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"Fend off the Bots!", The first contest, seen in-website.
Contests on Roblox are competitions that users enter to compete for prizes. Users that enter contests have to create something related to the contest's theme, e.g. a game or video. Those that rank high in contests are often awarded special prizes, including exclusive avatar items and physical awards. Contests would be hosted by staff members and announced on Roblox's blog pages, the Roblox Forums, Roblox's social media, the Developer Forum, and more recently on Roblox Creator Events.
The first contest was started on June 17, 2005, titled "Fend off the Bots!", in which you had to build something to stop robots from catching you.[1] Contests were a regular occurrence between 2007 and 2013 and peaked in popularity during 2010. They were a core part of Roblox during this period as they were the main type of event. They have continued since then, but far less regularly as other types of events started to become more common.
While official contests are not common today, community-hosted contests and events can still be found at events.roblox.com under the following names:
- Fairs
- Workshops
- Challenges
- Spotlights
- Competitions
- Game Jams
Leaderboard Contests[]
In 2005, and from 2010 to 2012, a tab for contests existed on the Roblox homepage alongside links such as Games, People, and Forum. Unlike other contests, Administrators did not choose the winners. Instead, everyone could earn points from participating in these contests, and there were leaderboards that listed the scores users had earned.
2005 Minigame Contests[]
Contests were introduced to Roblox on June 17, 2005. Each contest was a Minigame with a specific objective and would last for 14 days.
| Name | Start Date | Description | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fend off the Bots! | June 17, 2005 | Use your SPAWN GUN to keep the bots at bay. The sooner you get them all off the platform, the more points you get.[1] | |
| Junkyard Wars! | June 27, 2005 | This is a build and then drive game. You have 2.5 minutes to destroy the four alien robots. Their yellow "brains" will kill you if you touch them, even after they are destroyed. Use blocks and the three different spawn guns to build up your "weapons chassis" and then go hunt the bots![2] | |
| Balance #1 | July 6, 2005 | See how long you can keep the scale balanced. You get more points for using fewer parts.[2] | Glue was not allowed to be used.[2] |
| Steer the Spheres | July 9, 2005 | Use spinners and barriers to put one of the yellow spheres into the red goal house to win.[2] | It was described as the "hardest contest yet" and "like mini-golf where you can change the course".[2] There was a bug that made it too hard, as the ball on the left did not award a win.[3] |
| Steer the Spheres #2 | July 12, 2005 | Put a yellow ball in the red goal (now easier to win).[3] | It was a relaunched version of the above contest with the bugs fixed.[3] |
2010 - 2012 Build, Play & Vote Contests[]
![Roblox website on February 9, 2010, the day the contests tab was added [4]](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/roblox/images/d/da/Roblox_Website_2010-02-09.png/revision/latest?cb=20240803142000)
On February 9, 2010, a tab was added to the Roblox homepage named "Contests", along with an explanation on the blog where they were described as being "a new way to share the stuff you build and win cool prizes while doing it". [4] They were considered to be a work in progress at the time of release, as was typical for new features at the time [5], and feedback was requested from users on the forums. [6] Following user feedback, the contest system was further refined on February 28, 2010 [5], and from then on they followed a consistent format.
These contests were each short in duration and typically lasted about a week, but they could be anywhere between a day and a fortnight in length. Each contest had a specific theme to follow that were mainly a topic picked by Administrators, but some contests were sponsored by brands. All registered users could participate by making an Experience to fit the theme and viewing Experiences others had made, and participation was incentivized by Accessory prizes. In total, 51 contests of this type ran between February 9, 2010, and March 12, 2012, after which they were discontinued. For a while after this, contest history could still be viewed, but this was removed from the website around mid 2015. [7]
Building & Entering[]
How you entered an Experience into contests. You could enter one you had made earlier, or start from scratch.
