Difference between revisions of "/dev/null/nethack tournament"
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* [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.nethack/msg/16fb560648f90d67 /dev/null/nethack Tournament 2007 Wrap-up] | * [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.nethack/msg/16fb560648f90d67 /dev/null/nethack Tournament 2007 Wrap-up] | ||
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[[Category:Tournaments]] | [[Category:Tournaments]] | ||
[[Category:Patches]] | [[Category:Patches]] | ||
Revision as of 23:43, 2 November 2009
- To link to this page, use [[:/dev/null/nethack tournament]] to get around the subpages feature of MediaWiki
The /dev/null/nethack tournament, also known as the devnull tournament, is "probably" the longest running gaming tournament on the Internet, having run every November since 1999. The tournament's main website is at http://nethack.devnull.net/. It runs from midnight Pacific Time (PDT with the new extended Daylight Savings Time in the USA), 1 November (Halloween night) until midnight PT, 1 December.
During this time, players compete for a wide range of trophies ranging from simple stars for reaching in-game goals shy of ascension to trophies for impressive multi-ascension feats.
The competition is in vanilla nethack, with custom patches applied to provide a new optional "challenge" each year. The old challenges (going back to 2005) are all available. The new challenge's identity is kept secret to make things more interesting for the players.
2008
The 2008 tournament is now complete.
Challenges
Starting in 2005, the tournament added optional challenges to the game. Each year has added a new challenge, designated the Unknown Challenge until the completion of that year's tournament, and preserved the prior challenges. Some challenges are entirely internal to NetHack, and others require players to achieve a goal in another game.
Challenges are triggered by some action within NetHack. Upon the trigger, you may either accept the challenge, decline it for the current game, or ignore it permanently. If you accept, you are bound by the rules of the challenge until you complete it or choose to permanently ignore it via the tournament website. Challenges make NetHack harder in some way associated with the trigger until they are completed.
The tournament web site distributes a patch that adds the challenges to the game, so that you may practice at home (or spoil the challenges). The current tournament patch as well as the server kit that they use are available for download at http://nethack.devnull.net/software/index.shtml#patch.
| Year | Challenge | Official Description |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Kingdom of Loathing Challenge | players accepting this Challenge must venture to the Kingdom of Loathing to defeat an alternate-universe Wizard of Yendor |
| 2006 | The Grue Challenge | harkening back to Zork, players accepting this Challenge must find and figure out how to use the Frobozz Company Inter-Dimensional Portal Generator before being eaten by a Grue |
| 2007 | The PacMan Challenge | for the serious retro-gaming fetishist, this Challenge requires the player to complete a NetHack-ified PacMan game before being allowed to eat any fruit |
| 2008 | The ZAPM Challenge | for the very dedicated rogue-like gamer, this Challenge requires the player to complete a game game of ZAPM before being allowed to wish
This Challenge has its own scoreboard, the trophies for which can be viewed (by players who have accepted the Challenge) here. |
