Week 6 - Down hill from here . . .

Füsters . . .

Three weeks to go in Sömmer Kamp and the field has been reduced by almost a third. Sömmer Kamp’s early retirement (and ghosting) rate far exceeds that of Winterfüste every year . . . really an interesting annual occurrence. But this matter’s not to you, oh faithful Füster, because you’re in it for the long (dog) haul, the whole enchilada, all the way to the finish line and then some!

Updates:

• It came way faster than GG remembers it but apparently we start TRIPPELT workouts tomorrow (July 11th)! Didn’t see that one coming! Get out there and knock out those big workouts (go here if you can’t remember what a Trippelt looks like).

• Also, this week’s bonus is a HUGE commitment to the concept of mental endurance and pain (and yes, GG got a little twisted on this one given it’s such a huge ask for such a little punkte . . . but that might just be built into the game design, right? 🤔)

• Homework’s updated but you knew that already.

Not much else to say other than GG is on the road for the next two weeks (yep, 14 damn days) in support of his alter ego’s FT job so be patient if you don’t hear back real quick. But maybe keep an eye on STRAVA or Twitter to see if you can figure out where in the world GG is . . .

That’s it for now. Almost there. Hope you’re really giving it to that flank meat!

GG

Week 4

Füsters:

Real quick update this week . . . the fasts are behind us (how’d you do? GG had a rough go of it this time 🤢) and the Cheat Day is right around the corner (new and improved this year with FIREWORKS!) so that means we’re almost half way through Sömmer Kamp. GG hopes you’re seeing some results by now but if not, no worried cause it’s time for . . .

• Doppelt Workouts! Starting tomorrow (June 27th) and available daily through the end of the game, a Doppelt (i.e. double) workout is worth +2p and is accomplished either by completing a defined Doppelt workout (go here to review) or by completing two separate Singelts in one day. Good luck!

• Last week GG asked you to pay a little more attention to the dates during your daily reporting and you guys killed it! GG didn’t have to fix a single report during Week 3! Thank you for your attention to detail 👍

• You guys are also doing great with the weekend homework audits so keep that up to collect those +3p bonuses!

• Some great Sömmer time activity were sent over to GG to earn your free drink point. GG’s seen some great water balloon ambushes, water slide fun, slip and slides, Füsters playing in sprinklers and going out for Sömmer picnics. Excellent work and hope you enjoyed the free drink.

• New bonus for this week has been posted and homework has been updated.

• And yes, don’t forget the 4th of July (where we celebrate our “freedom”, unless you’re a woman with working uterus then we just pretend . . . ) is your Cheat Day this year so prepare yourself to feel really gross next Monday!

That’s it for now. Thanks for being here and GG hopes you’re having a good Sömmer Kamp experience!

GG

On to Week 3!

Evening Füsters! GG hopes you had a great weekend and wishes a happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there, as well as anyone who identifies as a father or is a father by proxy. Important work you do everyday!

Here’s your update:

• Don’t forget that GG screwed up the DRT again (because of course he did) and you now have to report your weekend audit on Tuesday. That’s when the check box will magically appear. So make sure you check the box and get that punkte!

• While we’re on the topic of reporting, please double check that you’re using the correct date when you’re reporting. It’s not a huge deal, but GG is having to go in and correct a number of reports each day due to the wrong date. It looks like sometimes you guys fat finger the keyboard and end up reporting for a date one week in advance. Again, not earth shattering, just letting you know.

• This week’s bonus is the classic Mitternachtsonne IBA. GG has altered the start and end times a bit and you can now do it between 10pm and 4am the next day. And remember that you can use it for your exercise point on whichever day you started the activity on . . .

• Great work on the howework audits. GG saw some excellent form with the squats and wall holds. You guys are taking the homework seriously which is great to see! And the homework parameters have been updated for Week 3 so check that homework page for more info . . .

• Don’t forget this week is the dreaded 48 hour fast, Wednesday and Thursday. If you get it done and you did the other two, you can report the +6p Fasting bonus on the DRT on Friday!

