Week 3: A Gradual Increase in Pressure

Hallo Füsters,

GG hopes this game update finds you happy and healthy and enjoying the Füste experience. By now you should have seen a small decrease in your overall body weight, averaging 1 to 1.5 pounds per week for the first two weeks. If you haven’t, then you need to consider a couple of things. Are you exercising to the full extent of your ability, giving each day the attention and time it needs to earn your punkte (including completing your homework)? Are you holding true to the Foodenfüste parameters? If yes and you’re still not seeing a weight shift, take a look at portion size and start to back things down. Regardless, we still have eight (mein Gott) weeks of game play left so there is plenty of time to kick things into gear and capture the results you’re hoping for . . .

Speaking of health, we’ve so far had two Füsters retire from the game after contracting COVID-19 (and we wish them a speedy recovery and return to full health). Please be careful in everything you do and above all else wear your mask when in public. We are nowhere near the end of this pandemic and your care and caution will go a long way in keeping yourself and your loved ones safe. And since we’re on the topic of the Rona, there is a very strong possibility (GG calculates better than 85%) that we will not have an in-person Finalfüste Event this year. The odds that the pandemic will be under control in eight weeks and that restrictions on in-person gatherings will be lifted by March 13th are slim to none. But do not fear, GG is working on a Skwäd based competition that will take place out in the world on that final weekend and will provide a sense of closure to Winterfüste. Let’s just say that you and your Skwäd mates are going to be put to the test on an individual and group basis and if you think you’re going to win the Bestenskwädron title then you best get your homework done and earn all the Schmerzenpunkte you can between now and then. GG doesn’t want to scare you but . . . oh, who are we kidding, GG absolutely wants to scare you if that’s what it takes for you to excel!

Moving on . . . there are new Individual Bonus Allowances posted on the Bonus page of the website (you know the way) as well as an update to the Skwäd Plankenfüste Allowance requirements. And GG can guarantee there will be at least one Aufblitzen Bonus opportunity this week (remember, these are the one day bonus events, e.g. last week’s dress up your pet day).

One note of clarity, it seems that GG has confused some Füsters around the reporting of bonuses. To be clear, all bonus play that requires proof is sent directly to GG via text, if possible (our non-iPhone friends have a Dropbox folder to upload videos to because, well, let’s not get into it here . . . ). When you send proof of an Individual Bonus Allowance, you don’t have to do anything special. But when you send proof of a Skwädron Bonus Allowance (currently pics of long dogs or a Plankenfüste video or last week’s pic of your pet), GG is asking that you note your Skwäd name in your text. This will help GG immensely with his mental health over the next two months. And a happy and healthy GG has benefits for all. To be clear, the weekend homework audit in which you send GG proof of one completed Qualkammer (whoops, did you forget to do that this weekend?? 🤦🏻‍♂️), that’s an individual event, not a Skwäd event so no need to identify your Skwäd when sending over those videos.

Also . . .

HOLIDAY LINK: Tomorrow is MLK Day. Click here and take 15 minutes out of your busy day to watch his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. No bonus associated with this reflection on social justice. GG will just leave it here for you as needed and given the events of 2020, he suggests everyone take the time on this one.

One more thing . . . GG will make a special announcement on Tuesday night regarding Wednesday’s game play. He’ll send it out via text so that no one misses it.

That’s it for now. Please stay safe this week as it might be another rough one. Keep up the hard work and don’t let talking heads on a television or voices on the radio get you down or freaked out. We are all in this together and if nothing else, GG is happy you’re here with him this Winter.

May the Fùste be ever with you,

Griswalde

Week 2: And so it begins . . .

Hallo Füsters,

Week 1 of WF2021 is behind us and GG can hardly express how impressed he is by what he’s been witnessing. Game play this year has been extraordinary. A record 82% of all Füsters earned their +3p Eisschmerze Challenge bonus. Almost half of the players are still ranked in the top three slots on the Bestenliste with a whopping 40 out of 122 Füsters tied for first place (after having earned every possible point available in Week 1). GG doesn’t want to jinx it but he’s seeing a game for the ages developing . . .

