For the Win! - Documentation

Thanks to MATHCOUNTS, AMC, and Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing for their contribution of thousands of problems to For The Win!

# AoPS For the Win! Documentation

AoPS For the Win! (FTW) is a fun way to practice your math skills while competing with other players. There are two types of games, the normal game where you can compete against many players and the Countdown game, which is a head-to-head competition modeled after the MATHCOUNTS® Countdown round. In cooperation with MATHCOUNTS®, many of the problems in FTW are drawn from past MATHCOUNTS® contests. There are currently about 15500 problems in FTW.

# Lobby

When you first sign in, you will first be placed in the lobby where you can start new games, join games that are about to start, and chat with other users in the lobby.

The lobby is divided in to several areas. Along the top are buttons for starting a new game, a new Countdown game which closely models the MATHCOUNTS® Countdown round, and if available, a button to review your most recent game you played in since you were signed in.

On the left there is a large area on the top which displays games that are being started and games that are soon to start. Dark blue indicates the game has already started while a light blue/purple indicates the game is forming. You can join the game, if the limit of the number of players has not been reached, by clicking on the game icon.

Below the game area is a chat functionality so that you can organize forming new games and discuss results of previous games. You can resize the chat area by dragging the dark bar between the game component and the chat component. In the chat area you can also type /help to get a list of available commands that you can use while in chat.

At the top right you will find information about your account, including games you have played on the current day, your rating when you signed in, and your current rating, which updates after each rated game.

Below your user information is a list of users in the lobby. Names in grey mean they are away (set by typing /away in chat or by being idle for 15 minutes). You can find more information about a user by double-clicking on the user's name.

Below the user list is an alerts block where administrators will occasionally post messages. This will usually be blank.

You can send a private message to another user in chat in one of two ways. First, you can use the /msg command. To use this, simply type /msg <username> <message> For example, if you were to type /msg mathdude Hi! The message Hi! would be displayed to the signed in user named mathdude. The second way of sending a private message is to click on the user's name in the userlist and type a message followed by control-enter.

# Game

#### Starting a new game

All registered users can create a new game using either the New Game or the Countdown button. Choosing a Countdown game will immediately create a First-to-4 head to head competition similar to the MATHCOUNTS® National Countdown Round. Choosing the New Game button will provide you with several options for multi-player games, as shown below.

Select a scoring method, number of problems, time allowed per problem, whether you wish to allow spectators, and whether you wish the game to be rated.

Games can be made private by specifying a password for the game. Only users who know your game's password may play. This is particularly useful if you want to play a game with your friends.

Scoring methods:

Ranking: Gives you points based on the number of players and how fast you answered. The first person to answer correctly gets points equal to the number of players. The second person to answer correctly gets points equal to the number of players minus one, and so on.

Time: This is a racing type of scoring method. Points will be given to players who answer correctly based on the amount of time it took to answer the problem. A player who answers quickly will obtain many more points than a player who takes longer to answer the problem.

Responses: Points are awarded based on the number of players who answered correctly and the total number of players that answered the question. If all who answered the problem were correct, 100 points would be given to each person. However, the more people who answer incorrectly, the higher the number of points that is given to those who answered correctly.

#### Playing the Game

The creator of the game will start the game once they have determined an appropriate number of people have joined the game. The creator of the game starts the game by pressing the Start Game button at the top of the screen. If the creator of the game leaves, then anyone in the room at the time the game creator left can start the game.

Answer all questions in the response box. Reduce all fractions to lowest terms. For a problem that expects an answer of 1/2, the response of 2/4 would be considered incorrect. Please see the Answering Problems section, below, to learn how to properly submit your answers.

After you have answered a problem you will see a scoreboard indicating if your response was correct, and the time it took to answer the problem. The scoreboard will be visible until all players have answered or time has expired.

At the end of a game you will be rated against other registered players. Your rating will not be compared against guests and other players on the same IP address (to discourage cheating). You will be rated even if you leave a game early, so we suggest playing the entire game, even if losing, so that you can gain as many points in the game as possible.

#### Chat

Chat is not enabled during a problem to prevent players from accidently (or purposefully) stating the answer in public chat. Chat is enabled for each user after they have answered the problem.

To input a square root type:\sqrt{x}where x is the radicand.

To input type:\pi

A coordinate pair should be entered as: (x,y)(4.2,5.2).

Fractions should always be reduced. A fraction should be entered as x/y1/2

A mixed fraction should only be used when the problem specifically asks for a mixed fraction. These should be entered as X y/z5 1/3

Coefficients of variables should be written without the multiplication sign3x

Multipliers with square roots should be written without the multiplication sign. Example 3\sqrt{5}

Powers should be entered with the caret (^) sign. x^2

# Reviewing a Game

After a game has ended, you can review the problems presented by clicking the Review button in the lobby. The problem is displayed. The correct answer and the answer you provided can be found in blue bar just above the problem.

Use the green arrows to navigate the problems. To close the review window, click the red X in the upper right corner. Registered users may ask questions about the problem by clicking the Ask on Forum button.