A Leg Up in the Race

"A Leg Up in the Race" is the twelfth episode of Battle for Dream Island. It was released on December 1, 2010.

In this episode, the teams were dissolved and a points mechanic is introduced into the game.

Before the Intro
In the beginning of the episode, Leafy walks over to Bubble and sees her reading a book titled "How to be Dumb". Leafy wants to get a closer look so she walks over right behind Bubble and accidentally pops her. Leafy, possibly not acknowledging Bubble's death, then sits down to read the book.

After the Intro
After the intro is finished, Firey tells Coiny that he is a penny and is worthless. Coiny then says that what he meant to say was that he is priceless. Firey laughed. Tennis Ball tries to calm the two of them down, but Firey says TB wouldn't know anything since he lacked arms. Coiny then said that at the very least, Tennis Ball knew more than him. After some more arguing, the Announcer tells the tiny team of three that it's time for Cake at Stake. The trio heads to the arena, and are laughed at by an even larger crowd than before.

Cake at Stake
Another Name is up for elimination for the 2nd time in a row, and only one of their members is safe, and that safe object is Firey with only 9 out of the total of 61 votes, which means Coiny and Tennis Ball will have to leave the team with 22 and 30 votes respectively.

Coiny freaked out as Firey laughed at Coiny. It was up to the Squashy Grapes to decide who would stay. Coiny attempted to persuade his former teammates with a brief speech about how he shouldn't be considered just a "Firey slapper". Blocky said that Coiny's speech about wanting to stay was the worst speech he's ever heard. Tennis Ball gave the Squashy Grapes a point, and said that if Coiny stays on their team, he won't do them any good, and he'll just slap Firey all day long. Leafy said it was a good point, so on behalf of the Grapes, Leafy picks Tennis Ball, and Coiny is eliminated.

Before the Contest
Announcer announced that all the teams were broken up shortly after Leafy celebrated Tennis Ball being on her team, and the contestants got a prize for making it to the Final 12. These were BFDI DDSs (DDS standing for "dodecascreen", or 12 screens), and they allowed them to play the most fun handheld games, and they are foldable. Match's BFDI DDS then proceeded to fold up. But they can play with them later, because they have to get to the 12th contest.

Contest
The contest is to climb a set of 3 ladders. Everyone excluding TB and Rocky, who can't climb, starts up the ladders. Announcer laughs and throws the water balloons down at the contestants. The water balloons make Eraser fall, Bubble pop, and Firey scream in pain. Once Bubble makes her way to the top, Rocky hurls barf to propel himself onto the top without climbing. The contestants reached the top in the following order:


 * 1) Pen
 * 2) Snowball
 * 3) Blocky
 * 4) Ice Cube
 * 5) Leafy
 * 6) Match
 * 7) Pencil
 * 8) Eraser
 * 9) Firey
 * 10) Bubble
 * 11) Rocky
 * 12) Tennis Ball

Right after Rocky reached the top, the Speaker said "OK. So now that we're here, except for 'that clumsy Tennis Ball', let's see the results".

Results
Leafy is wondering why the contestants are standing on gray squares. Speaker said he will get to that later, also, he gave everyone 30 bonus points. The gray square suddenly changed to a tower that showed the contestant's points. Firey is scared because he has a fear of heights.

Even though BFDI doesn't have points, it does now, and Win Tokens have been removed. Eraser is angry and asked "What happens to the two Win Tokens I already have?!". Speaker said that each Win Token you have will be traded for 15 points each.

Also the contestants get points on how well they did in the contest, which means Pen get 30 points, Snowball gets 20 points, Blocky gets 15 points, Ice Cube gets 12 points, Leafy gets 10 points, Match gets 8 points, Pencil gets 6 points, Eraser gets 4 points, Firey gets 3 points, Bubble gets 2 points, Rocky gets 1 point, and Tennis Ball doesn't receive any points.

Then, any elimination votes a contestant had received means -1 point for each vote, but Pencil did not have to worry because she never even received a vote, so that's -0 points for her. However, Bubble received 1 vote (-1), Ice Cube received 2 votes (-2), Leafy and Eraser both received 3 votes (-3), Match and Pen both received 4 votes (-4), Blocky received 10 votes (-10), Firey received 14 votes (-14), Rocky received 15 votes (-15) all vote in Ep.11, Snowball received 18 votes (-18) all of the vote are in Ep.10, and Tennis Ball received 25 votes (-25).


