The Time of the Ducktor
Spring Platy Party 2026
Rules and Guidance
Along with our bi-annual showcase of our new players, the Duck Derby, it is time to announce our Platy Party. A "platypus", as defined by the FFR community, is a newer player that feels like they're ready to go up against the veteran players in events but may still have some things they want to learn. It's an "intermediate" title, one where players can say, "hey, I'm still warming up," without feeling like they have to play like an old pro.
To help these players learn, and grown, and feel more competitive within the community we host our intermediate racing showcase, the Platy Party. Our platypus players (and any newer players that want to join in) are welcome to participate in this three-game mini-event.
About the Party
The format for this tournament will be a three week derby-style event. Players will be expected to participate in one race a week, scheduled for the reveal streams of our weekly Duckling Bootcamp (weeks 4, 5, and 6 specifically), whereupon a final score will be tabulated and we'll announce the winner of the party, the Platymus Prime.
Four players will be featured on stream (although we will try to showcase as many willing players over the three weeks as we can).
Tournament Structure:
There are no qualifiers, pods, finals, or other "special" tournament structures for this event. Everyone that wants to play (who isn't a long-time vet, i.e. someone that has not won a single-player tournament, such as the Spring Tournament or previous Platy Party) will be welcome to join the Racetime.gg room that night, join, and play in the race. Race three times, get your points for each race, and see if you're the winner. Simple as can be.
Important Dates:
- Bootcamp Reveal Stream, Week 4: Sunday, January 25, 2025, at 9:00 PM EDT
- Bootcamp Reveal Stream, Week 5: Sunday, February 1, 2025, at 9:00 PM EDT
- Bootcamp Reveal Stream, Week 6: Sunday, Feburary 8, 2025, at 9:00 PM EDT
Tournament Points:
This year the Duck Derby will rely on the FFR patented Bin System. For those new and unfamiliar, bin scoring works as a way to flatten scores and keep points competitive. Players will get sorted into bins, which will in turn assign points, based on their (and others') placement within a race:
- The first player to finish the race will automatically be placed into Bin 1. All other players have a certain time limit (1 minute -- 0:01:00 ) to finish in order to be placed into bin 1 as well.
- Bin 1 gets 10 points.
- Once that threshold has passed, the next player to finish will automatically be put into Bin 2. All subsequent players will now have double the first bin's time (e.g., if Bin 1 is 1 minute, Bin 2 is 2 minutes) to be placed into bin 2.
- Bin 2 gets 8 points.
- Once that threshold has passed, the next player to finish will automatically be put into Bin 3, with a time threshold of 4x the first bin (e.g. if Bin 1 is 1 minute, Bin 3 is 4 minutes).
- Bin 3 gets 7 points.
- Once that threshold has passed, the next player to finish will automatically be put into Bin 4, with a time threshold of 8x the first bin (e.g. if Bin 1 is 1 minute, Bin 4 is 8 minutes).
- Bin 4 gets 6 points.
- Once that threshold has passed, the next player to finish will automatically be put into Bin 5, with a time threshold of 16x the first bin (e.g. if Bin 1 is 1 minute, Bin 5 is 16 minutes).
- Bin 5 gets 5 points.
- Once that threshold has passed, all other players that complete the race will be placed into Bin 6.
- Bin 6 gets 4 points.
- A result of DNF will resort in 2 points for that race.
- A DQ or DNR will result in 0 points for that race.
Note that in the case of a total points tie after all three races are run, ties will be broken by finish times in the final race. If, somehow, there is a tie in the final race among the winners, the finish times in the second race will be used. If somehow there is a tie here as well, finish times in the first race will be used. If, somehow, the top two (or three, or however many) runners have somehow statistically tied every race they've run, the 200 level class will be used to determine the tie-break (and we really hope they don't tie here as well).
Tournament Flags:
The Duckling Flags will be revealed the night they are played and, as such, will be a surprise to all players in the Party. Thus, all flags in this three-race event will be “blind flags” up until the time of the reveal.
Prizes:
The top 3 finishers in the Party receive a themed profile picture and the Platymus Prime will also receive a bonus bit of art, all courtesy of DarkmoonEX.
Requirements for Participants:
- All races must be streamed. Your race cannot be recorded ahead of time but must be raced live, on stream, at whatever designated time your race is scheduled.
- A stream delay of 10 minutes (600 seconds) will be required for all racers participating in this event. If you need assistance setting this up, please contact a derby boss.
- However, as always, cheating is not tolerated. As such:
- Players may not hang out in any chat other than their own. Do not be in the broadcaster network’s chats/streams at the time of your race.
- Players may not hang out in the opponent’s stream or chat during the race.
- Players’ own chats must be set to “emote only”.
- If any player in a race somehow gains outside assistance during a race, they will be disqualified from the event.
- Do not post spoilers in racetime.gg chat during or after the race - please use the #post-race-spoiler-discussion in the public Discord. Please limit any post in the chat to ggs and serious questions/reports of technical difficulty.
- If you experience technical difficulty during the race, message the racetime.gg chat and a derby boss will communicate with you via Discord PMs.
- Matches will be conducted on racetime.gg. Players will be required to have a racetime.gg account and be in the racetime.gg rooms 30 minutes before their race to allow for setup time of the stream.
- Players must have a timer on screen for synching and timing of the races (in case of a “photo finish”).
- The “Tournament Safe ROM” flag will be on for this tournament, so all players must use a ROM that will pass the verification of this flag.
- While on stream, and in interviews afterwards, players must comport themselves and act to the expected standards for on-air behavior. This includes, but is not limited to: no cussing, no rants about the other player, no rants about the tournament, no rants about the format, no rants about the streaming service. This extends not only to the on-air portion of the event but to Twitch chat and public-facing Discords as well. Anyone that acts in a manner counter to the professional attitude and bearing we expect from our players at this event will be disqualified from the tournament.
- Finally, following the completion of your race, you may be asked to join the broadcast for an interview. Despite the outcome of the race, please comport yourself in a professional manner. There are no hard feelings - we are all here to have fun. If you find yourself unable to behave with good sportsmanship during the post-race interview, you will be removed from the broadcast booth. Also, bear in mind, our broadcast partners have policies against swearing or use profane language on their stream.
- All participants must be on the FFR discord for the duration of the event.
If you are selected for the restream the following additional conditions apply:
- If the sprites are not recognizable as the traditional heroes of the game, the players must name their characters after the classes being used (i.e., FI, TH, BB, RM, BM, WM).
- Spell damage and tile flickers must be turned off.
- If you do not want to follow these rules do not volunteer for a restream. You can participate in the tournament without taking part in the restreams.
Some players have asked what they will and will not be allowed to use in the tournament. Of the concerns raised so far:
- Reset buttons (hard and soft reset) may be mapped to controllers.
- Players may use their fun graphical hacks for their game. That is, of course, with the caveat that the ROM must pass the “Tournament Safe” flag, so players will really only be able to edit their light warrior sprites. And, of course, character names, and hero sprites, must conform to the above standards listed (so no swear words for character names, and no offensive sprites of any kind, etc.).
- Autotracking for both key items and the map is allowed.
- You cannot use the turbo button or bind it to any buttons on a controller.
Party Staff:
If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them at the duck derby bosses on the Discord: DMStewart and/or raxraxraxraxrax.
¶ Previous Platypus Events
- 2025 Platy Party: The Voyage to Coneria
- 2024 Platy Party: Rio Garland XP
- 2023 Platy Party: Astos Rally
- 2022 Platy Party: Highwind XP
- 2021 Platy Party
- 2019 Platypus Invitational
Note: No Platypus events were run in 2020.