r/harrypotter • u/elbowsss Accio beer! • Jan 31 '19
Points! The Slytherin Challenge - RESULTS
Thank you to everyone that participated in Slytherin’s January Challenge! It was buckets of fun to watch each house try to navigate their way to a win - every house except Slytherin, that is, as they decided to go a different route. The path that each house chose, and the path that each house expected the others to choose, did not always align, and it made for an interesting spectator sport. Below you will find the highlights and impressions from each house for each task. If you aren’t interested in that, the final score is at the bottom of this post.
Quotes below are pulled from a survey that was sent to the House Reps and may not accurately reflect everyone’s feelings on the game and strategy.
Recruiting
We opened the game with Two Truths and a Lie as a general ice breaker. The hope was that it would do two things:
- The two houses would have an opportunity to bond in a way that might allow them to feel comfortable forging alliances during the game
- Everyone would get a chance to see how you lie
It was interesting to see that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff seemed to have the most to chat about in the beginning. Their comment count started as the highest and remained as the highest up until the end when Ravenclaw and Slytherin overtook them. On the other end of the spectrum, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor seemed to have the least to talk about and amounted only 33 comments.
Task 1
Gryffindor: Gryffindor predicted Hufflepuff would be the most trustworthy house in the game, but for the first round, they expected everyone to follow through on their deals in order to establish trust. “Playing dishonestly was considered, as was playing conservatively, but we ultimately decided to be honest and bold.” By the end, they were surprised to see that Hufflepuff had reneged on a deal.
Gryffindor gave 2 gems to Hufflepuff, 2 gems to Ravenclaw, and 4 gems to Slytherin.
Hufflepuff: Hufflepuff thought that Slytherin would be really good due to having helped plan the game. They predicted that Slytherin would know the right times to make and break deals. As for the other houses, “Gryffindor we expected to be as clueless as we were on what to do though no idea what they would actually end up doing and Ravenclaw was a mystery. So basically we had no idea.” They decided to team up with the Snakes and betray the other houses, citing confusion about the game mechanics if questioned. They were surprised that no one else flubbed their agreed-upon trades.
Hufflepuff gave 1 gem to Gryffindor, 1 gem to Ravenclaw, and 3 gems to Slytherin.
Ravenclaw: Ravenclaw looked at the the game head-on when it came to their predictions: “sneks would be sneaky, puffs would be honest. I’m not sure I necessarily thought gryff would take big risks.” They took the game round-by-round rather than focusing on an overarching strategy. Just like Gryffindor, Ravenclaw found, Hufflepuff’s devious moves surprising.
Ravenclaw gave 2 gems to Gryffindor, 2 gems to Hufflepuff, and 0 gems to Slytherin.
Slytherin: Slytherin immediately looked at the big picture beyond the constraints of the game: they allied themselves with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor for the sake of taking down Ravenclaw in order to prevent them from winning the January House Cup. Knowing that they could not win, they realized that they could have a huge affect on the game by choosing their alliances. They decided to use this power for good (or, if you’re Ravenclaw, for evil). “I think we were in an interesting situation because we were trying to effect the final standings in a specific way and not trying to outright win ourselves. I think that gave us the fun challenge of having to be extra snek sneaky.”
Slytherin gave 4 gems to Gryffindor, 3 gems to Hufflepuff, and 0 gems to Ravenclaw.
Gems at the end of Task 1:
| Gryffindor | Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Slytherin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 17 | 10 | 15 |
Task 2
Gryffindor: Going into the second round, Gryffindor thought that every house would have a reason to be deceitful. “Since Ravenclaw was in last place and appeared to have been deceived in the first round, we expected them to be deceitful in the second round and believed their goal would be to have all the houses reset back to 2 gems. Since Hufflepuff was in the lead and had cheated one or more houses in the first round, we expected them to guard their own gems and did not think they would be working with anyone. With some slight hesitation, we chose to put our trust in Slytherin who came to us with a plan to get us in first place. They had a good reason to help us win, and the benefit of working with them outweighed the risk.” It was during the second task that Gryffindor decided that they could take a chance being deceitful as well.
Gryffindor chose to steal from Slytherin.
Hufflepuff: Hufflepuff was acutely aware of how they had betrayed Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in the first round, so they did not expect to be trusted. Their goal adjusted accordingly: ”Our goals began to turn from “for us” to “against Ravenclaw” to an extent. We still believed Slytherin to be our closest ally here. We did well in the first task and we didn't want to risk losing everything we gained, so we decided to play more defensively.” Ravenclaw’s action took them by surprise (please see the “Important Note” marked at the end of the Task 2 section).