 * Bold name means that the contestant got most points on current score.
 * Italic name means that the contestant is in the bottom third, and is up for elimination.
 * Strikeout name means will be eliminated in the next episode.

The Speaker said: "So the voting will always be between the bottom third, and the 4 contestants in the bottom third are Snowball, Bubble, Rocky, and Tennis Ball".

Stinger
At night, Tennis Ball talks to Firey about someone (possibly Loser) sets fire on recommended characters.

Trivia

 * The game that is seen in the BFDI DDS is "Get to the Top Although There Is No Top!" (GTTTATINT), a game made by the creator of Battle for Dream Island, and it has a version where you can play as the BFDI characters.
 * This is the first episode to use Minecraft's old (Pre-1.0) grass sound.
 * Because BFDI and Minecraft both have sounds from Freesound.
 * Along with the previous episode, no cake was used for Cake at Stake, and everyone pretended the cake was there.
 * The merge may have started because if Another Name lost again, Firey would be automatically eliminated.
 * At the start of the episode, it reveals that Bubble's book is called "How to be Dumb", and chapter 5 is 'Forget It All!' However, this book has been mentioned in episodes 9 and 23 as well. Pencil read it on episode 9, Bubble on episode 12 and Flower on episode 23 (Although in episode 23, the book name is changed to "How to be So Very Dumb" instead of "How to be Dumb".)
 * The page in "How to be Dumb" that Leafy is reading says "Although it's not really amnesia per say, forgetfulness can make any person dumber, simply because anything that someone ends up learning (which is detrimental to their dumbness journey) will be conveniently forgotten, easing the transition to dumbness. Now innovations like these can make even the most intelligent people very, very dumb. Now, that doesn't mean that saying "I forget" will make you dumb. That will never happen. It'll never ever, ever, ever, ever happen. What you have to do is, upon learning something new, think of something entirely different. For example, when you learn about Cary, think of someone good. When you learn about Michael, think of someone very, very bad."
 * This may be a sign that jacknjellify are in the BFDI universe as well.
 * The balloon that popped when holding up the "Last Episode" and "3" signs in the beginning of the episode said "Failure" when popped.
 * Blocky holds 2 different "Losers" signs at the laughing scene. More than one of many contestants can be seen at the same time during the scene.
 * The thumbnail for the video has Eraser getting hit by a water balloon while climbing up the ladders.
 * At 1:12, Snowball and Pencil are shown holding hands.
 * This is the last episode that aired in 2010.
 * This is the only episode after the elimination have the same amount of contestants as the episode number.
 * When Eraser and Firey reach the top, Pencil can be seen hugging Pen.
 * This is the first and only time that Announcer forgot about the cake.
 * Coincidentally, Coiny was eliminated at 30 votes, the same number as the bonus points that everyone got.

Goofs

 * Firey stops burning/flaming few times.
 * At 5:14, Snowball's score is better than Firey's. But on the next 2 shots, Snowball is replaced by Eraser.
 * A piece of tall grass appeared when Bubble was reading, but it suddenly disappeared when Bubble was popped.
 * At 5:51, when Pen said: "Well, I'm still in first!", his mouth didn't move.
 * At 2:57, when the remaining contestants are shown, Snowball is floating. A more detailed picture of the mistake can be seen on the right.
 * When the point counted (Win Token), Eraser isn't standing but floating on the platform.
 * When Eraser and Firey get up, Pencil is seen hugging Pen.
 * While Announcer was advertising the Dodecascreen that it's foldable while the Dodecascreen folded over Match's face, her face asset disappears before it covers her face.
 * When Announcer is confused about Firey possibly taste peanut butter, Snowball can be seen turn to Eraser.
 * Popping sounds can be heard before Bubble is popped by Leafy.
 * A mysterious line can be seen poking out of the book Bubble was reading. Line.PNG

Deaths

 * Bubble is popped by Leafy.
 * Bubble is popped by a water balloon dropped by the Announcer.
 * Firey dies from the water balloon.
 * The recommended characters may have burned to death. (Debatable)