SK21 Week 1 Update

Good morning, Füsters!

Hope everyone had a good Startenfüste and is ready to ease into Week 1. And by easing in GG means to have you concentrate solely on the daily work of the Füste and earning your three baseline punkte. There’ll be plenty of time for Homework and Bonus play starting this weekend. For now, just focus on the essentials and set your goals for the next seven weeks . . .

Some finer details for your consideration:

• First up, the daily exercise parameters. Let’s make sure their dates of availability are clear:

  • Singelts: July 17th to Aug. 3rd

  • Doppelts: Aug. 4th to Aug. 20th

  • Trippelts: Aug. 21st to Sept. 3rd

• Bonus play will begin at the end of the week with both classic bonus opportunities AND a whole new category of “Olympic” Bonus Allowances, based on what all those insanely fit people will be doing over in Japan.

• Still on the topic of Bonuses, there will be no STRAVA based bonuses available for July. We are already over half way through this month and many Füsters earned those bonuses before Sömmer Kamp even began so, yeah, GG’s going to pass on that logistical nightmare and just say that STRAVA bonuses will come into play once we reach August (and September too).

• Pelitonians (or whatever you people who ride those expensive indoor bikes with the SUPER annoying commercials call yourselves), it’s been brought to GG’s attention that the 50 minute indoor cycling parameter doesn’t work great for you because Peloton only offers 45 or 60 min classes. But we’ve found a solution in that Peloton does offer 5 min warm up or warm down classes so please simply combine a 45 min and a 5 min class to get your 50 min total. Those of us suffering on our home bike trainers or in spin class thank you for your understanding and commitment here.

• Shift workers (nurses, medics, law enforcement professionals and the like), GG is aware that you do not work the standard M-F work week like us home office pukes. So that means earning the Getränk Token for your free weekend adult beverage becomes a little confusing. Just reach out to GG and we’ll figure it out together. The goal is to have you earn your three full points every day for a series of days and to have the total reach 15 unbroken points to earn your Token. That should be doable. For the rest of us, today, Monday July 19th, is the first day of the five in a row that you’ll need to earn your +3p each day through Friday to earn the right to a Sömmer drink next weekend.

• Did you weigh-in and complete the Startenfüste Assessment? Did you sign your waiver? Did you pay your game fee? Did you register for Sömmer Kamp then ghost GG like a 12 year old? Ask yourselves these questions. GG will wait.

• Want to get in early on a couple of the things that are headed your way? Cool cool.

  • Start doing push-ups. You know, 5 or 6, couple times a day . . .

  • Maybe go buy a jump rope or order one on Amazon for delivery by the end of the week . . .

  • Soon you will get the details on the 5 Rings Olympiad Maesterbonus. This special bonus opportunity only appears once every four years. You must earn each of the five rings in order to claim the bonus but when you do, WOW. The trick is, you’re not going to know how to earn the rings. Yes, GG will provide clues and the like, but you’ll have to figure it out on your own. And since GG is not a complete monster, he’s giving you the first ring for free. Earn every daily punkte (the +3p for food, drink and exercise), each day from today, July 19th, until August 3rd to earn your first of the five rings (yes, astute Füsters will note that Aug. 3rd is also the last day of Singelt game play . . . hmmmm). What other big accomplishments might you have to complete to earn the other four rings?

That’s it for now. More to come later this week. Get those reports in each day by noon so GG can maintain his mental health. Have a great week and glad you’re here with us at Sömmer Kamp!

Griswalde Grolar

SÖMMER KAMP 2021 Pre-Game Update

Hallo Füsters and welcome back to the Spielbrett! We’re going to dispense with the pleasantries and get right down to the (flank) meat of the issue, as Sömmer Kamp is supposed to be Winterfüste’s lighter, faster, better looking self (like you’ll be in seven weeks time!) . . .

Here we go!

• With only one Neo-Füste, we’re going to skip the heavy handed welcome email. You all know who you are and what to do!