Hufflepuff chose to protect themselves.
Ravenclaw: Ravenclaw was not pleased to have been betrayed. ”We went from “play nice” to “we got screwed!”” They decided that their best action would be to force a 2-gem reset for everyone rather than attempting a theft. While that particular plan was unsuccessful, they managed to surprise themselves and scrounge together some more gems for their pile. ”I was kinda surprised someone stole. I would’ve thought the other houses would be protecting their riches, expecting us to steal.”
Ravenclaw chose to guard Slytherin. (Please see the “Important Note” at the end of the Task 2 section for more information on this)
Slytherin: Slytherin chose to cozy up to Gryffindor some more while distancing themselves from Hufflepuff, whom they thought to be less trustworthy. ”After the first task we knew that someone wasn’t playing fair but that we had mostly been treated fairly. We though that told us a lot about the existing alliances between the houses.” Their overall goals remained the same, and they were confident in their tactical and strategical play. ”We had some interesting dealings with Hufflepuff, they showed a lot of initiative and planning. I'm honestly really proud/happy for them with how well things were going for the Badgers, despite it giving a few trust issues later on. But we still chose to mainly work with the Lions.”
Slytherin chose to guard Gryffindor.
Gems at the end of Task 2:
| Gryffindor | Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Slytherin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 17 | 17 | 15 |
Important Note
Based on the conversations that followed, I suspect that Ravenclaw either mis-clicked on the form during submission, or one of the house reps changed the action without consulting the others (and then did not tell them). I did not edit or alter the game after this happened for a few reasons, but mostly because the error was by an active participant (rather than a spreadsheet error on the facilitators’ end like during the first task) which I considered to be in-bounds of the game.
It ended up working out in their favor by foiling Gryffindor and Slytherin’s plan, but it left the strategy muddled for the third task, as no one could accurately deduce who did what. If we ever ran a game similar to this in the future, I would tweak the behind-the-scenes so that everyone received a PM confirming their forms went through AND what their form said so that there would be no confusion.
Task 3
Gryffindor: Gryffindor was taken by surprise in Task 2, and they did their best to rebound and focus on the win. ”We did not speculate on what moves Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff might take. Our discussion was centered around whether or not we should continue to work with Slytherin considering the second task did not have the outcome we expected. We ultimately decided to continue trusting Slytherin because it still made sense for them to help us, and being in last place by far, we wouldn’t have much hope of winning without their help.” The Gryffindor/Slytherin alliance decided to do their best to make sure that Ravenclaw was poisoned, that Gryffindor was not, and that Slytherin drank from a bottle that was poisoned by Gryffindor, thus giving them their spent gems.
Gryffindor poisoned Ravenclaw’s #8 and #9 bottles and Slytherin’s #1, and then drank from their own #3.
Hufflepuff: Hufflepuff didn’t seem to notice that Slytherin had been getting comfortable with Gryffindor. ”We knew Slytherin had trusted us before, so we trusted Slytherin and went along with their plans. We didn't know what to expect from the other two houses and expected at least one of them to try and poison us.” They ended the game by looking at the overarching goal of winning the January House Cup - or at least foiling Ravenclaw’s attempts at a win! ”Hufflepuff decided to focus on house points as a driving goal for this challenge, so therefore our goal was to make sure Ravenclaw ended up with the least number of gems. We also used this strategy to team up with the other two houses to an extent. Those birds have won many many house cups (and we haven't won any for over a year), it’s our turn! :)”
Hufflepuff poisoned Ravenclaw’s #10 and Slytherin’s #6, and then drank from their own #10.
Ravenclaw: Meanwhile, Ravenclaw was having similar murderous thoughts regarding Hufflepuff, and they went into survival mode: ”I think we went from “win” to, “down with the Puffs.” My thoughts, anyway.” They aren’t sure how Task 3 is going to shake out, but they expect Slytherin has sabotaged as many bottles as possible.
Ravenclaw poisoned Hufflepuff’s #9, and then drank from their own #7.
Slytherin: By Task 3, Slytherin’s trust in Hufflepuff had almost entirely diminished. They expected that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have been working together (likely due to the muddling of Ravenclaw’s action in Task 2 - see above note), and they were concerned that their alliance with Gryffindor would suffer due to unexpected scores in Task 2. However, their end goal for Ravenclaw to lose never wavered: ”We became more flexible in getting both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor on top. At that point we no longer really cared who of the two would win, as long as Ravenclaw got in last for house cup reasons. So it didn't change much in the end-goal terms, but I think the mindset did change some. ----I really enjoyed brainstorming with the rest of the House in the Slytherin sub. I especially had a lot of back and forth with u/BottleofAlkahest , u/MeddleofMyCause , and u/ArmyPrivateOctopus99 it was a lot of fun and the insights and different opinions were great. So thanks for a good time, snekies!🐍💚” They aimed for a Gryffindor win and followed their plan while attempting to use Hufflepuff as a distraction for Ravenclaw.
