Week 5: The one where Phil saw his shadow so 6 more weeks of Winter 🥶

Evening Füsters!

Another week of strong Füster performances is in the books as we move on to Week 5! This coming week actually sees us cross over the midway point of the game on Tuesday, Feb. 4th and as such, it’s your Betrügertag or “Cheat Day”. For those of you who are new to Winterfüste, this means that on Tuesday all game rules are turned off and you can eat and/or drink anything you want, as well as not exercise if you so choose. The next morning (Wednesday) you’ll get to still score yourself all three daily points (+1 of eating, +1 for drinking and a Singelt for exercise) but beware that you may feel like Scheiße! The sudden reintroduction of sugar and alcohol into your system can be a real shock and is not recommended! Over the last 9 years GG has learned the hard way to not engage in the Betrügertag because of the resulting metabolic hang-over (and also it can really effect your back half of the game performance). But you’re all big boys and girls and as this is a long standing tradition going back 226 years to the game’s Bavarian roots, GG will let you make your own decision on what you want to do here. Just don’t say he didn’t warn you in advance!

Now for the rest of Week 5’s updates:

• Doppelt’s continue this week with the number available increasing from two to three. So that means you can complete three Doppelts during Week 5 and the other four days must only be Singelts.

• This increase in Doppelts fits nicely with this week’s new bonus allowances: the Long WInter Wog, Climb #2 and Doublefüsten Allowance are all worth Doppelts so if you complete all of these bonuses then you’ll already have scored all three of the available Doppelts for Week 5 (go here for the grim details on this week’s bonus allowances).

• In addition, there are two bonuses that are only available on this Tuesday, Feb. 4th, the halfway point of the game. The Weekly Bonus available this day will be your Midterm Exam and the Side Quest Bonus available will be the Schnitzeljagd Allowance (details released that morning).

• The second 24 hour Fastentag is tomorrow with a clear liquid only fast starting in the morning at dawn and going till sun-rise on Tuesday. Yeah, time to get hangry again! Bet your family and friend’s really enjoy this part of Winterfüste . . .

• Two quick points of clarity, as we near the threshold for completion of the Side Quest bonus event where some players will actually hit their 30 points and thereby earn the +15p Completion Bonus:

  • First, yes, once you’ve hit the 30 Side Quest points in total and earn the associated completion bonus, you will gain nothing further by continuing to complete the weekly Side Quests (other than a specific player designation at the end of Winterfüste reserved for those ÜberFüsters who scored every available point).

  • Second, this completion bonus will not be added to your total on the Bestenliste until the Finalfüste (but you will see the ⚔️ badge next to your Totem name to denote that you have completed the bonus and earned +15p) This is done so that this bonus does not completely upend the day to day rhythm of game play.

• Shockingly, that’s it for this week’s updates. As a PSA, we’ve dropped quite a few players in the last week, several due to this unrelenting cold/flu bug that’s been going around so try to stay healthy and avoid super spreader events as best you can. Probably not a bad idea to start wearing a mask again if you know you’re going to be around a lot of other people (and maybe carry some hand sanitizer for the fomites cause there’s a strain of Noro virus out there that is absolutely no joke). Okay, GG will get off his public health soap box now and let you go back to you doing you. Just know that Füsting is even a bigger challenge when you’re feeling sick so you’re call on how careful you want to be of the next five weeks!

Cheers,

Griswalde G.

W4 POC Update

Hallo Füsters!

Just a very quick point of clarity update as many, many of you have reached out to GG to ask about this Sunday’s multi bonus events. So, yes, you’re right (and GG’s very pleased to see you’ve been reading your Regelbuch), normally you can only take one Weekly Bonus and one Side Quest Bonus per day. So how does this Sunday work if there’s both the Groundhog Day and Candlemas Side Quests available on the same day?? Well (and here’s where the point of clarity comes in), when GG schedules a bonus activity (or two) that’s only available on a specific date, that bonus is IN ADDITION to the normal game play rules. So yes, on this Sunday, you can take one Weekly Bonus and one Side Quest Bonus AND you can complete the Groundhog Day Side Quest AND you can complete the Candelmas Side Quest. The DRT is built to allow you to handle reporting all of these bonuses (and that’s the real limitation here; until GG has an app (sigh, a bear can dream) the DRT’s capabilities are the limiting factor) on these one-off days. Other examples of days where you can score an extra bonus above and beyond the standard game play rules are the full moon bonuses, the halfway through the game bonus, stuff like the 12 Day of Something bonus and Mardi Gras etc. Just remember, if it’s a bonus opportunity associated with a specific calendar date, it’s an additional bonus(es) on top of what you can do on a normal game day. Hope that all makes sense. If not, you know how to get a hold of GG!

