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The 12 Days of Trivia has been a core part of Bulbagarden's Holiday Contests since the very beginning. But it can be intimidating to some people, with the obscure and challenging nature of the questions. But fear not quiz buffs, there is another option. Rapidash Trivia! A battle of wits and speed as you test your knowledge of the Pokémon franchise in a real time contest where only the fastest will win!
How to Participate:
To participate in Rapidash Trivia, you will need to join the Bulbagarden Discord server prior to the start of the round. To take part in a round, make sure you're in the server and in the #rapidashtrivia channel when things are about to start.
Discord is a type of chat client which can run from right within your browser, so you won't need to download anything to join the server. Registration is entirely free.
Due to antispam requirements, the Bulbagarden Discord server is configured to only allow people to join and speak if they've had a registered Discord account for at least 10 minutes, so make sure to register your account on the Discord well in advance of the first round that you plan to take part in.
This year, we will be hosting twenty rounds of Rapidash Trivia in total, with 12 rounds before Christmas, and then a further 8 rounds before New Year's Eve. Within each set, each round is separated by 6 hours. Times for each round can be found below, with links to convert this time to your own local timezone. For your convenience, we have also included below a table with conversions to several major timezones.
How to Play:
Once the round has begun, the Rapidash Trivia bot will start asking a series of questions randomly selected from a set of questions that we've prepared from information on Bulbapedia. 150 questions will be asked each round.
To score points, you must type your answer in to each question as quickly as possible. The first person to answer the question correctly will receive 1 point. There are no points for second place, no wild cards, no buzzer beater three-pointers, so you have to be quick if you want to win it!
When the round begins, the Rapidash Trivia bot will give users a minute to prepare themselves. When a question is asked, you will have 45 seconds to answer the question. If no correct answers have been received after 35 seconds, a small hint will be given. When either a correct answer is received, or the 45 seconds are up, the bot will give users 15 seconds to rest and prepare for the next question.
When answering questions, you must be concise and to the point. Most answers will only be 1 or 2 words. The Rapidash Trivia bot will not accept answers as valid if they're within a sentence. To give an example, let's say the correct answer for a question is "Pokémon". What you should do there is just type "Pokemon", as quick as you can. The Rapidash Trivia bot will generally not accept typos as valid answers, however it will accept both regular and accented letters (e.g. either e or é). Capitalization and punctuation are also ignored.
But let's say for a second that instead of just typing "Pokemon" on its own, you instead write "I really hope I win this contest so I can get Pokémon Scarlet.". If you somehow managed to type that response in before anyone else writes "Pokemon", the Rapidash Trivia bot would not take what you've written as a valid answer. In other words, the bot is set up to ignore anything that might be random chatter in the channel.
Keep in mind that due to latency between individual users and the Discord servers, you may notice times when you think you got your answer in first, but at the server end (and to the bot and everyone else) another user's answer was received first.
The bot will start the timer for the next question as soon as the Rapidash Trivia bot receives a correct answer, or if 45 seconds pass without any correct answer. You will only have a very short 15 second break between questions, so while there's no rule against you looking up answers on Bulbapedia, you should make sure that you don't lose sight of what's happening in the channel, or else you may find the bot has long since moved on by the time you've found your answer.
With 150 questions per round (plus tie-breakers, if needed), the longest a round can take is two-and-a-half hours (if somehow every single question went the full 45 seconds without a correct answer, or only got answered right on the buzzer). From our experience with Rapidash Trivia in previous years, we expect most rounds will be finished in less than an hour, and potentially not even half that if people are quick on the draw.
Prizes:
A total of 24 prizes will be given away for Rapidash Trivia in 2023, with each winner receiving a $60 USD Pokémon Center Gift Card (for winners in the United States), or an equivalent value in Pokémon Merchandise (for winners outside the United States).
There are two ways to win a prize.
For the four bonus prizes, you may only accumulate a maximum of 25 points per four round block (13-16, 17-20) towards your final score. In the event of a tie, the winners of the 4 additional prizes will be selected at random from those entries with the highest point totals. Performance in rounds 1-12 will not be considered in any way for the awarding of these additional prizes.
In the event that prizes (including round winner prizes) go unclaimed, leftover prizes will be distributed to the next eligible contestant in the final points table from rounds 13-20.
How to Participate:
To participate in Rapidash Trivia, you will need to join the Bulbagarden Discord server prior to the start of the round. To take part in a round, make sure you're in the server and in the #rapidashtrivia channel when things are about to start.
