August challenge: Skill Badge monsoon! (updated!)

[carrie]

The weather report is in, and in August it will be raining skill badges! 🌦🌧🌟

Let’s dive into what this month-long challenge has in store:

1) Five weeks of fun: August ‘23 brings us five fun-filled weeks - each with a different theme - and each week will feature six skill badges. Yes, that's right, a total of 30 skill badges up for grabs! 

2) Boosted points for The Arcade Prize Counter: Completing featured skill badges will earn you 2 Arcade points for every 3 badges you earn, double the usual rate. So if you're new to The Arcade, this is a great opportunity to collect those points - because points turn into ✨swag✨. Important: Please note that the extra Arcade Points you earn from successfully completing the featured skill badges will be credited to your points total after the campaign has ended. This means that through September, using the Points Calculator in The Arcade may not reflect your actual total points. We will be sure to let you know when those extra points have made their way out from behind the scenes (you will definitely be able to see your true total before the Prize Counter opens at the end of the year).

3) The challenge: Think you can unlock all 30 skill badges? If you manage to complete every single one of them, you'll receive a grand total of 20 Arcade points. The stakes are high, but the rewards are even higher! And yes, we will announce which skill badges 6 at a time at the start of each week, but you will have until the end of the month (11:59 PM your local time on August 31st) to complete all 30.

4) Weekly themes: Each week has a unique theme (we'd love to know which one is your favorite!). Why the themes? If you complete at least 1 skill badge in the week it is announced, you will get a special digital banner to show off on your social media.

5) Three tiers of digital clout: For all you Arcade enthusiasts out there, we've added a little extra incentive. The digital banners come in three tiers:

• Tier 1: Complete one of the skill badges featured in that particular week, and you'll get a banner for that theme.
• Tier 2: Kick it up a notch by completing three skill badges from that week's selection, and your banner will reflect that extra effort.
• Tier 3: The ultimate challenge lies in completing all six skill badges in a given week. Achieve this feat, and you'll be rewarded with an extra prestigious banner.
• Not-even-a-tier-because-it's-so-special: If you complete all six featured skill badges in more than one given week, you will get a custom combo banner that may make everyone in your network jealous.

We will be sharing the themes and announcing the featured skill badges here, but the best way to get all of the info as soon as it is released is to visit our YouTube channel, subscribe, and tap the Notification bell 🔔

Phew! That's a lot of great goodness pouring down. But we know you've got questions, so here are the answers to some frequently asked questions:

• When will I get my social media banner?
  • Banners for tiers 1 - 3 will be sent towards the end of the following week. For folks who achieve the incredible and are eligible for the custom combo banner, you'll be receiving that in the beginning of September.
• Why can't I see my extra points in the Points calculator?
  • The extra Arcade Points you earn from successfully completing the featured skill badges will be credited to your points total after the campaign has ended. This means that through September, using the Points Calculator in The Arcade may not reflect your actual total points. We will be sure to let you know when those extra points have made their way out from behind the scenes (you will definitely be able to see your true total before the Prize Counter opens at the end of the year).
• What are all the badges up for grabs?
  • We will be announcing the badges in batches of 6 at the start of each week. We will update this post with the new additions, but the best way to get all of the info as soon as it is released is to visit our YouTube channel, subscribe, and tap the Notification bell 
• What if I already earned one of the skill badges last month or before?
  • You are amazing! It does mean that it won't count towards the extra point, but don't worry - there will be more opportunities to get extra points before the end of the year 🙂 
• You say we get a full week to do the featured skill badges to get a banner, but there's 5 weeks which is 35 days and only 31 days in August and the 1st is a Tuesday. How does that math work out?
  • We want to be as fair as possible, so you do have a week for each banner challenge. These are the eligibility date ranges for the weekly themes:
    • Week 1: Tuesday, 1 August through Tuesday, 8 August
    • Week 2: Monday, 7 August through Monday, 14 August
    • Week 3: Monday, 14 August through Monday, 21 August
    • Week 4: Monday, 21 August through Monday, 28 August
    • Week 5: Monday, 28 August through Monday, 4 September

Game on!

Carrie

Week 1: Raindrops

Create and Manage Cloud Resources

Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud 

Perform Foundational Data, ML, and AI Tasks in Google Cloud 

Configure Service Accounts and IAM roles for Google Cloud 

Integrate BigQuery Data and Google Workspace using Apps Script

Develop with Apps Script and AppSheet  

Week 2: Paper Boats

Set Up and Configure a Cloud Environment in Google Cloud

Create ML Models with BigQuery ML 

Exploring Data with Looker 

Secure BigLake Data 

Protect Sensitive Data with Data Loss Prevention

Tag and Discover BigLake Data

Week 3: Umbrellas

Store, Process, and Manage Data - Console

Analyze BigQuery data in Connected Sheets

Optimize Costs for Google Kubernetes Engine

Get Started with Eventarc

Get Started with Dataplex

Get Started with Pub/Sub

Week 4: New Growth 🌱

Automating Infrastructure on Google Cloud with Terraform

Deploy and Manage Cloud Environments with Google Cloud

Ensure Access & Identity in Google Cloud

Create a Streaming Data Lake on Cloud Storage

Use APIs to Work with Cloud Storage

App Engine: 3 Ways

Week 5:

Serverless Firebase Development

Cloud Architecture: Design, Implement, and Manage

Engineer Data in Google Cloud

The Basics of Google Cloud Compute

Networking Fundamentals on Google Cloud

Streaming Analytics into BigQuery

[Lovi28]

Hi @carrie Sir

I am not able to start one lab of arcade level 2 August. It shows me the quota of this lab is exceeded in this game  .Kindly help to solve this issue so I can complete level 2.