Have a great rest of Week 4 and as always, may the Füste be with you!

Griswalde G.

Week 4: The one where we start throttling up . . .

Evening Füsters!
Congratulations to everyone for finishing out Periode I of Winterfüste ‘25! GG is happy to report that we’ve retained over 100 of the initial 125 players (which is outstanding statistically) and GG continues to experience an unprecedented level of engagement from everyone on the Spiellbrett . . . which is exactly why the Füste was created in the first place so thank you all very much! Now, it’s time for a bit of a shift as we move into Periode II (the second 3 week period of the game). Week 4 will quietly but effectively ratchet things up across the board: Doppelt workouts are introduced, the Fastentag get more intense, bonus requirements increase in size and scope . . . there’s a lot of things about to happen to your flank meat and none of them are going to make it happy! So let’s continue our collective assault into Periode II and make that meat regret it ever decided to stick to your ribcage in the first place!

Updates:

• First and foremost: DOPPELTS. So, up to now you’ve been able to only complete a defined Singelt workout parameter. This week we introduce Dopplelts. The concept here is very simple. You either complete two individual Singelt workouts (e.g. complete a 4 mile walk and then a separate 1500 yard swim) to score your Doppelt OR you double a single workout and complete it within the Doppelt parameters as defined on the Schmerzenfüste webpage (GO HERE TO REVIEW). When you review the Doppelt requirements you’ll note that they are just a little less then actually doubling a Singelt, e.g. a Doppelt run parameter is 5.5 miles, not the full 6 miles required if you ran two separate Singelts. This is intentional and allows you a bit of a break if you decide to do a true Doppelt. Confused? Just review the webpage as linked above and if you still don’t get it, hit up GG via text for clarification.

• How many Doppelts are available for Week 4? Well, we’re going to ease into things here and allow for two Doppelt workouts this week. So for the seven days of Week 4, you can do two Doppelts (which days you do them are completely up to you) and the rest of the days you’re back with the Singelts. Don’t worry, Week 5 and Week 6 will allow for more Doppelts each week so just keep your slayer cool here and we’ll get there together!

• Please note that the walking parameter has changed for Periode II and you must now carry 20 pounds in order to reduce the mileage of your Singelt or Doppelt walks.

• Bonuses for Week 4 are really going to see the mileage crank up. First, there’s the Long WInter Wog and no, you’re not seeing things, the mileage jumped from 5 miles last week to 7 miles this week. You’ll understand why as we get closer to the end of the game. On the bright side, this week’s Long Winter Wog is worth a Dopplelt for your daily workout so there’s that to comfort yourself with when you’re complaining loudly to no one who cares about your foot pain. Next, the second Parkenfüste bonus of the game drops this week with an increase in mileage from 3 to 4 miles of hiking. And finally, next Sunday will see the Groundhog Day Side Quest Bonus hit with another 4 miles on foot. So basically, Week 4 is going to see you covering at least 15 miles on those sore dogs! Hey, no one said the Füste was easy and trust GG, your flank meat is going to hate every minute of this week! Take comfort in the fact that Week 4 is the heaviest lift (from on foot mileage perspective) in Periode II! Pro tip, by reading the bonus requirement details closely, you may be able to find a way to combine either the Long Winter Wog or the Parkenfüste bonus with the Groundhog Day bonus. Hmmm, let’s think about that one. 🤔

• There’s another Fastentag tomorrow (Jan. 27th) and it’s worse then the last three weeks. For Periode II, we move to a true 24 hour fast (yeah, GG doesn’t like it anymore than you do but it just works). Rules here are simple: fasting starts tomorrow at sun-up and goes till the sun rises again on Tuesday morning. No solid food and clear liquids only (clear juice with no added sugar is okay here, so are clear broths to include (if you dare) bone broths 🤢). Now, could you technically get up early tomorrow before sunrise, have a decent Füste friendly breakfast before starting your 24 hour sacrifice to the flank meat gods? Absolutely (and recommended). Good luck!

• With a full 6 weeks left in the game, now is a great time to double down on your homework (and not just because you’ve got that 2 minute plank waiting for you in three weeks). 6 weeks is traditionally the amount of time it takes to see a noticable change in physique when starting a new or changed workout routine. So even if you’ve been a bit labile with your homework up to this point, you still have plenty of time to jump on the wagon here and forcibly replace flank meat with toned muscle! So get to it!

That’s it for the Week 4 updates (and GG thinks that was plenty). One point of clarity, many players have commented that at times the graphical presentation of the group rankings on the Bestenliste does not match the individual Bestenliste (e.g. the Grolarbär may show himself in 2nd place with a total +86p on the Bestenliste but below on the group graphs he shows having +90p). This is because the group graphs autopopulate as players report during the day and the individual Bestenliste is manually created each night by GG. So we’ve got a real old world vs new tech issue here that sometimes may present numbers that seem off (but they’re not!). Just know that the individual Bestenliste should always match the group graphs when it’s posted each night.

