April 6th, 2013 at 4PM Eastern Daylight Time the labyrinth will open and the race will begin... ​

whoever finds the exit first will be AT LEAST $225,000 richer! (NOW 225K OMG!!)​

THE LABYRINTH OPENS IN:​

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Even though the event itself does not begin until 4PM, the outer doors to the lobby will open on Saturday at about 3:20PM EST. The main way to get there is via a spawn portal to Labyrinth town, located on town portal level 6, on the inner ring with the blue wool on the floor. When you walk through the correct portal you will arrive at a glass-enclosed outer area of Labyrinth town. Please stay within this outer area for now. Like I said, the lower doors to the main lobby will open at 3:20PM EST on Saturday. We can also TP you to the location, but since we are bound to be busy during those final minutes please ask for a TP only if you have trouble finding the spawn-town portal. Thanks!

• There is no fee to enter the event, it's absolutely free! (But I do appreciate donations, which will go towards increasing the Grand Prize)
• The first player to reach the Grand Prize Room that lies beyond the labyrinth's exit door, and successfully turns in the item which is found in the Treasure of the Labyrinth chest will be sent by me, via the /pay command, AT LEAST $225,000. Once you find the exit, just continue down the passage and you will easily arrive in the Grand Prize Room.
• Any further donations received in appreciation of my work will go 100% towards increasing the Grand Prize. Please consider donating! I've spent many hours working on the labyrinth and would like to richly reward the winner! I'm fronting $127,000 of my own money for the Grand Prize, so I'm not in this to make money for myself, this is all so that the people of EcoCityCraft can experience a fun and memorable event!
• There are also over 100 chests hidden within the labyrinth, each of which contains a small number of various minor prizes.
• In addition, there is ONE "Cache of the Minotaur" chest near the center of the labyrinth which has a bunch of goodies in it.
• The labyrinth is a maze which is all one single vertical level. Including the inner walls, it measures about 160x160. Here's a video which gives a preview of the labyrinth's size. (The final form of the area will look a little different than shown in the video, due to the fact that it's not 100% done. It will be ready by Saturday)

Rules for the event, please follow these and we'll all have fun! :

1. Speed potions, /fly, and /speed are all ALLOWED. Repeat, they are ok to use. The reasons I am doing this is because if I banned their use, enforcement would be a nightmare, and also because in my opinion they don't help that much anyway, due to the way the labyrinth is designed. It is only two blocks high and is located completely underground. Players who significantly increase their walking speed are likely to succeed only in increasing their confusion.
2. Mods/admins are welcome to attend the event but may not win Prizes. The labyrinth's complexities cannot stand in the way of their special moddish powers. (Just to be clear, mods & admins may race around the maze, but may not raid the Cache of the Minotaur and may not win the Grand Prize)
3. Use of TP+ commands while at Labyrinth town is strictly prohibited. That means NO /top, NO /jumpto, and NO holding compasses as the active item while in the labyrinth. The labyrinth is designed so that they won't help anyway but please do not try.
4. using /sethome to set a home inside the Labyrinth is illegal and prohibited.
5. Regular TPing is only allowed within the game's lobby area, in order to help people reach the lobby without needing to find the spawn portal. Once you are inside the labyrinth, you MAY NOT TP other players to your location within the labyrinth. The only thing you may do is /home or /spawn yourself OUT if you wish to leave the labyrinth for some reason. Because setting a home in the maze is prohibited, if you have to leave the maze, the only legal way back in is by walking through the entrance.
6. Use of Ender Pearls while at Labyrinth town is prohibited, and will disqualify you from the event.
7. Being in disguise or vanished while in the labyrinth itself is not allowed, because we need to be able to monitor the area in order to protect the legit players from any rule-breakers.
8. Do NOT attempt to visit the inner main lobby of the labyrinth before 3:20 PM EST on Saturday.Until then, the only part of Labyrinth town you may visit is the glass enclosed staircase area that the spawn portal leads to. Unless you have my permission, if you are noticed to be in a prohibited area I may decide to disqualify you from the event.
9. Break the rules and you may be disqualified. If disqualified you must exit the labyrinth immediately.
10. After the event is complete, the labyrinth will remain open and will be available for you to visit any time you wish!

Special Thanks to austinsplaneguy for helping me run the event.

A special dedication goes out to those who are donating to help me fund the event's grand prize!
List of Donors (so far):
Ndm57dcraft 25k!
Weatherfreak1 1k!
GTREX55 2.3k!
austinsplaneguy 50K!
nickla3107 10k!
mcg1 1.5k!
TheYoungGun 1.5k!
Harryhaz1 $1,337

If you have any questions, please reply in this thread. Anything else, please let me know. Thanks and good luck!

I hope to see you all on Saturday! EDIT: MOD Please lock this thread since the event finished a while ago

 

That's too bad that some of you folks won't be able to make it. But like I said in the original post, after Saturday I will leave the maze open for those who would like to explore it at their leisure. :)

 

Like I said above, my feeling is that if people with fly set their walking /speed too high, they will just end up getting more turned around and confused in the maze than they otherwise would.

Also, I don't believe it's possible for me and Austin to enforce such a rule.

I don't believe that people with an increased walking speed will have a significant advantage. My feeling is that the legitimate winner will be the person who is best able to navigate the maze without getting horribly confused.

If you do want to use increased speed, however, I suggest you get yourself some speed potions asap. I'm sorry that I can't do more, but I can't.

 

I will make a donation chest at the location, and also, if you want to give EcoDollars (which would be my preference) you can do a /pay Nicodemux (# of dollars)

EDIT: As of Thursday afternoon, there is a donation chest on the stairs which lead down to the lobby. If you wish to donate items, please place them in that chest :)

 

the hedge maze itself is complete! Thanks to a generous donation from austinsplaneguy the winner's prize is up to $200,000!

 

Entry is free, any donation of items or cash is totally voluntary. I will be adding one or more donation chests near the maze entrance in case you'd like to donate some items. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you on Saturday! :)