• Also this week we get to experience the Sömmer Solstice together on Tuesday. Longest day of the year and after that the days get slightly shorter (seems counter intuitive as we go into true Sömmer, no?). Anyways, GG will most likely have a Blitz Bonus waiting for you on this special day so keep your peels eyed and we’ll see what happens!

That’s it for now. Hope you guys are having a good time at Kamp so far and keep up the good work this week!

GG

Sömmer Kamp Week 2 Update

Evening Füsters!

Week 1 has come to a close and we had a good, solid week of participation from everyone in the game. The group did excellent work in helping to maintain GG’s mental health by reporting accurately and early every day. Thanks for that!

Now for a quick update:

• Homework parameters have increased so go check those on the homework page. Make sure you’re doing your sets each day because GG can guarantee that you won’t be able to successfully complete the last couple of weekend audits if you’re not putting the time in. One other thing of note, the push-up audit this weekend showed that a lot of folks haven’t reviewed the form videos on the homework page because there was entirely too much water-spidering going on. So go check out the videos and make sure you’re form is solid.

• Under the Bonus drop down you’ll see “ASSESSMENT (1)” right at the top of the list. Please do not report this bonus. It’s not for the Startenfüste Assessment or anything else that’s been released. Sorry for any confusion there.

• Trying something a little different with this week’s bonuses . . . you can combine them as a single event. For example, simply go for a hike at a park that’s out of your county and you can score both on the same day (thereby violating the sanctity of the “only one bonus per day” rule!) Just report one as the first bonus and the second as, uh, the second. That should be pretty simple.

Shockingly, not much else to say tonight so we’ll keep it short and sweet.

Have a great second week of Sömmer Kamp and keep up the good work!

Griswalde Grolar

WILLKOMMEN BACK TO THE FÜSTE!

Evening, Füsters!

GG’s very pleased to have you all back on the Spielbrett and ready to once again take up arms in the never ending battle for the supremacy over our collective muffin tops! Flank meat never rests and while you’ve been enjoying your Spring it’s been plotting against you and your pancreas. Well, this stops now as we draw a line in the sand and use the long days of Sömmer to our advantage! Let it be known that our flank meats days are once again numbered as we come together to defeat that meat!

Here’s the tea on Sömmer Kamp:

• Don’t forget to complete your Startenfüste Assessment by going here. This is where you’ll record your Day 1 weigh-in (still send GG that pic of your scale for accountability . . . and please, for the love of all that is holy, unless you are literally a foot model, throw some socks on those bad boys and save GG the discomfort of knowing your horrible secrets). Please get the full assessment done by mid-week at the latest.

• Also don’t forget to sign your liability waiver by going here. GG likes to live lawyer free.

• Some of the Schmerzenfüste (exercise) parameters have been slightly tweeked (mostly for the Doppelt and Trippelts) so please review to make sure you’ve got the right goals set for yourself.

• We don’t have frozen lakes to jump into to start Sömmer Kamp but we do have buckets of ice and water. Go here for your Week 1 bonuses.

• While we’re on the topic, bonuses for Sömmer Kamp are very different than you may be used to from other recent Füste events. There will only be one pre-scheduled standard bonus available per week. There may still be the occasional “Blitz Bonus” that pops up for one single day but for the most part your bonus opportunities will be intentionally limited.

• While we’re on the topic of bonuses, you’ll note that STRAVA Challenge Bonuses are not included during Sömmer Kamp. Again, GG’s looking for you to concentrate on the daily grind and creating good, healthy, realistic habits (although GG’s not ruling out that a STRAVA Challenge might play a part in one of the weekly bonuses down the road).

• And one more thing about bonuses . . . last Winterfüste we ran into a problem. It’s a standing rule that you can only complete one bonus per day. But there are certain circumstances where you might have to REPORT a second bonus and that wasn’t something the Daily Reporting Tool could handle. Well, GG’s got that fixed so if you run across this situation, you’ll be able to report the second bonus without difficulty (by choosing “second bonus” on the DRT; intuitive, no?).