And finally, it’s time to say goodbye to several players who retired out during Periode I. Those who did it right by proactively communicating with GG: Ermine, Sea Lion and Tawny Owl. Thank you and we wish you the best in this new year! The others effectively ghosted GG (when you just stop reporting or responding at all) which is not great as GG continues to support those players in the system without knowing that they punched out and he’s just talking to an empty room (or cell phone) at that point. But as a socially awkward person himself, GG kind of get’s it. Who hasn’t secretly exited a party by the back door without saying goodby?

Okay, that’s if for this week’s updates. GG knows it’s a lot and apologizes (as a gift, if you read this whole thing then go ahead and text GG the 🌭 again to score yourself another simulated long dog sighting!). Stick to the game and don’t get intimidated as things get harder. You slayed Periode I and there’s nothing stopping you from doing the same over the next three weeks. YOU’VE GOT THIS, FÜSTER!

Cheers!

GG

WFSA: Aufholentag #1

Guten tag, Füsters!
GG here with a quick special announcement on the details of tomorrow’s first ever Aufholentag (Make-Up Day).

Here’s how this is going to work:

• If you missed out on completing a Weekly Bonus during Week 0, 1 or 2 (remember, we’re currenlty in Week 3), then tomorrow you can complete that bonus as a “make-up”.

• The Weekly Bonuses available for make-up are:

  • AFTER DARK (+1p)

  • CLIMB #1 (+3p)

  • LONG WINTER WOG - 3 MILES (+1p)

  • LONG WINTER WOG - 4 MILES (+1p)

  • PARK #1 (+3p)

  • PLANK - 1 MIN (+1p)

  • STAIRS - 20 FLIGHTS (+1p)

  • STAIRS - 30 FLIGHTS (+1p)

  • WEIGHTED WALK #1 (+3p)

  * Please note that the Aufholentag has nothing to do with Side Quest Bonuses, only the Weekly Bonuses listed above.

• If you’re going to make up a missing bonus, it WILL NOT COUNT as your daily exercise for tomorrow. This means you still have to complete a Singelt workout tomorrow in ADDITION to whatever Weekly Bonus you’re making up. For example, you need to make-up the Park #1 Weekly Bonus. You knock that out in the AM. Now you still have to complete ANOTHER Singelt workout to earn your daily exercise point. If this requirement doesn’t make perfect sense to you, please text GG.

• What if I still have a bonus for Week 3 left to do tomorrow? Making-up a missing bonus tomorrow will have no impact on Week 3 at all. Meaning, you can make-up the missing bonus and still complete a Week 3 Weekly Bonus tomorrow too. The DRT is designed to support reporting both as needed.

• Now, for those who as of tonight have completed all available Weekly Bonuses for Week 0, 1, 2 and 3, you get a special prize: a day off from exercise! You’ll still score yourself for a Singelt workout when you report on Monday morning but you don’t actually have to do anything tomorrow. It’s good to be on top of your game! And yes, this special situation will also be available when we get to the second Aufholentag at the end of Periode II/Week 6; complete all the Weekly Bonuses for Week 4, 5 and 6 before the second make-up day and you’ll earn another day off!

That’s it on der Aufholentag! One other thing for tomorrow: go ahead an jump on the scale and weigh-in to see how you’ve done so far! Send GG a pic of the scale for accountability purposes (cover those coyote paws if your feet are in the pic). By this point you should have dropped a least a couple pounds (unless you were either already leaned out or you’re small and trading fat for muscle). If you’re neither of those situations, you should see something good on the scale. If you don’t, that means you need to double down on the next 6 weeks of the game (conveniently, 6 weeks of hard work is approximately how long it takes for you to see a significant change in your physique). So there’s still plenty of time to get where you want to go here; you just need to put the effort in!

That’s it for today. More to come with tomorrow’s Week 4 Sunday night update! Have a great weekend all!

GG

Week 3: The One Where You Should Start Seeing Results from All Your Effort . . .

Evening Füsters and happy end of Week 2!

As we move into Week 3, it’s important to remember that we will be closing out Periode I next Sunday. Why’s GG mentioning this? Couple reasons. Week 3 will the be last week of dawn to dusk fasts for a while (24hr Fastentag starts Week 4) and it’s the last week where you only have the option of Singelts for exercise (Doppelts will be in play starting Jan. 27th). But, let’s not put der Warenkorb before das Pferd here and stay focused on Week 3, which is really just a continuation of what you’ve been doing the last two weeks as you continue the slow ramp up towards the meat of the game!