• Tonight you’ll receive the link, via text, to the Startenfüste Assessment. Super simple. Weigh in tomorrow morning (July 17th), do as many push-ups and sit-ups as you can, do a forearm plank for as long as you can, notate any significant injuries you’re currently dealing with and feel free to leave a comment or two, record all on the assessment sheet and you’re good to go! Make sure you send GG a pic of you on the scale too, so he can verify your starting weight (707-779-8372), in case you accidentally deleted his contact info).

• Some time tomorrow, you’ll receive the link, via text, to your new Daily Reporting Tool (the thing you can save to your phone’s home screen). You’ll need to use this new one and not the one from Winterfüste. It’s leaner and easier to use . . .

• And speaking of the Daily Reporting Tool, you will now use it to report off on bonus activity. You’ll see a new text box titled “BONUS COMPLETED”. Simply write the name of the bonus you completed the day before (e.g. “STRAVA 5K for July”) in the text area. A new box will open and you can select the appropriate number of punkte that you scored for the bonus. Then simply text GG whatever proof that bonus requires (again, e.g. for the STRAVA 5K you have to send GG a screen pic of your completion note from STRAVA). That’s it. One of the great things (for GG, not so much for you) is that he gets to experiment with new concepts and systems during the shorter Füste events so we’re going to try this new one and see how it goes.

• Another important difference for Sömmer Kamp, you can earn the right to have a frosty beverage on the weekends (or whatever passes as a weekend for you shift workers). What do you have to do to earn the Getränk Token? Score 15 total punkte (not including bonupunkte . . . nice try) between Monday and Friday of each week and you’ll earn the right to have a drink on either Saturday or Sunday, your choice.

• Fasting is back but we’ll concentrate on the “intermittent” fast concept so that’s dawn to dusk every Monday starting on July 26th. No full day fasts (not any that are pre-scheduled at least).

• Because Sömmer Kamp is its own thing, you'll receive an invitation to a new SK 2021 STRAVA club. Keep your peels eyed for that tomorrow.

• Please go here to sign the liability waiver and remove GG from having to be responsible for any bad decisions you make over the next seven weeks. He just shows you the door, you’re the one who decides to go through it.

• Don’t forget, if you need a refresher on how to play the game, go here. After that, take a minute to review the Regulbuch (Rule Book) here.

• And finally, if you haven’t paid your $50 game fee, please do so now using Venmo. Search for @ggrolar. If you don’t have Venmo, let GG know and he’ll open up the website pay wall for you.

That’s if for now. Very excited you’ve decided to join up for Sömmer Kamp and looking forward to all the amazing things you’ll accomplish!

Good luck and may the Füste be with you!

GG

Finalefüsten: On the controlled release of the Füsters back into the wild . . .