• Homework is still a thing and GG is going to greatly beef up this requirement. The KoG is gone and rebranded as your Weekly Homework Audit, still due each weekend by Sunday at 5pm. New to this Füste is a tweak to the Daily Reporting Tool wherein you will not be able to report your homework audit on any day except Monday (the check box will literally only appear on Mondays). Go here to review Week 1’s homework assignment. Remember, there are no daily points associated with completing your homework but you need to do it so that you can successfully complete the end of the week audit and earn your +3p bonus.

• Fasting will of course return during the first half of the game. In fact, the first fast is this Wednesday (June 8th), clear liquids only from sun-up to sun-down. And just like the homework audit, the fasting checkbox will only appear on your DRT the day after a scheduled fast (the +6p Fasting bonus you’ll see in the bonus drop down list is only for when you complete all three fasting events successfully).

• There are no rest days during Sömmer Kamp (except for the Cheat Day which conveniently falls on the 4th of July this year) so just ignore that the DRT still mentions that under the exercise drop down. It wouldn’t be a Füste event if GG didn’t miss some damn thing during the build out.

• If you’re one of those non-iPhone weirdos, let GG save us both from the pain and suffering your poor choices will cause us. Download WhatsApp and friend Griswalde Grolar. This is the only way you’ll be able to effectively send GG the video proof that many activities require.

• One major change that GG has made to the game addresses the likelihood of a tie on the final day. We’ve seen this now a couple of times and while GG applauds any Füster who accomplishes the near impossibility of a Perfect Game (earning all possible points, something that has now become the trademark of the Bestenfüste), he had found it necessary to create a tie break challenge so that there can truly be only one Bestenfüste when the bell rings on July 30th. Not going to give you full visibility yet but let’s just say you’re going to want to concentrate on doing your homework with mighty diligence if you think you’re going to be the best as Kamp.

Alright, that’s enough for now. One pro tip: try very hard not to drop any easy points in the first two weeks of the game. You never know when the urge to Bestenfüste will hit you and it’s a real bummer if you kill your changes early on for no good reason. So come out swinging tomorrow and don’t look back (unless you’re planning on going that way). GG’s looking forward to playing along with you and wishes you great success on the Spielbrett!

May the Füste be with you over the next 8 weeks!

Griswalde G

Final Update WF22: By the numbers . . .

Well, Füsters, you made it to the end of another Füsting event (that’s 13 over the last six years, if you count Oktoberfüste 2017 which had to be aborted mid-game due to the Santa Rosa fires . . .). WF22 can officially go into the books as complete. Because of your reporting diligence this year, GG has the best set of data ever to understand what exactly we collectively accomplished (and here’s a hint, it’s pretty spectacular!).

But first, let us recognize our players:

THE BESTENFÜSTE

We’ve had a tie once before during the modern era of the Füste but nothing like what we saw this year. Over and over again we had from two to seven players tie for first place on the daily Bestenliste and we finished the game with a four-way tie for the top spot!

Here’s your game winners:

• The Arctic Sea Jelly: A Neo-Füster (first time playing) out of SoCal, the Arctic Sea Jelly spent more time in first place by herself than any other player this year (in future Füstes, this stat will be used to break a final tie). She consistently pushed herself beyond her personal limits and did things she didn’t think she could do, which resulted in her earning the Best New Füster status for WF22 . . . and she had unquestionably the best Füstenween costume!

• The Bald Eagle: GG thinks the Bald Eagle surprised himself this year by suddenly being in a position to win! For those who don’t know, the Bald Eagle has been Füsting for over five years and is responsible for the expansion of the game to SoCal. He recently completed his first Ironman and showed his grit this year by completing a solo “ultra-marathon” (33 miles) to slay his Drachen! Truly incredible!