Updates:

• Tomorrow on the DRT you’re going to see the following question: DID YOU SCORE FOOD, DRINK AND EXERCISE POINTS EVERY DAY SINCE THE STARTENFÜSTE? This is where you report your successful Quitter’s Day Bonus . . . remember, the parameters of this bonus are that you scored all available food, drink and exercise points since the Startenfüste on Jan. 2nd (to include today, Jan. 19th). Yes, you can take this bonus if you had to take a sick day during that time as the sick day point allowance is meant to cover your inability to exercise due to sickness or injury.

• 12 hour Fastentag tomorrow (Jan. 20th, dawn to dusk. You know what to do!

• New bonuses (both Weekly and Side Quest; go HERE and scroll down to Week 3). Again, you know what to do!

• Homework . . . keep it up. This week is the first Plankenfüste Allowance of the game (only a 1 minute plank) but it’s a good test to see where your strength is after 17 days of game play. If you can’t do the 1 min plank then you probably need to take a hard look at what your doing day to day as even completing some of the Daily 50 should be helping you here.

• Sunday of next week (the last day of Periode I) will see the introduction of something new to Winterfüste: Aufholentag. This day will allow you to make-up one bonus event you may have left behind during Week 1 or Week 2. If you’ve been playing a perfect game up to that point then this day will be a day off from exercise for you (but only if you’ve scored all the bonus points through Sunday). More to come on this important change!

• Point of clarity: yes, this week there’s a Weighted Walk Bonus Allowance (15 pounds). Yes, it’s exactly the same as the daily walk exercise parameter (when you add weight to shorten your walk from 4 miles to 3 miles). Yes, if you do this bonus you’ll also get to score yourself the walk exercise point for the day and vice versa. Hope that makes sense as there’s always some confusion around this bonus activity for some reason.

Observations:

• GG once again requests the assistance of the Füsters in asking for proactive and preemptive communication when you accidentally or intentionally double report on the DRT. GG will go one step further here: if you’re thinking about double reporting because you forgot to add something (like a completed bonus) to your daily report, just let GG know and he’ll be happy to add the missing activity and point to your scoring sheet. Not a problem and much easier then GG having to go in and edit out a double report!

• Still have some folks double posting to the STRAVA feed. As it’s been 2.5 weeks now, GG will be reaching out to individual Füsters who continue to have this issue. Don’t take offense when this happens! GG knows that you probably don’t even realize that it’s happening or the impact it has on game total data collection.

• And one more re-re-reminder: if you’re not on that night’s Bestenliste, it probably means you forgot to report that AM. 👍

That’s it for this Sunday’s fireside chat with GG. Hope you all have a good week. It’s not going to be an easy one for a lot of reasons but always remember that one of the best stress releases you can practice is exercise! So get out there and shake it off as needed!

Wir stecken alle zusammen da drin!
GG

Week 2: The one where the detox starts kicking in . . .

Evening, Füsters!

Welcome to Week 2! By the time you read this the 10th day of WF25 should basically be complete and with 8 weeks to go we’ll have barely even scratched the surface of the game. One thing you might start noticing is that you’re actively going through a mild detox and your cravings for sugar or alcohol might spike this week. Just hold it together and you’ll be fine. Drink a big glass of water. Better yet, tell you flank meat to go pound sand and double down on your cravings by going for a run or a walk or whatever it is you do to earn that exercise punkte! Point being, you’ll probably fight these cravings for another two weeks but by the end of Periode I you should be clean and clear of your lifelong programming to practice corporate sponsored self-destruction in the form of a sleeve of Oreos (GG will step down from his soapbox now).

Ok, on with this week’s update:

• Tomorrow (Jan. 13th) we’ve got our second dawn to dusk fast. And then after sunset we’ve got the Wolf Moon Side Quest as the year’s first full moon rises into the night sky!

• And while we’re on the topic, Week 2 shows a whole new batch of Weekly bonus opportunities on the table: Long Winter Wog #2, So Many Stairs #2, Wanderungfüste #1 and the Mitternachtsonne Allowance (GO HERE to review all the details). Remember that the Week 1 Weekly bonuses are retired and unavailable as of midnight tonight.

• Week 2’s Side Quests are pretty simple: Lucky Friend Gift #2, the Wolf Moon Allowance, and then the continued offering of both the Paid Event and Snow Angel Side Quests (these are the only two activities in the game that are available to you during the entire 9 weeks of WF25).

• Keep on your homework as you’re only a week away from the first planking bonus of the game (a 1 min plank). Remember, the goal is be able to do the entire Daily 50 in one event by the Finalefüste so don’t beat yourself up if you’re struggling right now. It’s not easy and it’s going to take consistency to get there so just submit to the grind and success awaits you in March.

