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 @[email protected] and @[email protected] who helped test this season!
TL;DR
- 🦅 Crow won the season, holding the button for 32.4% of the game.
- 👑 @[email protected] 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.
- 🏇 @[email protected] turned the Circus into a gold mine: +22,733 gold, including a single 10,000-gold ticket.
- ⚔️ Verus the Thracian (@[email protected]) 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 | @[email protected] (19:00:05, first press of the season) |
| Last press | @[email protected] for House Purple, 09:46 on day three |
| Closest shave | @[email protected], with 1.04 seconds left |
| Fastest reaction | @[email protected], 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: @[email protected] (47), @[email protected] (36), @[email protected] and @[email protected] (16 each), @[email protected] and @[email protected] (14 each).
Four presses landed with under ten seconds to spare: @[email protected] (1.0s), @[email protected] (2.0s), @[email protected] (5.0s) and @[email protected] (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 | @[email protected] | 15 |
| 🦅 Crow | @[email protected] | 15 |
| 🏛️ green | @[email protected] | 13 |
| 🔥 Nero’s Fire | @[email protected] | 12 |
| 🐗 Pumba | @[email protected] | 6 |
| ⚓ Galleon | @[email protected] | 6 |
| 🦁 Leo | @[email protected] | 3 |
| 🛡️ Collective | @[email protected] | 1 |
| 🏹 Corvidton | @[email protected] | dissolved after 16 hours |
| 🐺 Sempronii | @[email protected] | 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 @[email protected], who joined a house 14 times, which may explain a certain decree further down. @[email protected] 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 (@[email protected] 10, @[email protected] 8, @[email protected] and @[email protected] 6 each) |
Most successful challenger: @[email protected] (4 seats won from 5 challenges). Most challenged: @[email protected], whose seat was contested 10 times.
How it unfolded
How it unfolded
🌙 Night one: the first knives
25 September, 19:00 to midnight
- 19:19 House Purple is founded, twenty minutes after the gates open. Eight more houses follow that night.
- 20:34 The first stabbing: @[email protected] is struck down barely ninety minutes into the season.
- 21:59 @[email protected] and @[email protected] fall to the knife within seconds of each other.
- 22:03 @[email protected] has @[email protected] recalled from the Senate (73 to 31).
- 22:10 @[email protected], now a Praetor, pushes @[email protected] out (148 to 128).
- 22:11 A motion to recall @[email protected] is crushed, 146 to 19.
- 23:53 @[email protected] becomes Rome’s first Consul, and holds the seat for almost thirteen hours.
🌑 The small hours: @[email protected]’s purge
26 September, 01:40 to 06:30
As a Praetor, @[email protected] went after rivals one by one:
- 01:41 @[email protected] recalled (138 to 0).
- 04:23 @[email protected] recalled (116 to 11).
- 05:08 @[email protected] recalled (175 to 101).
- 05:29 @[email protected] recalled again (240 to 202).
@[email protected] and @[email protected] hit back with recalls of their own against @[email protected] and @[email protected]. Then the knives came out:
- 06:00 to 06:23 @[email protected] is stabbed twice in twenty minutes, with @[email protected] in between.
☀️ Morning: the Consul and the Citizen
26 September, 09:20 to 12:00
The season’s great feud.
- @[email protected] files recall after recall, three of them aimed at Consul @[email protected].
- @[email protected] vetoes five of them.
- @[email protected] files three recalls against @[email protected], and the Senate carries all three (173 to 51, 95 to 22, 57 to 6).
👑 Midday: the Emperor
26 September, 12:41 to 15:56
- 12:41 @[email protected] 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.
- 15:34 to 15:41 @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected] fall in seven minutes.
- 15:56 The Emperor is struck down.
- 15:59 to 16:00 @[email protected] and @[email protected] (again) follow.
With the throne empty, the Consul’s seat changed hands four times in under two hours: @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected].
- @[email protected] uses their turn to recall @[email protected] (250 to 158).
- @[email protected] vetoes two of @[email protected]’s motions, including a decree to rename Rome the “Republic of Crome.”
- 17:38 The Senate passes, 35 to 0, a pact to “fight off every rising Emperor and work together by rotating the Consul seat.”
🌆 Evening: the recall duel and the second spree
26 September, 18:27 to 19:30
- 18:27 to 19:26 @[email protected] and @[email protected] file four failed recalls against each other (88 to 146, 35 to 130, 0 to 107, 50 to 89).
