Always coming in Third in Finchwick Fair

I think winning the fair is kind of random, at least by watching some other simmers let's plays. Sometimes they bring rare things to the fair and then they lose to some common things. It doesn't make any sense.
I haven't taken part on it yet, because my crops weren't ready when the fair happened and I don't want to take my animals in there. There is a bug that makes the animals not go into the inventory after the fair is over and they basically vanish from the game. I'm not taking the risk of losing any animals.
I'm probably just going to take the regular normal quality stuff in there and see how it goes.

It does seem random. So far I’ve submitted excellent quality eggs, pies, and produce, I’ve submitted a llama & chicken with only a so so relationship. I’ve won 1st place once, 3rd place once, gotten a participation ribbon once, and had literally nothing happen a few times (as in was never notified who won anything).

You have to give the mayor money. I won twice when I did this. Otherwise it's allways random. The quality of your product doesn't matter.

"Melisendre;c-17949274" wrote:
You have to give the mayor money. I won twice when I did this. Otherwise it's allways random. The quality of your product doesn't matter.

So you can bribe the mayor? Interesting. ,though I would prefer to win in an honest way.

I came third in the llama contest the other day- and there were only two entries. Hoping they fix this asap or it renders the festivals pointless.

"Atreya33;c-17949283" wrote:

"Melisendre;c-17949274" wrote:
You have to give the mayor money. I won twice when I did this. Otherwise it's allways random. The quality of your product doesn't matter.

So you can bribe the mayor? Interesting. ,though I would prefer to win in an honest way.

Me too, but it was frustrating always to loose so I started a test.

"Melisendre;c-17949274" wrote:
You have to give the mayor money. I won twice when I did this. Otherwise it's allways random. The quality of your product doesn't matter.

If that's really the way the game is designed, that's extremely disappointing. Hopefully someone will mod it to be fairly judged, or EA will wake the hey up and fix it. My sims work hard on their produce, and I am tired of losing to mediocre crops and pies!

I've won two 1st prizes without bribing the Mayor or being a particularly close friend with her. It does seem to be a bit hit & miss though.

It's got to be random at least some of the time, because my sim just got 2nd place in an oversized crop contest despite being the only person to enter the contest but in other contests the results have made sense. I have gotten only a participation ribbon in multiple contests despite my entry being the highest quality/happiest animal as well though so it's kind of confusing to me.

I don't think it's random, but I think it does depend on some sort of hidden calculation that has nothing to do with whatever other entries are at the fair, making it seem random.

I think I asked the mayor about it once, and there was something about the factors including rarity, happiness of the animal, and a few other things I don't remember. So I think if you have those factors high, regardless of what else is entered, that should be key to winning. Just ignore the other entries (at least in terms of figuring out your odds of winning.)