The Button, Season 5: Rome. The Full Recap 🏛️

39 hours. 127 citizens from 39 instances. One Emperor, one knife in the Forum, twenty-two stabbings, thirty-nine recall motions, two routs of Coolius Caesar, and a Senate that voted to rename Rome to New South Corvidton.

The gates opened on 25 September at 19:00 UTC and the last timer ran dry on 27 September at 10:01 UTC. Here is everything that happened in between. All times are UTC.

A massive thank you to @W3dd1e@lemmy.zip and @ComradePupIvy@lemmygrad.ml who helped test this season!

TL;DR

  • 🦅 Crow won the season, holding the button for 32.4% of the game.
  • 👑 @vicinus@piefed.zip seized the throne and reigned for 3 hours 14 minutes before [redacted] struck on the Ides.
  • 🗡️ 22 stabbings, 17 successful recalls and 68 seat challenges. Rome’s Stability bottomed out at 42 and never fell.
  • 🕶️ Coolius Caesar marched on Rome twice and was driven off both times by the gladiators.
  • 🏇 @livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net turned the Circus into a gold mine: +22,733 gold, including a single 10,000-gold ticket.
  • ⚔️ Verus the Thracian (@bevsdad@lemmy.ca) became the only gladiator to reach grade 20.
  • 🏗️ The Treasury poured 80,130 points into Public Works. Five projects were completed and the Aqueduct runs.

🦅 The Button
Presses 408
Pressers 103
Median time left on the clock at a press 10 minutes
Presses left unused at the end 1,822
First Citizen of Rome @grantuseyes@lemmy.zip (19:00:05, first press of the season)
Last press @demigodrick@lemmy.zip for House Purple, 09:46 on day three
Closest shave @demigodrick@lemmy.zip, with 1.04 seconds left
Fastest reaction @tarball@lemmy.zip, 86 ms after the previous press

Who held the button

House Share of the game Presses
🦅 Crow 32.4% 117
No house 27.2% 137
🍇 House Purple 12.3% 52
🏛️ green 10.3% 37
🐗 Pumba 7.3% 26
⚓ Galleon 5.4% 15
🔥 Nero’s Fire 2.3% 12
🦁 Leo 1.7% 6
🏹 Corvidton 0.8% 4
🛡️ Collective 0.1% 2

Top pressers: @vicinus@piefed.zip (47), @bevsdad@lemmy.ca (36), @macallan@lemmy.world and @sebas@lemmy.zip (16 each), @alfredolin@sopuli.xyz and @nailingjello@lemmy.zip (14 each).

Four presses landed with under ten seconds to spare: @demigodrick@lemmy.zip (1.0s), @gwaer@lemmy.world (2.0s), @bevsdad@lemmy.ca (5.0s) and @svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz (8.4s). The Senate later passed a decree that “pressing the button when there’s more than a minute left makes everyone sad and you should feel bad as a matter of law.”

The season ended when the clock was allowed to run out, with 1,822 unused presses sitting in people’s pockets. House Purple alone was holding 563 of them.

🏠 The Houses

Ten houses were founded; eight survived to the end.

House Founder Members at the end
🍇 House Purple @sebas@lemmy.zip 15
🦅 Crow @vicinus@piefed.zip 15
🏛️ green @mschae@discuss.mschae23.de 13
🔥 Nero’s Fire @crozekiel@lemmy.zip 12
🐗 Pumba @nailingjello@lemmy.zip 6
⚓ Galleon @terrance@lemmy.world 6
🦁 Leo @svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 3
🛡️ Collective @freeman@feddit.org 1
🏹 Corvidton @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml dissolved after 16 hours
🐺 Sempronii @m_f@discuss.online dissolved after 71 minutes

Loyalty was not Rome’s strongest virtue: players joined a house 102 times and walked out 40 times. The season’s great wanderer was @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, who joined a house 14 times, which may explain a certain decree further down. @tikiporch@lemmy.world joined seven.

Corvidton lasted less than a day, but it never really died. It lived on in graffiti (“Corvidton is a lie”, “Beware Corvidton19 virus”, “New South Corvidton”) and in the Senate, which voted 100 to 42 to rename Rome to New South Corvidton.

