Basic Game Overview

IGOW is a version of the classic game, typically referred to as HORSE or SKATE, modified to work for a very large group of players via the internet and social media. The game is designed to be fun for all skill levels to participate. IGOW is not a super serious or intense competition, especially at the beginning, it is mostly for fun, and pilots of all skill levels are encouraged to participate! No one should make the mistake of not joining just because they don’t believe they can win. Just participating in IGOW will make anyone a better pilot and give them an excuse to go out and fly at least once a week. Plus, they will have a chance to win a ton of awesome prizes along the way! Many of the past IGOW players have drastically improved their flying skills while at the same time gaining followings and sponsorships largely due to their participation in the IGOW competitions. The champion of IGOW4 will be offered a Tiny Whoop Team Pilot Sponsorship and an IGOW Team Pilot position in addition to the cash prize for 1st place.

Weekly Challenges

Unlike a standard game of HORSE/SKATE where all players get in order and take turns attempting tricks, in IGOW every week a “Weekly Challenge” will be released in video format on Thursdays and then all active players will have ~8 days to complete the challenge requirements and enter their video submission via the weekly Google Form before the 11:59 pm PST deadline on the following Friday. Then on Saturday, we will host a livestream where we will watch all of the weekly video submissions and decide if each is a pass or fail for the given challenge. If a pilot cannot successfully complete all of the challenge requirements and properly enter their submission before the deadline then they will receive a letter. If a pilot receives 4 letters I-G-O-W, they will spell IGOW and thus they will be eliminated from the game. This is commonly referred to as "Whooping-Out" by players of previous seasons.

PreSeason (4 Weeks)

IGOW4 will have a different format from previous seasons in that number of challenge weeks will be preset rather than open-ended.  IGOW4 will have four "PreSeason" challenge weeks that will NOT be required to participate in the main game and pilots will not receive any letters if they fail or skip the preseason challenges. These weeks are designed to acclimate new players to the game format and provide very basic training for pilots that are brand new to FPV and/or Whoops. 

Regular Season (16+ Weeks)

The "Regular Season" of IGOW4 will begin immediately after the preseason week 4 with the first challenge being released on May 18th. There will then be a total of 16 challenge weeks in the regular season Pilots must submit passing videos for every challenge during the regular season or they will receive a letter for that week. If a pilot fails or misses 4 total challenges during the regular season then they will spell "IGOW" and be knocked out of the competition. After the regular season, the letters will no longer be a factor in the game so players can use missed weeks strategically during the regular season. Note: there may be 1-2 additional challenge weeks after the regular season if required to narrow the field down to the top 16 pilots. These additional weeks will also be used for pilots to prepare their custom challenges for the playoffs.

Playoffs Group Rounds (4 Weeks)

After the regular season, each pilot's letter status and power ranking will be used to seed them into groups, but beyond that the letters will no longer matter for the rest of the competition. Before the playoffs, all 16 pilots will have to create and declare a challenge. In the Playoff Group Round 1, pilots will be split into groups of four groups of four and each pilot will have 2 weeks to attempt 4 total challenges; the 3 challenges created by the other three pilots in their group and their own challenge. The field with narrow from 16 to 8 with the top 2 pilots from each group moving on to Playoff Group Round 2 where the same process will repeat except with only 2 total groups to narrow further the field down from 8 to the final 4 pilots. Note: This is a basic summary of the full playoff rules that can be found below.

Playoff Finals (4 Weeks)

After the first two rounds of the playoffs there will be a week of Playoff Finals Prep where the final four pilots will be given time to prepare their custom trick and obstacle "decks." The finals will be 3 rounds each lasting one week and the lowest-scoring pilot of each round will be eliminated. So round 3 will reduce the 4 remaining pilots to 3, round 4 will cut that to 2, and then round 5 will be the final battle between the final two remaining pilots for the IGOW4 Championship which comes with the coveted Tiny Whoop Team Pilot Sponsorship. The playoff finals will be a modified version of a new LiveGOW battle format created by FPVSkittles. It will involve combinations of the finalist's custom obstacles and tricks that will be randomly drawn on a livestream to start each of the 3 playoff finals rounds. Note: This is a basic summary of the full playoff rules that can be found below.

