate in my even better 15,000 post contest. Read on:

The contest - Guess the number of nickels in an open container.

The prizes - There will be three main event winners, based on the highest total points scores. See 'Awarding of Prizes' section below for details.

There will be 4 main event limited edition fine craft items available for the 3 winners to choose from.

I have designated one of these as a 'special prize'. The main event winners are eligible to select the special prize only if they are a CCF Supporter or Big Supporter when they make their initial round guess and maintain that status throughout the duration of the contest.

Only one special prize will be offered, but it might not be awarded if none of the 3 winners are CCF Supporter or Big Supporter.

There will be two Participation Prizes. Players are eligible to enter into a random drawing for one of the participation prizes (at the conclusion of the contest) if they have participated in at least 8 rounds of guesses including the final 5 rounds.

So, anyone can still be a contest winner even if they guess poorly a lot!

Prize photos and descriptions are at the end of this introduction.

Eligibility - All CCF members with 50 or more posts are encouraged to play, including residents of countries beyond the USA.

I also welcome CCF moderators and admins to play. Your hard work keeps this tremendous forum alive and I would welcome the opportunity to perhaps share one of my woodworking gifts with you - if you accumulate enough points that is.

I might limit the number of players to keep it manageable for me to keep up with the administration of the contest. We'll play that by ear.

The only prize eligibility restriction is that I'm prohibited by law from shipping items to a few countries. If you happen to be a resident of one of those countries you can still play - but your only potential prize will be bragging rights.

Rules - This contest is based on the rules established for the long running CCF game Guess the Price hosted by jbuck and will be familiar to players of that best of all internet coin games.

Rounds - There will be 10 rounds of guesses. Each round will last minimum one week in duration unless I determine in my sole judgement that guesses have stopped and give minimum 1 day notification that the round will be closing.

All Rounds will be scheduled for 1-week duration but will close when, in my sole judgement, all of the ongoing players have given a guess.

New rounds will begin at my discretion based on my life schedule. There might be a gap in time between some rounds if life obligations dictate so.

Guessing Visual Clues - Each new round will start with a photograph of nickels contained in an open top container. Each photo will also contain an 'everyday' object to help you gauge scale.

All of the 10 containers used in this contest have been 100% filled with USA Jefferson nickels packed as tightly as the container form factor allowed. There is no filler material used to displace any nickel volume.

For the 10-round game there will be 10 different photos, each with a different size container and a different everyday object. I will endeavor to make the challenge level increase in the later rounds.

Guessing Rules:

•You are, obviously, providing a single whole number guess of the number of actual nickels in the container.
•You are allowed one guess per round.
•You are not allowed to edit your guess. Any edited post will not be eligible for bonus points and will be awarded only participation points. I can't tell if you edit a post to correct spelling, change your guess or any other reason, so simply do not edit your post.
•Only the first person to guess a specific nickel count will get credit for that specific amount of nickels guessed. Duplicate guesses for the same nickel count are not eligible for bonus points, so PAY ATTENTION! There will be no ties during the rounds!
•If your guess is a duplicate, you will be given a chance to correct it; anyone can post a warning to the player and they will have until the round finishes to correct it. Be mindful of the rule prohibiting edits. If you need to correct a duplicate guess then please do so with a new guess referencing the old one.
•All uncorrected duplicate or otherwise invalid guesses will only receive five points for participation.

Awarding of Points:

•The person guessing the closest will receive 20 points. In the event of a tie, the lower guess will win.
•The four people with the next closest guesses will each receive 10 points.
•Every other person who gives a guess (even uncorrected duplicates or edits) will receive 5 points.
•The minimum score possible for someone who plays all 10 rounds is therefore 50 points.
•The maximum possible score for someone who plays (and wins) all 10 rounds is therefore 200 points.
•The score necessary to win any of the 3 lovely main event prizes is .. we'll see at the end!

Score Keeping:

•I will provide occasional guess updates as each round progresses, including notification of any duplicate guesses.
•In a reasonable amount of time at the conclusion of each round I will announce the correct number of nickels for the container, award points based on the rules above and post a leaderboard showing to-date scores of the players.
•I will then announce the start date for the next round.
•Be mindful this is a multi-round cumulative points contest so if you find yourself falling behind in the early rounds well then sharpen up your guesses and score some bonus points!