🗡️ The Politics of Rome

Rome’s offices ran on claim-or-challenge: take an empty seat, or stake influence to challenge someone for theirs and let the city vote. Above that sat the Senate’s recall motions, the Consul’s veto and, for the bold, the Ides.

By the numbers
Empty seats taken 93
Seat challenges 68: 28 won by the challenger, 19 held by the incumbent, 20 called off
Recall motions filed 39: 22 carried, 11 failed, 6 vetoed
Players actually recalled 17
Stabbings (the Ides) 22, plus one Emperor
Vetoes 8
Sacrosanct shields raised 44 (@bevsdad@lemmy.ca 10, @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml 8, @vicinus@piefed.zip and @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 6 each)

Most successful challenger: @gwaer@lemmy.world (4 seats won from 5 challenges). Most challenged: @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, whose seat was contested 10 times.

How it unfolded

How it unfolded

🌙 Night one: the first knives

25 September, 19:00 to midnight

🌑 The small hours: @bevsdad@lemmy.ca’s purge

26 September, 01:40 to 06:30

As a Praetor, @bevsdad@lemmy.ca went after rivals one by one:

@tikiporch@lemmy.world and @hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works hit back with recalls of their own against @bevsdad@lemmy.ca and @vicinus@piefed.zip. Then the knives came out:

☀️ Morning: the Consul and the Citizen

26 September, 09:20 to 12:00

The season’s great feud.

👑 Midday: the Emperor

26 September, 12:41 to 15:56

  • 12:41 @vicinus@piefed.zip stops asking and seizes the throne (see below).
  • For three hours Rome is an Empire. The Senate’s decrees run from “All Hail Emperor Vicinus!” to graffiti reading “We must stab the Emperor.”

🗡️ Afternoon: the Ides

26 September, 15:34 to 18:00

A claimant rose in the provinces at 15:36, and the city came apart: six stabbings in 26 minutes.

With the throne empty, the Consul’s seat changed hands four times in under two hours: @demigodrick@lemmy.zip, @m_f@discuss.online, @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz.

🌆 Evening: the recall duel and the second spree

26 September, 18:27 to 19:30

🐦‍⬛ The long night: the Corvidton purge

27 September, 01:45 to 04:35

@comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml, founder of the short-lived Corvidton, took the Senate by storm.

🌅 Dawn to the end: @gwaer@lemmy.world’s Rome

27 September, 04:35 to 10:01

  • @gwaer@lemmy.world holds the Consul’s seat three times, the last from 07:53 to the finish.
  • 07:00 @gwaer@lemmy.world vetoes one final recall.
  • 07:08 @bevsdad@lemmy.ca paints “TIKI 4 EMPEROR” on the aqueduct.
  • 09:42 The Senate decrees that “Children must participate in the hunt.”
  • 09:43 The season’s last blood is @gwaer@lemmy.world’s own, eighteen minutes before the timer runs out.

Every stabbing

When Struck down
25th 20:34 @vicinus@piefed.zip
25th 21:59 @crozekiel@lemmy.zip, @green_copper@kbin.earth
26th 06:00 to 06:23 @sebas@lemmy.zip, @nailingjello@lemmy.zip, @sebas@lemmy.zip
26th 15:34 to 15:41 @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz, @mschae@discuss.mschae23.de, @gwaer@lemmy.world
26th 15:56 @vicinus@piefed.zip, the Emperor
26th 15:59 to 16:00 @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, @gwaer@lemmy.world
26th 17:18 @macallan@lemmy.world
26th 18:55 to 19:09 @vicinus@piefed.zip, @gerudo@lemmy.zip, @its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works, @green_copper@kbin.earth, @mschae@discuss.mschae23.de, @livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net
27th 02:32 to 03:09 @svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz, @nailingjello@lemmy.zip, @macallan@lemmy.world
27th 09:43 @gwaer@lemmy.world

Stabbed most: @gwaer@lemmy.world, three times, and @vicinus@piefed.zip, three times counting the throne. @sebas@lemmy.zip, @green_copper@kbin.earth, @mschae@discuss.mschae23.de, @nailingjello@lemmy.zip and @macallan@lemmy.world were each struck down twice.