What "Whoops" are Allowed in IGOW4:

We try to be as inclusive as possible with our definition of a "whoop" here at IGOW. Most any build you would refer to as a whoop probably will be allowed. We have no specific requirements for any components; you are welcome to use parts from any brand or combination of brands and all video and RX link systems are allowed. All video submissions for IGOW4 must be performed with ducted quadcopters aka "Whoops" that meet the following specifications:

1. FRAME: Any whoop frame less than 100mm diagonal motor to motor size is allowed. There is no minimum size. All frame materials are allowed.

2. MOTORS: Any brand/style of brushed or brushless motors of any size and any KV are allowed.

3. PROPS: All propellers smaller than 2.5 inches are allowed. Any style/shape of blades and any amount of blades are allowed.

4. BATTERY: Any 1S or 2S battery is allowed and using two 1S in series is also allowed. Any battery connector type is allowed. Max charge 4.35V per cell. 

5. DUCTS: All whoops must have ducts or guards that fully enclose the prop. There are some exceptions to this rule, specifically for some stock BNFs like the Emax Nanohawk. Check with FPVSkittles by emailing IGOWhoop@gmail.com with questions about the viability of specific builds.

6. CAMERA: Any FPV Camera and camera angle between 0 and 70deg is acceptable for any challenge unless the challenge requirements specify otherwise. Multiple FPV cameras are not allowed.

7. Any flight mode including Acro, Angle, Horizon, Acro Trainer, Level Race, ect are all acceptable for challenges unless otherwise specified in the requirements. 3D mode is not allowed. Any type of mode where you are not making the stick inputs in real time are also not allowed. This would include preprogrammed stick motions or any type of computer/AI flying.

8. Pilots can fly either FPV with goggles or a screen or they can fly Line of Sight for any challenge unless the challenge requirements specify otherwise.

9. Pilots can submit any goggle recorded DVR (analog, HDZero, Walksnail, DJI, ect), any onboard DVR (Caddx Turtle, Runcam Spilt, Walksnail, DJI, ect), or any separate action camera footage (Caddx Peanut, Insta360go, DJI, GoPro, Runcam Thumb, ect) for their weekly challenges. Any external recording devices like a PowerPlay or similar are also allowed. If any stabilization is used it must be noted in the submission form. Note: Some challenges may require timing which can be done via OSD or via external video with a stopwatch.

10. Pilots can fly different whoops for each challenge or even each requirement within a challenge as long as all the whoops used meet all of the above requirements.

Video Submission Rules

All video submissions for IGOW4 must meet the following criteria:

1. All videos must be submitted made via the corresponding weekly Google form before the weekly deadline on Friday at 11:59:59pm PST. The submission links will be available on the website www.InternationalGameOfWhoop.com 

2. All videos must be uploaded to youtube with the hashtag #igow4 in the title. This is to ensure there will be no copyright music issues during the review livestreams.

3. All videos must be a maximum of 60 seconds long. That is the total video length including any intro and outros. You are welcome to upload an unlisted video for your submission to meet the time requirement and then also post a longer edit on your channel pubically even if it is just to add a typical youtube outro. 

4. All videos must show the challenge requirements completed in real-time with no edits. Each challenge week will have its own specific requirements, but the one universal requirement for every week is to show all the weekly challenge requirements being performed from start to finish at regular speed with no editing of the footage. However, as long as a video includes one regular speed clip of the requirements then a pilot is welcome to include slow-mo and other cool effects to the rest of their video. We absolutely encourage music, creative cuts and edits, sound effects, slow-mo, and LOS views all of which will go a long way to making a video stand out among the crowd. It is fully encouraged for a pilot to make their video as entertaining as possible! Just make sure all the requirements are clearly shown at least once somewhere in the video. 

5. All entries must be from a single participant and it must be the same pilot for the entire competition. Pilots are not allowed to have anyone else perform any of the challenge requirements for them. This includes any type of preprogramming of stick movements, using AI to fly, etc.

6. All weekly challenge requirements must be new footage performed during the current challenge week unless otherwise specified in the challenge requirements. A pilot cannot use old footage as the only clip shown to pass a challenge requirement but they are welcome to include previously filmed content in addition to the freshly performed challenge requirement for the week.

7. Do not attempt to cheat. Cheating includes but is not limited to attempting to hide cuts, speeding up or slowing down footage to gain an advantage, and using whoops that do not meet the requirements. If a pilot is caught cheating in any way, they will be eliminated from the game and forfeit any pending prizes. Don’t even try to cheat. It’s not worth it; the community will catch you and shame you.

