Year-Round County Contest Idea

OK...here is the new thread to discuss the concept.

This is what I have come up with so far...and I'm certainly open to any suggestions.

Contest Basics:
The object is to fill in as many counties as we can, in the span of one year (all hits must be hits in the year 2011...regardless of when entered initially.) - You could have a bill entered in June, 2010, for example, as long as the hit you claim was done in 2011.

To facilitate the administration of the game, I will maintain both a map and a spreadsheet. A county may only be "claimed" once. Once it has been "claimed" no one else may claim it. Claimed Counties will be noted on said map and spreadsheet.
In the event someone posts for an already claimed county...the submission shall not be valid. In the event that two persons post for the same county between regular updates, the person who posted first shall be the party who gets credit for that county.

The contest will run from Jan 3 till the end of the year (Dec. 31) - I am choosing to start on Jan.3 so as to have dctim's contest finished when this one starts.

The prize for winning the contest will be a stack of 100 brand-new crispy dollar bills in order. The prize will be supplied by obtaining an entrance fee to the contest for every contestant. No person may participate in the contest unless they have paid their entry fee.

Entry fee will be $10 per person, and Markus will be designated as the person to hold the entry fees and award the prize at the end. If we generate over $100 in entry fees, the excess shall go to TrackDollar.com to support this site, or, at the discretion of Markus, the amount of the prize may be raised.

Markus shall inform us of which individuals have paid their entry fee. To pay the entry fee, send to Markus with a note that the payment is for the entry fee for the Year Long Contest. Only those whom Markus identifies as having paid the fee shall be allowed to participate (this is necessary because of the substantial prize for the winner.)

Each claimed county shall count as one weighted point for the person who claimed it.

Weighting:
This is done, needed, and necessary, in order to give all players an equal and fair chance to win. A Tracker who has been on the site for only six months would not normally have much of a chance against people who had been here three years...the weighting is intended to resolve this disparity and give all an equal chance.

Weighting shall be determined by creating a fraction 12/xx where "xx" equals the number of months you will have been on TrackDollar at the end of this contest. Thus, a person joining in January 2011 would have a weighting of 12/12 or exactly 1 - thus each "point" that player scored would count as one point.
A person who joined in April of 2010 - would have 21 months in at the end of the contest....thus their weighting would be 12/21 (0.57143) - so each "point" for them would count as 0.57143 points.
Having started myself in August, 2010, my weighting would be 12/17 or 0.70588 - and so on. This will account for the advantage a long-termer has over a short-termer in that the long-termer usually has more bills in the system, thus is more likely to get hits...also, with bills out there in circulation longer...they are likely to get hits from a wider range of area than the newcomer. This is why the newcomer gets a weighting advantage.

This weighting system is not final or set in stone yet - this is merely my suggestion of a weighting system that will make the contest fair and balanced, giving all players an equal chance to win. I will welcome and consider any feedback on the weighting system.

Winner: The winner shall coordinate with Markus to collect his/her winnings. The winner will be whomever has the highest weighted point total. the winner will be formally announced by myself, the Administrator of the game. Until that announcement, there is no official winner.

That's it, basically.
Please submit any feedback you have concerning this contest idea. all feedback will be read, discussed and considered.

Please do NOT give any feedback via PM, I want all feedback to be public, so that it may be discussed and considered.

Thank you!

Since I finished my contest early, you can begin yours on the 1st, if you like.

I'll do that.

so far, you and me are the only valid, paid entrants.

Hopefully, others will follow. It's never too late to join, but earlier is better, before a lot of counties get taken.