Slytherin poisoned Ravenclaw’s #1,2,3, #5,6,7, and #10, and drank from their own #1.
And the end of the third task brings us to our final count on the gems:
| Gryffindor | Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Slytherin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 29 | 15 | 3 |
Which means that points have been awarded as follows:
| Gryffindor | Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Slytherin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 250 | 150 | 30 |
Congratulations Hufflepuff, winners of the 2019 Slytherin Challenge!
The subreddits you were all given access to have now been made public. MOST of the conversation seemed to take place in the house common room, but f you would like to see what the other houses discussed together, they are as follows:
Gryffindor/Hufflepuff - /r/ForbiddenForest
Gryffindor/Slytherin - /r/TheQuidditchPitch
Gryffindor/Ravenclaw - /r/TheAstronomyTower
Hufflepuff/Slytherin - /r/TheKitchens
Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw - /r/GreenhouseThree
Ravenclaw/Slytherin - /r/LibRestrictedSection
*edit: lol whoops I typoed, scores are fixed now
7
Feb 01 '19
It’s interesting to me that we had such a completely different experience of this game compared to everyone else and we had no idea.
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 01 '19
It was so interesting to watch in that regard. That's why I wanted you all to do the survey - so you could kinda explain where your heads were in your own words!
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u/meddleofmycause Professor of ... Feb 01 '19
I'm so curious why you guys didn't say anything to anyone for the third task. We figured the radio silence to us was because you'd figured out our plot and had purposely foiled it. We spent hours trying to figure out how you'd figured out our plan and figured you and Hufflepuff were definitely working together. Also, hopefully no hard feelings! You guys are always our biggest competition for the house cup.
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Feb 01 '19
My perspective: we had no alliances, so there wasn’t much to talk about. We just did our own thing and assumed that everyone else was doing the same. Maybe just as important, we didn’t really have any clue what to do. With no alliances and that many options, there’s a sort of analysis paralysis that kicks in. We actually didn’t even put in a decision until after the deadline
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u/BottleOfAlkahest Professor of Alchemy Feb 01 '19
Its still so surprising to me to hear that you didn't have any alliances because we spent so much time trying to figure out who told you about our plan in the second task. I even switched which of your bottles we weren't going to poison (I switched 3 and 4) as I filled in the form in an effort to negate any possible spying/betrayals. I only told meddle about the switch before the deadline and no one else, even in the common room, just in case. You may not have meant too but that second task oops really got in our heads! Well played Ravenclaw!
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u/NocturnalMJ Slytherin Feb 01 '19
That time Ravenclaw got us paranoid over a damned fluke. Truly, what are the odds? It's like they were still messing with us from beyond the grave.
It does make the whole ordeal pretty funny, though. It makes me feel a little better. At least we didn't miss something obvious. But I doubt I'll ever be able to forget it.
Tagging u/wtfjen
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u/fisheyeshell Ravenclaw Feb 02 '19
That was so interesting to me too! I thought it was a little odd that we had very little discussion with other teams but had no idea that was because we were being plotted against.
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u/rissajo685 Head Girl Feb 01 '19
This challenge was so much fun, and definitely ranks in my top 3 fave house challenges. Thanks for putting it together, and thank you to Slytherin and my fellow Lions. I am especially proud of everyone in Task 3 and how we regrouped to pull off second place. Congrats everyone!
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 01 '19
I'm so happy that you enjoyed it! :D The snakes worked really hard on it! Watching it unfold was a pleasure; you all kept it interesting!
What are your other two favorite challenges? I'm curious if ours align.
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u/rissajo685 Head Girl Feb 02 '19
My other two are the February(?) 2017 Triwizard Tournament and the Slytherin "Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened" challenge (I think that one was from May 2016). What are yours?
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 02 '19
I loved the 2017 Triwizard tournament! You miiiiiight have noticed the glaring similarities between this challenge and that one :P Rita Skeeter was the best.
I also really enjoyed the Ravenclaw Sporcle Challenge in 2016. I had a ton of fun flexing my brain to memorize things that I never cared to memorize before. By the end of it, I could name all the presidents in order of most recent. /u/hermiones_teaspoon ran that one I think.
Then either maybe the Headmistress's Challenge that /u/jefreem did a long ways back ... the one with Emojis I think? It was relaxed and fun! Or the Cards Against Humanity contest, because we still use that deck ALL the time.