- 18:55 and 18:57 @[email protected] and @[email protected] are stabbed, just as the gladiators drive Coolius off for the second time.
- 19:07 to 19:09 Four more in two minutes: @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected].
- 19:09 Stability hits its season low of 42.
🐦⬛ The long night: the Corvidton purge
27 September, 01:45 to 04:35
@[email protected], founder of the short-lived Corvidton, took the Senate by storm.
- 01:45 @[email protected] is recalled with the season’s biggest vote: 715 to 83.
- @[email protected] becomes Consul, then files eight recalls in ninety minutes, against @[email protected] (38 to 0), @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected]. Every one carries except the motion against @[email protected], thrown out 50 to 0.
- 02:32 to 03:09 @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected] are stabbed.
- 03:02 The Senate un-bars @[email protected] (200 to 55)…
- 03:06 …then bars them again (60 to 0) “from membership in any of the grand houses, or holding any position above Praetor.”
🌅 Dawn to the end: @[email protected]’s Rome
27 September, 04:35 to 10:01
- @[email protected] holds the Consul’s seat three times, the last from 07:53 to the finish.
- 07:00 @[email protected] vetoes one final recall.
- 07:08 @[email protected] 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 @[email protected]’s own, eighteen minutes before the timer runs out.
Every stabbing
| When | Struck down |
|---|---|
| 25th 20:34 | @[email protected] |
| 25th 21:59 | @[email protected], @[email protected] |
| 26th 06:00 to 06:23 | @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] |
| 26th 15:34 to 15:41 | @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] |
| 26th 15:56 | @[email protected], the Emperor |
| 26th 15:59 to 16:00 | @[email protected], @[email protected] |
| 26th 17:18 | @[email protected] |
| 26th 18:55 to 19:09 | @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] |
| 27th 02:32 to 03:09 | @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] |
| 27th 09:43 | @[email protected] |
Stabbed most: @[email protected], three times, and @[email protected], three times counting the throne. @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected] were each struck down twice.
The Consuls of Rome
14 terms, 10 players: @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] (three terms), @[email protected], @[email protected] (twice), @[email protected] (twice) and @[email protected].
Most offices held: @[email protected] (11 terms), @[email protected] and @[email protected] (10 each).
👑 The Throne and the Ides
@[email protected] 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 @[email protected] 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 @[email protected] shouting “I HAVE A KNIFE IN MY HAND RIGHT NOW” in chat, [redacted] struck. Beware the Ides! @[email protected] fell to Citizen after 3 hours and 14 minutes on the throne, the longest (and only) reign of the season.
@[email protected]: “I’ve been killed!” @[email protected]: “WE ARE A REPUBLIC ONCE AGIAN!!!” @[email protected]: “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. @[email protected] struck hardest, then @[email protected] and @[email protected]. 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. @[email protected] struck hardest (29,401 damage), just ahead of @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected]. 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 | @[email protected] | Shieldsman | 20 | 801,614 |
| Achillia the Silent | @[email protected] | Shieldsman | 19 | 595,779 |
| Triumphus | @[email protected] | Curved Blade | 19 | 586,962 |
| Fortunata of Pergamum | @[email protected] | Netfighter | 19 | 536,769 |
| Aquilina | @[email protected] | Curved Blade | 18 | 418,319 |
| Priscus Scarhand | @[email protected] | Shieldsman | 18 | 354,969 |
| Rutuba | @[email protected] | Chaser | 17 | 319,770 |
- Most renowned: @[email protected]’s Triumphus (85,523 renown).
- Hardest worker: @[email protected], with 923 bouts and 853 flawless ones, a record.
- Fastest champion bout: @[email protected], in 9.98 seconds.
- Trophy Book: @[email protected] claimed all 16 pages, every one a Masterwork.
- Armoury: @[email protected] found the most kit (40 pieces).
- Farewells: @[email protected] set Rutuba free after three Games titles. @[email protected]’s Priscus of Ravenna was killed by a leopard.