Couple more points/observations from Week 1:

• If you know that you accidentally reported twice on the DRT for any given day, please just drop a text to GG letting him know. It’s no big deal but a lot easier for GG to deal with if he proactively can go fix it before the end of the day and doesn’t discover it on his own when he’s building the Bestenliste . . .

• There are still a number of players who are double reporting on STRAVA. You may not even know you’re doing this. The way you can tell is that a single workout shows up twice, one right after the other in your personal feed, with almost identical mileage and time. This is happening because you have two data sources feeding STRAVA at the same time (usually one source is your iPhone and the other might be a fitness watch or some other device). All you have to do to correct this (if you don’t want to deal with the two device issue) is delete one of the two identical workouts. If you don’t fix this issue then you’ll be ineligible for the weekly total’s recognition and your data will skew the collective end of the game totals. So GG would greatly appreciate it if you’d fix the problem without him having to call out individual Füsters. Danke.

• And just another reminder that during M-F business hours (and after 9pm PST), there may be a significant delay to any question or communication you send to GG. If you have something important you need answered, try to text it as early as possible in the AM and GG will do his best to answer you if it impacts that day’s activities.

That’s it for now. You guys are all doing great and GG is very impressed with not only the amount of activity going on but also everyone’s reporting diligence so far. You’re making GG happy and a happy Grolarbär is a generous and benevolent Grolarbär so keep it up!

GG

Week 1: Where the rubber meets the road . . .

Evening Füsters!

The game introductory period of Week 0 is closing out tonight and you should now have a basic idea of what Füsting in the new year looks like. As Week 0 is meant to be very simple, we will now start layering on the activities that will drive the battle against your flank meat and help you maintain consistency and accountability.

In addition to the daily game play of Foodenfüste, Drunkenfüste and Schmerzenfüste, Week 1 will now introduce two more basic game concepts:

• Hausaufgaben (Homework) . . . this is the one where each day you attempt to complete the Daily Fünfzig (50) strength building workout (in addition to your required Singelt). Remember that there’s no expectation that you can do all the reps of all Fünfzug exercises in one event right out the gate. If you need to spread them out over the day at first, no problem. The goal here is to build over the next 9 weeks until you can do the entire Daily 50 in one back to back session. For full details, go here.

• Fastentag . . . this is the one where each week you get really hangry and irritated on Mondays. Starting tomorrow (Jan. 6th), the weekly fasting requirement of WF25 kicks in. The first three fasts (Mondays for the next three weeks) will be an easy dawn to dusk affair where you’ll be limited to clear liquids only (yes, coffee is allowed if you must) from sun-up to sun-down (e.g. Northern California is 07:30am to 5:05pm, Southern California is 06:45am to 4:50pm etc.). You’ll report successful completion of your fast the next day on Tuesday’s DRT. Complete all nine Fastentags and you’ll earn a hefty +15p bonus at the end of the game (only the Long Walk and Wanderungfüste completion bonuses will bag you that much bonuspunkte)!

Now for this week’s game update (to include reminders, answers and recommendations):

• New Weekly and Side Quest bonuses are available for Week 1 starting tomorrow, Jan. 6th. You’ll want to review the details on the Bonuspunkte page here. Remember that each day you can complete one Weekly bonus and one Side Quest bonus only (unless otherwise directed by GG).

• Week 1 continues the Singelt workout parameters as defined here. Remember, you must complete your workout to the full defined requirement for time and/or distance. For instance, if you’re going to do the 3 mile run, you must do the complete 3 miles and bring your total run in at under 45 min (<15min/mile pace). Anything over that pace would now be a walk which is 4 miles total (<20min/mile required pace), unless it’s weighted (then it’s back to 3 miles). Same goes for all defined Singelt parameters. If you don’t do the total required distance or time, then it won’t count towards your daily exercise point. Steep is the road to personal accountability, GG knows.

• Help GG out by adding a little detail when needed to your STRAVA activities, specifically if you’re doing a weighted walk for 3 miles instead of unweighted for 4 miles. Maybe just title it “Weighted Walk” and that way GG won’t question why you only walked 3.1 miles instead of the full 4. Makes sense?

• Another STRAVA related detail: GG has noticed that several players are unintentionally double posting workouts on STRAVA. This is most likely due to you having two or more source devices connected to the same STRAVA account (biggest offender appears to be using your iPhone to track a workout while your WHOOP band is tracking the same workout with both then uploading separately to STRAVA). Why does GG care? This double posting will both skew your personal accumulated data each week (making you ineligible for recognition as that week’s Bestenfüster (no bonuspunkte, just bragging rights) and also mess up the total accumulated data for the entire game (GG will normally calculate out things like the total combined Füster mileage for running/walking/hiking over the 9 weeks of Winterfüste; one year we ran 3/4 the circumference of the planet so yeah, it’s a fun stat to collect if it’s accurate).