Füsters

The 71 days of Winterfüste 2021 have come to an end and with that we close the door on what was ultimately a pandemic recovery Füste. Extra long, extra hard, built to break the shell of coagulated flank meat that had encased many of us like an early and unwanted sarcophagus. To GG’s delight, the Füsters didn’t disappoint. You showed up to play hard from day one, some brand new to the concept, some already seasoned by past Füste events. We started with a record 122 players and 79 crossed the finish line at the Finalefüste, a 65% completion rate. The average weight loss was just under 10 pounds, which is in line with what we’ve seen from past events (maybe a little low but as the player count increases we’ll see more divergence from the year over year averages). Assessment reporting was significantly down this year with only 57 of the finishing players reporting in their final weight loss (72% compliance). As a result, GG has to estimate total weight loss but he knows that 57 players reported losing 530 pounds and if you work the average over 79 players, total weight loss for WF21 should be right around 806 pounds (not counting any weight lost by those who retired out early). If you have to burn roughly 3000 calories to kill a pound of flank meat, then we collectively torched 2.5 million calories over the last ten weeks. Not too shabby, folks. But here’s where it gets hard (harder than the game without any question). For all the work you just did, it takes 9 months of maintaining a new weight for your metabolic thermostat to reset. So what does that mean? It means your work has only begun. Right not your entire body is like one giant abrasion. Yes, you’ve scraped off 10 - 30 pounds of flank meat but just like a dermal injury, your body will now want to scab over (with flank meat, yuck) and heal. It wants to put that extra weight back on and it’s going to do what it can to get you on board with that plan. But if you can hold it together long enough, your body will recognize your new weight as its baseline and the fight in 2022 will be much, much easier. So how do you do that then? How do you hold your body off from what it naturally wants to do? Routine, accountability, structure. All the things you just did for the last ten weeks to get where you are today. You don’t need a GG to stand over your shoulder or wag a finger at you each day. You just need to put the habits you’ve been practicing since Jan. 2nd into play now, for reals. What’s that look like? 6 days on, 1 day off. Start there. For the rest of 2021, GG challenges you to maintain your current eating/drinking/schmerzing pattern for 6 days each week. The 7th day you can do what you want with. Eat what you want. Drink what you want. But maybe help keep things balanced on that special day by doing a Doppelt or Trippelt work out so that everything stay high and tight. There is absolutely no reason to return to the poor habits of 2020. Ask yourself this. On the cheat day, did you feel good? Did the food you ate really taste that amazing? The buzz was that impactful? If you’re like GG and you look at things as they are and not as how we’d like them to be, you’d realize that the food and drink didn’t make things better. Now think about the days you were outside, running or hiking or biking or whatever you did. How’d that feel? Yes, you had your hard days out there in the world but for the most part, it felt pretty damn good, didn’t it? Play those two concepts together and try not to forget what you did and how you got here. Too many Füsters have learned a hard lesson once Winterfüste has ended. They fall off the wagon and undo ten weeks worth of work in a fraction of the time. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. Keep to the principles of the Füste. Limit sugar intake. Limit your drinking. Get outside every day you can and exercise. Try this. Each week, bank 18 punkte. If you slip up, do a Doppelt to earn back the lost point. Play the principals of the game forward and use it to set parameters for yourself. You like how you feel right now, how your clothes fit and how you look. Why would you give that up just so you can eat processed krap that’s ultimately going to poison you and make you old before your time? Yes, that’s a dramatic statement but also true. GG puts a lot of time and energy into you whether you realize it or not. Now do the same for yourself. You’re worth it. I promise. But if you slip up, we’ll be back to get you on track again. That’s what we try do here at the Füste, to give you what you need to be successful, even if you didn’t know you needed it.

And with that, GG will sign off for the foreseeable future. This Füste was experimental in many ways, from the new bonuses to the reporting structure. I’m sure many of you have comments, recommendations and concerns and GG plans on putting out a survey in the next couple of weeks to gather all that valuable intel. As always, GG thanks you for inviting him into your life for this short amount of time and letting him boss you around. There’s nothing quite like watching someone who didn’t think they could do something not only succeed at it but go far beyond their own preconceived limitations. Cause here’s the secret behind everything hard. If you think you can do it, you can. If you know you can’t, you won’t. Pretty simple really.

As always and until we meet again on the Spielbrett,

May the Füste be with you . . .

Griswalde Grolar

WINTERFÜSTE 2021 TOTALS

TOTAL DISTANCE RUN: 5400 MILES

TOTAL DISTANCE WALKED/HIKED: 4800 MILES

TOTAL DISTANCE RIDDEN: 1800 MILES

Average distance across the United States: 3000 miles . . . we walked/ran/rode to New York and back again, TWICE!!