Full Playoff Rules

Round of 16

Groups Draft: After the 16 pilots who will be participating in the IGOW4 Finals are determined. The top 4 remaining pilots determined by letters and then power score will "draft" the remaining pilots into their group. The pilots get to choose their position in a Snake draft order based. Top pilot gets first pick of postion, then the rest pick in order. The draft will be done on livestream about 9/9 and top 4 pilots should be present but can also just provide a ranking list to Skittles before the stream. Top 4 pilots will have 90 seconds to make each pick.

Challenge Declaration: All pilots in the playoffs will have until Saturday September 16th at 11:00am PST to make up their 1st round challenges, get them approved by Skittles, and make some kind of video explaining their challenge. Pilots DO NOT have to actually complete their own challenges for declaration. Pilots can make up almost anything for their challenges involving flying a whoop, however some things that are NOT allowed include but are not limited to: 1: requiring LOS or a different TX or fly mode or grip style, or any other type specific TX manipulation (sorry no more 1 hand challenges allowed). 2: requiring any type of physical act while flying like moving around or doing a head stand or anything like that. You can require that you use yourself as an obstacle like in previous weekly challenges but you have to allow the option to sit or stand. 3. requiring obstacles or the challenge be set up in a space larger than 5' x 8' (152cm x244cm). 4. No UTT or race type challenges allowed where time would be used to rank everyone. You must set a pass/fail type challenge. 5. No requiring specific location or landmarks can be used as obstacles. Scavenger hunt type challenges are not allowed.

Round Play: Pilots in the playoffs will have 2 weeks from 9/16 to 9/30 to attempt the 4 total challenges from their group. They must attempt to complete the challenges of the 3 other pilots in their group as well as their own challenge. Submissions for the finals will be handeled by google form just like during the season and the deadline for all Round 1 Playoff Submisisons will be Saturday 9/30 at 12:00pm noon PST. During this two week period pilots who want to advance must also declare their challenges for Round 2 by the same deadline.

Scoring: Pilots will receive 10 points for successfully completing another pilot's challenge. If a pilot passes their own challenge they will receive 10 points and the following "bonus points" based on how the other 3 pilots in the group perform on their challenge. If all 3 other pilots complete the challenge then they will receive negative 9 bonus points (net +1 point), if one pilot fails they receive 3 bonus points (net +13), if two pilots fail the challenge they recieve 6 bonus points (net +16), and if all 3 other pilots fail the challenge and the pilot who created it passes they will will receive 10 bonus points (net +20) . If instead a pilot fails their own challenge and all three other pilots are able to pass this will result in a negative 11 points (net -11). If a pilot fails their own challenge and at least one other pilot also fails then this will result in no point awarded or removed (net 0), if 2 other pilots fail the creator pilot gets 1 point (net +1), and if all 3 other pilots fail then 2 points are awarded (net +2). At the end of the round the top two scoring pilots in each group will advance to the next round and the bottom two pilots will be eliminated.  

Tiebreakers: Ties will be determined first by who got closest to completing any mutually failed challenges. If that is equal or there are no mutually failed challenges, then whoever completed the "more difficult challenges" based on group performance will advance. If all that is equal then the total time of any challenges passed by both pilots will be used. If there are no alike challenges completed then it will go to letter status to start the playoffs. If that is also then same then fuck it, rock paper sissors best 2/3.

Round of 8

The next round will be the same as the previous except there will only be two groups. The two highest scoring pilots from the round of 16 get to draft the groups in this round.

Final 4

Details coming soon.

Fine Print

Obviously, IGOW is not responsible if you break your whoop or injure yourself or others, or damage property while attempting any challenges. IGOW does not encourage or condone the breaking of any local laws/rules/regulations while attempting to complete the challenges. If you do not feel safe or don’t want to take the risk of any challenge you can just skip that week and it will only cost you a letter. DO NOT feel pressured into anything you do not want to try! Remember, this is all for fun! By submitting a video you are allowing IGOW to use that content for any future purposes. The Tiny Whoop Team Pilot Sponsorship offer for the IGOW champion is pending Jesse Perkins approval of the winner; he retains the right not to offer the sponsorship for any reason.

Good Luck and Happy Whooping!