Now, on with the update:

1. Game play begins in earnest during Week 2 with the introduction of a number of Individual and Skwädron bonus opportunities. Go HERE (please at least review the Anderefüste Allowance bonus rules; lost of questions about that one this week).

2. Skwäd play comes on-line this week, starting tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 11th. A reminder about how this works. Each day each Skwäd member’s Schmerzenpunkte is added to their Skwäd’s total (not their Foodenpunkte or Drunkenpunkte). So that means that exercise is where it’s at for Skwäd points. If you don’t go out and Schmerzenfüste then you might as well have just slipped a knife between the ribs of your Skwäd mates. There are also Skwädron bonus opportunities (but you should have reviewed those already). All earned Skwäd punkte are divided by the number of members on the Skwäd so we’re going to see some interesting math along the way. Because of that, GG will commit to updating the Skwädron Bestenliste only twice a week.

3. Fasting ramps up with a +0.5p Fastentag Day on both Tuesday and Friday. Get hangry both days for a total +1p bonus this week. Another important point on fasting. If you are a shift worker or traveling for business, you may ask GG for permission to move a fasting day to a new date. Rules here are simple: you have to complete the fasting day within the same week as the originally scheduled day (remember, Füste week’s begin on Monday and end on Sunday). GG allows this because there are a large number of hospital based workers who Füste and given the impact that COVID is having in our facilities, far be it for GG to deny these hardworking heroes their much needed grub.

4. This week introduces an all new concept to the Füste: Meatless Mondays. As always, GG is trying to be socially responsible and Earth friendly. Come along for the ride by NOT eating any meat or meat products on Mondays for the remainder of the Füste. So vegetarian diet only. Pull this off and earn +0.5p for each Monday that you murder veggies instead of animals (emoji thumb’s up).

5. Week 2’s homework increases your daily pain buy just that much more. Go HERE to see how. Then, starting next weekend, you will be required to provide GG a video audit of one Qualkammer (due by Sunday at 5pm PST). That’s it, video a complete Qualkammer and text to GG. Do this, and starting in February, you’ll earn +1p bonus. Don’t do this, take the punkte hit and also get on the Geschäftsführer’s radar (a place you don’t want to be). And speaking of video . . .

6. To my non-Apple product using friends . . . your continuing resistance to assimilate to Steve Jobs’ plan for world domination continues to be a pain in GG’s rear. As you are most assuredly aware, you phones will not reliably text GG video. So any bonus that requires video proof (e.g. the homework audit above) becomes a real scheisse show. As a result, GG is going to send my little group of misfits links to Dropbox and Google File folders, in which they can submit their videos. May Gott have mercy on your souls.

7. A note on day to day operations. You may have noticed that some of the new efficiencies that GG has instituted this year are leading to a much earlier in the day posting of an updated Bestenliste. One repercussion of this, if you do not report by noon, you will most likely not see your points on that afternoon’s Bestenliste. And by all rights (and by the almighty power of the Regelbuch), you may not see those points at all because if you don’t report by noon, you’re in danger of forfeiting yesterday’s points. Another time related impact, any bonus proof sent to GG after noon will most likely not show until the next day’s posting of the Bestenliste, for obvious reasons.

And speaking of bonuses etc., here’s the breakdown of all available punkte for Week 1:

• +21 total daily punkte

• +1p for completion of Startenfüste Assessment

• +3p for completion of Eisschmerze Challenge

• +0.5p for completion of first Fastentag day on Friday, Jan. 8th.

• +1p for Sieben Tage Bonus (having earned all 3 daily punkte for the first 7 days of the game)

Total punkte available for Week 1: +26.5p . . . how many did you earn?

That’s if for now. Be on the look out for a couple of Aufblitzen Bonus opportunities this week . . . what are those? You’ll see.

As always, may the Füste be with you.

Griswalde Grolar

Week 1 Update: Sunday Night Chats by the Fire with GG

Evening Füsters!

