Bloons Wiki:Monkey Race

This is an event for 4-8 players. It is a kind of board game.

Rules
When at least 4 players join, the event starts. Other players can join while the event has been already in progress.

Every player controls one monkey. The goal is to be the first person who gets the monkey from the start to the finish.

Basic Rules
The players/monkeys can perform one action every round. They can move, run, attack or stay. The players announce their next action secretly via an e-mail to the, so the players don't know what the others are planning to do. After all players announce their next action, the game master (the person who cares about this event – currently ) performs all these actions simultaneously. Then the next round starts, and players can announce their next move for the round. The game ends, when a player or a group of players reach the finish.

The monkeys have energy. The energy value changes with different actions, and it can't exceed its maximum value (6 at the beginning). Some actions can't be even performed without enough energy.

Announcing the action
The player announces their next action by sending an e-mail to the BloonsBOT. There is always a link for the sending of the e-mail on the page like Announce your next action. The player must fill in Monkey Race as the "Subject" and the action (like MOVE UP, RUN UP RIGHT, STAY, ATTACK) as the "Message". Those correctly filled in e-mails are highlighted and because of that processed preferentially, while those incorrectly filled in ones can be lost for example because of some anti-spam filter.

Players have 24 hours to announce their action after the round has started. If they don't announce their move, the stay action is performed for their monkey. If the player plans to stay, it is better to report the action, so the game master knows that it is not needed to wait for the player's action announcement. If some player misses 3 action announcements, he is disqualified and removed from the event.

Here is a detailed explanation of the actions available:

Move
The player moves their monkey from its current position to one of the adjacent square, if there is no obstacle on the square (wall (grey field) or bloon). This action increases monkey's energy by 1, unless the energy value is already on its maximum. Players can freely move to the field where another monkey is situated. The players announce this move as MOVE UP, MOVE DOWN, MOVE LEFT or MOVE RIGHT, depending on the direction where they want to move.

Run
The player moves their monkey two squares by this action. They must follow the same rules, as if they performed two separate moves, so they can't move through/to any obstacle. This action decreases monkey's energy by 1. The monkey must have at least 1 energy to be able to perform this action. Players can move through/to the field where another monkey is situated. The players announce this move as RUN UP UP, RUN UP LEFT, RUN RIGHT RIGHT, etc.

Stay
They player performs no action and takes a rest to regenerate his energy. This action increases monkey's energy by 2, unless the energy value is already on its maximum. The players announce this move as STAY.

Attack
The player attacks a bloon on the adjacent square. The attack can be successful or unsuccessful depending on the luck. A probability of the successful attack increases with the monkey's current energy value and decreases with the bloon's strength. When the player succeeds, the attacked bloon is reduced by 2 layers, and the monkey's energy is reduced by 1. If the bloons losts all its layers, the monkey popping the bloon also moves to the position of the popped bloon, and its maximum energy is increased by 0.5. If the attack isn't succesful the bloon stays as it is, and the monkey's energy is reduced by 2. The monkey must have at least 1 energy to be able to perform this action. The players announce this move as ATTACK. WARNING: If the monkey has only 1 energy, it attacks and the attack is unsuccessful, the energy falls below 0 and the monkey becomes a tired monkey.

Here are several examples how the probability of the successful attack is counted:
 * Monkey has 6 energy and the bloon has 4 strength so the probability of success is 6:4 (6/10 success, 4/10 failure)
 * Monkey has 2 energy and the bloon has 6 strength so the probability of success is 2:6 (2/8 success, 6/8 failure)
 * Monkey has 3 energy and the bloon has 2 strength so the probability of success is 3:2 (3/5 success, 2/5 failure)

Group attack
If 2 or more players attack the same target, their strength is equal to the sum of the energy values of all attacking players. For example 3 players with energy 5, 4 and 6 attack a Green Bloon, so their strength is 5+4+6=15 against strength 6, and the probability of the success is 15:6 (15/21 success, 6/21 failure). This increased probability applies to all attacking players within the group, but each player can have a different result of the battle, so some of the players may be successful while others may be unsuccessful. This "team" strength of the attacking team can't exceed maximum value of 20. If it is higher, it is counted as if it was 20. When at least one players attacks successfully, the bloon is reduced by 2 layers (it is never more than 2 layers, even if 2 or more players are successful). If the bloons is popped, all successful monkeys move to the position of the popped bloon, and they also get +0.5 to their maximum energy each.

Too much attackers
When 4 or more monkeys attack the same bloon, the monkeys obstruct each other, so their attack is less effective. Their attacking strength is reduced including the maximum attacking strength.

Tired monkey
If the monkey has only 1 energy, it attacks and the attack is unsuccessful, the energy falls below 0, and the monkey becomes tired. It must take a rest, and it can't perform any action in the round. The monkey’s energy isn't increased by 2 after this rest, but the energy value is increased only to 0.

Moving through bloons
The player can try to move or run to or through the square that is occupied by some bloon. It some other monkey pops the bloon within the same round, the moving/running monkey successfully moves/runs to/through the square. However if the obstacle isn't removed, the moving/running monkey must stop before the obstacle (bloon) and its energy is affected as if it moved/ran successfully (+1 on move, -1 on run).

Strategy
Players announce their next action secretly, so nobody knows what their real plans are. If the group of players stands next to the bloon, a player can for example save his energy and wait until other players waste their energy by popping the bloon. People can also cooperate. They can discuss their plans (on the chat, message walls, etc.), but they can also break any team agreement later, and play on their own. Changing the player's mind or simply lying about their plans can be a part of the strategy. After all, everyone wants be the winner.

Luck
Luck is a strong element in this event, so you can have a perfect strategy, but the luck can be on the side of somebody else. Sorry.