🏟️ The Games
14 tournaments were fought to a finish and 655 bets were placed (33,489 gold staked).
| # | Champion | Lanista | Purse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flamma | @[email protected] | 16 |
| 2 | Verus the Thracian | @[email protected] | 164 |
| 3 | Achillia the Silent | @[email protected] | 964 |
| 4 | Aquilina | @[email protected] | 332 |
| 5 | Rutuba | @[email protected] | 344 |
| 6 | Aquilina | @[email protected] | 488 |
| 7 | Drusilla of Ravenna | @[email protected] | 528 |
| 8 | Fortunata of Pergamum | @[email protected] | 128 |
| 9 | Achillia the Silent | @[email protected] | 328 |
| 10 | Rutuba | @[email protected] | 428 |
| 11 | Rutuba | @[email protected] | 228 |
| 12 | Victrix the Silent | @[email protected] | 328 |
| 13 | Aquilina the Silent | @[email protected] | 412 |
| 14 | Achillia the Silent | @[email protected] | 128 |
Three-time champions: @[email protected] (Achillia the Silent) and @[email protected] (Rutuba). @[email protected]’s Aquilina won twice.
Best at the betting window: @[email protected] (+294), @[email protected] (+264), @[email protected] (+258).
🏇 The Circus
27 race days, 81 heats, 76,791 gold wagered by 33 punters.
The big winner: @[email protected] 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. @[email protected] followed with +8,564. @[email protected] 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| @[email protected] | 27,782 | 41 | 1,288 |
| @[email protected] | 20,807 | 33 | 1,434 |
| @[email protected] | 17,748 | 25 | 1,009 |
| @[email protected] | 17,211 | 28 | 654 |
| @[email protected] | 15,798 | 25 | 861 |
- Biggest single Hunt: @[email protected], 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: @[email protected] (3,494), @[email protected] (3,000), @[email protected] (2,619), @[email protected] (1,906), @[email protected] (1,540).
🔍 The Verres Affair
Senator Gaius Verres was found dead in the baths on the first evening. @[email protected] read the omen and broke the news; @[email protected] 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): @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected]. Six took the reward for their house (+300 influence): @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected].
(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 |
|---|---|---|
| @[email protected] | 7 | 10 |
| @[email protected] | 7 | 17 |
| @[email protected] | 5 | 6 |
| @[email protected] | 3 | 6 |
| @[email protected] | 2 |
@[email protected] was the most eager challenger, with 17 matches, and the most beaten: @[email protected] and @[email protected] 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. @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected] played the most; @[email protected]’s games against @[email protected] and @[email protected] both ended level.
Four in a row: 7 games. @[email protected] and @[email protected] won two each; @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected] one each. @[email protected] played the most (4).
🎟️ The Lottery
40 hourly draws, 854 tickets, 55 players. @[email protected] won seven draws. The biggest pot was 108 gold, to @[email protected].
💬 The Forum
- 3,992 chat messages from 53 people during the season.
- Most talkative: @[email protected] (494), @[email protected] (399), @[email protected] (361), @[email protected] (331), @[email protected] (301).
- Favourite reactions: 👍 252 · 😂 152 · ❤️ 145 · 🔥 115 · 🐦⬛ 114 · 🤡 107.
- Top recruiter: @[email protected] brought in 8 new players.
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 | @[email protected] |
| The Ides | @[email protected] |
| First Consul | @[email protected] |
| The Great Recaller | @[email protected] (the 715 to 83 vote, and eight recalls in ninety minutes) |
| Most vetoes | @[email protected] (5) |
| Most seats won by challenge | @[email protected] (4) |
| Most house moves | @[email protected] (14) |
| First Citizen | @[email protected] |
| First to speak | @[email protected] |
| Broke the news of Verres | @[email protected] |
| Highest-grade gladiator | Verus the Thracian (@[email protected]) |
| Most renowned gladiator | Triumphus (@[email protected]) |
| Coolius, act 1, hardest hitter | @[email protected] |
| Coolius, act 2, hardest hitter | @[email protected] |
| Top hunter | @[email protected] |
| Richest citizen | @[email protected] (22,255 gold) |
| Most influence | @[email protected] (5,908) |
| Most offices held | @[email protected] |
| Most flawless bouts | @[email protected] |
| Rock, paper, scissors | @[email protected] and @[email protected] (7 wins each) |
| Closest shave | @[email protected] (1.04 seconds) |
Thank you to everyone who played, plotted, stabbed and pressed. Rome, or New South Corvidton, will remember. 🏛️
Oh, damn. A lion skull would have been very menacing in the games.
It would have been nice to see the armour you got in the games too!