The Consuls of Rome

14 terms, 10 players: @vicinus@piefed.zip, @demigodrick@lemmy.zip, @m_f@discuss.online, @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz, @gwaer@lemmy.world (three terms), @nailingjello@lemmy.zip, @svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz (twice), @tikiporch@lemmy.world (twice) and @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml.

Most offices held: @tikiporch@lemmy.world (11 terms), @bevsdad@lemmy.ca and @gwaer@lemmy.world (10 each).

👑 The Throne and the Ides

@vicinus@piefed.zip was Rome’s first Consul and then went further. At 12:41 on 26 September they seized the throne and left House Crow to reign as Emperor.

The reign was busy:

  • Proscribed House Nero’s Fire three times (each one cost Rome 10 Stability).
  • Recalled @green_copper@kbin.earth out of the Senate.
  • Paid three donatives to the citizens in the forum and topped up the Games purse twice.
  • Gave out Bread and Circuses twice: a free press for everyone online (19, then 30).
  • Spent 3,427 gold of the Treasury on the City Walls and paid for public works three times.
  • Marched against a claimant in the provinces (+12 Stability).

At 15:56, with @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml shouting “I HAVE A KNIFE IN MY HAND RIGHT NOW” in chat, [redacted] struck. Beware the Ides! @vicinus@piefed.zip fell to Citizen after 3 hours and 14 minutes on the throne, the longest (and only) reign of the season.

@vicinus@piefed.zip: “I’ve been killed!” @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml: “WE ARE A REPUBLIC ONCE AGIAN!!!” @vicinus@piefed.zip: “The crows will rise again!”

The pact to rotate the Consul’s seat held: nobody took the throne again.

📜 The Senate

335 motions were filed and 280 passed.

Kind Passed Failed Vetoed
Spend on the city (+5 Stability) 59 7
Grain dole 57 1
Subsidise a house 42 11 1
Fund a Public Works project 37 3
Recall 22 11 6
Games purse 21 1
Commend 18 3
Decree 13 4 1
Sanction 7 6
Hire the vigiles 4

The decrees of Rome, as passed into law:

  • “Corvidton joins the Crow.”
  • “Every pet owner online now must give their pet one treat and announce their names in chat.”
  • “Appoint Misty as Admiral of the New Corvidton fleet.” (16 to 1)
  • “Rename Rome to New South Corvidton.” (100 to 42, at the third attempt after “Corvidton II” and “New Corvidton” both failed)
  • “THE NEXT WINNER OF THE GAMES SHALL DECIDE WHAT FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM W3dd1e BUYS AT THE GROCERY STORE.” (20 to 0)
  • “Bevsdad is hereby no longer barred from serving on the New South Corvidton Senate.” (200 to 55), then four minutes later “Bevsdad is barred from membership in any of the grand houses, or holding any position above Praetor.” (60 to 0)
  • “Children must participate in the hunt.” (1 to 0)

Decrees that failed: “Shame Bevsdad for disregarding the danger of the beast!” and “Make Misty Empress 😸”.

🕶️ Coolius Caesar

Act 1, 13:08 on the 26th. Coolius marched on Rome with 100,000 health. The Senate voted to fight, 2 to 0. Fifteen gladiators threw 196 attacks at him and he fled in 27 minutes, shades askew. @vicinus@piefed.zip struck hardest, then @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz and @hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works. 1,000 gold was shared out and Rome gained 20 Stability.

Act 2, 17:58 on the 26th. He came back on a white stallion, in shades, with 300,000 health and twice the Stability drain. The Senate voted to fight again, 7 to 0. Twenty-five gladiators landed 524 attacks in 53 minutes. @bevsdad@lemmy.ca struck hardest (29,401 damage), just ahead of @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip, @macallan@lemmy.world, @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz and @egerlach@hachyderm.io. 1,500 gold was shared and he fled once more.

He swore to return. He did not get the chance this season. 👀

🌾 Crises

Six crises reached the Senate, and Rome answered every one:

Crisis Rome’s answer Stability
Goths at the Danube Pay tribute +6
The grain fleet is lost Buy grain at any price +8
Plague in the Subura Send the physicians +8
Fire in the insulae Pay the vigiles +9
A claimant in the provinces March against him (by the Emperor’s decree) +12
Tax revolt in Iudaea Remit the taxes +6

Stability opened in the 60s, touched 100 on the first night, and bottomed out at 42 on the evening of the 26th during the second stabbing spree. It finished at 86. Rome never came close to a Sack.