WEIGHT LOSS TOTALS (reported)

Waist Management: 62#

Skwäk Skwäd: 57#

Superflüffers: 51#

H. Spanglers: 37#

She-Teufel: 30#

House of Payne: 27#

Skwäd Skål: 21#

Pandemic Skwäd: 20#

Bod Skwäd: 20#

Nachoskwäd: 17#

Ebies Anchor: 16#

HIIT Skwäd: 14#

Fussa Zwei: 9#

Badass Skwäd: 7#

Skwäd Runn: 4#

TOTAL REPORTED WEIGHT LOSS (57 of 79 finishers): 530 pounds

TOTAL ESTIMATED WEIGHT LOSS (79 finishers): 806 pounds (that’s 54 long dogs!)

Week 10 . . . Finishing Strong

Füsters

So we’re here, incredibly, at the end of another Winterfüste. It’s the final week of a particularly long event (GG has not done 10 weeks before but given the damage of Rona Year ‘21, he felt it necessary to increase time on task for prime flank meat destruction). To date, this has been one of the most interesting and unquestionably competitive Füste events of the modern era (I think one could make the argument that this even rivals WF1910 where Ernst Toller, one of the founders of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, challenged Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, a famous actor of the time, to a duel at the Finalfüste event in Dresden; Ernst had questioned whether Chaplin had actually climbed Mont Blanc to score his 3rd Wanderungfüste bonus . . . but GG digresses). Point being, you have all taken part in something quite extraordinary this year. 100+ players will finish the event this year. That in and of itself is quite incredible. But the battle that has been raging for a top 20 spot is something GG has not seen recently and he is quite impressed and overwhelmed by the dedication to the Füste that he has witnessed these last 9 weeks. But the game isn’t quite over and really there are any number of players who could still win and claim the title of Bestenfüste ‘21!

Couple of updates:

• All bonus opportunities are posted and all are still live (save the Jan and Feb STRAVA allowances which closed at the end of each month). While combo bonuses are still not a thing, remember that GG is now allowing for more than one bonus per day.

• Homework officially ends today. Get your last audit in for a +1p bonus and after that you can stand down on the push ups and sit ups etc. For those who did it consistently, GG has nothing but respect and admiration. Strong work across the board!

• We will also be cancelling the final No Meat Monday and Fastentag Day this coming week so you can focus exclusively on Schmerzenfüste Trippelts and bonus allowances. Got get those punkte!

• As was discussed early on, there will obviously be no in-person Finalfüste event next Saturday. While things seem to be opening up, COVID-19 levels in CA are still equal to last Summer’s surge numbers (it seems like no one is talking about this) and most of CA is still in the Purple Tier (meaning the disease remains “widespread” throughout the state). As a result, WF21 will end somewhat unceremoniously, which for GG is quite disappointing. The Finalfüste event is where he gets to meet many of the Neo-Füstes for the first time and where we celebrate both the singular and group accomplishments. GG had thought to finish things out with a Skwäd based virtual competition but has decided against this based on the general lack of overall enthusiasm for group Füste activities (and yes, GG knows that there are some that have done amazing work with the Skwäds this year but mostly the percentage of players just weren’t able to get behind the concept). GG may still attempt something virtual at 17:00 hours on next Saturday to mark the closing of the game. More to come here.

• One thing GG would like to call out is the success of some of the new and more difficult challenges this year. While some had questioned whether the Füsters were up for it, you absolutely slayed the new Wanderungfüste three tiered challenge and the Höllenwhoche (Hell Week) challenge! And as always, the Drachenfüste Challenge (currently on-going) is turning out to once again be a real showcase for what you’ve personally accomplished this year! You should all be very, very proud of what you have done here!

• Next Saturday will close with the Finalfüste assessment. This will be the same basic assessment you did at the Startenfüste and the mid-point. Hopefully it will capture some impressive results and demonstrate to you what you can do if you simply dedicate yourself to an idea.

That’s if for now. Here’s wishing you all an amazing final week of Winterfüste 2021. GG will have one final update/communication near the end of the week. For those with bonuspunkte left on the board, put your nose to the schleifstein and go get those points! You have seven days left and many, many players can finish considerably higher up the Bestenliste. So finish strong and as always, may the Füste be ever with you!

