Nerd Games FAQs

Crafty Shenanigans Craftalongs
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How to post guide

Welcome! If you have never participated in the Nerd Games, you may be wondering how to join. The simple answer is:

  1. Craft a project
  2. Pick an corresponding prompt to enter your project under
  3. Fill out the prompt header with relevant info (click the section you have a specific question about to jump to the info)
    Prompt:
    Team:
    Project Name:
    Project Link:
    Brief Description:
    Project Photo(s):
  4. Hit reply, and you’ve posted!

Note from your Nerd Games Captain:
I know this looks like a lot of information and probably appears intimidating. I assure you, it’s really not. The details listed here are just providing a deeper look into how/why we do things, and answers some questions that are often asked. This post section tries to answer those. The following post sections are more detailed information about filling out the project header, and the over explanation of the prompts and how they work.

If at any time you have a question about something, please ask away! Myself, my Lieutenant @Smeddley, and any of our seasoned participants will happily answer your questions to help you out.

Nitty Gritty Details

As simple as it is to join, there are a few questions that frequently come up, so I’m here to try to answer them as best I can.

The Prompts

There is a lot of information regarding the various prompt types and how they work, so they have their own section. To jump right to what each of the prompts are and how to post them, you can jump directly to the post

When should I post my completed projects?

You can post these at any point during the season. Everyone is different! I often post as I finish a project, especially the monthly battles as they are time sensitive. Some people choose to wait until the end of each month and do a project dump of all of their projects completed to that point. Some people will post their battle and then post everything else at the end of the season. Some people just post everything at the end of the season. It’s really just a matter of preference.

Do I have to craft something for every prompt?

Nope! You can craft all of the things, or you can post just one project for the season. You can participate as much or as little as you are able to. This is just a fun way to encourage you to be more crafty, share your work, spark inspiration, and above all else, have fun!

Can I get bonus points?

You can! The sole opportunity for bonus points is to make a post for your project in the larger Lettuce Craft community. This will earn you an extra 20 points per project.

What are the points used for?

Honestly, most seasons the points are pretty useless for anything other than bragging rights if your team ends up with the highest average. Kind of like Whose Line is it Anyway?, the points are added up but really don’t matter :wink:

  • Some seasons the points actually do matter. If a raffle is being run, you can “spend” your points on raffle prizes in an attempt to win something. The more points you have, the more bids you can enter. We don’t do a raffle often, but they do happen on occasion.

Why join?

Craftalongs are a great way to get inspiration! In the Nerd Games, there are various prompts (I will break those down later) that you can either be inspired by to create something, or if you’ve already created something, you can find a prompt that fits your craft. It’s a great way to get encouragement from others, show off your skills, and also discover new skills and crafts through the other members.

Where do I find the current season?

  • From the homepage, you can go to Crafty Shenanigans > Craftalongs > and then scroll through until you find the Nerd Games title and find it there. Or you can search Nerd Games in the search bar at the top of the page.

How do I know what season is currently happening?

  • Each season of the Nerd Games runs for 3 months
    – Winter runs from January 1 to March 31
    – Spring runs from April 1 to June 30
    – Summer runs from July 1 to September 30
    – Fall runs from October 1 to December 31
  • To help know when a season is over, the title for the season will also be changed to CLOSED - Nerd Games to avoid confusion.

What time zone is used?

We use Central Time (GMT -6 hours) as the time zone for what time the monthly battles need to be submitted and when the season ends.

I’ve found the current season, now what?

  • The first post of each season lists the rules, a copy of the project header, the teams, and other various info you may find helpful.
  • The second post is the tracking and team roster. This is where your name will be added under the appropriate team once you’ve posted your first project. Once I have caught up on tracking, your name will become a link to your checklist so you can see what you’ve already crafted for the season and what you have left to do if you’re attempting to craft all the things.
  • The third post is usually where you will find the prompts
  • Sometimes there are additional informational posts included, such as games, prizes, or other exciting events.

All of these are reserved spots before the season begins. Once the season has begun, everyone can begin posting or commenting within the thread.

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Prompt

(this one is for the project header. Further down is more info on the actual prompts)

How to fill out the prompt line on the project header

  • Battle: Month - Battle - side of battle you chose
    – (September - Battle - Broom for example)
  • Regular monthly prompt: Month - title of the prompt you chose
    – (example September - xyz)
  • Otherwise just enter the prompt you’re posting for such as Big Time, Free Range, or Zap.

These are just examples of my preferred way listing the prompt line as this is how I also enter the information for tracking. You don’t have to do it the same way. Just be sure the following information is included:

  1. Month
  2. Which prompt you’re crafting for
  3. If you’re crafting for the battle, that it is the battle and what side you chose
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Team

How to Choose a Team

Generally there are three teams to choose from. Just choose whichever team you fancy the most. You will be on this team for the entire season. If you want to be on a different team during the next season, that’s totally fine! You just can’t change in the middle of a season.

Once you have decided what time you want to be on, you declare your choice by listing the team name in your project header. You don’t have to announce it anywhere else, but of course you can if you want to. It’s great being part of a team and cheering each other on!

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Project Name

You can name your project whatever you’d like, though it’s best to keep it PG13ish.

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Project Link

If you’ve chosen to make a post in the community outside of the Nerd Games (which you should totally do, because not only should everyone see your awesome work, but you also get 20 additional bonus points when you do!), copy the link to your community post and paste it under the project link header.

Do I have to create a separate post for every project in the appropriate community threads?

No! You don’t need to create a separate post for each project in the main community, but you DO need to fill out a separate project header for each item in the Nerd Games.

