We have 7 players that signed up. I think 3 full rounds sounds reasonable. I'll leave a spot open for a eighth player who might want to join. (Offer only good in round 1. Otherwise we're running with 7.) If someone flakes out, we'll do 4 rounds. So each person will do 21 or 24 picks. You don't need to do super-fancy writeups (though you can of course). Just a few bullet points on why your destination is awesome will suffice.

The basic rules are below. I think everyone understands them.



How it will work: Week 1 is in Las Vegas (for all of us). At the end of your trip, you must return to Las Vegas. The other weeks are to be drafted by you. On your turn, you will select a destination to travel to. You must travel west, and may not cross the Las Vegas line of longitude on subsequent flights. You may travel as far north or south as you want. (Each destination may be selected only once, even if the weeks are different.)

What is a destination?
Basically, it’s anywhere you’d want to spend a week. Tell us what you’d do there. Relaxing, sights, shopping, adventure-type things…it’s up to you. In general, money is no concern, but this is not a competition for the most extravagant vacation.

Can I do day trips?
Sure, so long as they make sense. For example, seeing the Hoover Dam from Las Vegas is a very common trip and perfectly legal. The Grand Canyon is a little more borderline but probably okay. Basically anything you could do leaving in the morning and returning 12-14 hours later (using common transportation) is kosher. You don’t have an on-demand private jet to take you anywhere you want.

Can I take a region?
Sure. For example, a few summers ago, I did Riga and Vilnius in a week. I’m not sure whether either one on its own is interesting enough for a full week, but leaving the area out would be too harsh. Of course, we need to be reasonable. The area must be contiguous and make sense as a destination. Claiming Boston and New York would be stupid. These are clearly destinations on their own. And don’t try to claim New Haven and say that you’ll do day trips to both locations.

What if I someone takes a region, when I wanted a part of that region?
Claim it! If I take the Baltic capitals, and another drafter decides that he/she wants Vilnius by itself. It’s theirs, and I must either make do with the remainder, or amend my pick taking into consideration my east/west constraints from previous and subsequent weeks and the selections of the other drafters. If you amend, it may not be done until after all drafters have passed the line of longitude you intend to take.

Rules for claiming a part of a region:
It can’t be more than half of the region (by interest level, not strictly by area).
You may not take day trips to the other portion of the region.
The region does not go below city level (i.e. if someone claims NYC, you may not claim Manhattan).

Any other considerations?
Yeah, weather. You must (not necessarily right away) choose a starting week. You may want both Moscow and Mumbai, but good luck with your timing. It’s a continuous trip; you don’t automatically get the best weather at every location.

What are the draft mechanics?
This will be a Puerto Rico style draft. ABCDEFGH, BCDEFGHA, CDEFGHAB…. That way each drafter only has a “long wait” once. Basically if you go first in round x, you go last in round x+1.

Anything else?
Only that I expect participation. Don’t flake out halfway through. Please either don’t sign up or get a drafting partner if you think this is a risk. If you don’t want to do a flowery write-up, fine. But quitting before the game is over will make me (and everyone else playing) a sad panda. If I ever did anything like this again, you wouldn’t be invited back.[/QUOTE]


Link to spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...Btg/edit#gid=0

There were 8 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

xander biscuits
Gadarene
True North
JMurder3
Bloobird
Hypothetical 8th player
eyebooger
filthyvermin

Starting Point: LAS VEGAS 115.1398° W

Pick 1: ALASKA 149.4937° W

I've been in the city of Las Vegas for a week with the glitz, glamour, lights, noise, heat and stimulation that comes along with it. It's time for a break.

I'm heading to the wilderness, to mother nature. With only a week there I'm sure I'll only get to do a fraction of this stuff, but the point is to relax, unwind and breathe clean air again.

Look at some of the stuff that I might be able to see:








Then it'll be off to the next stop on my world vacation...

Alaska is a sneaky good pick. I'll make my choice when I get to work in about an hour.

Don't know if it's clear from the op, but my intent was that despite doing 3 rounds, we would only be doing one "trip" (i.e. not crossing the Las Vegas line of longitude throughout all 21 picks). Can't imagine that messed with xander's pick, but it's best to make that clear now.

I knew that but had glanced over the fact that we're making 21 or 24 picks (for some reason I assumed 12), so that's a helpful reminder.

On the bus now; will pick when I get to work.

Just a note -- 2+2 is blocked for me at work, so if it gets to me while I'm at work, I'll pick on my phone and do the writeup later.

Yeah, and imgur is blocked for me at work, which means it's a pain in the ass to accompany writeups with any pretty pictures

Where do you work, fascist [REDACTED]?

I think it's really sensible when your work will block an image hosting site but allows a gambling forum...

shhh

(the image hosting site is because they have a big thing about not allowing access to personal online storage for security reasons; google drive is also blocked on that rationale)

Loop 1, Round 1, Pick 2

My girlfriend says it's dumb to use up a destination on anywhere in the United States, considering all the amazing places in the big wide world out there, but I, too, want a little relaxation before trotting the globe.

It's probably not where you're thinking.

If the day trip possibility breaches the New Haven rule outlined in the OP, that's fine; I figure it'll probably be moot anyway.

Nah, this looks legitimate.

I just didn't want someone to claim [OBVIOUS NOT TOURIST DESTINATION] as a way to sneak in the middle of [OBVIOUS TOURIST DESTINATION 1] AND [OBVIOUS TOURIST DESTINATION 2].

We're all reasonable people here. As long as we stay reasonable, sniping and the New Haven rule won't even be necessary.

it took me an hour to collate all those imgur links, going from computer to phone and back to computer

lolme

Nice pick.

I'm leaving USA#1, but staying in North America with:



Writeup to come this evening.

The Vancouver region is a great pick as well, especially if it encompasses [PARTICULAR AREA] and you're there at [TIME OF YEAR].

I have an unnatural love for this area, as can be seen from pretty much every draft we do here...

I'm making a trip I last made a few months ago with my family, & going from Las Vegas to...

I 100% would have gone San Diego to Vancouver if that was an option, but knew it would never be an option. I should probably start thinking about more than my 1st destination, as that's all I've really given a moment's thought to...

Was going to take San Diego first. Dammit.

What the mods of SE drafts do is always "rand" themselves a top whatever # pick the top tier is. You probably should have utilized that strategy...

San Diego was the other city I was giving serious consideration to. My wife and I went there for a weekend five years ago and never wanted to leave. I'd retire there if I could.

Bloobird Pick One

Starting Point: Las Vegas (115.1398° W)

Guess it'll be me taking probably the smallest first step then. I'm going all of 0.8 of a degree west from Las Vegas to get to...