The Blucifer Buckle Game
Go to a local show and win a belt buckle.
November Leaderboard
- 1XtraMediumCount: 5
- 2LiztinaCount: 2
- 3F^2Count: 2
- 4Cutthroat DrewCount: 1
- 5LauraaaaaCount: 1
Featuring "Ambicion Tropical" by Ritmo Cascabel
The Blucifer Buckle Game celebrates going to local shows year-round. Every month from November through June, whoever logs the most local shows wins a one-of-a-kind belt buckle and a free All Access wristband to Blucifer's Second Rodeo, July 22–25, 2027.
The Rodeo is a holiday for live, local music, and it's organized by working musicians who play Bluce venues not only in the sweaty peak of summer but in the snow, in the leaves, in the rain, in the moonshine bouncing off the Rockies.
So go to a local show! Go to a local show on a Wednesday. Make a friend with a sick tattoo. Be corporeal in a spirit of camaraderie where your participation——moshing, singing along——has a mysterious but undeniable role to play in the call-and-response production mechanism of “culture,” which is the word humans invented for creativity that teaches how to not be alone.
Go to a local show and win a belt buckle.
How to play
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Go to a local show.
At least two local acts on the bill (or one local act playing alone), at a Blucifer venue. Here's exactly what counts.
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Snap a selfie.
During a set, with a local act from the bill playing behind you. You can also take a selfie with a local act at the merch table!
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Log it.
In the Buckle Game section of your portal at bluciferfest.com/my, within 5 days of the show. Pick the show from the list (or type in the venue, date and acts if it isn't there), say which act is in your selfie, and upload. Here's how, step by step.
To join: starting November 1, sign in or sign up at bluciferfest.com/my. You'll give your full name (only organizers see it), confirm you're 18 or older and pick a leaderboard name. Anyone 18+ can play, whether or not you came to the first Rodeo.
Posting your selfies with #blucebuckle is encouraged but never required.
What counts as a local show
A show counts when both of these are true:
- At least two local acts are on the bill. Bands, solo artists or DJs. Local means based in Colorado. The only exception: a bill where there is only ONE act and that act is local. Like a Western Wednesday at Skylark, for example.
- It's at a Blucifer venue. That's every 2026 Rodeo venue except private houses, plus any venue confirmed for 2027. Here's a calendar of shows that count, including whether the show is 18+ or 21+.
Pay the cover when there is one! That's how the bands get paid!
Counts
- DJ nights with two or more local DJs
- DIY venue shows
- A touring headliner with two local openers
- Free shows, like in-stores at Wax Trax
Doesn't count
- Shows you're playing
- A touring headliner with just one local opener
- Shows at private houses, or anywhere else that isn't on the venue list (we might have more venues coming soon, because there are plenty of great independent Denver venues, but we want to start by showing love to our existing Bluce venues!)
Bluce Venues
- 7th Circle Music Collective
- Adrift Tiki Bar
- Ante Up
- Bar 404
- Chrysalis
- D3 Arts
- Dougherty's Pub
- FM
- Goldmine Vintage
- Hi-Dive
- HQ
- Illegal Pete's
- Import Mechanics
- Invincible Vinyl
- Irish Rover
- Li'l Devils
- Skylark
- Sputnik
- Squirm Gallery
- The Saint Mary
- TrashHawk Tavern
- Voodoo Doughnut
- Wax Trax Broadway Bazaar
Why only Bluce venues?
Good question! Part of the big reason we started this festival was to support and celebrate the independent South Broadway and DIY venues in Denver that treat us really well as working musicians. Our Blucifer's First Rodeo artist survey answers also coalesced around this idea. The majority of Bluce venues are run by musicians and go out of their way to spotlight local music too. So it made sense to start there for this game.
That being said, if this game goes well and people dig it, we'd love to expand it to other independent and DIY venues in Denver! Because it's 100% true that there are great venues that aren't Bluce venues that are also run by artists and/or treat working artists really well. So this is how we're gonna start, but we hope people like the game and then we can expand it. Thank you for asking!
Keeping score
(Sunday through Thursday)
Weeknight shows count double, so go to a local show on a Wednesday.
You've got two numbers. Your season count is everything you've logged since November 1. This month's count starts over on the 1st. The sticker and the zine go by your season count. The monthly buckle goes by this month's count.
Prizes
Reward
A one-of-a-kind belt buckle and a free All Access wristband to Blucifer's Second Rodeo
For the highest count each month, November through June. To win a month, your count has to be at least 10, from at least 4 different venues, all within that month. Eight months, eight buckles, and nobody wins twice.
