Füsters
Believe it or not, we are only one week away from the halfway point of the game. This means the Betrugentag is nearly upon us. For those of you who are new to the game, the Betrugentag is your “cheat day”. That means that all rules are off and you can do what you want. Now this year’s Betrugentag definitely feels anti-climatic after the once in a lifetime Inaugural Day-Off we had two weeks ago but traditionally the cheat day is one of explosive excess that leaves many a Füster regretful and debilitated for at least 24 hours. GG is betting that if you partook in the inaugural debauchery, you probably already learned this hard lesson. If not and you haven’t experienced a Betrugentag, all GG can say is go easy, freund. Remember, your body has been without sugar and alcohol for over a month and you will absolutely have a reaction to reintroducing these literal poisons. As far as the day itself, you may take it on either Saturday, Feb. 6 or Sunday, Feb. 7th (yes, GG is tired of hearing the whining about the Super Bowl so you can choose to take your cheat day Sunday if you want). On this day you will be released from the Foodenfüste, Drunkenfüste and Schmerzenfüste requirements (which means you cannot score these points). However, two things here. First, if you so choose, you may still go out and complete a bonus challenge for points. Entirely up to you . And second, in order to earn your right to your cheat day, you must complete the Midfüsten Assessment. This is exactly the same assessment that you completed at the Startenfüste: a morning weigh-in, test you ability to do push-ups and sit-ups and a plank to exhaustion and then run a mile at your best possible pace. Do all these things on the morning of the Betrugentag and you are then clear to destroy yourself! GG will send out a link to the Midfüsten Assessment Tool later in the week.
Couple more things:
Unless you have a very good reason to do so and get GG’s strict permission in advance, there is no combining of bonus challenges. For instance, those who would want to get double credit for their Wanderungfüste elevation hike and their Parkenfüste Challenge by using the same activity, yeah, that’s not a thing. So unless you have a very, very good reason for wanting to combine two bonus challenges, please do not ask GG for this consideration.
This week sees the final series of Hungriger Geist Days delivered upon us for our sins. This is effectively a 72-hour clear liquid only fast (yes, GG knows, he’s still recovering from the trauma of last week too). After this and starting Week 6, the only fasting will be on Tuesdays, a single Fastentag each week, dawn to dusk. This is all pre-designed for your enjoyment. The first half of Winterfüste is all about breaking you down and the back half is all about building you back up (with Doppelt and Trippelts and did anyone else notice that on the game calendar, set for the second to last week of the game, there’s something that translates to “Hell Week”?? 🧐). So, here’s a suggestion from GG. The 72-hr fast is scheduled this week for Tuesday - Thursday. As GG has already stated in the past, you may move your fasting days around as needed. GG would highly recommend that you move the fast up to Monday (tomorrow). Because you obviously don’t eat meat during a fast, you’ll get your No Meat Monday +0.5p bonus in addition to the +1p. You will then also get Thursday off to eat like a normal person before hitting the final Friday Fastentag. So to be clear, if you don’t move up your 72-hr fast, you’re going to end up finishing three days of not eating by not eating until dusk on Friday. You can certainly choose to do this if you want (and I know some like Narwahl will opt for the original schedule because he has “issues”), but GG is giving you the M-W option as well. Up to you. And as always you can choose to only do one or two of the full fast days and earn a +1p for each day you do. Or you can just do a dawn to dusk Fastentag on Tuesday also. Lots of options for you to get hangry and yell at your spouse and/or children. Just let GG know if you’re planning on moving the 72-hr fast from its original dates.
As expected, GG has seen an uninspiring drop-off in the voluntary submission of homework audits. He’s not even remotely surprised. Which is why starting next weekend, the homework audit is worth +1p to your individual game. Send in your audit unprompted sometime between Friday and Sunday, earn your bonuspunkte. It’s just that easy to be a responsible Füster (it does however make GG feel cheep that he has to buy your love and attention . . . please feel the appropriate level of shame. Danke).
Do not forget that the Anderefüste Allowance (STRAVA Challenges) resets on Feb. 1st and you may again earn up to +6p by completing the distance and effort based STRAVA bonuses for February.
A couple things to advise you of in advance:
You’re going to want to scope out a path around a standard city block or find a school track to access for Tuesday’s Groundhog Day Aufblitzen Bonus Challenge. Just sayin.
Starting Week 6, we will enter a new phase of Skwädron bonus play as we begin a three week Macrofüsten Tournament of Champions. Why is GG telling you this now? Because only 16 of the current 20 Skwäds can earn a place in the tournament. This means, in order to secure a slot on the roster, your Skwäd must be sitting somewhere between 1st and 16th place by the end of the day next Sunday. If you earn a slot then you will experience three weeks of brutal Skwäd on Skwäd competition with a last man standing structure. This tournament will help your Skwäd earn big bonuspunkte and supercharge you for the Finalfüste event. Each week half the Skwäds will be eliminated until only one stands supreme. But you’ve first got to get a spot on the Spielbrett first so that means this week, if your Skwäd is in 16th place or worse, you’re going to need to really pull out all the stops on the bonus play and also not give up any Schmerzenfüste punkte. It’s all hands on deck if you want in on the tournament!
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to head over to the Bonus and Howework pages to see what’s new for Week 5.
Have a great week and as always, may the Füste be with you!
Griswalde