GG knows you’ve been inundated with a lot of words on screens in prep for the Füste so he’ll try to keep this week’s update concise (fat chance but his heart is always in the right place).

Here we go:

• Excellent work using the new Daily Reporting Tool. GG couldn’t be more pleased. The only issue we had today was a number of Füsters put the wrong date on their report. This caused a couple of heart stopping moments earlier but it’s all worked out. So please, big learning here, make sure you put the correct date in when you report, which will always be day before’s date.

• Another small issue from Day 1’s reporting. GG noted several Füsters reported having fasted and entered the appropriate points. To be clear, you can fast any day you’d like during Winterfüste, but you can only get points on the designated fasting days. This is covered in the Rule Book HERE (and the days are also listed on the official calendar available at the bottom of the Home Page and as a download to your phone or computer).

• And to that, this Friday will be the official beginning of the fasting regimen with the first Fastentag Day. Remember, Fastentag Days are clear liquid only fasts from dawn to dusk and they earn you +0.5p.

• Some of you may have noticed that on the game calendar the next five days are listed as Spulwöche. This is a term for a general cleanse. The idea here is for you to start easing off the 2020 throttle. Reduce the size of your portions by 1/3. If you’re so inclined, try a multi day cleanse (but not a “juice” cleanse as they are a source of an enormous amount of sugar). Fast if you want to, drink tons of water. Just try to prepare your body for the coming weeks by reducing intake and flushing out waste. GG has limited bonusplay during this time so you can exclusively focus on yourself.

• The question around downhill skiing as Schmerzenfüste has been raised once again by several Füsters. Here’s the official ruling. Downhill skiing is unquestionably a workout. But it’s also a tremendous amount of fun. Which isn’t what Schmerzenfüste is about at its core (schmerze actually translates from the German as “pain” so . . . ). There is also the issue of cost and the fact that not everyone can afford a day on the slopes. So a couple of years ago GG put the ban on it and it stands today. If you want to earn Schmerzenpünkte while wearing long, skinny rails of carbon strapped to your feet, try cross-country skiing. If your heart doesn’t explode right out of your chest, you’ll earn +1p for a daily workout lasting 45min (it’s in the Rule Book).

• A quick note on an off-book rule. Some of you are athletes who regularly complete long distance training events. These are the runners and cyclists and folks who spend hours on the road, trail or in the saddle. For this kind of Schmerzenfüste, it may be necessary to fuel with carbs or products containing sugars. In some instances, it’s that or face the dreaded “bonk”, which can actually be dangerous (GG has bonked more times than he cares to admit). Therefore, if you’re one of the long distance maniacs who has a fueling regimen that works for you, do you what you need to do. If you’re running a half marathon, GG’s not too concerned if you use an energy chew or drink to get you home in one piece. But make good choices. This allowance is not a green light to take down a sleeve of Oreo’s just cause you ran a 10K.

• For those who have Füsted before, a gentle reminder of a game change. There’s no weekly day off this Winterfüste. All game days are eligible for Schmerzenpunkte.

• A note on general comms: GG will do his best to answer emails and texts in a timely fashion. However, please remember that the Füste is still a one man show and it may be several hours before you get a response. Hopefully this possible delay won’t impact your game play.

• And finally, don’t forget to complete your Startenfüste Assessment by Monday night (Jan. 4th). It’s worth a +1p bonus (added to everyone’s score on Tuesday the 5th).

That does it for Week 1’s update. Again, this is a fairly quiet week meant to ease you in to what’s to come. GG’s glad you’re here.

Griswalde Grolar

STARTENFÜSTE 2021

Hallo Füsters and willkommen to Winterfüste 2021, the one where we try to reverse an entire year of bad karma . . .

As you should already know, game play starts tomorrow morning, Jan. 2nd, at 5am. After that, for ten weeks, you’re going to be responsible to yourself and accountable to GG and hopefully that’ll be enough to get the hot mess you became in 2020 back under control for the New Year!

