Terms for the World BioQuest Competition
Hey everyone! We’re running this First Ever World BioQuest as a way to increase the number of people getting outdoors and participating in biodiversity mapping, discovery and conservation.
We want you to have fun, to enjoy the outdoors, to find an amazing variety of life, learn more about the world around you, and celebrate the International Day of Biological Diversity.
The more people who participate, the better chance we have of creating a healthy and sustainable environment for future generations!
A few things you need to know about the competition:
Who’s holding it?
The First Ever World BioQuest is operated by QuestaGame. If you need to get in touch with us, write to info@questagame.com. We respond to every email.
Who’s eligible to participate?
You - the person reading these terms - are eligible to participate, as long as you’re able to understand what you’re reading, and that you live in one of the following countries:
Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, UK, USA, Vietnam.
The only people residing in these countries who aren’t eligible to participate - despite their competitive nature and their intense passion for biodiversity - are QuestaGame employees. Sorry, team!
Do I need to know the names of the creatures I find?
No. Our community of online experts will identify the creatures for you. That's part of what makes it so fun. You submit a sighting of something, and our experts will tell you what you've found. (Although you can earn bonus points for identifying the creature yourself).
When is the competition?
The official start time is 6am, Saturday, 20 May in Sydney - which is 4pm, Friday, 19 May in New York, 9pm Friday 19 May in London, and 1:30am, Saturday, 20 May in New Delhi - and ends 72 hours later (to commemorate International Day of Biodiversity, 22 May).
How to play?
You’ll need to have registered your email and paid the correct entry fee to participate in the competition. You’ll also need to use the QuestaGame app or the BioExpertise Engine - using the same registered email address - in order to earn points for submit your nature sightings and/or making identifications.
Points are based on the rarity of the organism for your location and season.
For more detailed rules, read the BioQuest Rules page.
Important: Vulnerable, threatened or endangered species will not receive points, for their own protection.
You can also receive points for correctly identifying organisms submitted by other players.
Prizes will be awarded to:
- World Champion: Highest overall score from both submitted sightings and identifications
- Champion Spotter: Highest total score from submitted sightings
- Champion Identifier: Highest total score from sightings identified
- Best Finds: Top scoring single sightings
- Best Photos: As judged through QuestaGame Facebook page
Any rules I need to be aware of?
For more detailed rules, read the BioQuest Rules page.
Biodiversity is about life. QuestaGame will accept just about any sighting of a living organism. However, it won’t accept sightings of humans, domestic animals, cultivated plants, inanimate creatures, or animals that live in cages or other forms of enclosure. (This, by the way, is but a minuscule fraction of a minuscule fraction of all the life that exists on earth).
For each sighting you submit, you can include up to 5 images of the specimen. You’ll receive credit for only one species per sighting.
QuestaGame won’t accept a second sighting of the same species if it's within 1 kilometre and 24 hours of the previous sighting. So for example, if you submit a photo of a monarch butterfly resting on a statue, QuestaGame won’t accept another sighting of a monarch butterfly within 1 kilometre of the same statue, unless 24 hours have passed.
We repeat: For their own protection, vulnerable, threatened or endangered species will not receive points.
How do paid competitions like this one help support environmental conservation?
When you submit sightings through QuestaGame, a community of experts will identify and/or verify the sighting. These experts have nominated an environmental organisation. For every sighting they identify correctly, a share of the competition's entry fees goes to their nominated organisation. You can see the organisations here.
In this way, the competition provides a financial reward for environmental expertise, thereby raising the value of knowledge about nature, while supporting groups that are working toward a more sustainable future for all of us.
If you'd like to register as an expert, and nominate an environmental organisation, visit this page.
The sightings data that's collected is shared with the leading national and global biodiversity databases to help researchers better understand the environment.
How will I know if I win?
Of course, we all win when you contribute sightings of life to the global database of biodiversity; and you specifically win when you have fun outdoors and learn more about the world around you.
But that's not what you're asking, is it?
If you win, you’ll be notified by the email address with which you registered. Winners will be announced via social media and on the QuestaGame website before June 15, 2017.
Any fine print I should be aware of?
This competition is governed by QuestaGame's Terms of Service. We've done our best to make them easy to understand, so we recommend you give them a read.
Okay, that's it! Have fun and make sure you read the Safety Check once again before you start playing!