Discord is a type of chat client which can run from right within your browser, so you won't need to download anything to join the server. Registration is entirely free.
Due to antispam requirements, the Bulbagarden Discord server is configured to only allow people to join and speak if they've had a registered Discord account for at least 10 minutes, so make sure to register your account on the Discord well in advance of the first round that you plan to take part in.
This year, we will be hosting twenty rounds of Rapidash Trivia in total, with 12 rounds before Christmas, and then a further 8 rounds before New Year's Eve. Within each set, each round is separated by 6 hours. Times for each round can be found below, with links to convert this time to your own local timezone. For your convenience, we have also included below a table with conversions to several major timezones.
- Round 1: December 16, 14:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 2: December 16, 20:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 3: December 17, 02:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 4: December 17, 08:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 5: December 17, 14:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 6: December 17, 20:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 7: December 18, 02:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 8: December 18, 08:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 9: December 18, 14:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 10: December 18, 20:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 11: December 19, 02:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 12: December 19, 08:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 13: December 29, 02:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 14: December 29, 08:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 15: December 29, 14:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 16: December 29, 20:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 17: December 30, 02:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 18: December 30, 08:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 19: December 30, 14:00 UTC (convert)
- Round 20: December 30, 20:00 UTC (convert)
How to Play:
Once the round has begun, the Rapidash Trivia bot will start asking a series of questions randomly selected from a set of questions that we've prepared from information on Bulbapedia. 150 questions will be asked each round.
To score points, you must type your answer in to each question as quickly as possible. The first person to answer the question correctly will receive 1 point. There are no points for second place, no wild cards, no buzzer beater three-pointers, so you have to be quick if you want to win it!
When the round begins, the Rapidash Trivia bot will give users a minute to prepare themselves. When a question is asked, you will have 45 seconds to answer the question. If no correct answers have been received after 35 seconds, a small hint will be given. When either a correct answer is received, or the 45 seconds are up, the bot will give users 15 seconds to rest and prepare for the next question.
When answering questions, you must be concise and to the point. Most answers will only be 1 or 2 words. The Rapidash Trivia bot will not accept answers as valid if they're within a sentence. To give an example, let's say the correct answer for a question is "Pokémon". What you should do there is just type "Pokemon", as quick as you can. The Rapidash Trivia bot will generally not accept typos as valid answers, however it will accept both regular and accented letters (e.g. either e or é). Capitalization and punctuation are also ignored.
But let's say for a second that instead of just typing "Pokemon" on its own, you instead write "I really hope I win this contest so I can get Pokémon Scarlet.". If you somehow managed to type that response in before anyone else writes "Pokemon", the Rapidash Trivia bot would not take what you've written as a valid answer. In other words, the bot is set up to ignore anything that might be random chatter in the channel.
Keep in mind that due to latency between individual users and the Discord servers, you may notice times when you think you got your answer in first, but at the server end (and to the bot and everyone else) another user's answer was received first.
The bot will start the timer for the next question as soon as the Rapidash Trivia bot receives a correct answer, or if 45 seconds pass without any correct answer. You will only have a very short 15 second break between questions, so while there's no rule against you looking up answers on Bulbapedia, you should make sure that you don't lose sight of what's happening in the channel, or else you may find the bot has long since moved on by the time you've found your answer.
With 150 questions per round (plus tie-breakers, if needed), the longest a round can take is two-and-a-half hours (if somehow every single question went the full 45 seconds without a correct answer, or only got answered right on the buzzer). From our experience with Rapidash Trivia in previous years, we expect most rounds will be finished in less than an hour, and potentially not even half that if people are quick on the draw.
Prizes:
A total of 24 prizes will be given away for Rapidash Trivia in 2023, with each winner receiving a $60 USD Pokémon Center Gift Card (for winners in the United States), or an equivalent value in Pokémon Merchandise (for winners outside the United States).
There are two ways to win a prize.
- If you win a round of Rapidash Trivia, then you automatically win a prize.
- 4 bonus prizes will be given away based on contestant's performance across rounds 13-20.
For the four bonus prizes, you may only accumulate a maximum of 25 points per four round block (13-16, 17-20) towards your final score. In the event of a tie, the winners of the 4 additional prizes will be selected at random from those entries with the highest point totals. Performance in rounds 1-12 will not be considered in any way for the awarding of these additional prizes.
In the event that prizes (including round winner prizes) go unclaimed, leftover prizes will be distributed to the next eligible contestant in the final points table from rounds 13-20.
