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Radio Rumble

the radio fantasy league

Overview

Radio Rumble is a competitive game where players draft and claim songs, earning points when those songs are played on the radio. Think of it as fantasy football except for songs. The player with the most points at the end wins!

Game Phases

1. Draft Phase

Before the game officially starts, there's a draft phase where each player selects their initial 5 songs.

Draft Rules:

• Draft Order: Players are randomly assigned a draft order
• 5 Rounds: Each player selects one song per round
• Round Robin:
  • Round 1: Select in forward order (Player 1 → Player 2 → Player 3...)
  • Round 2: Select in reverse order (...Player 3 → Player 2 → Player 1)
  • Round 3: Select in forward order
  • Round 4: Select in reverse order
  • Round 5: Select in forward order
• Turn-Based: You can only select when it's your turn in the draft order
• 3-Minute Timer: If during your draft turn you do not make a selection within 3 minutes, the system will randomly select a song for you
• Draft Completion: Once all players have selected 5 songs, the draft is complete and the game begins on the start date

2. Game Phase

Once the game starts, players can continue to claim songs and earn points.

Song Selection Rules:

During Draft:

• You can only select when it's your turn in the draft order
• Each player can make up to 5 draft selections
• If the draft start time has arrived but the draft has not been started yet, no one can draft until it starts
• If the draft is active, normal timeout-based replacement rules do not apply

After Draft/During Game:

• You can select a new song when:
  • You currently have fewer than 5 songs, OR
  • Your oldest current song is older than the game's song timeout
• The default song timeout is 24 hours, but a game can use a different timeout
• If your oldest song has timed out, you can pick a new song whether that old song has been played or not
• If the game has ended, no new song selections are allowed
• You can "steal" songs from other players if:
  • The song is available (see Song Availability below)
  • You meet the selection criteria above

Song Availability:

A song is available to claim if:

• No one currently holds it, OR
• It is in another player's newest 4 songs, and that claim is older than the game's song timeout, OR
• It is another player's 5th song (their oldest current song), and either:
  • That 5th-song claim is older than the game's song timeout, OR
  • That player's newest current song has been played at least once

Notes:

• Songs are ordered by recency: newest is song 1, oldest is song 5
• A player cannot select a song they already currently hold
• Some songs may be excluded from a specific game and can never be selected in that game
• Unless a game overrides it, the timeout above is 24 hours

Scoring System

Points are awarded when a song you've claimed is played on the radio:

• First Play: 3 points
• Plays 2-10: 1 point each
• Play 11+: 0.5 points each

Points are awarded to the player who currently has the song claimed. If someone steals your song, they get the points for future plays!

Points are awarded based on the song that is playing, no matter the artist singing the song.

Song Multipliers 🔥

Songs can build up multipliers that increase their value when you claim them! This adds a strategic layer where "hot" songs that haven't been scoring points become more valuable.

How Multipliers Work:

• Base Multiplier: All songs start at 1.0x (normal value)
• Building Heat: Each time a song plays but doesn't award points to anyone, its multiplier increases by 25% (0.25x)
  • Example: After 3 non-scoring plays, a song's multiplier is 1.75x
• Locked on Selection: When you select a song, the current multiplier is locked in for your selection
  • All points you earn from that song during your ownership use the locked multiplier
• Reset on Selection: When ANY player selects a song, the song's base multiplier resets to 1.0x for the next owner
  • Note: If you never earn points, the multiplier continues to build for the next player

Visual Indicators:

• Fire Icon (🔥): Songs with multipliers greater than 1.0x show a fire icon
• Song Details: Click on any song to see its exact current multiplier
• Your Songs: On the "Your Songs" screen, you'll see fire icons next to songs with locked multipliers

Scoring Examples:

Normal Song (1.0x multiplier):

• First play: 3 points
• Second play: 1 point

Hot Song (1.50x multiplier after 2 non-scoring plays):

• First play: 3 × 1.50 = 4.50 points
• Second play: 1 × 1.50 = 1.50 points

Very Hot Song (2.25x multiplier after 5 non-scoring plays):

• First play: 3 × 2.25 = 6.75 points
• Play 11+: 0.5 × 2.25 = 1.125 points

Important Notes:

• Dark Horse Excluded: Dark horse points are NOT affected by multipliers
• Rounding: Final points are rounded to 2 decimal places (e.g., 3.45 points)
• Per Selection: Each selection locks in its own multiplier - if you steal a song back later, you get a new multiplier

Special Game Modes

The game includes special modes that can modify gameplay:

• Grinch / Robber Mode: Triggered the first time a robber song is played in a game. It creates a 25-point penalty pool. While active, scoring plays subtract points from the scoring player instead of adding them, up to the amount left in the pool.
• Joy Mode: Triggered the first time a joy song is played in a game. It creates a 25-point bonus pool. While active, scoring plays get bonus points equal to their base score, up to the amount left in the pool.
• If enough joy points remain, Joy Mode effectively doubles a scoring play. If only part of the pool remains, only that remaining amount is added.
• If enough robber points remain, Robber Mode effectively flips a scoring play negative. If only part of the pool remains, only that remaining amount is subtracted.
• Joy Mode and Robber Mode cannot both stay active at once. Triggering one turns the other off.

Dark Horse

The Dark Horse is a special strategic bet you can make on a song you think will play, even if you don't own it!

Dark Horse Rules:

• One at a Time: You can only have ONE active dark horse at a time
• 0 Play Songs: You can select ANY song in the game as your dark horse that has had 0 plays for your game
• Replace Anytime: You can change your dark horse selection at any time (previous dark horse is lost)
• First Play Only: Dark horse points are only awarded the first time a song plays in the game
• 10-Minute Holding Period: You must hold your dark horse for at least 10 minutes before it plays to earn points
  • If your dark horse plays within 10 minutes of selection, you get 0 points
  • This prevents last-second selections right before a song plays
• Unaffected by special modes: Dark horse points are not affected by Joy Mode or Robber Mode. They are never doubled and never turned negative.

Dark Horse Scoring:

When your dark horse song plays for the first time:

• Base Award: 10% of the current top player's score (rounded down)
• No Award If:
  • You are currently in first place, OR
  • No one has scored yet, OR
  • The top score is less than 10 points (10% would round to 0), OR
  • You selected the dark horse less than 10 minutes before it played

Example:

1. Top player has 150 points
2. You select "a song nobody has claimed" as your dark horse
3. You hold it for 15 minutes
4. "a song nobody has claimed" plays for the first time
5. You earn 15 points! (150 × 0.10 = 15)

Song Sources

Each edition tracks its own real stations. The Christmas edition follows Utah's holiday stations (KSFI FM100.3, KLO 103.1 The Wave and KJMY my99.5); Eras follows Exclusively Taylor Swift; Skeleton Clique follows Exclusively Twenty One Pilots.

Winning

At the end of the game, the player with the highest total score wins!

Happy playing, and may the best listener win.