• One more STRAVA thing: “posting” in The Füste 25 Club feed. GG will review the activities of all Füsters who are part of the Club but may not see your separate “posts” (if you’re in fact posting as well). So while you’ll def get thumb’s up on activities, don’t think GG is ignoring your posts in the feed if you don’t get thumb’s up over there too. The posts are great and GG really loves the engagement, he just may not have time to review both your actual activity and your post. But please keep it up!

• Why am I not on the Bestenliste? An infrequently asked question but it does get asked. Two reasons here. The primary reason is that you forgot to report that day; if GG does not receive a report for any specific date, you will not show up on that night’s Bestenliste. It’s just how the system works (and is a good reminder for you to make sure you report each day). The second reason is that GG made a data input error . . . each night GG has to manually recreate the Bestenliste by typing it in. Occasionally, GG will drop one of the 120 player names by complete accident (already happened on Day 2’s Bestenliste; sorry Gray Fox!). If this happens, just let GG know you’re missing and he’ll fix it as soon as he can.

• While we’re on the topic of GG’s overall responsiveness, let’s talk quickly about who he is (or isn’t). There’s a rumor going around that GG is “AI”. This could not be farther from the truth. GG is a real entity and the single brown bear tasked with the oversight all Füste events. And there’s the rub. By being just one bear, he’s limited on a time to task ratio. In addition, GG is just like you and has a full time job and responsibilities. So, all this is saying is that please be patient when you text GG and are looking for a quick and/or timely response. He will absolutely do his best to get back to you as soon as possible. During business days/hours (9am-5pm), you may experience significant delays in GG’s responsiveness so just prepare yourself for that eventuality. Even after nearly a decade, the Füste remains a one bear show that is GG’s personal labor of love! So patience is and will remain the watch word through March 8th. Danke for your consideration here.

• Couple of minor details around Schmerzenfüsten (daily exercise):

  • Remember, for the “So Many Stairs” bonus, you must complete your stair climbing on a real staircase. You cannot use a “stair stepper” machine at home or the gym.

  • Home yoga . . . while GG is a steadfast believer in yoga overall, he needs you to make sure that if you’re doing a “home yoga” workout, that you’re stressing youself to the appropriate level to meet the general expectation of Schmerzenfüste. Basically, if you post a home yoga workout where your heart rate never got above 90, that’s probably not going to cut it. Please make sure that if you are doing home yoga that it’s strenuous enough to get you into at least HR Zone 1 , which for most people here is a sustained and average heart rate of at least 100bpm.

  • And one last gentle reminder to not cheat yourself: if a Singelt parameter says do something for an hour then you need to do the full hour (not 54 minutes). Same for distance; if you need to run 3 miles or walk 4 miles, make sure you do the complete distance.

• There’s a fun graph based presentation of your daily point totals on the Bestenliste now. Just scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find it. It shows each players as part of their assigned geographical grouping (as needed for communication purposes). How to interpret what you’re seeing? Each player has two columns. The column on the left represents your daily point total. The one of the right shows your Side Quest bonus total (once you hit 30 here you’ll be awarded your Side Quest Completion Bonus, as GG has now mentioned about a dozen times). Anyways, this is a different way to see how you’re doing in comparison to other Füsters!

• And finally, just one more word about bonuses vs workouts. This is often hard to explain for some reason. Many exercise related bonuses, when completed, will count both for that day’s workout (Singelt or more) AND for that bonus. For example, this week you can complete the first Parkenfüste bonus which requires you to complete a 3 mile hike in a local park. Even though 3 miles does not equal the standard 4 mile Singelt walking requirement, if you complete this specific bonus you’ll not only get +3 bonuspunkte but you’ll also get to take it as a completed Singelt walk workout. Not all bonuses work like this so make sure you understand the requirements of each by closely reviewing the Bonuspunkte page on Sunday nights. And as with all things in the Füste, just reach out to GG if you need any clarification here at all!

Okay, that’s it for Week 1. GG knows that there’s always a ton of reading and comprehension during the first couple weeks of a Füste event but it’s a necessary evil. While simple and powerful, the Füste is a bit of advanced play and takes some attention to detail. But GG promises that if you stick to it and engage for the whole 9 weeks, you’ll see incredible benefits in the end. All this is to say is that GG apologizes for being overly garrulous here and will do his best to start to shorten the updates as the weeks go by. GG knows your time is valuable and appreciates every minute you spend dedicated to the Füste (and just as a check to see who’s taking the time to read all this, once done here, text “LONG DOG” (or a 🌭 emoji) and GG will award you one complementary long dog sighting on tomorrow’s DRT (remember, photographing 5 lazy long dogs in the wild gets you a day off from exercise).