So, a couple of things to know and review coming out of the gate:

1. You just got a text with a link to your Daily Reporting Tool. It should be titled “Smartsheet Forms”. You’ll want to save this link to your phone’s homepage as a bookmarked app thingie. This is incredibly important. For instructions on how to do this, go HERE. If you have a pre-existing Smartsheet account for work or because you’re a weirdo who likes spreadsheets or whatever (no judgement, weirdo), this link will place the Daily Reporting Tool in your Smartsheet main folder and there it shall live until March 13th.

2. Did you sign the Waiver of Liability? No? Go HERE now and get it done.

3. Did you pay the game fee of $100? No? Either hit up GG on Venmo (@ggrolar) or go HERE for the pay portal.

4. If you want to aggressively stay in the know and preplan your obsessive game play, you can down load the WF2021 Calendar to your own device by clicking HERE.

And now for some stuff happening this weekend:

1. Complete your personal assessment. You received the link to the Startenfüste Assessment sheet in your Totemfüste assignment email but here it is again: LINK. Please get this done by EBD Monday as this will give GG a better understanding of who you are physically (this will come into play later for both challenges and homework). You will receive your first +1p individual bonus when this is done!

2. Your second chance for a bonus this weekend it to complete the wicked Eisschmerz Challenge! You know it, you love it, a long standing Füste tradition to welcome the New Year. Go find an unheated body of water and (safely) wade in. Water goes over your head. NO DIVING or jumping in shallow areas! No wet or dry suits. Just you and the cold, unforgiving gaze of the sea, lake, stream or your neighbor’s backyard pool. You must send GG video proof of your accomplishment to earn a +3p individual bonus. You have till next Friday, Jan. 8th to get this done and claim your bonuspunkte. This is your first test and first taste of what Winterfüste has in store for you. Yes, it’s brutal. But like most things in the Füste, you’ll be happy you did it and happier with your +3p!

Remember, push yourself hard this first weekend and first week. There just might be a bonus waiting for anyone who earns the full +3 daily punkte (food, drink and exercise) for each of the first seven days of game play. Week 1 is intentionally light on extra and bonus game play specifically so you can focus on the basics of Füsting and ease yourself into your new reality. We’ll get crazy starting Week 2, don’t worry.

That’s it for now. Remember, load up the Daily Reporting Tool to your phone and click on it Sunday morning to place your first report for Day 1’s activity (and then every morning after that for next 70 days). GG expects everyone to earn +3p Saturday and you don’t want to disappoint the Geschäftsführer on the Startenfüste cause that goes no where good.

Happy New Year and again, willkommen to the Füste!

GG

Final Week

Hallo Füsters . . .

Well, six weeks are up and the quarantine is basically over (but don’t fool yourself, The Rona is still a very real thing with numbers of infected increasing almost daily right now and all the hard work you did for three months of staying at home seems to have been for no good reason at all but hey, who is GG to read the stats, interpret the data, and come to a conclusion that doesn’t match up with our capitalist benefactors who are pressuring the world’s governments to open up so they can still make their annual bonuses; but I digress). We’re in the final week of what has been an interesting experiment for a basically absent GG. You guys have done this one almost completely on your own and GG applauds your efforts. He was a little busier for the last couple months than he had anticipated when he originally offered the RRF but you guys all persevered (well most of you, we started with 50+ and we’re down to just under 30) and really brought this little Füste home. Couple things, game play officially ends at 18:00 hours on Saturday. To make things more interesting as we finish up, GG has opened some bonuses on the website, all of which can be earned in this final week and right up until the very last minute on Saturday. So that’s pretty much it. I hope this Füste helped you in some way. It’s been a rough one for GG and didn’t do much good but not every Füste is going to be a huge success and that’s just life on the Spielbrett. Keep reporting this week as you have been and please send your final report by Sunday morning. Good luck as you finish up and please stay safe and healthy!

GG

PS If anyone is interested in adding two more weeks and finishing on the 4th of July, GG would be open to it. Just text him and let him know you want to continue on . . . This won’t effect the end of the RRF (a winner will still be declared Saturday night) but the game will just continue for the folks who want to extend. Up to you. In GG’s mind, extending to July 4th closes out the first half of 2020 in a mathematically sensible way (and there will absolutely not be another Füste until Winter of 2021). Cheers.

