On October 18th, 2012, Cory and Anton conspired in a Google+ Hangout to set up some rules that would encourage themselves to record and post ukulele videos on YouTube. Frank later agreed to the terms, and the Ukulele Cover Challenge of 2012 began.

The resulting videos can all be seen here: ​UCC2012 Playlist.

The rules are reproduced here:

Ukulele Cover Challenge 2012

Starting:

• We will each pick one song to form a starting set of three songs.
• Frank and Cory will use a six-sided die to determine fairly who goes first.
• The first person should introduce this entire challenge in a video and play any song of the three according to the rules of the challenge below.
• The first person also calls out the next person at the end of their video, setting the order.

The challenge:

• You will receive a set of three song recommendations.
• Pick one, and record a video of yourself playing it. Post it as a video response to the previous video.
• If you want to play something else, that’s fine.
• If all of the recommendations are terrible, you may start your video by saying so, and the person who recommended them will play one when it is their turn again.
• At the end of your video, list three songs (and artists) for the next person to play.

Rules:

• You have one week to perform the song once your turn comes around.
• Your version of the song must contain ukulele, but does not need to contain ONLY ukulele.
  • Exception: You are allowed one song that does not contain a ukulele.
• You can post your video any time during your week.
• If you post your video early, the next person doesn’t start their week until the end of your current week. I.e. They get their week plus the remainder of your week extra.
• If you fail to post your video during your week, you fail the challenge, and you no longer participate. Your turn is removed from the rotation.
• If your week is the week of American Thanksgiving or Christmas, you may use the week after if it is necessary. That’s two bonus weeks!
• Changing the rules is only permitted with a unanimous vote.
• You should feel ashamed if there is supposed to be singing in the song and you don’t sing, but it is not required.
• You must record the audio and singing (if any) yourself, but the video does not need to show you doing it. The * instrument and singing do not need to be recorded at the same time (multi-track recordings are allowed).
• No one is allowed to join once the challenge begins.
• Your youtube post should be formatted::
  • “Band - Song Title (Cover, UCC 2012 #n/15)”
• There are no requirements on the description of the video.
• The same song can’t be played for the challenge multiple times. If you want to re-record a song, do it on your * own for fun.
• You must forward exactly one song that was assigned to you (that you didn’t play) to the next person in the challenge. The other two songs can be anything you want as long as they haven’t been played yet.

End-conditions:

• The challenge is over when every person has either dropped out or played 5 songs.

Rewards:

• Completing the challenge is its own reward.

Possible Ammendments For Future Challenges

• Does it make sense to add a rule about disclosing which song will be selected during the week when it is your turn?
• Does it make sense to allow everyone to suggest a song every week?
• When choosing new songs, only one can (and must) be from the suggestions given to you.