• The Snow Cat: GG’s been watching this player for years, waiting and wondering when she’d make her big move to take the game. There’s been no question she had the chops to be the Bestenfüste, it just took a bit of time for her to realize this herself. And thankfully this year she did, putting down truly impressive run numbers and gutting out the weighted walks and stair climbs and all the other tortures that GG had devised!

• The True Fox: GG doesn’t even know what to say here other than the True Fox is one of only two players to ever repeat as Bestenfüste. She tied to win the game in 2020 and again this year, an incredible feat by anyone’s standards. And GG doesn’t think she’d mind if he points out she did all this in the 60+ player age category!

THE RESTENFÜSTE

• To round out the podium, 2nd place went to another Neo-Füste, the Alpaca, who if he’d simply eaten more vegetables would have found himself in the first place tie! And 3rd place went to the Ice Fish, a repeat Füster who has improved year over year and who GG has his eye on as a likely future Bestenfüste!

• A real interesting statistic, 14 of the top 25 finishers held Neo-Füste status, meaning they’d never played the game before! It gets more interesting when you realize that new players represented roughly 33% of the total 144 players that started WF22, so their domination of the top 25th percentile is really quite impressive.

NOW FOR THE NUMBERS . . .

• Ran: 4766.5 miles total (if the U.S. is roughly 2900 miles coast to coast, that means you ran to NY and then back to Las Vegas . . .)

• Walked/hiked: 9770.7 miles total (so yeah, that’s to NY, back to SF, back to NY and then halfway back across the US . . . )

• Biked: 4797.8 miles total (you get the idea . . . )

• Swum: 374,226 yards or 212 miles total.

• Spun: 32,597 min or 543 hours OR just shy of 23 days!

Now here’s where it gets absolutely wild. If we take the average mph of your spin bike time as 13mph (low estimate), that means that you rode 7059 miles. Take that, add it to the sum of miles run, walked, swum and biked, you’ll get 26,606 miles traveled over the ten weeks of Winterfüste. The Earth (THE FRICKIN EARTH!) is roughly 25,000 miles around (you see where I’m going here) . . . . that means that this group of incredible Füsters CIRCUMNAVIGATED PLANET EARTH!! GG has absolutely no words for this incredible achievement! But I think it’s safe to say that as new members of the “Around the World in 70 Days Club”, you guys are absolutely something special!

Well, I don’t know how GG can top that last bit so I think we’ll end it here. Again, thank you all for another great Füsting experience. It’s a bit of a slog for GG, these 10 weeks, but in the end it’s worth every minute. You guys are inspiring and incredible individuals and GG is truly proud to be your steward over the 10 weeks of Winterfüste! Don’t forget what you’ve learned here about yourself and your capabilities. Take your new habits and try and play them forward into the new year. It’ll be rough at times but you can do it. The big take away should really be to exercise daily for about an hour, drink alcohol in moderation, and stay the hell away from sugar! Do that, you’ll maintain your Winterfüste gains.

GG’s got some work to do with the Füste concept. He’s not sure what the future holds or what things will look like if the Füste returns, but he’s hopeful that you’ll join him again some day on the Spielbrett, whenever or wherever that may be . . .

Until that time, may the Füste be ever with you.

Griswalde Grolar

PS: Average weight loss this Füste: 11.2 pound of flank meat . . . biggest loser, Gyrfalcon at 27 pounds total. Incredible work, everyone! 👍

Week 10: It's the end, my friend . . .

This is it Füsters . . . less than one week to go to the Finalefüste (and it probably can’t come soon enough, amiright?)! This one felt long even though ten weeks has been the standard for a couple years now. Considering we dropped 35% of the players who started the game, it would seem that a lot of Füsters agree (GG will be sending out an end of game survey so you can sound off on what did and didn’t work for you this year). Having said all that, GG hopes that it’s been worth it for you and that you got everything you were hoping to get out of Winterfüste 2022. January 2nd (the Startenfüste) seems like a million years ago so GG commends you on your fortitude of spirit and your tenacity for still being here to read this final weekly update!