Tiebreaker Rules:

•These tiebreaker rules apply to each final contest podium position; i.e., there will only be 3 main event prizes awarded.
•If two (or more) players are tied for any podium position after the ten rounds, the first tiebreaker will be the number of winning (20 point) rounds
•If two (or more) of the tied players have the same number of winning rounds, then the second tiebreaker will be the number of runner-up (10 point) rounds.
•If two (or more) of the tied players have the same number of winning and runner-up rounds, then the final tiebreaker will be the accuracy of guesses (starting with Winning guesses). Accuracy will be defined as the actual numerical difference and not the percentage difference.

Awarding of Prizes:

•The contest winners podium will consist of the 3 players with the most points at the end of the 10-round duration (and after applying tie-breakers if needed).
•The Champion is awarded their choice of the four available prizes. The 'special prize' can be selected if the champion is a CCF Supporter or Big Supporter for the durations already described.
•The 2nd place finisher is then awarded their choice of the three remaining prizes. The 'special prize' can be selected if it remains available and the 2nd place finisher is a CCF Supporter or Big Supporter for the durations already described.
•The 3rd place finisher is then awarded their choice of the two remaining prizes. The 'special prize' can be selected if it remains available and the 3rd place finisher is a CCF Supporter or Big Supporter for the durations already described.

There are only three main event prizes available, so the fourth prize will not be awarded.

All players eligible for the participation prizes will be listed by me in an Excel spread sheet and a unique number assigned to their name in the range of 1 to n, with n being the number of eligible players.

I will then ask a non-eligible moderator to draw two random numbers from the range of 1 to n and post them in the contest thread. The players whose pre-assigned numbers correspond to the moderator drawn random numbers will be awarded the participation prizes.

•Contest winners agree to send me their complete mailing address and email contact via PM through the CCF email system. Otherwise - how am I supposed to get the prizes to you?

Now is the time to ask any questions about the rules!

And Now - The Available Prizes:

These are photos I took of the actual prizes the winners may select from. The colors and surfaces are as accurate as my camera skills allow. I set these pieces aside from my other work in order to offer what are hopefully exciting, hand-made heirloom quality limited edition prizes for the contest.

Participation Prizes



Two "Sergeant of Time" clocks. I made these from a mitered lamination of Cherry, Purpleheart and Maple. Each is fitted with a quartz clock movement. Retail price is $46.

These are a smaller version of the clock jbuck won in my 10K contest.

Main Event Prizes

Prize 1: Presentation Box



A lift lid box made from Bubinga with a curved lid inlaid with Curly Big Leaf Maple. The interior bottom is lined with micro-velvet. Retail price is $75.

Prize 2: Lift Lid Box



Mitered rectangular box with a lift-off lid. The box body and pull are made from Birdseye Maple with the lid is figured Bubinga. I placed laminated miter keys in the box miter joints for added visual impact. The interior bottom is lined with micro-velvet. Retail price is $110.

This is a revised design of the box BStrauss3 won in my 10K contest.

Prize 3: Inlaid Curved Lid Box



I had great fun designing this box - the next evolution from the box Keith67 won as the Champion in my 10K contest.

This box has lots of curves. Cherry body, curved end and curved lid with an inlay of Curly Sugar Maple and Purpleheart stringing.

It opens on disappearing 5mm barrel hinges to reveal an interior bottom lined with micro-velvet. Retail price is $170.

Special Prize Box



This is a new design of mine, I have made 6 total of which 4 quickly sold. So this truly is a Limited Edition box. Cherry body with a Curly Anagre lid. I came up with the 'dual beam pulls' idea specifically for this box. The interior bottom is lined with micro-velvet. Retail price is $290.

This box is available to one of the contest podium winners under the conditions stated above; i.e., you need to be a CCF Supporter or Big Supporter by time you make your initial round guess and maintain that status for the duration of the contest.

If the opportunity to win this box appeals to you - and you are not already a CCF supporter, then go to the following hyperlink to help fund this free site:

https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...upporter.asp

Are you ready to guess some nickels?

The contest will begin after I reach 15,000 posts (soon) and my right elbow recovers from surgery well enough for me to type well again.

Stay tuned! Hope to see you playing.