[AmanJain18]

@Lovi28,

Click On Botton Right Corner Blue Circle, Enter Your Name and Email, Then Tell Chat Support to Increase The Quota of the lab by giving the lab name.

[Err0r2811]

What if i completed some monsoon badges in august before they are revealed in their challenge week ?

I am wondering that will those badges will be considered as normal badges? 

[DiVRi]

The week 5 , 3 skill badges are already showing completed, though I had done only the aug stuff from my fredh account. So will those 3 skill badges will be considered and will I be awarded the points. As they had been completed in August month 

[adeshbx]

The Lab from "Serverless Firebase Development"  -> Deploy a Hugo Website with Cloud Build and Firebase Pipeline  this lab is not working from Jul 21 it showing the message like 

"Lab failed on Fri, 21 Jul 2023 16:43:49 -0400: Sorry, cannot start Lab. Please contact your trainer or administrator. Any credits or tokens you used to start this lab have been refunded"

I have tried this lab to open from 30- to 40 times from July also approached to the Help center of through email and Chat but did not get any solution on it , and Now this lab is now part of Week 5 August challenge , so please kindly do the need full to resolve it .

[rads]

Hi, the last date for the  Arcade Cloud Program is September 04th. So will the completion of this Monsoon August Challenge be considered even after August 31st? Will I get the extra points if I complete these special skill badges till Sept. 04? 

[KV]

Yes @rads the fifth week ends on 4rth of September so you have that time. 

[rads]

Thankyou!

[jc_shankar80]

Is it possible?

[rads]

yes, you can complete the Monsoon Skill Badges till 4th Sept.

[Mohit_Dhote]

can we still complete week 5 monsoon skill badges ?

[KV]

*For level 3 and Trivia :- 4th sep*

*For skill badges :- 5th sep*

Last chance to complete your milestone Skill Badges ASAP.

[marcodelmart]

Hi @Mohit_Dhote , I hope you're doing great!

Unfortunately, the challenge ended yesterday, September 4th. However, the new September challenge is about to arrive. So stay updated so you can start as soon as it's released. 👍🏼

Thanks,
Marco Delgado

[giraldiego]

Is there still chance to keep completing those quest to get 2X points? I am confused because in the OP says Aug 31th, but later says the campaing is extended until Sep 4th. I am still missing some quests from that list. I think I would be able to complete them before Sep 4th is there is still a chance to get 2X points.

[marcodelmart]

Hi Diego, I hope you're doing great!

As you mentioned, the challenge ended yesterday, September 4th. I hope you were able to finish all of those badges!

Thanks,
Marco Delgado

[atishay]

Hi @carrie , i completed 4 skill badge from last week, i haven't neither tier1 nor tier2 badge yet, can you tell what's the process of it.

[dine]

how to get credits for September arcade events since existing monthly subscription expired?

[Sandeep_google]

@Abhishek213 @carrie 

I have a question: Will we receive a separate email in a few days to redeem the prize for the Facilitator Program, or will it be redeemed in December at the end of this arcade season only?

[Abhishek213]

You won't receive any email this event was only for bonus points


Main prize claiming mail will be sent by qwiklabs in dec.

[Sandeep_google]

Many of us created a separate account for arcade facilitator program as instructed in forms. 

1. Should we continue from the old account or new one? 

2. Will we receive separate emails for claiming the prize, or will the points from both accounts be merged into a single one?

[Abhishek213]

Don't create new use that only as it will waste ur points if u continue u
will get high points and options to choose

[Sandeep_google]

Thanks for reply @Abhishek213 

I don't mean to create new account. 

i have created a new account as instructed in arcade facilitator program. 

After creating new one now I have two accounts:

1- My original which I was using before arcade facilitator program. Let say account a.

2- And one created for arcade facilitator program. let say account b.

Which one I should use after end of arcade facilitator program. account a or account b?

[Abhishek213]

use the account having more no of badges

[Sandeep_google]

Thanks @Abhishek213  for your answer

@carrie can you confirm the same?

[Abhishek213]

@carrie will skill badges done in sept be counted in arccade or not please clarify.

(I am not asking about arcade facilitator I am asking about arcade in general)

[spawar_apex]

@carrie  I would be happy to see week 6 & 7 with some Security and Logging & monitoring Labs. 

[edchuy]

I got my week 3 banner on August 31st and surprisingly, my week 4 banner today. 😲

[Anudhyan]

how are you able to find the banner? from where we can see the banner . I had completed all the weeks but got no themed special badges or anything

[edchuy]

In  both cases, I received an e-mail from The Google Cloud Arcade Team titled with subjects "Congratulations - you’re showered in skill badges from week 4 of the Monsoon!" and "Congratulations - you made a skill badge splash in the Monsoon!".  Within the e-mails are the banners, which I downloaded and then have used in my LinkedIn profile.