Booty or No Booty

Golden Ticket Lottery
Having a game is all good and fine; however, without contestants, there wouldn't be much of a game! So how are they chosen?

Booty or No Booty gives opportunities out to talented pirates. These pirates prove their talent by winning contests - be it swordfighting, writing, lateral thinking (BoNB encourages all talents). In return, they get a one-time redeemable golden ticket.

Every week, all pirates who wish to take a gamble will hand in a golden ticket. This entitles each pirate to a lottery box. Most of them contain something cruel and ironic, such as a bid ticket, or even a black bandana. However, one will entitle that player to receive a refund ticket, to try again another time, and the other will let the player sit in the hot seat (this is a metaphorical term for a contestant in any game).

Initial Stages
Once in the hot seat, the contestant will choose one box out of the 22 numbered ones, the contents of which are only revealed along the way.

Now, try this for simplicity - the pirate will win what's inside their numbered box. But that would make a boring contest, so let's spice it up a bit.

The Eliminations
Once the contestant chooses his or her box, he or she then starts to open and eliminate other boxes. Remember, nobody knows what is in each box. Once a box is opened, the contents of it are announced, and the prize removed entirely from the game.

So, what is the purpose of the eliminations? They tell the contestant(and the audience) what ISN'T in their box, so they have a smaller and smaller range of prizes that could be in their box.

Eliminate the slatted crate, and a few other shoddy prizes, and it looks like you have a good chance of winning something shiny! Take out the familiar, though, and the trap door will open, and the earth will devour you like a kraken.

But if the contestant wins their box, what's the point of this elimination process?

Bidding
Four times throughout the game, the audience have a chance to take the place of the player, and bid for ownership of the present, and ownership of the hot seat. This is not a free lunch; the audience must bid copious (or not so copious) amounts of PoE to tempt the contestant out. There is a specific bidding routine, please read about it in the more detailed rules section. At the end of it all, an offer is made by proxy (the host). The contestant then has a free choice:

Booty, or No Booty?

Should the contestant say No Booty!, the bid is returned to the bidder, and play continues as normal. If the contestant says Booty!, then the contestant receives the PoE bid, and the successful bidder now has control over the box. The original player leaves the hot seat, with the PoE the bidder paid them for his or her box. The new contestant continues in their place. A contestant may stay in for as long (or as short) as they desire.

The surPRIZEs
As you might have guessed, these are surprise prizes. At several points during the game, Nobooty will ask a question. The person to answer correctly (it may not be the first person, so listen carefully!) will get a chance to win a mystery prize.

Mystery prizes vary greatly in quality or price. There may or may not be hints as to what each mystery box contains.

In the past, the following prizes have all been given out:
 * Black harpsichord
 * Tabby/black cat (not purchasable)
 * Maroon crate of herbs (not purchasable)
 * White/gold feather hat
 * An exclusive portrait with Nobooty himself

And of course, there's always the booby prizes: And the most humiliating prize of them all:
 * Numerous sticks,
 * Bandanas,
 * Fish skeletons,
 * Foils,
 * Pink wig

Switcheroo
Whoever has control of the box after the fourth and final offer plays the "Switcheroo" round.

At this point in time, there are only two boxes left. The switcheroo gives the players a chance to swap their box for the other remaining one should they so desire.

Golden Tickets
Golden Tickets are represented in-game in the form of a gold colored ribbon trinket. Golden tickets in general, however, cannot be bought.

The Prizes
=Game history= Please see the game archives for a comprehensive list of all previous games and records.

As of the 16th December 2006, 33 games have been played.

=Tickets Held= All golden tickets that are currently still owed to winners of tickets will be distributed in due course by Apollo.

=Historical Notes=
 * On Ice, the game was called Y!PP Deal or No Deal, after the TV show with the same name. It was then changed to its current title upon a suggestion from Synful.
 * Nobooty only knew the contents of each box during the Ice test, and weeks 1, 2, 5, 14 and 20.
 * Week 6 saw the introduction of spectator surprise prizes. Normally 4 out of 5 of them are awarded during each show, with a small contest for each one of them.
 * Week 7 saw the first instance of giving a golden ticket away on the day of the event.
 * Nobooty knew the contents of box 18 during week 13, due to a packing error - it was incorrectly labelled as another box 15.
 * Week 13's throne was won by Klank. He has since left the game, and given his throne to Dolgan, who ironically won a throne in week 1.
 * Nobooty knew the contents of boxes 13 and 15 during week 35 (at the end of the game), since [the player] trashed 2 of the cards, and he needed to confirm that they were the 2 prizes in the boxes.

=See also=
 * Current events
 * Information on obtaining golden tickets for distribution in an event