Are there any rules to Play and Win? Yes.

• You can only win 1 Play and Win game. 

• There is a 4 hour time limit on a checked out game for the entered play to be valid and included in the give away drawing.

• A group should only have 1 game checked out at a time. Play and Win games are there to be played, not checked out and then sit unused. This is referred to as “hoarding” and has been the number 1 complaint for many Geekways. If your group is caught (and we have ways to detect this), you may be disqualified from winning any Play and Win games.

Example: One person in your group checks out “Everdell: Farshore” and another person checks out “How to Save a World.” You play Farshore while World sits there feeling sad and lonely. You then play How to Save a World and now Farshore is left sitting idle. DO NOT DO THIS.

However, it is ok to go check out the next game to play while the current game is being boxed up and then checked in. A brief overlap such as this is not a problem. No game is sitting unused.

• Reread the third bullet.  

How do I enter my plays of a game in order to be entered into Play and Win?

1. To enter your play, you must return the game first to the Play and Win library by have the librarian scan the game in.
2. At the nearest kiosk, enter the Badge ID of the player who checked out the game, and select your game play.
3. Once you’ve selected the play, you will see that the person who checked the game out is already entered as a player. Optionally, enter a rating for the game. This does not affect your chances of winning the game as a prize.
4. If you do not want to win the game as a prize — maybe you already own the game, or don’t want to — click the 👍 icon to toggle it to 👎. Now your name will not be included in the prize drawing for this play of the game.
5. For each additional player of the game, search for their name and repeat the above steps.
6. You may not enter more players than the game can play.
7. When you’re done with this play of the game, check your work and click “submit”. You cannot go back and edit your play after this point.

How many games can I win?

You can win 1 Play and Win game. Play and Win has no impact on door prizes, and you can win both a Play and Win game and a door prize. 

What if I don’t want to win a game?  

Simple, when entering the play at the kiosk, each participant has the option of ticking the “Don’t want to Win” checkbox. This will remove this play from the drawing for each individual who checked that option. If you play this game again and enter another play, and don’t check the “Don’t Want to Win” option, the second play will be in the drawing.

Do I need to rate a game during play entry?  

Technically no. However, the ratings greatly helps Geekway curate future Play and Win lineups. They are also of interest to publishers and can help us convince publishers to donate copies to Play and Win. Getting donated games helps keep our costs down which helps us avoid having to raise badge prices. 

This is a note from Jeff, the Play and Win coordinator. PLEASE rate the games. I spend a lot of time working on finding games for Play and Win, and ratings really do help me plan future Geekways. Thank you. 

Does my rating affect my chances to win a game?  

No. You can rate a game as terrible (1 star) and unless you check the “Don’t Want to Win” checkbox, you could still win the game.

How does Play and Win drawing work?   

For each game, a play is randomly chosen and then from the play, a player is randomly chosen. Each play can be chosen at most 1 time, and only players who have not checked the “Don’t Want to Win” checkbox, are eligible to win.  

Can I check out more than 1 game?  

No! The checkout system will not allow you to check out a game if you still have one checked out. This occasionally happens when someone is in a hurry and puts the game back on the shelf without checking it first.   

What is “game hoarding”?  

Hoarding is when a group of players check out more than one game at the same time.  Since you can only play one at a time, the others sit there unused. This is a disservice to other attendees and violates the rules governing Play and Win. See the rules at the top of the FAQ.

I see a stack of Play and Win  games not being played. What do I do?  

Contact a Geekway staff member. We will handle it.

Can I play a game more than once per checkout?  

Yes, but you only get 1 entry per checkout. Be cognizant of the 4 hour time limit per checkout.  

How many Play and Win games are there?  

Good question. We look at the total attendance and then divide by 4. This will be the target number of games to have on Play and Win. 

For Prime we then divide that number by 6, or for Mini we divide by 3, and this is the number of different game titles we want. 

For Micro, we aim for about 1 game for every 4 attendees, so for 80 attendees, it would be about 7 different titles, and 3 copies of each title.

For Example: We have a total attendance at Prime of 3200. Dividing by 4 tells us we should aim for 800 games in Play and Win. Dividing by 6 gives us 134 (rounding up). 134 would be the minimum number of different titles on the Play and Win shelves.