The Girls Who Can’t Do Math – Relay Wizards for Spunky Speed Build

By DrFran Babcock

The excellent residents at Builders Brewery have been generous in offering their sim so that the Relay Wizards for Spunky could hold a week of events to raise money for the American Cancer Society. We have a silent auction, a few dances, and the week will culminate in a huge dance that really going to be a pajama party.

Anhayla Lycia is our master builder and a veteran of numerous Speed Builds. She and I set out to create a Speed Build for our week of events. The event was held on Wednesday, June 24, 2015.

What Is Speed Build?

You have missed out on one of the best uses of Second Life if you have never attended or competed in a Speed Build. Contestant arrange themselves on prim platforms and as the event starts they are given a theme. The build begins, and goes on for a specified time after which the builds are judged (usually by the audience), and prizes are awarded based on the votes. Different contests have different rules, but the format is generally the same.

For our Speed Build we decided that all prims had to be original and that sadly no mesh could be used because it could not be created on the spot. We did allow sculpts provided they were created by the person competing.

Our Math

Anhayla and I are creatives, which often, but not always, implies less skill with numbers. We decided on very generous prizes for the winners of the contest: 2000L for the winner, 1000L for second place, and 500L for third place, for a total of 3500L in prizes. We each contributed that money.

Our plan was to have contestants “buy” a build platform from a Relay for Life vendor in order to participate in the Speed Build. By this time you are starting to see the potential for problems, which is that we would have to have a lot of entries to break even. To make a profit, even more entries would be required.

The Event

On the evening of the event we had already spammed Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google+, the Builders Brewery, Relay for Life Volunteers, and Thinkerer Melvilles entertainment groups.  At the start of the contest we had six very enthusiastic builders, and a large audience of residents in the seats usually used by the Show and Tell event (Sundays at 1PM SL).

In my opinion, building events such as classes and contests, showcase on the best features of Second Life—you can build and build and create here, and your results are immediately visible and usable. Prims may be old technology, but they are still a wonder.

The theme for the builders was: The Future is Now. You may know that this is the same as the theme of the 2015 Relay for Life in Second Life. Anhayla told the builders they had 50 minutes to build, and we began the competition.

The audience seemed to be delighted with the activity and cheered on their favorite builders. When time was up the audience walked around the builds and noted their favorites. They instant messaged their choices to Anhayla who tallied them up, and the winners were announced:

First Prize: Trixie Seomun for her steampunk gears turning the globe

Second Prize: Toxic Darkmatter for her computer with a hand coming out of it.
Third Prize: Anthony (ADudeNamed Anthony)

The other contestants in the contest were cuddly waffle (Barry’s Coffee Shop), A Rose by another name (bellarosamaria) for her sky balloon, and Thickbrick Sleaford (Futuristic skyscraper).  

The Results

Thanks to ADudeNamed Anthony for donating his winnings back to the Relay For Life team kiosk. Aside from that, we lost money on this event. However, it was the most fun I have had in SL in a long time, and Blue Myanamoto (another Relay Wizards for Spunky team member) and I are considering asking Builders Brewery if we can turn this into a regular event. Speed Builds are fun.

Please see the photos for the work of these accomplished builders. Bellarosamaria showed up almost an hour early, and although a newer builder, she gave it her all.

Thanks to Builders Brewery for allowing us to use their land.


Thanks, Doc

DrFran Babcock