Welcome to Fight Fest, my attempt to answer that eternal question: "Who would win in a fight?"

How does this work?

Fight fest consists of a series of "what if" battles between different (mostly fictional) characters. It is divided up into several rounds, and each round has a 'ballot' with a number of fights, and you fill the ballot out with who you think would win in each fight

There are three kinds of battles. Most battles are simple one-on-one fights... in this case, you have a few choices: If you're sure of the outcome, you can say that you think either one contestant or the other would definitely win. If you're not as sure, but you still have some idea, you can pick who you think would probably win. And, if you're not sure at all, you can mark the fight as undecided.

The second type of battle is a tag-team battle. These are two-on-two fights, and they have the same choices as a one-on-one fight. In this case, contestants fight as a team, and they win or lose as a team -- there's no way to declare one member or the other as the sole winner, even if you feel that one of them would have helped out a lot more than the other.

The final type of battle is a three-way free-for-all. These have three contestants, and it's everyone for themselves. For three way ballots, you have the 'Definite Win,' 'Probable Win,' and 'Undecided' options, the same as for a one-on-one match, as well as a new set of choices you can use if you're fairly sure one of the three contestants wouldn't win, but can't decide which of the other two would take the match.

The moderator (Cathy) only gets a vote in the event of a tie, kind of like the Vice President during Senate votes, except with less shooting in the face.

Judging Criteria

There is no set rubric that you need to follow. You'll never be put on the stand and ask to justify your votes. Fight Fest is just a game, and I don't expect people to take it super-seriously, unless that's how you have the most fun with it. That being said, there are a few loosely-agreed-upon guidelines that have come up from previous Fight Fests:

• It's safe to assume that characters have a chance to rest and fully recover between battles. You could imagine that they all stay in the Inn overnight and get better, just like they do in a console RPG. You don't need to account for fatigue, and likewise can consider that each contestant gives it their all every battle instead of saving themselves for the long haul.
• You can assume that characters have proper motivation to fight each other. Likewise, during a tag team battle, you can assume that characters on the same team have proper motivation to work together, at least for the duration of that fight. Some of it seems absurd, yes, I can't imagine why Celes might team up with Voldo, nor could I imagine why either of them would want to attack Birdo, but... just take it as read that they do, and suspend whatever disbelief you need to in order to imagine them fighting.
• Several characters have different abilities at different points in their careers and when presented in different media. If this is the case, just use whatever depiction of that character first comes to your mind. You don't need to be any more specific than I am when I name the character and their source... for example, if a character is listed as "Gandalf" from "Lord of the Rings," then you can choose to judge them as either Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White, whichever first comes to your mind when you think of "Gandalf." This is true regardless of what image I might have picked -- don't feel like just because I used a picture of Gandalf the White from the Peter Jackson movies that this is the incarnation of Gandalf you'd need to base your opinion on.
• If you're not familiar with a particular character, don't worry about it too much. Nobody expects you to be an expert. If you want to make a more informed decision, however, then on the main standings page, you'll find that each character has a link to a pertinent Wikipedia article so you can familiarize yourself with them. Again, this is above and beyond what is 'expected' of judges -- it's just an option that's there for you if you think it would be fun.

Schedule

Regular Season

During the regular season, voting for each round opens automatically at 12:00 AM (Central Daylight Time) and closes at 11:59 PM on the dates listed. After a round closes, results will be verified and posted no later than 5:00 AM on the following day.

Round 1 - Interdivision One-On-One: Opens Monday 4/13, Closes Wednesday 4/15
Round 2 - Division Round Robin: Opens Thursday 4/16, Closes Sunday 4/19
Round 3 - Division Round Robin: Opens Monday 4/20, Closes Tuesday 4/21
Round 4 - Division Round Robin: Opens Wednesday 4/22, Closes Thursday 4/23
Round 5 - Interdivision Tag Team: Opens Friday 4/24, Closes Sunday 4/26
Round 6 - Division Round Robin: Opens Monday 4/27, Closes Tuesday 4/28
Round 7 - Division Round Robin: Opens Wednesday 4/29, Closes Thursday 4/30
Round 8 - Interdivision Three-Way: Opens Friday 5/1, Closes Sunday 5/3

Playoffs

At the end of 8 rounds, the 14 division leaders and 10 wildcards will advance to the tournament. Wildcard selection and tournament seed assignment are done subjectively by the moderator. Win/Loss record, total number of votes, strength of schedule, and the opinions of those who have sufficiently bribed me will be taken into account when making these selections.

During playoffs, voting for each round closes at 11:59 PM on the date listed. Since the ballot depends on the results of previous rounds, voting for the following round will not be open until the previous day's results have been verified and posted, which will be no later than 5:00 AM on the listed date.

Round 9 - Tournament Qualifier: Opens Monday 5/4, Closes Tuesday 5/6
Round 10 - Round of Sixteen: Opens Wednesday 5/6, Closes Thursday 5/7
Round 11 - Quarterfinals: Opens Friday 5/8, Closes Sunday 5/10
Round 12 - Semifinals: Opens Monday 5/11, Closes Tuesday 5/12
Round 13 - 2009 Finals: Opens Wednesday 5/13, Closes Thursday 5/14
Round 14 - Tournament of Time: Opens Friday 5/15, Closes Sunday 5/17

All dates are subject to change.