**🕺 Welcome to the Scholar and Scribe Invitational 🕺**
**-Rise of the Pixels edition-**
I am back from my hiatus! Crowd goes wild. I wanna thank @dibblers.dabs for picking up the slack and doing an amazing job hosting the last Invitational. And also @jfuji for making this collaboration a possibility. And I guess now I gotta thank @kemmyb as well or she'll 🙄 at me. Some Housekeeping before we get into the meat of things.
🧹 **HOUSEKEEPING** 🧹
Check out the latest Dreem-WOTW - Rise of the Pixels edition. Hosted by the amazing @samsmith1971 and the #Dreemport community!
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming: 📺
The Invitational is our bi-weekly, super-duper, writing contest. It is where we match quills and draw blood all for the sake of the craft. We all know a 'friendly' competition never hurts anyone, much, especially when it can be used as a platform to improve your writing. 🙌

**🥳 Last Invitational Winners 🥳**
Seeing as how these are special editions with rules of their own, there will be two sets of winners. One chosen by your standard S&S crew, and the other by the great folk over at Rise of the Pixels. The latter will focus more on the lore aspects.
🥇 Gold: 50 SCHOLAR, 3 SCRIBE, 2 HSBI, 300 Ecency points @grindan with The Recluse and the Rift
The bedroom wall was covered in monitors, their cords neatly gathered to pull through an opening near the back of the massive desk below. Felix pushed a cordless keyboard along its surface with him as he shuffled from one end to the other in his leather office chair.
🥈 Silver: 40 SCHOLAR, 2 SCRIBE, 1 HSBI, 200 Ecency points @wrestlingdesires with The Disorganized Organization
Rose stood, and pointed at her monitor as if it had just chewed up her favorite slippers. "Jokers like this never help get things done! In fact, they've already cost me five minutes that could have been used for sifting through those AI wannabees I found chatting with each other earlier."
🥉 Bronze: 30 SCHOLAR, 1 SCRIBE, 100 Ecency points @alonicus with Revenge of the Pixels
The children had asked where the presenter got his name from, but mother didn't know. No-one realised he was named for the very first synthetic AI-human to have been stealth released into the world all the way back in 2004; that information had been very carefully memory-holed and was not made available to human consumers.
🎖️ Runners Up: 15 SCHOLAR, 50 Ecency points @kei2 with Genesis; Pixelverse @bruno-kema with Berlin To Mars | An Interplanetary Story
**Lore Winners**
🏆 Winner: Studio License: Rise of the Pixels (~21.5 HIVE current value) @alonicus with Revenge of the Pixels
Reflected the lore teaser the most, along with some deliciously evil origins for The Organization. A great dystopian angle.
🎖️ Runner Up: 8-bit NFT pack (~8 HIVE value) @wrestlingdesires with The Disorganized Organization
The rift discovery was humorously crafted into a bureaucratic accident. Great ingenuity.
🎖️ Runner Up: 8-bit NFT pack (~8 HIVE value) @bruno-kema with Berlin To Mars | An Interplanetary Story
A true Sci-Fi vibe where the discovery of the rift was an accident born of a different undertaking.

**🧐 Rules of Engagement 🧐**
- Entries must adhere to the genre AND thematic prompt;
- Entries must be between 800 and 1500 words. Note: this does not include any intro/footer text.
- You must post your entry in Scholar and Scribe and use the #scholarandscribe tag;
- Deadline for submission is Wednesday, 31st of January (23.59, GMT + 01);
- All languages are welcome but MUST include an English translation;
- Link your entry in the comment section below; ⏬
**🤯 Special Rules 🤯**
- Write a scene focused on Pixelians fusing
- Come up with / explore WHY it happens. What exactly in their culture or genetics or instinct makes it a thing?
- Read and use the very short "Lore Teaser" for the Rise of the Pixels game: https://peakd.com/hive-131053/@riseofthepixels/rise-of-the-pixels-lore-teaser
- Feel free to draw inspiration from any of the previous entries, expand upon your other entries, etc.

**🤑 Prizes and Goodies 🤑**
The winners will be announced in two weeks. Winners of what? An astute question. The prizes are as follows:
🥇 Gold: 50 SCHOLAR, 3 SCRIBE, 2 HSBI, 300 Ecency points 🥈 Silver: 40 SCHOLAR, 2 SCRIBE, 1 HSBI, 200 Ecency points 🥉 Bronze: 30 SCHOLAR, 1 SCRIBE, 100 Ecency points 🎖️ Runner(s) Up: 15 SCHOLAR, other goodies
IN ADDITION- Each participant will get a modest review of their work from the modding team. With the additional opportunity of getting an in-depth critical review if they so choose. 🙂
LORE WINNERS WILL RECEIVE:
🏆 Winner: A Game Dev Studio License for use in the RotP game (~21.5 HIVE value currently). This unlocks the ability to earn token rewards when the game comes out of Beta and supplies you with a starter pack.
🎖️ Runners up: One 8-bit NFT pack each (~8 HIVE value)
Owning packs will also accumulate bonuses while RotP is in Beta mode (read more here: https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@riseofthepixels/rewards-for-beta-testers-studio-reputation-for-unopened-packs)
Prizes will be redeemable using a coupon code on the main RotP site. Packs are not yet transferable. Packs cannot be opened on the Main server, but you can practice opening them on Beta server. (more info: https://peakd.com/hive-131053/@riseofthepixels/rise-of-the-pixels-beta-update-1)

**🤺 Genre and Theme 🤺**
The story you submit MUST adhere to the following prompts:
🎥 Genre: SCI-FI 🤹 Theme: DISCOVERY
For those who want to dive deeper into Rise of the Pixels to help inspire their writing for the invitational or maybe just to check out an exciting new game, check out the additional links below:
Official website: https://riseofthepixels.com/ Game Rulebook: https://rulebook.riseofthepixels.com/ On Hive: https://peakd.com/@riseofthepixels/ Discord: https://discord.gg/e7cKB3KmsS
Rise of the Pixels is not obligated to take any ideas on board, but the team has made it clear that they are optimistic that there will be ample material to work with. They have made it very clear they will ensure authors receive proper credit for their contributions.
May the odds - and your creative energy - be ever in your favor!

We'd like to give out a big shout-out and thank you to Ecency for sponsoring this contest! 🤗

A big thank you to @melinda010100 as well for the seamless communication.
Check out the Ecency front-end and/or mobile app for more information on how to use your points.

**Check out our 2023 Scribe of the Year**
▶️ | [**Post**](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@grocko/scribe-of-the-year-2023) | [**Profile**](https://peakd.com/@killerwot) | ◀️**Read The 2023 Scribe Spotlights**
**About the Scholar and Scribe Community**
Return from S&S Invitational: Rise of the Pixels - Fusion Exploration Edition to Јоцко's Web3 Blog