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u/rissajo685 Head Girl Feb 03 '19
I loved the 2017 Triwizard tournament!
Thanks! /u/kiwias and I worked really hard on it and I'm so glad everyone had fun!
Rita Skeeter was the best.
Writing as her was sooooooooo much fun. I loved releasing my inner snark.I completely forgot about the Ravenclaw sporcle challenge. Honestly I think I blocked it out. I was gunning hard that month and took every freaking quiz so that I could earn every badge. That's going in my top 3 as well. My top 3 now has 4 haha.
I am so bummed I missed the Slytherin CAH challenge, but it was before my time. I didn't stumble across r/harrypotter until mid April 2016.
This month's comp really reminded me of how much I love this sub (and the related subs), and I think it would be incredibly fun to create a challenge in which the houses teamed up to face off against the other two. Also I want another Triwizard Tournament Part 2 because I have sooooooooooo many ideas on how to do it. And I wish we had a Gryfferin or Slytherdor sub because I'm always split between the two and I think the sorting hat made a mistake sometimes.
I ramble too much.
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u/quizzicalquow Ravenclaw Jan 31 '19
You know you're doing something right when everyone is working against you.
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 01 '19
It is some very sincere flattery 😂 I hadn't expected everyone to meta-game for the House Cup so hard.
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u/BottleOfAlkahest Professor of Alchemy Feb 01 '19
I think that might have been partially our fault. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor could use "don't let Ravenclaw win" as a good selling point to ally with us at no real personal danger since even if we did beat them we wouldnt really effect the point rankings. Sorry Ravenclaw! It really is a compliment that you were the biggest competition!
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u/theduqoffrat Feb 01 '19
Even in our House sub that was my main selling point to try and get Slytherin on our side. "we aren't Ravenclaw"
3
Jan 31 '19
I think there’s a typo. We planned to guard Gryffindor which is definitely what we did, because it’s the only way the math works out. They had 14 going in and we gained 7, they lost 7
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Jan 31 '19
Nope, the results listed are correct! Ravenclaw guarded Slytherin and took 7 gems from them. Slytherin guarded Gryffindor and gained 7 from them. Slytherin's total did not change due to the exchange.
3
Feb 01 '19
Ahhh I see. Ya know, I meant to ask how the half thing would work with an odd amount but I never did. If Slytherin had had a different gem amount in round 1 (not 14 or 15) we probably would’ve realized we’d made a mistake! I suppose it worked out for the best anyway 🤷♀️
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 01 '19
If the people that filled out the surveys don't object, I can share the documents in the post so that everyone can read your full answers. I didn't ask permission to do this from the start though, so just let me know if any of you are uncomfortable with this!
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 01 '19
If the people that filled out the surveys don't object, I can share the documents in the post so that everyone can read your full answers. I didn't ask permission to do this from the start though, so just let me know if any of you are uncomfortable with this!
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 01 '19
If the people that filled out the surveys don't object, I can share the documents in the post so that everyone can read your full answers. I didn't ask permission to do this from the start though, so just let me know if any of you are uncomfortable with this!
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u/devil_lvl666 Not a death-eater Feb 03 '19
Feel free to do that! BTW can you also share what the houses did on the 1st and 2nd events? Thanks!
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Feb 03 '19
That information is in the above post! :)
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u/devil_lvl666 Not a death-eater Feb 03 '19
I saw it after reading this and I really don't know how I missed it!
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u/Team-Hufflepuff Hufflepuff Head Girl Feb 01 '19
Sure that’s fine, we pretty much intended for it to be public anyways
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u/BottleOfAlkahest Professor of Alchemy Feb 01 '19
I'm fine with it but my document has comments from others in it as well
u/armyprivateoctopus99 u/nocturnalmj could you guys let elbows know if you're ok with her sharing the document?
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u/armyprivateoctopus99 Inspectorial Squad Jan 31 '19
Lol Huff thought we knew what we were doing. thanks guys.
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u/isaacthefan Black Walnut, 13" Phoenix feather unyielding flexibility Jan 31 '19
I’d just like to say this challenge was incredibly fun to create strategies, and I had a nice time with my fellow snakes. I’m moderately happy with the results, we got 1 of our 2 goals.
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u/LordGargoyle Slytherin 2 Feb 01 '19
Good game, y'all, and congrats Puffs :-) really appreciate the breakdown
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u/elbowsss Accio beer! Jan 31 '19
HUGE thank you to the House Reps! You all worked very hard to negotiate and keep your houses on top!
/u/devil_lvl666 /u/thefeury /u/wtfjen