Alright, enough from GG! Get back to the game! Have a great Week 1 and as always, may the Füste be with you!

GG

WILLKOMMEN TO WINTERFÜSTE '25!

Hallo, Füsters!

It’s that time again . . . time to take the fight to your flank meat and to attempt to beat it back into submission after another holiday season of grotesque excess and a near complete lack of physical activity on your part. But have no fear as this is precisely why we Füste!

For those retuning to the game, congratulations on committing here even though you know what you’ve signed up for! And for our Neofüstes (new players), get ready for a campaign of shock and awe that in 9 weeks will leave you stripped of flank meat and looking down at your bathroom scale in pleasure (IF you do the work!).

While our Neofüstes should have already done this, return players should now take a minute to review the updated Regelbuch (Rule Book) and make sure they’re up to speed on any game changes (especially around the exercise component; go here).

To help everyone out, here’s a summary of the significant game changes for WF25:

• There are some basic changes made to the workout parameters, specifically around Doppelt and Trippelt workouts (GG is trying to make it a little easier for you to score these points). Make sure you understand the parameters around time and distance by reviewing the Schmerzenfüste details.

• There is no Skwad, Haus, or group play component this year (those who have been doing this for a while know that GG runs hot and cold on this idea). GG wanted to make this a less complicated game focused solely on your personal performance and achievement so that’s what we’ll be doing.

• Keeping in the theme of stream lining game play, GG has changed a big part of the bonusing game. He’s taken most of the non-exercise bonus opportunities and dumped them into one big bucket he’s calling “Side Quests”. This includes things like the Polar Plunge, Lucky Friend Gift, Dekorationfüste, moon-based activities etc. etc. Here’s how this is going to work: there are a total of 50 possible Side Quest bonus points you can earn during Winterfüste. If and when you earn 30 of the 50 points, you’ll be awarded the Side Quest Completion Bonus. This means that you can now pick and choose which of the Side Quest events you want to participate in and you no longer have to do every single little activity just to make it to the podium on the Finalefüste. Hopefully this will help some of the Füsters who have professed anxiety around jumping into a frozen lake or making a snow angel or breaking a plate on someone’s doorstep. Trust GG, if it doesn’t already, this will make sense to you as the game progresses. As for the rest of the exercise based bonuses, they’re considered “Weekly” bonuses and must be completed the same week they’re assigned (no more extended “Periode” based bonus play). Probably good idea to review the bonus game play rules by going here.

• Fasting will be a little different this game. We’ll start with the 12 hour dawn to dusk fasts for the first third of the game, then move to 24 hour fasts for the second, then we’ll peak with a brutal 48hr fast before stepping back to the 24 and 12hr fasts again to close out the back third of game play. And as always, Fasts will be scheduled for Mondays (since Mondays already pretty much suck).

• Daily Homework has had an overhaul as well; we’ll be doing something called the Daily Fünfzig or “Daily 50”. Each day you’ll attempt to complete the same basic set of strength building activities (e.g. push-ups, sit-ups, squats etc.). This daily assignment will not change during the game. The idea here is that while you may not be able to do all 50 of each activity on Day 1, if you stick to it and put in the time and effort, by the Finalefüste you should be able to complete the full Daily Fünfzig with ease. We tested this during Sömmer Kamp ‘24 with good results so GG’s taking this mainstream now (lucky you!).

• Daily game updates (most days at least; let’s not get carried away here) will now be posted on The Füste’s Blue Sky account (@ggrolar.bsky.social and yes, this is yet another social media app GG will be using as he continues his search for non-evil platforms to support) as well as IG and Threads (same as last year).

Okay, that’s enough of that. So what do you need to know for this week and the Startenfüste (Thursday, January 2nd)?

1. First and as always, get up on Thursday morning and complete your game weigh-in. This requires you to get on a scale and face the consequences of this past holiday season. It’s all good though as this number will be greatly reduced by the time you do your game weigh-out on March 8th! Make sure you take a picture of the number on your scale and text it to GG on Thursday morning. He’ll record this value for you and keep it secret and safe. And one thing here please . . . if your feet are in the pic and you basically have coyote paws instead of human appendages, wear socks for the love of Gött! GG’s sanity often hangs by a thread during Füsting season and nasty feet pics are just the thing that can send him over the edge. Danke for your consideration.