Memorial Day Update

Evening Füsters . . .

Quick post to note that tomorrow is Memorial Day. While this holiday always has a special association, this year it’s even more so given what’s been going on. We are on the cusp of 100K deaths here in the United States alone and that in and of itself is something we should not forget anytime soon.

COVID is not over. Be smart in your celebrations and maintain your distance from others.

While you take time tomorrow for yourself and your family, reflect that the Füste alone has many, many people working on the front lines. They do it every day, COVID or not, and they deserve a moment of your time.

Our count stands at:

20 Registered Nurses

3 Dispatchers

2 Paramedics

1 MD

1 Law Enforcement Officer

1 Firefighter

Memorial Day is traditionally a day to remember those lost in the military battles we’ve fought to maintain our way of life. Tomorrow should be more than that. Tomorrow should be a day to remember that some battles don’t have a clear beginning or ending and those that now fight them do so in the same streets that you drive every day, in the hospital ICUs and ERs and in the backs of ambulances that speed through the night to come to help you when you need them the most. Tomorrow, on Memorial Day, remember that you wear a mask out of respect for these people, you keep your distance from others out of respect for these people, you do what you can to keep COVID down out of respect for these people. They don’t have a choice in what or how they do things. You do.

And while it’s hard to think about a “game” on a day like tomorrow, it is typically a day of celebration and GG doesn’t want to strip that from you either. So, for Memorial Day, get your Doppelt Schmerzefüste done early and earn yourself a food and drink bonus for the day. With that you can still celebrate, raise a glass to those fallen in past wars and fighting the current ones and most importantly you can remember (and celebrate) all those who make your life what it is by doing what they do, each and everyday, in service to all.

And to those listed above and those that keep doing the smart thing to keep COVID under control, GG just wants to say thank you for all you have done and continue to do.

Griswalde Grolar

Week X: Rona Rescue Füste?

Alright, everyone, your cries of despair and self-disgust have been heard. GG’s been waiting to see if things would change and they’re clearly not going to anytime soon so it may be time for a first ever (Rona) Rescue Füste. Last Summer (which now seems like a million years ago) GG took an elite group of 16 Füsters through an experiment to push the limits of the standard Füste. GG is willing to look at something like that again, if it will help you get through the COVID-19 (newly gained pounds of flank meat) quarantine. How it’ll work is . . . same basic rules as Winterfüste but GG’s role will be scaled back in general support. You may only get an acknowledgement of your daily report every couple of days and the Bestenliste will be updated as he can get to it (this will be dependent on how many people sign up). Bonuses will be turned off until they’re not, homework is strictly on your own and there’s no “off day” so you can go all out on the exercise (first two weeks will be single punkte Schmerzenfüste only, as defined on the website, then two weeks Doppelt and two weeks Trippelt). And understanding the impact of everything going on right not, there will be no fee for this Füste. GG simply asks that at the end, if you found value here and in past Füstes, you donate something to the Go Fund Me account he’ll be setting up for the development of an app. After WF2020, GG swore up and down he wouldn’t do this again without an app but special times call for special considerations so here we are. If you want to be a part of the RRF, just send GG a text to his phone (707-779-8372; and yes, it’s turned back on and GG apologizes to anyone who texted him in the last two months and was met with a comm’s black hole and resulting existential crisis) saying you’re in and he’ll turn your WF Totemfüste back on. Day 1 will be this Wednesday, May 6th (so go ahead and have one last gross Rona induced blow-out on Cinco de Mayo). First report and initial weigh-in due on Thursday morning, before noon. We’ll go six weeks (and reassess at that point. If the “Stay at Home” rule is still in place, we may opt to extend (as we did last Summer), for those interested . . . either way, this will hopefully help you recover your Summer physique, even though the only person who may see you in a bathing suit this year is that weirdo squirrel that’s always hanging around in the backyard playing with his nuts and giving you the stink eye. Finalefüste will be June 20th, all things considered, and may or may not involve a gathering of sorts (dependent on whatever social contract we’re tied into at that point).

