FAQ
Questions and answers
For basic instructions on how to play - click here
Q - Where do the balloons fly?
A- The balloons fly across real live web pages.
Like this: http://www.balloon.co.uk//?active=1
Anybody can add their site as long as the content is cool.
You will need to add the widget that's flying in the bottom right of this page.
You can add your site here: Site Register
Every widget code is unique to each website - so if you have more than one website you'll need a different widget code for each site.
We police all the sites that request to be part of the race - we make sure all the content is child friendly before we send them live.
Q - Do the competitors have to pay to take part in the daily games?
A - The games are free to play every day (once per day). For every correct answer you get a boost of 10. So if you get 10/10 your balloon will receive a 100 boost. It takes a boost of 30 to travel across a webpage so a boost of 100 will get you across 3 websites.
Here's an example of the boost games: Boost Games
Q - How do I get a friend to boost my balloon?
A - Use the 'send to friend' button. Once you are logged into your balloon page you can use the yellow 'send to a friend' button to ask your mates for a boost.
We do not store any email addresses on our system.
Here's a video explaining how to request a buddy boost: Send to A Friend
Q - Where do the donations go? - Do they feed directly back to the school (or charity) and does all the money go to our school?
A -
All donations and balloon purchases go direct to the School (you'll need a Paypal account). Paypal will take about 25p for every transaction - but it's secure and you can recieve funds from anywhere in the world.
You can also accept cash as you have full control over all the balloons and boosts (you could also add boost if a pupil does well in lessons).
Q - Does a bigger donation push a balloon further?
A - Yes
Q - If a balloon joins the race say a week later than other competitors, could they realistically win it? Or should we really get everyone buying their balloons before a start date to make it fair?
A - They could win but they missed out on the daily games for the days they've missed. Once you buy a race and set the start date, the race counts down to your start date and you can still sell balloons.
Q - We are currently looking at holding a race for the last 3 weeks before the easter hols...would that be feasible?
A - We recommend a race lasts just one week. After a week the balloonists tend to lose interest. Plus, if you have a great 1st prize many of the balloonist will be flying late into the night, to keep their position on the leader board - so 7 days of late nights is long enough.
Q - I was wondering if at the end of it, I could know who completed/took part in the most quizzes/games, and they could also get a prize...once again rewarding hard work and not just having rich relatives!!
A - Unfortunately we have no way of knowing how many games each balloon has played.
Q - When I move my balloon there's no link to get back to the race home page?
A - That's because when you move your balloon you leave balloonrace.com and travel across the internet. You will need to re-type your race URL homepage address into the browser.
Q - I know it's all about making money for the school, but it's also about fun for the children isn't it, and I don't want any children upset as they can't afford to boost their balloons so much. I don't want it to become a race about who has the most money.
A - The best solution to this is to charge for each balloon and set the boost donations on free.
Q - So...I was wondering...can you boost the balloons further if the kids do well in the quizzes? So there's the motivation for the kids to do the quizzes every day (which is also sort of educational?). And if I could tell them how far they'll get boosted if they do well in a quiz/game, that would motivate them too?
A - We cannot alter the amount of boost allocated from a game or a donation.
Each boost donation = 200 (you set the price of the boost doanation e.g. - £2)
Each game = a max of 100 (10/10 on the game)
Each website takes a boost of 30 to travel across.
Q - Do the balloons fly along anyway regardless of whether you are boosting them? ie so if the kids log in to find their balloons, they won't always be on same webpage unless they get a boost? I mean, are they continually moving?
A - The balloons do not move unless the owner of the balloon manually moves them.
Here's a video explaining how to move your balloon: Turn Boost into Distance
Q - How do I administer my balloon race?
A - Go to www.balloonrace.com/YOURNAME/admin and put in your email and password.
Q - When will people be able to buy balloons from?
A -
You can buy a balloon before the race by clicking 'get a balloon'
One thing...... When a balloon is purchased before the race starts, the balloonist can play games each day to build up boost before the race starts.