Griswalde

Week 9 Update: Bringing It Home

Füsters

We have two weeks left of WF2021, meaning you’ve made it 80% of the way there with only a couple MAJOR hurdles to get over before you’re released back to your own devices . . .

• Check out the Bonuspunkte page here for all the remaining bonus opportunities over the next two weeks. Week 10 bonuses will not start until Sunday, March 7th but you can get a preview now. Also, don’t forget that STRAVA bonuses reset on this Monday, March 1st, so you can once again earn up to +6p as we finish out the game.

• Almost all bonuses are still available and in play until the final day of the game. Many of you have left a ton of bonuspunkte on the table and earning even some of it would boost you far up the Bestenliste. To make things more interesting, GG is officially lifting the moratorium on completing more than one bonus per day (you still can’t combo two bonuses for the same event though). So get out there and get that punkte!

• Trippelt Schmerzenfüste begins TOMORROW, Feb. 28th. Check the Regelbuch (Rule Book) for the details on what you need to do to earn +3p each day for exercise/pain.

• Week 9 is the last week of homework and next weekend is the last chance to earn the extra bonus for an audit . . . speaking of audits, have you been letting that simpe +1p bonus slip through your fingers? Are you going to again this weekend (hand over face emoji)?

• By tomorrow night, we’ll be down to one final head to head between the last two Skwäds left in the Skwädron Tournament. But even so, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the Skwäds are out of the running for the BestenSkwädron competition that ends on the Finalefüste. Just cause you our of the Tournament doesn’t mean you should stop fighting for the Skwäd points!

That’s it for now. There’s plenty of game play still left to keep you busy while we bring this thing home. Everyone continues to do an amazing job this Füste. We started with 122 players (a record setting number) and in two months of Füsting we’ve only retired 20 Füsters. That is insane and a statement on your dedication to finishing what you started! Keep it up, get through Hell Week, slay that Dragon and then use WF2021 as a launching pad to a great rest of the year!

As always, may the Füste be with you!
Griswalde

Week 8 Update

Hallo Füsters . . .

We’ve officially closed out Week 7 and are on the fast track to finishing Winterfüste 2021. Only three weeks of game play left and hopefully everyone is getting everything they were hoping for out of this year’s event.

Quick update:

• This week is the last week before Trippelts come into play (officially they begin next Sunday, Feb. 28th; there was a glitch on the homepage calendar that said they started this past Sunday but that’s been corrected). Please remember that you can still score Singelts and Doppelts as desired without a penalty once Tripplets come on line. Point being, you don’t have to do Trippelts once they start up.

• This week is also the last week of February so if you have outstanding STRAVA bonuspunkte to earn, get it done by Sunday. Cause next Monday is March 1st (how is this possible?) and we’ll start a whole new month of STRAVA bonuses.

• Round 2 of the Skwädron Tournament is complete and GG will be tabulating scores. Look for an update to the brackets in the next 24 hours. And don’t forget, just cause you’re eliminated from the Tournament does not mean you’re out of the running the BestenSkwädron competition. The Tournament is basically like one really big Skwâd bonus allowance. Yes, the winner of the Tournament will be the odd’s on favorite to win the overall competition but there’s no guarantee of victory. Anything can happen during Winterfüste!

• Couple new bonuses have been posted. There will not be too many more Individual Bonus Allowances for the rest of the game as Hell Week and your Drachenfüste will really take center stage for the last couple weeks of the game. So that gives you some time to get caught up and complete whatever you have outstanding (and there’s a TON of bonuspunkte currently to be collected).

That’s about it for now. One thing GG would ask of you: if you’re done playing and your’e only reporting every so often and you’re well below Percentile Platypus on the Bestenliste, please voluntarily retire from the game. The official rules say that you cannot be below the Platypus for more than 72 hours but GG has been very, very lax with enforcement of this rule this year as he wanted to give everyone as big a chance to be successful as he could. But if your hearts not in it, please retire from the game. Each player, regardless of whether they’re still committed or not, has a daily impact on GG for reporting and collation. With only three weeks left, if you’re done, tap out and let GG know. There’s no shame in it but not reporting and leaving GG to constantly go into the daily summary to see if he missed something isn’t super cool and is a huge energy suck on the game manager. So take pity on GG and do the right thing here.