Hope this finds you healthy and Rona-free . . .

GG

PS . . . one item of outstanding WF business is the t-shirts. For obvious reasons and until further notice, t-shirts are stalled out at the local shop that GG was using. We’ll get there. Patience.

Week 9: And now we come to the last . . . .

Hallo Füsters . . .

It’s that time again. The final push. The fait accompli. Time to drop the hammer, finish strong, leave it all out on the Spielbrett as we bring WF2020 across the finish line. As usual, GG has no idea where the time went and can hardly believe we’re in the final week of game play (he’s not complaining; this was a rough one). Hopefully you left a little in the tank to bring your game home with authority. There’s only one thing GG hates more than a Krapfenfüste (yes, he got his first 🍩this Füste) and that’s a soft finish. So his personal challenge to you: den Schmerz bringen. You’ll have plenty of time to rest on March 8th.

• Your final homework audit is due by midnight tonight. And in case you weren’t keeping track, it’s worth +5p. WHAT?? That’s right. This was posted last week. Were you not paying attention? So, send GG video proof of completion of one Week 8 Qualkammer (click here for details). That’s a lot of bonuspunkte for a little bit of work. Get it done.

• The last and final new game bonus is on the Bonuspunkte page. Click here.

• The final Plankenfüste GBA is 2min for +3p. You got this.

• Drachen Slayage is in full effect! Don’t forget that this is worth +15p, an enormous amount of bonuspunkte. You would be remiss to pass on this opportunity and your place on the final Bestenliste will surely reflect what you do here. Four times a single workout parameter gets you the bonus. Let’s see what you’ve got!

• No homework this week. That’s right. Save your strength for the Finale Konfrontation.

• Tuesday is Super. Send GG a selfie proudly displaying your “I Voted” sticker to earn one last social responsibility +3p bonus (if you mailed in your ballot and you don’t have your sticker then you’ll need to be creatitve). You don’t get to bitch about things if you don’t vote.

• Some finer points on the Finalefüste day and event:

  • Unlike past Füstes, you must report your final day’s activity by noon on March 7th. Yes, the game continues to 5pm so there’s a little crystal ball work here. To be clear, GG will not accept a final report after 12:00pm that day. So, this means that next Saturday morning you will report, by noon, on the following:

    • Your final weight as of that morning (with a pic of the scale).

    • Your activity from Friday, March 6th.

    • Your expected activity for the March 7th through 5pm (yes, you’re on your honor here and GG will check STRAVA for same day Schmerzenfüste proof).

  • The Finalefüste event begins at 5pm. Please respect GG and your fellow Füsters and be punctual.

  • Two components to the dress code. The Finale Konfrontation is activity based, Please dress accordingly. Athlesure (“ahtletic leisure”) wear is most appropriate. Also bring a jacket as we may be outdoors and the weather is questionable for next Saturday. Each Gruppen is assigned a specific color shirt to wear as follows:

    • Eiskreaturen: White

    • Frostschreken: Blue

    • Schneedämonen: Green

    • Sturmangreifer: Grey

  • Food and basic drinks will be provided. Please bring a six pack or bottle of wine if you plan on drinking (and why wouldn’t you?). Hard alcohol is not allowed at this venue unfortunately but GG will not be policing flasks or plastic containers either so . . .

  • Did GG mention the Finale Konfrontation is activity based? Come prepared to work hard, get sweaty and beat-up and possibly confused and disoriented. This event is the real deal. You will be placed under stress. Deal with it. You are Füsters and exist on a higher plain than most. This comes with both benefits and costs. The effort put forth at the FK is one of those costs.

  • Please please please use a ride service if you’ll be drinking. This is very easy to do these days and you have zero excuse. GG prefers Lyft but there are a number of solutions here and absolutely no reason to drive home buzzed or intoxicated. There’s no faster way to get banned from future Füste events than for GG to have to wrestle your keys away from you and force Braunbär to put you in a compliance hold.

