Grab-a-Gopher

Grab-a-Gopher is a competition in the Bunny Botanic where users attempt to be the first to click on a gopher appearing out of one of the eight gopher burrows. There can be considerable competition to be the fastest clicker: not only because they occur in the most popular room in Bittybay, but also for the 5 Bits prize for each gopher caught.

Details
When first introduced in June 2007, 2 Bits were awarded for each successful catch of a gopher. Today it is 5, but the implentation of a direct cash prize has allowed the Grab-a-Gopher competition to be one of the easiest ways to earn Bits.



As shown on the right, the successful user will quickly be able to tell if they were successful. A ringing sound will be heard, immediately accompanied with the two alert boxes on the user's screen.

At the end of every month, the user with the highest total of gophers caught will win the additional prizes of a special Bunny avatar and 250 bits. Furthermore, any other users who surpass the 100-gopher plateau in a particular month will also receive the special Bunny avatar.

Longevity
The Grab-a-Gopher competition is arguably the only one that has managed to persevere over the years, mainly because it does not require staff supervision, so it is not limited to when a particular member of staff is available. With the coding of Bittybay able to determine the winner, staff are also not needed to settle disputes between players.

Leaderboard
The Bittybay website keeps a periodically updated leaderboard, identifying the current ten most successful users of that particular month. In practice however, the leaderboard can become neglected, leading to higher gopher tallies than what would be possible in a single month.

The Gophers
"Following extensive ground maintenance, a large colony of gophers has been discovered living within the Bunny Botanic. Initial reports estimate that gopher clearance could be an extremely costly process, so we are rewarding YOU for catching the gophers for us!"

The Gophers in the Bunny Botanic appear from a random burrow every 20-70 minutes. Once surfaced, they will remain there indefinitely until they are caught.