Anyone could create an Experience in Roblox Studio and enter it into the contest to be voted on by other users. For users without Builders Club, their contest entry would be the only Experience able to be played and displayed on their Profile. Because people could vote for submissions without visiting, it was advised to make sure you had a good thumbnail before entering. Additionally, it was also recommended to not enter your Experience into the contest in an unfinished state due to the weighting of the initial 10 user votes.[5]
Playing & Voting[]
Example of how two Experience options were presented for voting
On the "Play & Vote" page, you would be presented with two random Experiences side by side that other users had entered into the contest. You could vote for which entry was better just by looking at the thumbnails, but your vote was given 5x more credit if you played both experiences first before placing your vote. If you could not decide between the two, you had the option available to skip and move on to a different pair, but doing so would penalize your voting accuracy score by 1%. If the two experiences were closely ranked (within 30 points of each other), your accuracy score would remain unchanged.
Leaderboards[]
Leaderboards - Highest Rated Places and Most Accurate Voters
Each contest had two leaderboards that would regularly update while the contest was still active. Leaderboards for past contests were also visible after they ended, and remained visible until contests were removed from the website around mid 2015.
From February 9, 2010, to February 26, 2010, the leaderboards were for Highest Rated Places and Most Visited Places. Highest Rated Places were Experiences that users would most likely vote for over the experience it was it was randomly paired with. Most Visited Places were Experiences that received the most visits while the contest was active. Because of developers entering their front page experiences into contests and scoring high on this leaderboard with off-topic entries, this leaderboard was scrapped and replaced with Most Accurate Voters from February 26, 2010, onwards. Most Accurate Voters were users who voted in a way that was most consistent with the way other users were voting.
Prizes[]
Most contests had 4 prizes - 3 for experience rating, 1 for voting accuracy
Each contest had between two and six prizes available to win. For most contests, four accessories could be won by participating and scoring above the given thresholds. There were usually three accessories to gain from having your experience rated highly enough by users. You would receive multiple accessories if you scored highly enough to be above the threshold, not just the one with the highest rating. One accessory was usually available by having a voting accuracy above a pre-determined percentage. You would automatically receive the prizes you qualified for fairly soon after the contest ended.
List of Contests[]
2007 - 2009[]
Contests were a regular occurrence between January 17, 2007, and August 14, 2009, with 28 in total occurring in this two year timeframe. They would be announced on the blog, and entries into the contests would be judged by administrators. Various types of prizes were available for being selected as a winner, including Robux, Builders Club, and unique Accessories.
Building Contests[]
Building Contests were the first and most common type of contest, with there being nine in total.
Video Contests[]
There were seven dedicated Video Contests. In additional, five other contests were also open for video entries. Videos published on YouTube for entry into these contests were how many users came to discover Roblox.
Design Contests[]
There were various types of contests that included designing something. There were contests that were entered by drawing something in 2D, either by using pen and paper or a graphics editor program. Some were for creating something in 3D using various types of construction materials. Others were for customizing your Roblox Avatar.
| Graphics/Drawing | Construction | Avatar Customization |
|---|---|---|
| Roblox Billboard Contest | Roblox Costume Party | Spring Block Party |
| Builderman's Place Design Contest | ROBLOX Better Tomorrow World's Fair | ROBLOX Lookin' Good Contest |
| ROBLOX Desktop Wallpaper Contest | Spring Block Party |
PvP Contests[]
There were two contests that involved fighting other players in 2007.
| Paintball | Melee |
|---|---|
| Miked's Paintball Tournament | Roblox Grand Melee |
Miscellaneous Contests[]
There were four contests that were one of a kind.
| Contest | Description |
|---|---|
| Robloxian Lottery | Having your 10 Robux Lottery ticket selected. |
| Mysterious Objects Riddles | Solving a riddle. The Void Star Gift Box was awarded to winners. |
| ROBLOX School Project Contest | Show how Roblox helped your schoolwork. |
| I Love ROBLOX Event | Send a photo of yourself holding a sign promoting Roblox. |
2010 - 2015[]
In addition to the 2010- 2012 Build, Play & Vote Contests, other types of contests would occasionally be announced on the blog. There were 16 contests in this five-year period. Winners of these contests would win unique accessories and/or Robux.
