Introducing: The Slam Point
In certain tournaments in future, the Grand Slam Point is going to be replaced by a new concept - the Slam Point. Read on to find out more.
In rugby, this has always been reasonably doable. But recently, we have noticed that GSPs in a tournament like the English Premier League are almost non-existent. Why is that?
What it boils down to is the number of outcomes within the realm of possibility. In every football match, there are 3 very realistic options: win, lose and draw. Draws are so common in football that it makes picking the correct outcome in all 10 games in a round of a tournament like the EPL very, very tricky.
So, for all football tournaments in future (and possibly other sports should it be a success), the Grand Slam Point is going to be replaced by the Slam Point.
The idea is that winning one or more Slam Points is more achievable than just the old GSP, which should make each round of the big tournaments more exciting and engaging.
In the first round of matches, 33,249 people made picks for the 10 matches - nobody managed a GSP for getting them all correct. By contrast, under the new Slam system, 28,837 people would have managed a Slam Point of 1, while 43 would have managed two Slam Points.
So, there you have it. The first tournament at which the Slam Point will come into effect is the Copa America, whose first round finishes tonight. Thereafter it will apply to all football tournaments, and we'll make a decision on whether to introduce it to other sports in due course.
So be sure to check your Copa America results later this evening, and find out how many Slam Points you have won!
Why are we changing things?
The Grand Slam Point has always been a key part of SuperBru. When you pick every single game in a round correctly, you deserve points to reflect what is - in the ever unpredictable world of sport - a pretty epic achievement.In rugby, this has always been reasonably doable. But recently, we have noticed that GSPs in a tournament like the English Premier League are almost non-existent. Why is that?
What it boils down to is the number of outcomes within the realm of possibility. In every football match, there are 3 very realistic options: win, lose and draw. Draws are so common in football that it makes picking the correct outcome in all 10 games in a round of a tournament like the EPL very, very tricky.
So, for all football tournaments in future (and possibly other sports should it be a success), the Grand Slam Point is going to be replaced by the Slam Point.
What is the Slam Point?
The Slam Point is, essentially, a tiered version of the Grand Slam Point. The tiers may vary slightly from tournament to tournament, but in general they will follow a trend like this:- Correctly predict 5-7 games in a round: 1 Slam Point
- Correctly predict 8-9 games in a round: 2 Slam Points
- Correctly predict 10+ games in a round (in tournaments that have 10-fixture rounds): 3 Slam Points
The idea is that winning one or more Slam Points is more achievable than just the old GSP, which should make each round of the big tournaments more exciting and engaging.
"I'm still not convinced..."
56,251 brus signed up to play our EPL Predictor game last season. During the entirety of the 38-week campaign, we handed out just 211 Grand Slam Points, 159 of which came in a reduced round in February. The GSP was always there in our scoring system, but in reality it was almost a non-entity.In the first round of matches, 33,249 people made picks for the 10 matches - nobody managed a GSP for getting them all correct. By contrast, under the new Slam system, 28,837 people would have managed a Slam Point of 1, while 43 would have managed two Slam Points.
So, there you have it. The first tournament at which the Slam Point will come into effect is the Copa America, whose first round finishes tonight. Thereafter it will apply to all football tournaments, and we'll make a decision on whether to introduce it to other sports in due course.
So be sure to check your Copa America results later this evening, and find out how many Slam Points you have won!
Does that make sense? In essence, the GSP still exists, just under a different moniker! 6 Jun 15:39
In a few of the tournaments (use the example of Super Rugby) the number of games in a "round" can vary (7-9 in the case of SR). Obviously getting 7 picks is sometimes a lot easier than getting 9 (depending on who plays who). So I was thinking, why not introduce a weighted GSP that rewards someone more for getting more picks right.
e.g. One can still only get the GSP if ALL picks are correct, but say 0.3 points for each game in the round (2.1 for rounds with 7 games, 2.7 for rounds with 9).
One could go one step further and make it 0.2 for each game that is correct but didn't earn you a margin point and 0.3 for games that are correct and within the required margin.
for 1 slam point is just fine. Good thinking. Keep it up.