You must be registered to compete in the Pharaolympics. Submittals will be checked against the Registration list and only Registered players will be allowed to compete.

• Download the event from the Event Description page in the form of a zipped saved game. Read the criteria, play the game, saving each December. When the event is ready to submit,

  • save your final submission as "event-class-yourname.sav"
  • zip this up and name with the same convention: "event-class-yourname.zip"

  • Important Note: You must submit your entry with the same name you registered with! We must be able to match your entry with your registration. If you registered as King Wibble, then your saved game must be "event-class-kingwibble.sav" Remember, the file must not have spaces or the submittal form will not work. Read the instructions on the form and please use comment box if there is any doubt about who you are.

• Submit your zipped file to using this form before the date posted for the end of the individual event. Time is always midnight of the time zone you live in.

• You must save your game each December. These saved games are not to be submitted with your entry, but may be asked for during the evaluation. At the bottom of each Event Description is a Hint to tell you which commodity increase message you will get as a reminder to save your game in December.
  

• The Pharaoh Enhancement Pack must be installed. You can download the Enhancement pack here. You may play with the v1.2 upgrade if available in your geographical area.

• Important Note: These events were designed to be played with the original Pharaoh game. The events were not tested or played with the Cleopatra Expansion pack, which became available near the end of the contest. Not tested for results if contest events are played with Cleopatra installed.
  
  

• Expert class participants must play all events at Hard difficulty. Novice class participants play at Normal difficulty level. If there is a different map for each class, be sure to download the correct one. Some events may be restricted to participants from one class only.

• You should not change your difficulty level while playing the event.

• Only one submission per person per event allowed. If you submit more than one entry, only the first entry will be scored.

• Game Play and Allowables/Cheats

  • Unless specifically prohibited in the Event Description and/or by the Criteria, you are allowed to:
• use all game play features such as gardens/walls for animal control, multiple recruiters, free add-ons to temple complexes, free delete by dragging tool
• adjust your salary, send gifts, organize festivals as you wish
• save the game multiple times during game play until reaching level of satisfaction for final submission.
• submit saved games with high unemployment, worker shortages, epidemics or crime.
• pay workers any wages you wish and impose any taxes you wish
• ignore the gods or worship them and be at any terms with the gods at the time of final saving for submittal
• be at any terms with your city; people may be leaving or unhappy

 

• Not allowed
• alteration of the original Pharaoh_model_*.txt file; no modification is allowed.
• use of any cheats to enhance effects (such as Sun Disk) or provide additional funds or instant victory.
• modifying the Event *.sav files with an binary editor or any program except Pharaoh (playing the game modifies the sav file and that is allowed).

 

• All questions and comments can be posted in the Competition Corner under the appropriate FAQ thread. Contestants are advised to not post any final times or ratings achieved during the event, or mention any particular strategy that may give your fellow competitors an advantage.

• Comments, suggestions or criticisms may be directed to Angel Gustavia, Cherub Baltic or Cherub Bradius at the Competition Board. This volunteer Board is overworked, uncompensated and totally incorruptible :)

• Completion Criteria (CC) are conditions that have to be fulfilled for the attempt to be valid. These can be ratings, housing levels, required population level or other things... You get no bonus if you exceed these criteria, but these conditions must be achieved for your submittal to be evaluated. If the event is time-limited, your saved game must be before the time has expired. If the instructions are to Decline promotion, and save immediately, you must comply. Only submittals that have achieved the required Completion Criteria will be evaluated. Each Event Description page lists the Completion Criteria that must be achieved.

• Winning Criteria (WC) is used to evaluate the winner of the event. As long as the Completion Criteria has been achieved, the next step is to evaluate the submittal with the Winning Criteria. If there are several Winning Criteria, the subsequent criteria are used only if two or more players achieve the same result in all previous Winning Criteria.

  Example: WC1 is Prosperity, WC2 is population

• Player A has prosperity of 100 and population of 3000
• Player B has prosperity of 100 and population of 4000
• Player C has prosperity of 95 and population of 5000

Player B is the winner because he/she has achieved the same prosperity but has the higher population. Player C is third, because he/she has lower prosperity and therefore population plays no role. These criteria are generally numerical, but not always. See individual event for explanations.

• Only the criteria that are explicitly mentioned matter. The downloaded game may require 99 palatial estates, but that is only to block victory as the game has been designed for a different goal. Follow only the listed requirements on each Event Description page.

Scoring methods

Expert and Novice Classes do not compete against each other in regular scoring for events. Points will be awarded in each Class for each event. Special awards will be given for overall competition and will be open for all participants.

For each event winners will be chosen for both Novice and Expert Class:

(revised June 18, 2000)

• The highest ranked 15 players (in each event, each class) receive points in the following order: 25-20-15-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
• Each valid submittal receives one point.
• If less than 15 valid entries are received for an event, the winner still receives the 25 points, and subsequent ranked entries according to above order, but points not awarded are "'lost" (not divided among entries).

Final Grand Winners

1st, 2nd and 3rd place final grand winners each class, Novice and Expert based on cumulative points at end of contest. Grand Winners receive prizes and adoration and honor of all Pharaoh Players!

• !st place winners - Zeus, Cleopatra and Pharaoh T-shirt
• 2nd place - Zeus
• 3rd Place- Cleopatra

Special Awards will also be given at the end of the contest. These awards are open for all participants and will be chosen by the Competition Board.