Season 2: Mushroom Kingdom

***Mushroom Kingdom*** is the second season of the online reality game series MintORGs.

*Season 2: Mushroom Kingdom* premiered on April 7th 2023, introducing a cast of 20 new players to the franchise. *Mushroom Kingdom* has produced seven returning players (Austria, Chelsea, Connor, Corn Corn, Lijah, Lukas and Sully) for subsequent seasons.

The season is best known for it's seemingly simple format, with the players starting in two tribes of ten, and not featuring a single tribe swap until the merge, as well as the explosive finale that saw the dominant Jinx Jinx Jinx alliance forced to cannibalise itself after reaching the Final 4.

## Production

After a successful **first season**, Bob and Minti were happy to host another season, continuing the MintORGs brand.

With plenty of work to be done across the server and wiki in order to get MintORGs ready for Season 2 just one week after the finish of Season 1, alumni **Andy** and **Wei** stepped up to assist with recaps, spectator games, as well as introducing new edgic and trust ranking charts.

Receiving over 40 applications, Season 2 proved to be a very competitive field of applicants, with Minti and Bob having to make some really tough decisions in the casting process.

A week into the season, Season 1 alum **Nick** stepped up as the fifth member of the production team to run a spectator game and assist with challenges.

## Twists/Changes

* **Tribe Division:** The 20 castaways were randomly divided into 2 tribes of 10.
* **Idol Routes:** Players were able to choose one from the Toad, Donkey Kong and Shy Guy routes, with each route offering a way to find an idol.
* **Double Tribal:** On Day 3, both tribes attended Tribal Council, with one player from each tribe receiving individual immunity.
* **Summit:** A select number of players were chosen to visit the Summit at different points in the season, offering them a chance to speak with players on the other tribe.
	+ In Episode 2, after a vote from their tribemates as to who should visit the Summit, Kelly, Sanin and Sully were chosen from the Luigi tribe, and Ellie, Lukas and Shaun were chosen from the Mario tribe.
	+ In Episode 4, Jax and Jiv were chosen from the pool of challenge duel winners from the Luigi tribe, and Evan and Lukas were chosen from the pool of challenge duel winners from the Mario tribe.
	+ In Episode 6, the Summit was announced and would have been awarded to the fastest maze solver from each tribe, as well as the person who's maze took the longest to solve on average. However, due to Ila leaving the game, the challenge was cancelled midway through, leading to the cancellation of the Summit.
* **Bullet Bill:** In Episode 6, **Corn Corn** received the Bullet Bill advantage at the auction. This advantage granted him a forced safety without power through the entirety of Episode 7, meaning he skipped the Immunity Challenge as well as Tribal Council. During this time, he was essentially exiled, and unable to talk with the other players.
* **Double Elimination:** On Day 19, the Luma tribe was subjected to a Double Elimination, where the tribe was divided into two groups of five and two castaways were eliminated through two separate Tribal Councils. During the challenge, the two groups were sequestered and unable to talk with the people in the other group.
* **Event Token:** At the Auction, **Kelly** bought the Event Token. This legacy advantage was automatically played for her at the Final 7 immunity challenge, *Chain Chomp Roulette*, which granted her an automatic spot in the final round and a 1 in 3 shot at immunity.

## Trivia

* Season 2 is the first season to be themed around a video game.
* With a cast of 20 players, Season 2 is the MintORGs season with the lowest number of players.
* Season 2 is the first season where the starting tribes were randomised.
	+ In addition, it is the first season to have the randomised starting tribes be decided before the season, which was done to allow Minti to edit the player avatars in time.
* Season 2 is the first season to feature a Summit.
* Season 2 is the first season to have a player quit the game, after **Ila** quit during part 1 of Episode 6.
* Season 2 is the first season where a challenge was cancelled, due to Ila quitting to become the last player eliminated before the merge.
* Season 2 is the first season to have a player strike out of the game, after **Alex** struck out during part 2 of Episode 6.
	+ This makes Season 2 the first season to have both a player quit the game, and a player strike out from the game.
* Season 2 is the first season not to have a **Tribe Swap**, with the two starting tribes Mario and Luigi staying the same until the merge.
* Season 2 is the first season to feature a **Firemaking** challenge.
* Season 2 is the first season to have each starting tribe represented at Final Tribal Council.
* Lasting 40 days, Season 2 is the shortest season.