⚔️ The Ludus

105 gladiators. 9,806 bouts. Two gone from the arena.

Gladiator Lanista Style Grade XP
Verus the Thracian @bevsdad@lemmy.ca Shieldsman 20 801,614
Achillia the Silent @macallan@lemmy.world Shieldsman 19 595,779
Triumphus @sebas@lemmy.zip Curved Blade 19 586,962
Fortunata of Pergamum @tikiporch@lemmy.world Netfighter 19 536,769
Aquilina @vicinus@piefed.zip Curved Blade 18 418,319
Priscus Scarhand @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip Shieldsman 18 354,969
Rutuba @nailingjello@lemmy.zip Chaser 17 319,770

🏟️ The Games

14 tournaments were fought to a finish and 655 bets were placed (33,489 gold staked).

# Champion Lanista Purse
1 Flamma @crozekiel@lemmy.zip 16
2 Verus the Thracian @bevsdad@lemmy.ca 164
3 Achillia the Silent @macallan@lemmy.world 964
4 Aquilina @vicinus@piefed.zip 332
5 Rutuba @nailingjello@lemmy.zip 344
6 Aquilina @vicinus@piefed.zip 488
7 Drusilla of Ravenna @hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works 528
8 Fortunata of Pergamum @tikiporch@lemmy.world 128
9 Achillia the Silent @macallan@lemmy.world 328
10 Rutuba @nailingjello@lemmy.zip 428
11 Rutuba @nailingjello@lemmy.zip 228
12 Victrix the Silent @m_f@discuss.online 328
13 Aquilina the Silent @elyk53@programming.dev 412
14 Achillia the Silent @macallan@lemmy.world 128

Three-time champions: @macallan@lemmy.world (Achillia the Silent) and @nailingjello@lemmy.zip (Rutuba). @vicinus@piefed.zip’s Aquilina won twice.

Best at the betting window: @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip (+294), @nailingjello@lemmy.zip (+264), @demigodrick@lemmy.zip (+258).

🏇 The Circus

27 race days, 81 heats, 76,791 gold wagered by 33 punters.

The big winner: @livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net staked 56,145 gold over 32 tickets and walked away 22,733 gold up. That included a single 10,000-gold ticket on Vibius Rutilus that paid 16,250. It made them the richest citizen in Rome by a distance. @tikiporch@lemmy.world followed with +8,564. @sebas@lemmy.zip had the roughest time at the rail (−1,973).

Champion rider: Gaius Medullinus, with 9 wins and 84 points. Aulus Atratinus (77) and Tiberius Structus (75) were next.

Skulduggery: 47 schemes were attempted (doping, loose axles, rattles, bad oats and false starts). Nine were caught.

🦁 The Hunt

30 Hunts. The first 24 beasts all fell, most in under five minutes, each coming back half as strong again. Then at 27,340 health the beasts finally won: the last six Hunts all escaped.

Hunter Damage Runs Gold won
@sebas@lemmy.zip 27,782 41 1,288
@vicinus@piefed.zip 20,807 33 1,434
@bevsdad@lemmy.ca 17,748 25 1,009
@w3dd1e@lemmy.zip 17,211 28 654
@sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 15,798 25 861
  • Biggest single Hunt: @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, with 2,346 damage against the Iron Bear.
  • Hunts led by house: House Purple 10, green 7, Crow 4.
  • 20 Great Hunters earned the title.

🏗️ Public Works

The Senate and the Emperor spent the Treasury freely: 80,130 points of Public Works came straight from the city’s coffers.

Project Progress
The Basilica ✅ complete
The Valetudinarium ✅ complete
The Amphitheatre ✅ complete
The City Walls ✅ complete
The Aqueduct ✅ complete
The Mint stage 2 (35,632 of 50,000)

Top private donors: @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip (3,494), @sebas@lemmy.zip (3,000), @macallan@lemmy.world (2,619), @nailingjello@lemmy.zip (1,906), @bevsdad@lemmy.ca (1,540).