2. The first four days of game play (Jan. 2nd - Jan. 5th) are considered Week 0. As this is the introduction period, we’ll take things nice and slow. No sugar, no alcohol and complete a Singelt workout each day. But bonus play will be very limited. You can do the first two “Weekly” bonuses: the first Long Winter Wog (a mind-numbingly simple 1 mile) and the first set of Stairs (10 flights). For the Side Quest game, you can complete the Polar Plunge to earn the first +5p of the total 30 you need to earn the final Side Quest Completion Bonus. That’s it. That’s all you have to do for Week 0.

3. No homework for Week 0; we’ll start that next week.

4. The first Fastentag (fasting day) of the game is this coming Monday, Jan. 6th. It’s only a dawn to dusk fast so nothing spectacular out the gate here. Remember, clear liquids only and no solid food till sunset (basically 5pm PST or whatever time is accurate for your location on the planet).

Two more things (consider them “pro tips”). If you’re going to be doing a lot of walking this Wintefüste, consider finally purchasing a weighted vest (one where you can adjust the total weight up or down) instead of carrying around a backpack full of canned vegetables and hand weights. GG’s just sayin’. Also, don’t forget to set an alarm on your phone to remind you to report off each day by noon.

So that’s it for the pre-game pep talk. For those returning players, it’s the same basic idea and experience you’ve always had. For the Neofüstes, it’s all new to you anyways so . . .

Tomorrow you’ll receive the link to your Daily Reporting Tool via a text from GG. For the former Füsters, please remember to delete any old links you might have from past games.

And as always, if you have any questions or need a point of clarification, please text GG directly and he’ll get you an answer. In the meantime, enjoy your New Year’s holiday and we’ll see you on the Spielbrett (game board) on Thursday morning at 6am local time!

Thank you for joining the game and GG wishes you the best of luck this Winterfüste! With a little luck (and a lot of sweat and tears), we’ll see you on the podium in March!

May the Füste be with you!
Griswalde Grolar

Week 7: Departing the Pattern

Füsters!

For those remaining, congratulations on having made it to the final week of Sömmer Kamp ‘24! Not an easy achievement given all the summer time distractions (and an impressive COVID spike) and something you should definitely be proud of . . . but now you’ve got to finish out the game and bring home that last haul of bonuspunkte!

Update:

• Triplelts are still in play this week and given you’ve only got 5 days of game play left, the break down will be as follows: 3 Trippelts, 1 Doppelt, 1 Singelt.

• For that Singelt, if you want to take the day off, you can go ice skating as the final summer fun bonus this year. Just send GG a pic from the ice rink as proof, do a couple laps on the ice and that’ll count for that days exercise!

• This week is Drachen season but you already knew that from yesterday’s post so GG’s not going to beat the proverbial dead horse here. You know how it works so go get it done!

• Only four total bonuses this week (including the 🐲); 12 miles stroll, 150 flights of stairs (yep, GG just did that to you!) and a 3 minute plank (filmed with time lapse on). Do those four and make it to Friday and your game is complete!

• Remember, the stroll and stairs bonuses come with big completion bonuses so make sure to push through these last two so you can get that big punkte!

• Final fasting day tomorrow and if you did all 8 days, you can score yourself yet another completion bonus on Tuesday’s DRT!

So that’s it for now. So much punkte this week (completion bonuses and your Drachen could net you +45p extra!)! Don’t ease up now with the finish line in sight! Remember, the game goes till 5pm on Friday and after that you get to return to your normal programming for the rest of the year! Keep it up and finish strong! GG will be in touch later in the week with Finalefüste info so just a little more to come before we close out Sömmer Kamp for good!

Good luck this week!

GG

DRACHENFÜSTE!🐲

Hallo Füsters!

So, a couple folks have asked after the Drachen bonus. So, Drachen slayage is officially slotted to start on Monday and go till Friday, the Finalefüste. But given that means you’ll have to do it on a weekday and may run into scheduling issues, you can choose to slay your Drachen tomorrow if that works better for you. Just know that if you do it tomorrow, it will not count towards anything for Week 6. So if you have a Week 6 bonus you had planned for tomorrow and now you want to do the Drachen too, you’d have to do the Week 6 bonus activity in addition to the Drachen activity. Hardcore? Yes. Impossible. No. GG will leave it to your discretion but please let him know if you’re going Drachen hunting early/tomorrow. And remember, the Drachen is equal to the combination of FIVE Singelt activities done back to back (or as close as possible) unless you’d like to take the option of doing the Drachen specific requirement for any one exercise (e.g. a Drachen in running is equal to a half marathon and not the full five 3 mile Singelts you’d have to do otherwise; Drachen parameters are listed below the Singelt, Doppelt or Trippelt parameters on the Schmerzenfüste page HERE). And for the new Füsters still left in the game, the Drachenfüste bonus details has been posted to the Bonuspunkte page HERE. Just reach out to GG if you need clarification or have any questions. And good luck!

GG