The Advent Calendar Challenge 
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 Advent Calendar Challenge 

Hello and welcome to the 2021 Advent Calendar Challenge!

The Advent Calendar Challenge is a fun yearly competition, where players are invited to guess what the pictures behind the windows on my advent calendar will be each day. Points are awarded (from 1 point on December 1st all the way up to 24 on Christmas Eve) for correctly guessing the picture, and the winner is simply the person who gets the most points over the course of the competition. Simple. Easy. Fun. If you're still a bit in the dark about things, have a look at the 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003 competitions to see what went on.

If you played last year you should get a PIN in your inbox automatically, and you can get started by submitting your guess in the form below! If you didn't play last year and want to play, apply for a PIN via the registration page. Once you have received your PIN, use the form below to submit your guess. You can change your guess as often as you like. The guess registered at the time of a window being opened is assessed for points on each day, and please note there is no need to sumbit a new guess every day as your guess remains in place until you change it or until it comes up, however long that may be! Your guess need not be unique. The eventual winner might win a top secret prize...

Two important points about choosing your guess:

And finally, please note that if you start the competition late then you will be deducted the number of points equivalent to how late you started, to encourage playing the whole game and to reward those that do.

Good Luck!

Final Standings
Pos Player / Team Score
   1  Douglas Cameron  Taurus 126 (7) PB
   2  Edward Haslam  Leo 117 (7) PB
   3  Mark Coughlan  Taurus 109 (6) PB
   4  Joseph Palmer  Aquarius 108 (5) PB
   5  Antony Brown  Libra 102 (5) PB
121
   6  Kevin Brown  Taurus 101 (6) PB
   7  Chris Davey  Leo 99 (5) PB
   8  Rosie Wallbank  Gemini 91 (6) PB
   9  Matthew Frost  Aries 88 (5) PB
120
   10  Nigel White  Pisces 82 (4) PB
98
   11  Håkan Wolgé  Taurus 78 (4) PB
135
   12  Veronica White  Aquarius 76 (4) PB
110
   13  Emma Tuckey  Aries 74 (4) PB
81
   14  Matt Foulkes  Leo 73 (5) PB
86
   15  Andrew Dale  Pisces 72 (4) PB
86
   16  Sean White  Leo 71 (4) PB
91
   17  Lorna Blake  Scorpio 69 (4) PB
104
2  18  Peter Smyth  Gemini 66 (4) PB
79
2  19  Tony Wilson  Aries 65 (4) PB
76
2  20  Simon Rutter  Capricorn 63 (3) PB
146
3  21  Matt Nunn  Taurus 60 (3) PB
79
3  22  Heather Haslam  Pisces 59 (5) PB
3  23  Andrew Chilcraft  Aries 57 (3) PB
131
3  24  Samantha Scrivin  Sagittarius 56 (4) PB
85
3  25  Neil Blake  Aries 55 (4) PB
93
3  26  Nina Dale  Gemini 53 (3) PB
88
3  27  Steph Coughlan  Pisces 50 (3) PB
111
3  28  Lisa Seixas  Leo 47 (3) PB
58
11  29  Ed Coughlan  Pisces 44 (3) PB
67
11  30  Ben Procter  Cancer 44 (2) PB
115
2  31  Simon Gosney  Gemini 43 (2) PB
72
9  32  Laz Kay  Libra 38 (2) R
4  33  Jen Fegan  Leo 27 (2) R
4  34  Tom White  Gemini 26 (2) PB
121
4  35  Chris Green  Leo 24 (1) PB
92
4  =  Wendy Wilford  Libra 24 (1) PB
59
4  =  Ross Turnbull  Libra 24 (1) PB
78
6  38  Iain MacNaughton  Capricorn 23 (1) PB
6  39  David Wilford  Taurus 19 (1) PB
47
5  40  Mike Krotosky  Cancer 14 (1) PB
65
5  =  Gagandeep Singh Bharij  Cancer 14 (1) PB
57

This year's teams' championship was the same again - I was interested in finding out which astrological star-sign is the best! Final standings:

Final Team Championship Standings
Pos Team # players Score
1 Taurus  Taurus 6 players 251 (27)   (493)
2 Leo  Leo 7 players 229 (27)   (458)
3 Aries  Aries 5 players 173 (20)   (339)
4 Pisces  Pisces 5 players 160 (19)   (307)
5 Gemini  Gemini 5 players 159 (17)   (279)
6 Aquarius  Aquarius 2 players 146 (9)   (184)
7 Libra  Libra 4 players 135 (9)   (188)
8 Capricorn  Capricorn 2 players 75 (4)   (86)
9 Scorpio  Scorpio 1 player 69 (4)   (69)
10 Cancer  Cancer 3 players 56 (4)   (72)
11 Sagittarius  Sagittarius 1 player 56 (4)   (56)
12 Virgo  Virgo 0 players 0 (0)   (0)

Items uncovered:

  1 Gift 2 Angel 3 Igloo
&
Penguin
4 Mince Pie 5 Lantern 6 Skis  
               
  7 Doll 8 Candy Cane 9 Snowflake 10 Spinning Top 11 Cracker 12 Holly  
               
  13 Gift 14 Bauble] 15 Teddy 16 Wreath 17 Snowman 18 Elf  
               
  19 Deer 20 Christmas Pudding 21 Moon 22 Stocking 23 Star 24 Santa, Gift
&
Christmas Tree
 
               

Decisions

All decisions (disciplinary etc.), other than those to award points, are detailed publically. Please visit our decisions repository.

Random Stats

 Number of players: 41
 Number of players who can/cannot still win: 1 / 40
 Number of players who have been invited but are yet to play: 6 e.g. Damian Cook. Why, Damian, why? :-(
 Number of points remaining: 0

And to end off this mammoth page, a few subnotes. Have a look at the all-time stats page. Not many stats mind you, just a constantly updating all-time performance table. Clicking a player name in either the current standings or the stats table gives you a player profile page, showing their past performances in the ACC and a little picture just cos. And finally the rules in full. Subject to change of course...