Here goes:

• NO HOMEWORK THIS WEEK! That’s right, we’re done with that krap. Not sure if you were doing it or not but school’s out for Sömmer so we’re done with this and the KoG. You guys by and large did a great job with the weekend assessments this year!

• Meatless Monday’s come to an end today. If you scored ‘em all, text GG in the AM tomorrow and HE WILL ADD YOUR BONUS FOR YOU (after confirming you checked the box each Tuesday AM). How’d it go for you? A bunch of local farm animals give you a strict thumbs up for your participation in this Monday challenge. 🐓🐄🐟👍

• At the end of the week, GG will begin collating the Olympic Rings challenge. You don’t have to do anything here. If you scored +3p (food, drink, exercise) from January 10th to March 11th AND cut of your Drachenschwanz, you’ll be rewarded the +15p bonus!

• Speaking of Drachens, their slayage is in full effect now so if you haven’t done it then best get to it! No point in waiting for that Drachen to come get you!

• This final week is particularly brutal for Bonus play, as GG knows only too well. It’s really a different take on last year’s Höllenwoche (Hell Week) with some heavy lifts starting today. 200 flights of stairs when the tallest building in the world is only 168? That’s right! GG wants you to feel fully accomplished and for you to be able to point at something and say, see, I did that right there. 3 minute plank? No problem. 45 pound weighted walk in under an hour? You got this!

• There’ll be one final update on Friday to sum up this last week and put out more details on the Finalefüste. With the seeming demise of COVID in the U.S., perhaps we can return to an in-person event to close out future Winterfüstes (we used to do that in the old days, get everyone together, do crazy and stupid games and eat tacos or pizza, which was shockingly controversial at times).

That’s it for now. Have a great final week and finish STRONG, Füsters!

Slava Ukraini!

Griswalde

Week 9: And then there were two (weeks) . . .

Füsters

We’re in the final days now of Winterfüste 2022. It’s been a weird one as GG has tried a number of new things this year with some of them hitting and many missing (but such is life on the Spielbrett). As of today, we have 12 days left in the game and a four way tie for first place plus a fair number of players who are well within striking distance of that top tier finishing position. This is, as GG has mentioned before, completely unprecedented in the modern history of the Füste (this did happen once in 1912 with Thomas Edison, Alex Graham Bell and J.P. Morgan all came into the final week tied for first place but they settled it with a back alley knife fight and that’s not really am option these days). GG will be working on what now appears to be the inevitable need for a final show down on the Finalfüste so those at the top should be ready on the 12th for something radical . . .

Now on to the updates:

• As we come into the final game period, it’s time to talk about your Drachenfüste. This is the monster bonus allowed at the end of the game that represents all the work and effort you’ve put in here over the last nine weeks. The Drachen is slayed when you, in a single event, complete an event that represents FIVE workout parameters. It’s meant to be enormous, difficult, and the hardest thing you do in the game (possibly the whole year). You can simply stack workouts together (e.g. complete the Singelt 5K run parameter x5 for a 25K event or ride your bike for the Singelt 45 min requirement x5) or combine different workouts (e.g. swim two Singelts, ride a bike for 45 minutes and then run a 10K). All Drachen proposals must be presented to GG for permission before proceeding. Drachen’s can be slayed starting this Saturday, March 5th through to the Finalefüste on March 12th.

• And to that, let’s talk about the Drachenschwanz . . . In order to earn your final Olympic Ring and the associated +15p bonus, you have to add on a 6th workout parameter to your Drachen. That’s right, you heard GG! The Drachenschwanz (Dragon’s Tail) is meant to cap off the entire Winterfüste experience. It does not have to be completed as part of your Drachenfüste event but it does have to be completed on the same day and AFTER you’ve slayed your Drachen. Do it, cut off the tail of the Drachen and you’ll earn your fifth and final Olympic Ring!