🔍 The Verres Affair

Senator Gaius Verres was found dead in the baths on the first evening. @sebas@lemmy.zip read the omen and broke the news; @tarball@lemmy.zip was first to close the case, at 21:31 on opening night.

Twelve citizens solved it. Six gave the credit to Rome (+5 Stability each): @tarball@lemmy.zip, @sebas@lemmy.zip, @almost1337@lemmy.zip, @gwaer@lemmy.world, @egerlach@hachyderm.io and @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml. Six took the reward for their house (+300 influence): @m_f@discuss.online, @tikiporch@lemmy.world, @crozekiel@lemmy.zip, @dave@lemmy.nz, @hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works and @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip.

(No spoilers here. It may be back.)

🎲 Games in the Chat

Between the politics and the bloodshed, Rome found time to play. 48 challenges were settled in the chat across the season.

Rock, paper, scissors: 32 matches.

Player Wins Played
@bevsdad@lemmy.ca 7 10
@comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml 7 17
@sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 5 6
@its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works 3 6
@skankhunt42@lemmy.ca 2

@comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml was the most eager challenger, with 17 matches, and the most beaten: @bevsdad@lemmy.ca and @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz both beat them three times. Scissors won 15 times, paper 9 and rock only 8. Throw scissors.

Noughts and crosses: 9 games, 4 of them draws. Nobody won more than once. @bevsdad@lemmy.ca, @m_f@discuss.online and @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml played the most; @m_f@discuss.online’s games against @vicinus@piefed.zip and @bevsdad@lemmy.ca both ended level.

Four in a row: 7 games. @demigodrick@lemmy.zip and @bevsdad@lemmy.ca won two each; @sebas@lemmy.zip, @mschae@discuss.mschae23.de and @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip one each. @bevsdad@lemmy.ca played the most (4).

🎟️ The Lottery

40 hourly draws, 854 tickets, 55 players. @tikiporch@lemmy.world won seven draws. The biggest pot was 108 gold, to @sneezycat@sopuli.xyz.

💬 The Forum

Selected graffiti from the aqueduct:

“Red is Rad Purple is Bad” · “EMBRACE TYRANNY” · “Balnor is your true king” · “We must stab the Emperor” · “Comradepupivy is mean!” · “Corvidton is a lie” · “Avdrdr culpa est” · “Pizza delivery” · “buy bitcoin” · “TIKI 4 EMPEROR”

And from the banners:

“Sebas… I am your daddy.” (followed, three times, by “I’m still your daddy”) “Rome has been renamed by decree of the Senate to New South Corvidton!!!” “Citizens of Rome! I ask of you: buy stability on the Market, so that Caesar and his salads don’t bring the city down.”

🏆 Honours of the Season

Honour
Winning house 🦅 Crow
First (and only) Emperor @vicinus@piefed.zip
The Ides @demigodrick@lemmy.zip
First Consul @vicinus@piefed.zip
The Great Recaller @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml (the 715 to 83 vote, and eight recalls in ninety minutes)
Most vetoes @vicinus@piefed.zip (5)
Most seats won by challenge @gwaer@lemmy.world (4)
Most house moves @bevsdad@lemmy.ca (14)
First Citizen @grantuseyes@lemmy.zip
First to speak @squirrel@cake.kobel.fyi
Broke the news of Verres @sebas@lemmy.zip
Highest-grade gladiator Verus the Thracian (@bevsdad@lemmy.ca)
Most renowned gladiator Triumphus (@sebas@lemmy.zip)
Coolius, act 1, hardest hitter @vicinus@piefed.zip
Coolius, act 2, hardest hitter @bevsdad@lemmy.ca
Top hunter @sebas@lemmy.zip
Richest citizen @livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net (22,255 gold)
Most influence @vicinus@piefed.zip (5,908)
Most offices held @tikiporch@lemmy.world
Most flawless bouts @macallan@lemmy.world
Rock, paper, scissors @bevsdad@lemmy.ca and @comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml (7 wins each)
Closest shave @demigodrick@lemmy.zip (1.04 seconds)

Thank you to everyone who played, plotted, stabbed and pressed. Rome, or New South Corvidton, will remember. 🏛️