About BRackfest of champions
How it Began
It all started with a dry-erase bracket board I found on clearance at Target. I saw it on an endcap and thought, "This could be a fun game to play with my friends!" Little did I know that I would still be playing four years later. It was initially just my own friend group on Facebook, then I created an actual group to allow other people to join the fun. Now the game has expanded to include Instagram, its own Facebook page, and now a website. The voting still skews pretty heavily to my friend group, but as it grows and more people join the fun I look forward to seeing how the voting changes.
FAQS
How do themes get decided? It is 100% based on my whimsy. Whatever inspires me at any given time. Sometimes it's thematically timed to the season (ex- Holiday movies in December, Phobias at Halloween) and I do try to alternate music/TV/movie themes with other random items. Basically, if I can find something that has at least 32 options and I want to see them fight, that's what we're going with.
Is the voting scientifically accurate? Absolutely not. This is just for fun; there's no consequences to the outcome, so I don't care how accurate the voting is. In fact, if you're smart enough to vote in all the places where votes are counted, good for you! This was a fun little hobby I've turned into a vanity project and I do this in my spare time. I don't have time or bandwidth to concern myself with unduplicated voting. I just count totals and add the scores. If that bothers you, you may want to reconsider playing. It's not that deep, honestly.
What's the schedule for theme releases and polls? Theoretically, I post polls Tuesdays through Fridays, with results announced the following Monday. That said, since this something I do in my spare time, if work/vacation/medical issues/general life gets in the way, there may be a delay in when things get posted. It may be Thursday through Sunday. I might post two polls in one day. I may skip a week (or two), although if I foresee and extended break I will give a heads up with a tentative return date.
Do I have to join the Facebook group to participate? You don't have to join the group to play along. In fact, I created the website to include my friends who have closed their Facebook accounts and to reach a larger voting pool. But there are definitely some exclusive benefits that only group members get, like "guess the next bracket theme" contests (complete with prizes!). theme related memes and videos, and first release of polls and factoids.
So what's up with the phone throwing?
You may have noticed the logo mentions phone throwing- what's that all about? Very early on, when a match-up was particularly intense, voters would voice their displeasure with the results by saying they were compelled to throw their phones (since most people were accessing the Facebook polls via mobile). It became A THING and now it's used to refer to a controversial or very close battle. The championship round has been named The Final Phone Thrower in homage to this inside joke. We still say someday we're going to get Otter Box to be the official sponsor of the Brackfest of Champions.
Did you know that mobile phone throwing is an actual sport? Started in Finland in 2000, there are tournaments all over the world. Although we don't officially have a team, the frequency with which phone throwing was mentioned among Bracketeers made us decide to create our own Team Brackfest Athlete in Training designs. We encourage players to display the graphic on their socials when they feel strongly about a recent match-up. We don't have t-shirts (yet), but I imagine if there's demand for it, we can make it happen.