  • Let’s say you crafted seven ATCs and have posted them all within a single community post to show them off. Now you want to post each card to the Nerd Games.
    – Fill out the project header for each card as appropriate.
    – It’s okay to copy and paste the same link seven times for each of the project headers to get the bonus points.
    – If you decide to create a community post for some of the projects you’ve already posted to the Nerd Games at a later date (but within the same season), edit and add the link(s) to your previous post, and then send @storerboughtcreation a message to let me know that you’ve done so. Then I can update your bonus points for you.

Can I link to another craftalong post I made for points?

No. It needs to be a community post under one of the categories on the homepage. The purpose of the bonus points is to share your projects within the larger community, not just the craftalongs. More people will see your projects then. And maybe you’ll even earn a featured project post from time to time!

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Brief Description

This is the place to tell us all about your craft. You can include as much or as little as you’d like. You can include material info, thought processes, whatever you’d like really!

Note: We like to stretch the prompts (especially the battles) in the Nerd Games. If you do so, that’s great, but be sure to explain your stretch in the brief description

Example: Using the Vacuum vs Broom battle as the example, if you went with Vacuum, maybe it’s because that would have made more sense for the craft you’re sharing with us. Maybe that would have been the best method of cleaning up that particular craft. Or maybe (as my silly sister, @queenhobo explained), a particular part of a project sucked, so she went with vacuum.

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Project Photo(s)

Share at least one photo of your project with us! You can share more than one, of course. Sometimes I will create a community post that has multiple shots and angles of a project, but I will only include one photo in my Nerd Games post. I will include a note on occasion that more photos can be found following the project link.

A useful tip: If you take a photo that has multiple projects in it, you can just post the photo once and make a reference such as “see photo above”

  • For example:
    – From my previous example of crafting 7 ATCs, if you took a photo that shows all 7 of them at once, you may want to include the photo in just the first project header post and specify which card you’re using for the prompt.
    – For the remaining 6 project headers you fill out, you can put something like See photo above. The green card or something along those lines so we know which one you’re referring to for the specific project.
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The Prompts

Every new participant has questions about the prompts, so I’m going to try to answer the most frequently asked questions here!

Quick breakdown:

Prompt Type Total per Season
Battle 3
Monthly prompt 15 (5 per month)
Free Range 6
Big Time 3
Research Project 2
Zap 5

More detailed explanation:

Each of the following should take a minimum of 30 minutes crafting time during the current season and are worth 20 points each.

What/how many prompts are offered each season?

Every season you can craft a total of:

  • 3 battles
    –There is one battle each month of the three month season.
    –These are the only time sensitive prompts, and must be completed in the current month
    – There will be two choices. For instance, Vacuum vs Broom. You choose the side that makes most sense to you and post. Be sure to explain why you chose the side you did (Example: September - Battle - Broom… and under the brief description heading, you might say, “I chose broom for this battle because my project was made with clay, and you can’t vacuum up wet clay.”
    – This is the only prompt you need to include your battle choice. If you are not posting for the battle, then it does not matter which side you chose.

The rest of the prompts can be submitted any time during the current season. They are not time sensitive

  • 15 monthly prompts
    – In addition to one battle each month, every month will have 5 prompts posted for you to craft for
    – Generally these prompts follow a monthly theme.
    – We try to get the new monthly prompts posted on the first of every month, but sometimes life gets in the way so they get posted a day late. But be sure to check the prompts post at the beginning of each month for a fresh batch of inspiration!

  • 6 Free Range Project Slots
    – If you’ve crafted something and you can’t find a prompt to fit your project to, you can submit up to 6 free range projects during a season.

The following should take a minimum of 5 hours crafting time during the current season and is worth 50 points

  • 3 Big Time Project Slots
    – Do you have a project or three that took you longer to craft during the current season? This is a great way to get a few extra points for your team

The following should take less than 30 minutes crafting time during the current season and is worth 10 points.

It’s okay to post projects that take longer than 30 minutes under Zap. If you crafted everything else and still have a few projects you want to post and only have Zaps left, by all means post away. You just won’t get any extra points for it.

  • 5 Zap Project Slots
    – These slots are for those quick projects you want to share, but they didn’t meet the required 30 minutes crafting time.

The following should take a minimum of 20 hours crafting time and is worth 100 points

  • 2 Research Project Slots
    – Research projects are huge projects that took you over 20 hours to make
    – Note: You do not need to have worked on the project for the whole 20 hours during the current season. As long as you’ve spent a minimum of 30 minutes working on the project during the current season, you can get the research project points if it meets the overall crafting time.
    – Example: You started a blanket five years ago, and you had it sitting in your WIP bin for all these years. You decide to pull it out and finish it, but only had an hour left on it. That’s okay! You’re set to post as a research project :blush:

These are all of the main prompts included in each season that you can post for. Sometimes there are additional crafting opportunities (Fall season usually has an additional 12 advent prompts posted. They are also worth 20 points, and you can choose to craft as many or as few of those as you’d like).

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Hi Jamie,

The Nerd Games FAQs are concise and very clear.

A couple of questions came to mind:

  1. Do I ‘declare’ my team early in the new season or wait until I post a project?

  2. Should I post all the monthly projects at once or as completed?

Thanks for everything! Donna

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Great questions! I will answer those here and also add above. You don’t need to announce your team. You just fill in that information in the project header when you post your first project.

As for when should you post your project… everyone is different! I often post as I finish a project, especially the monthly battles as they are time sensitive. Some people choose to wait until the end of each month and do a project dump of all of their projects completed to that point. Some people will post their battle and then post everything else at the end of the season. Some people just post everything at the end of the season. It’s really just a matter of preference.

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Thanks for the clarifications!

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