• GG has some travel this week that may effect posting updates to the Bestenliste (what’s new, right?). This Füste has been unfortunate in that regard but he’s going to do his best to get to daily updates on this final week. Be patient as you have been and GG thanks you for understanding that the Füste is not yet a self sustaining operation and that GG maintains outside employment like everyone else.

• Did you read this? Did you really? Then text GG your Finalefüste shirt color with Monday’s weekend report off to earn a +1p bonus.

• Oh, and there might be at least one Twitter based bonus opportunity this week so probably want to keep your eye on the interwebs . . . remember, the Twitter feed is posted right on The Füste home page. You literally have no excuse.

That’s it for now. Probably one final group communication on Friday but other than that, the game is yours to do with what you will on this final week. Respect yourself and finish like a champion, whether you’re in first place or the Rote Lanterne, you made it to the end, the Platypus didn’t snack on your ass (and may GG say that it’s looking much smaller in those skinny jeans) and you should be proud of what you’ve accomplished since Jan. 2nd!

As always, may the Füste be with you!

Griswalde “Grolarbär” Grolar

Week 8: Short, sweet and flank meat free

Evening Füsters

Week 8 is here. Unbelievable. And with only 12 days left in WF2020, it’s time to start wrapping things up . . .

• Finish strong.

• Did you RSVP for the Finalfüste yet? If not, why not?

• New bonus on the page. You should know the drill by now.

• This week is the last of the homework. Updated Qualkammer parameter on that page. This weekend’s audit is the last of Winterfüste. As such, it will be intense and worth +5p.

• Drachen slayage starts Sunday. Don’t lose out on a +15p bonus. Send your Drachen proposal to GG now for approval!

• Füste Fatigue. It’s a real thing. You’re almost there. Suck it up.

• DId GG remind you to RSVP? Do you really want to be that person? Do it now.

That’s all GG’s got for you. 12 days. Just 12 more days . . .

GG

Week 7: Flank Meat thinks it sees the light at the end of the tunnel but it's actually the Füste Express on final approach . . .

Füsters . . .

Less than 21 days and counting now as we make our way down the back side of WF2020. So far this Füste has been one for the record books! Most impressively, we’ve only had 7 players drop out over the last six weeks. This represents a fraction of the players who’ve dropped in the past! GG is incredibly impressed by this group of Füsters and is looking forward to a spectacular finish to this year’s game. We have 10-15 players who are still within striking distance of the Bestenfüste crown and at this point it’s any Füster’s game! We’ll all find out together on the evening of March 7th!

• Speaking of March 7th, you should have received an invitation by email to the Finalefüste Finale Konfrontation event (unless you’ve blocked Punchbowl.com’s emails . . . looking at your Gyrfalcon). The event will begin at 5pm at the Finley Community Center. The Finale Konfrontation between the Gruppens will be outdoors (unless weather forces us inside). We will then have food and drink and the awards ceremony after that to celebrate another successful Winterfüste in the books! And for you SoCal players, we’re working on a location for satellite event in your area so more to come on that!

• WK7’s homework parameters are published to the Hausaufgaben page on the website. The next two audits will be worth +3p each so make sure keep up on the homework. It might also help you at the Fianle Konfrontation!

• New Individual Bonus Allowances have been published to the Bonuspunkte page on the website. This includes details on the Drachenfüste Allowance (repeat Füsters will know all about slaying a Drachen!). Make sure to head over to the page and read up on how to earn those bonuspunkte!

• GG is returning to the road this week and there will be a definitive impact on game updates. Please be patient and continue to report each day whether you hear back from GG or not. As in the past, he will get back to you just as soon as he can!

• #TeamPolarbär or #TeamTrueFox? It’s NorCal v SoCal right now at the top of the Bestenliste. Both of these ladies are fierce competitors and GG is looking forward to some serious fireworks as we close the game out! Can one of them take the crown or will someone come up behind them and steal it away at the last moment?!

That’s if for now, everyone. Have a great week and as always, may the Füste be with you!

GG