How to play
The whole game in ninety seconds.
The rules
- · 1000 Bux, 8 screens, filled from this week's films — stack one film on as many screens as you like.
- · Each screen earns its film's real weekend box office.
- · Highest total wins. Lineups lock Friday noon ET; new films weekly.
The price is the prediction
A film's price is what it's expected to gross this weekend, in Bux. If every film hit its expectation, every full lineup would score about the same. So you don't win by picking good movies — you win by finding the film the price is wrong about and loading screens with it. The price is the crowd's guess; the game is disagreeing, correctly.
Worked example. A blockbuster at 635 and a comedy at 150 both return ~$61K per Bux at their expected grosses — no edge. But if that comedy breaks out to $15M, it returns ~$100K per Bux, and six screens of it bury every lineup built on the blockbuster.
Where prices come from. No vibes, one formula. Every film earning in US theaters last weekend is on the board (plus this Friday's openers). A returning film is expected to gross ~55% of what it just did — the standard second-weekend drop; openers are set from buzz. Prices are then proportional to expectation: the biggest expectation costs 700 Bux, a film expected to earn half as much costs half as much, floor of 50. That proportionality is the whole balance of the game — at expectations, every full lineup scores about the same, so the only way to win is to out-predict the formula.
The three classic lineups
The favorite stack — big film everywhere. Safe, usually mid-pack; wins only if the favorite beats its own hype.
The cheap stack — eight longshots. Usually last, occasionally legendary. A weapon for when you know something.
The value hunt — find the mispriced film, stack it, fill the rest. The actual game; the value board shows where the money was made.
Bonuses & rhythm
- · Best Performer: the best-value film pays a bonus on every screen showing it.
- · Perfect Lineup: match the best possible lineup for a fat bonus. Empty screens take a penalty.
- · Slate posts Monday noon → build & tinker → lock Friday noon ET → weekend → Monday noon the report settles scores and your rating moves.
- · Four-day weekends (MLK, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day): grosses count Friday–Monday and everything lands Tuesday noon instead.