Buckles get handed over at the Rodeo with considerable pomp and ceremony.
For everybody
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Count of 2 shows
Buckle sticker
A Blucifer Buckle sticker, yours to pick up at the Rodeo.
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Count of 10 shows
Blucearoo
Get to 10 over the season, at 4 or more different venues, and you're a Blucearoo. Your name goes in the 2027 zine, if you want it there.
The monthly buckle
- Every month is its own race, November through June. Your monthly count starts over on the 1st.
- The leaderboard shows this month's top players by count, under the names they picked. Names and counts only, never venues or dates. Sign in and you'll see your own rank, too.
- Standings settle on the 5th. Everybody gets 5 days to log a show, so the board can lag a little. Last month's race locks on the 5th, we check the top spot, and we confirm the winner within a few days.
- Ties go to whoever has more different acts in their selfies, then more different venues, then whoever got to that count first. If there is still a tie, a final winner will be picked by air guitar contest at Blucifer's Second Rodeo.
- If nobody reaches 10 in a month, that buckle rolls into the next month, and the top two that month both win (each still needs 10). A buckle still unclaimed after June stays unclaimed.
- Before a buckle goes out, we check the winner's selfies against the bills. Then we tell the winner privately and post them under their leaderboard name. Real names only if they want.
- At the Rodeo, we'll ask each winner who their favorite local act is. If that act is on the 2027 bill and into it, they'll call you up between songs and hand over your buckle. Don't want the stage? You don't have to take it.
The fine print
For everyone who already thought of a lot of ways to cheat.
- 18+ only. You confirm your age when you join. If we find out a player is under 18, we close the account and delete their data.
- One account per person. Your count and prizes are tied to it.
- Your leaderboard name can be your real name or a made-up one, bar trivia team style. We'll change any name that's offensive or pretends to be someone else (a band, a venue, another person). It's also how you'll show up in the zine and in winner posts, unless you pick something else.
- The same act counts 3 times max, going by the act in your selfie. If you keep going to your friend's band, take your selfie with the other act on the bill.
- No extra points for multiple bands at one show. So if you go to a show with three local bands, for example, you only need to take a selfie with one of them for that show to count.
- 4+ different venues: over the season to be a Blucearoo, and within the month to win the monthly buckle.
- One buckle per person. Once you've won a month, you're out of the monthly races.
- Up to 2 shows a day, each logged once, within 5 days of the show. Every selfie has to be new. We automatically catch repeats.
- Shows count from November 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.
- Already bought a 2027 wristband when you win? We'll refund it, or you can take a second free All Access wristband instead.
- The If You Sam Something, Seymour Something Clause: Bluce organizers can't win. Sorry, Sam.
- We trust you, and we spot-check a few logs at random. We can reject logs that look fake, and our call is final.
Your selfies
Your selfies are private. Only the people running the game see them, and we delete them at the end of the season. We never run face recognition on them. The leaderboard shows names and counts only, never venues or dates, so nobody can use it to figure out where you've been.
Who's going to hold your pants up when you're bored on a Wednesday night?
Go to local shows.
Win a belt buckle.
Meet us at the Rodeo.
Questions about the rules? help@bluciferfest.com
Sign in or join
Already joined, or had a First Rodeo wristband?
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Log into your portal.
Go to bluciferfest.com/my, enter your email and tap Send sign-in link.
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Tap the link in your email.
It works for 15 minutes, and there's no password to remember.
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First time playing?
If you had a wristband but haven't joined the game yet, fill out the short form on your Buckle Game page. Play the Buckle Game on your portal's home page takes you there.
New here?
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Fill out the Join form.
Enter your name, your email and a display name for the leaderboard. Confirm you're 18 or older and tap Join.
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Tap the link in your email.
That finishes joining, and it works for 15 minutes. From then on, you'll use Sign in.
No email? Check your spam folder, or write to help@bluciferfest.com.
Log a show
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Take your selfie at the show.
With a local act from the bill playing behind you, or with them at the merch table.
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Tap Log a show.
It's on your Buckle Game page. You have 5 days after the show to log it.
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Which show did you go to?
Pick it from the calendar. Not there? Tap My show isn't here, then enter the venue, the night and every act on the bill.
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Who's in your selfie?
Tap the act, then add your selfie.
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Tap Log it.
Your points show up right away, on the leaderboard too: 2 for a weeknight show, 1 for a Friday or Saturday.