• GG feels that he may have overloaded the game this year with bonus play (Olympic bonuses, probably a bridge too far) and understanding the strain this has put on our non-shift working players (those who suffer the M-F, 9-5 lifestyle) he’s decided to stand down from March STRAVA bonus play. There’s plenty still to do in the game for everyone, even those vying for a podium position, so I don’t think this is a big loss.

• Tomorrow is March 1st and whether you know it or not, it’s Füstenween! This is a pop-up bonus with a little bit of forewarning (mentioned last week). The bonus is pretty simple . . . dress up like your Totemfüste animal, send GG pic or video proof, score +3 bonuspunkte! After a long WF, GG is looking forward to seeing your creativity!

• This weekend is the last KoG Weekly Assessment of the game. So just one more video to send off by Sunday evening to earn that last +3p bonus!

That’s if for now, Füsters! Have a great next to last week and hang in there! You’re almost able to return to pro-flank meat habits!

GG

Week 8: The Beginning of the End

Füsters . . .

As of today, we’re 70% through your Füste and GG is hopeful that you’ve gotten almost everything you wanted out of it so far. It’s not easy, this game, and it’s travels a long road in both time and energy expended. But you’re closer to the end then the beginning now and it’s time to knuckle down and finish strong!

• You already know this but Trippelts have arrived and the parameters to score +3p for daily exercise can be found HERE. And remember, along with Trippelts comes a mandatory day off (from exercise only) once a week, whether you’re earning a Trippelt each day or not. To report your day off, look under the Exercise drop down menu on the DRT and select: "It’s my mandatory rest day!”. Select this to report your day off.

• For those who earned all three of their daily points from Jan. 31st to today, Feb. 21st, tomorrow you’ll earn your third Olympic Ring and have only two more to go to score the big bonus at the end!

• This week sees the release of the Künstlerfüste Allowance Standard Bonus (aka “ART”). This bonus is simple but can have a deceptively large impact on your game . . . (just ask the Rough Legged Buzzard who basically lost WF21 to Coyote 100% because of this bonus). Here’s how it works. Draw something using your STRAVA feed. Create a picture of something using your run route, or walk or cycle or whatever route. The bonus page has the basic scoring parameters on this. Do something truly special and you’ll earn the +5p. Put minimal effort in and you’ll score +1p. It is completely up to GG to decide what you’ll score here. He’s done many STRAVA art projects in the past and is intimately familiar with the time and effort it takes to do this right. If you’re in the top 10 and vying for a win, you best come up with something special. If you don’t and you score less than the full 5p, GG does not want to hear about it. Also, remember that you must complete a SIngelt parameter to score this bonus (so spelling out a word by walking half a mile will get you a big fat donut hole AND no points for your daily exercise). Good luck!

• And just a head’s up, very soon, say within 7 days, we’ll be celebrating Füstenween, wherein you can earn a +3p bonus for dressing up like your Totemfüste. So you might want to gather supplies and costume ideas in advance. If you’re into dressing up and all that.

That’s it for today. This has been a really incredible game so far with an impressive number of players looking to finish in the top 25. Don’t flake off now!

GG

Week 7 . . . The Quiet Before the Stormenfüste

Hallo Füsters . . .

Not a ton to talk about on this week’s update. We’re past both the real Schummeltag and yesterday’s alt Cheat Day brought to you in part by the NFL. We’re in the final week of the Doppelts with Trippelts queued up for next SUNDAY. Then it’s the final three week run to the Finalefüste and the game end on March 12th.

For all intents and purposes, this week is probably one of the more difficult weeks of the game. You just cheated and that often throw’s folks completely off kilter, you got some new bonuses that came out and homework got harder but for the most part we’re in the grind now. All GG can say is keep putting one foot in front of the other and remember why you’re here: to claim victory over your flank meat. And if you’ve been doing it right, you’re well along in that journey. So keep it up, tough it out, in four weeks you can reassess and decide how you want the rest of 2022 to go. But for now, we Füste!

GG