Alright, everyone have a great week and we’ll see you on the Spielbrett!

Griswalde

Week 6: Over the Hump . . . (but where's the damn downhill??)

Füsters

The first half of WInterfüste is complete. You've managed to survive five weeks of workouts, bonus challenges, no meat Mondays, intermittent and HEAVY fasting and your Cheat Day and you’re still here to open the back half of the game. GIve yourself a pat on the back and then snug up those höschen cause here’s where the game gets real. Instead of rolling to a downhill finish after clearing the midpoint, Winterfüste becomes decidedly more difficult as we introduce three weeks of Doppelt Schmerzenfüste, followed by the final two weeks of Trippelts, which include the new Höllenwhoche Event during Week 9, your Drachenfüste slayage during Week 10 and the Finalefüste Skwäd die Staffel to really put a stake in this things heart on the final weekend. But enough of this self-suckling, let’s get it on!

• As mentioned above, Doppelt Schmerzenfüste are now in play, meaning everyday you can earn +2p for exercise. The parameters for the Doppelt can be found HERE in the Regelbuch. Just a reminder, you can either simply double a Singelt (basically run two 5Ks which yes, equals a 10K) or do two different Singelts (swim for 35 min, run a 5K) to earn the +2p. You do not have to do the two Singelts together, meaning you could run one 5K in the AM and the second in the evening. However you want to get there.

• More Individual Bonus Allowances have been made available. GG is implementing a new rule for the back half of the game. You may only take one IBA per day. You may not combo bonus allowances and you may not stack bonus allowances onto the same day. One a day to keep things fair as not all Füsters have the same amount of time and personal freedom to dedicate to the game.

• The Turnier der BestenSkwädron begins today (Feb. 8th). This tournament supersizes the daily efforts of the Skwäds and puts them in direct conflict with each other as they navigate a three week, 16 team, bracketed speilbrett that will ultimately lead to a single victor. The key here is for every member of your Skwäd to get every daily punkte and every Skwäd bonuspunkte possible each week. Do this, defeat your enemy, sit back and breath in the greatness. More to come later today on the tournament.

• The HG Days are over (thank Gotte) but intermittent fasting will continue with single Tuesday Fastentag days through the end of the game. That means that each Tuesday you can still earn your +0.5p bonus for a dawn to dusk fast (unfortunately the days are getter longer as Winter heads towards Spring so . . . ). And while we’re on the subject, congrats to the 25 hardcore Füsters who suffered through all six of the full Hungriger Geist Days this year. The 24, 48 and 72 hour fasts are a beast to be reckoned with and you all did it with minimal complaint. Truly impressive!

• Please make sure to review the new bonus allowances for a very special support event for the Harp Seal. GG is asking for your help and support here so do what you can to lift up our friend and very important Füster (VIF?).

That’s it for now. Again, this is where things have a tendency to get crazy. Push hard but please take care of yourself and rest as needed. GG never intended this game to be won by someone scoring every single point. That’s just nuts (looking at you Marten, Polarbär, Wolverine, Hare, Orca etc.). If that’s your goal, you may need to take a hard look in the mirror and ask, “Bin ich okay?”. GG’s not a head shrinker (he leaves that up to the Snowy Owl) and doesn’t pretend to understand the motivations of each and every player. He just knows that the next five weeks are logarithmically more difficult than the first five, so go easy and don’t hurt yourself.

That’s it for now.

As always, may the Füste be with you in all that you do.