Design Contests[]
The most common type of contest in this period involved design. Twelve different contests involving design ran between 2010 and 2015. The most common type involved the use of Graphics Software. There were two contests that involved creating something in real life with material such as Lego. Two contests were for customizing your avatar, and three for coming up with new assets.
Video Contests[]
Five video contests ran between 2011 and 2014. Of these, three had the goal of creating entries that were entertaining and two were for showcasing your development.
| Entertaining | Development |
|---|---|
| Prank a Pop Star! | Game Trailer Video Contest |
| ROBLOX Pwnsville Video Contest | Dynamic Lighting Video Contest |
| The ROBLOX Commercial Contest |
Building Contests[]
There were two building contests during this period, one in 2014 and one in 2015. The former involved developers creating a new original experience from scratch for entry into the contest, the latter for creating something from the recently released Smooth Terrain feature.
| 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Game Creation Challenge | The ROBLOXworld Smooth Terrain Contest |
2016 - 2021[]
Contests continued to be announced on the Roblox Blog, although many were announced on Roblox's social media accounts and a couple on the Developer Forum. Contests were more rare than in earlier years, with only 11 in total in this five-year period. In addition, there was a shift in how entries were submitted, with contests now requiring using external social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube to participate.
Video Contests[]
In 2016 and 2017, the gameplay of the challenges from two events could be recorded and submitted on Twitter, Twitch, or YouTube. Unique accessories were awarded to all participants in these contests.
| 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Legends of the Hidden Temple | Balance Your Fun! |
Building Contests[]
In 2017 and 2020, two contests involved building something. Unique accessories could be won from both contests. In addition, the 2020 contest had a variety of virtual and physical awards for the top three winners.
| 2017 | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Voltron Robot Building Contest | Holiday Developer Game Jam 2020 |
Design Contests[]
Three contests in 2019 and 2020 included design. The prizes were unique accessories for the 2019 contests, and a Robux gift card for the 2020 contest.
| 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Egg Hunt 2019 Avatar Contest | Digital Roblox Gift Card Design Contest |
| 13th Birthday Cake Mask Contest |
Rthro Contests[]
There were four contests between 2018 and 2021 that involved drawing something you would like seen made into Rthro and submitting your entry on Twitter. US$500 in cash was awarded to the selected winners of these contests.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rthro Design Contest | Summer 2019 Rthro Design Contest | Spring 2020 Avatar Design Contest | Winter 2021 Avatar Design Contest |
2022 - Present[]
Contests in recent years have all focused on Development. As such, they have been announced on the Developer Forum and the Roblox Creator Events page.
| Dream Jam | Connect | Inspire |
|---|---|---|
| Roblox Developer Dream Jam | Connect 2022 | Inspire 2024 |
| Connect 2023 |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 (2005, June 23). "The Online Building Toy™". From Welcome to ROBLOX!. ROBLOX Corporation. RōBLoX™ Beta. Accessed July 30, 2024. Archived from the original on June 24, 2005.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 (2005, July 10). "The Online Building Toy™". From Welcome to ROBLOX!. ROBLOX Corporation. RōBLoX™ Beta. Accessed August 5, 2024. Archived from the original on July 10, 2005.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 (2005, July 14). "The Online Building Toy™". From Welcome to ROBLOX!. ROBLOX Corporation. RōBLoX™ Beta. Accessed August 5, 2024. Archived from the original on July 14, 2005.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 (2010, February 9). "ROBLOX Contests". From Roblox Developers' Journal. Accessed August 3, 2024. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 (2010, February 28). "New Contest System Updates Coming…". From Roblox Developers' Journal. Accessed August 3, 2024. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011.
- ↑ (2010, February 9). "ROBLOX Contests". From ROBLOX Forum > ROBLOX > ROBLOX Talk. Accessed August 3, 2024. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018.
- ↑ (2012, March 12). "Contest History". From ROBLOX.com. Accessed August 3, 2024. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015.