Griswalde

Week 5 Update

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

Week 4 Update

Füsters

Three weeks down and the game is now in full swing. Based on the last couple of days of game play, it doesn’t appear anyone did irreparable damage to themselves with last week’s inaugural celebrations so good on you.

Here’s this weeks update:

• A point of clarity around the bonus play: unless it clearly states otherwise in the bonus allowance description, all bonuses are valid through the end of the game. Most can only be taken once so once you’ve scored your bonuspunkte, you can cross that one off you personal list.

• Almost everyone is doing a great job with identifying their Skwäd names when they text GG proof of a Skwädron bonus (long dogs, planks and yes, there’s a new one posted on the bonus page). So keep it up and if you haven’t been doing it, ask yourself why you want to hurt GG.

• GG has noticed that a handful of Füsters are reporting fasting points on non-fasting days. While GG has previously stated that you can move fasting days around with cause, he does need to know what you’re doing before you do it. If he sees that you’re reporting points for a fast on a non-fasting day and you haven’t run it by him, he ‘ll assume you reported this in error and ignore it. Open communication is the key to a healthy Geschäftsführer.

• And while we’re on the topic of fasting . . . Tuesday and Wednesday are both HG Days and combined they create the dreaded 48 hour full fasting event. That means that after Meatless Monday, at midnight, you begin your clear liquid only two day fast. Now, you may choose to only do one of the two days and only score one of the two points. Entirely up to you. And you may choose to only do the Fastentag dawn to dusk fast on Tuesday instead. Or you can say hell with this and not fast at all this week. OR (and) you could then just eat a whole pizza while wearing nothing but a trash bag and screw this whole Füste thing, what what was I even thinking pizza is SO good and so are donuts and sitting on the couch and . . . see, it’s a slippery slope. Do the 48 hour fast. Be smart about it. Use the warm lemon water and maple syrup drink as needed, don’t get crazy and pass out and crack your head open. It’s only 48 hours. You can totally do this.

• GG is spending a lot of time going back each day to see if the people who didn’t make the cutoff for reporting the day before actually reported later in the day. He’s then been adding these points back in to your score. Starting this week, he will no longer be providing this courtesy. If you don’t report by noon each day, your points are gone. It has to be done. All you have to do is set an alarm for yourself and report by noon. That’s it. The only exception is our night shift friends (we have a couple) and they’re usually confused and on edge so GG gives them a little leeway.

• This week is the last week of January (which doesn’t even make since given it was Xmas like three days ago) and as such you have one week left to score your January STRAVA Challenge bonuses. That’s the 5K and 10K runs, the 100K Gran Fondo bike ride, etc. Next Sunday at midnight we’ll switch to February’s bonuses and any of the +6p you didn’t earn for January will be lost to you. So finish strong and get all your bonuspunkte before the end of the month!

That’s it for now. Couple of interesting things happening this week so keep your eyes and ears open and be ready to respond. One last thing of note, GG is on the road all week and as anyone who has Füsted in the past can tell you, this often leads to delays in both general communication and also posting the Bestenliste. With all the new systems in place, GG doesn’t anticipate we’ll see a lag in the Bestenliste but he will definitely be slow to respond to text comms so please be patient. GG promises he’ll get to you as he has time. Thanks for your understanding.

As always, may the Füste be with you!

Griswalde

A Pause for Reflection

Füsters

Tomorrow, January 20th, we’re going to do something unprecedented.

While you will still be able to score bonuspunkte if you want to go out for a hike or you happen across a long dog, you will not be able to earn your three daily points. This doesn’t mean you have to stop Füsting (and GG recommends very strongly that you don’t), it just means that if you choose to raise a glass in a toast tomorrow night (or whatever you want to do), there will be no penalty for this action. So take the day for yourself and do whatever it is you need to mark this moment in time. Because it’s not insignificant, what we’ve lived through, what we are living through, and there will always be those days where something like the Füste, for all the good it does, can get in the way of tradition and catharsis and that’s not what GG wants.

We’ll get back to it on Thursday.

Griswalde