Polycount Pack

The Polycount Pack was a contest sponsored by Valve and the modeling community Polycount to develop new community item packs for introduction into Team Fortress 2. The contest was held for 5 weeks in May-June 2010 to coincide with the launch of the new Polycount site.^[1]^[2] The contest submissions were to be brand-new models with unique stats once added to the game, but had to be designed to replace items that already existed. The contest closed on June 28th, 2010, and the winners were announced on July 15.^[3] The five winning item packs were added in the Mann-Conomy Update.

In addition to the five winning packs, Valve confirmed that several other packs^[4] were of high enough quality to be added to the game, and could be added in later updates. According to PC Gamer^{[citation needed]}, a 6th pack was supposed to be included, along with a new Medieval game mode as a bonus. They were both cut from the update due to time constraints, but were later added in the Australian Christmas Update along with two other packs. It was also hinted in a blog post^[5] that Valve were working on a new training map, but this did not happen until the Hatless Update on April 14, 2011 in which training courses were added to Target for the Demoman, the Engineer, and the Spy. Three more item packs were added as part of the Über Update.

Everyone who entered the contest received the Polycount Pin, as well as a few select people who did not enter but helped the contest out in some way. A list of Polycount Pin owners can be found here.

The five winning Polycount sets were originally released with item set bonuses; wearing all items of one of the sets, including the hat, originally conferred a modest combat bonus. However, the bonuses were removed in the July 10, 2013 Patch, replaced with with the effect of placing "calling cards" on the corpses of enemies killed (except for the Saharan Spy set, which got additional effects while taunting). The packs added in the Australian Christmas update did not require their respective hats for their set bonuses, while the packs from the Über Update and most other later item sets (from other sources) had no set bonuses at all.

Winners

The Special Delivery

Scout

Main article: Item sets

The Special Delivery
	Shortstop Mad Milk Holy Mackerel Milkman
Effect	Leave a Calling Card on your victims

by Shawn "5p3tch" Spetch

Pack Development Thread

The Tank Buster

Soldier

Main article: Item sets

The Tank Buster
	Black Box Battalion's Backup Grenadier's Softcap
Effect	Leave a Calling Card on your victims

by Rob "Larolaro" Laro

Pack Development Thread

The Gas Jockey's Gear

Previously known as The Gas Man

Pyro

Main article: Item sets

The Gas Jockey's Gear
	Degreaser Powerjack Attendant
Effect	Leave a Calling Card on your victims

by Steven ".:Progg" Skidmore

Pack Development Thread

The Croc-O-Style Kit

Sniper

Main article: Item sets

The Croc-o-Style Kit
	Sydney Sleeper Darwin's Danger Shield Bushwacka Ol' Snaggletooth
Effect	Leave a Calling Card on your victims

by Spencer "Nrek" Kern

Pack Development Thread

The Saharan Spy

Spy

Main article: Item sets

The Saharan Spy
	L'Etranger Your Eternal Reward Familiar Fez
Effect	Extra effects when taunting.

by Shaylyn "Chemical Alia" Hamm

Pack Development Thread

Australian Christmas Packs

The Expert's Ordnance

Demoman

Main article: Item sets

The Expert's Ordnance
	Loch-n-Load Ullapool Caber Scotch Bonnet
Effect	No effect

by Xavier "Swizzle" Coelho-Kostolny

Pack Development Thread

The Hibernating Bear

Previously known as Big Chief Hibernating Bear

Heavy

Main article: Item sets

The Hibernating Bear
	Brass Beast Buffalo Steak Sandvich Warrior's Spirit Big Chief
Effect	No effect

by Will "Ruskeydoo" Segerman

Pack Development Thread

The Medieval Medic

Previously known as The Medi(c)eval Update

Medic

Main article: Item sets

The Medieval Medic
	Crusader's Crossbow Amputator Berliner's Bucket Helm
Effect	No effect

by Pierate

Pack Development Thread

Über Update Packs

Lawrence of Australia

Previously known as The Australian of Arabia

Sniper

Main article: Item sets

Lawrence of Australia
	Bazaar Bargain Shahanshah Desert Marauder
Effect	No effect

by Svdl

Pack Development Thread

The #1 Fan

Previously known as BONK! Atomic Punch

Scout

Main article: Item sets

The #1 Fan
	Soda Popper Winger Atomizer Bonk Boy
Effect	No effect

by neodos

Pack Development Thread

Airborne Armaments

Soldier

Main article: Item sets

The Airborne Armaments
	Liberty Launcher Reserve Shooter Market Gardener Jumper's Jeepcap
Effect	No effect

by [m00] Elbagast

Pack Development Thread

Trivia

The original melee weapon for the Special Delivery pack was a bat with nails, similar to the Boston Basher, called the 'Nail Biter' as seen here.
Another melee weapon designed but never included was a crocodile tooth-studded aboriginal club for the 'Croc-o-Style Kit' pack.^[6]
The pack of darts included with the Sydney Sleeper was intended to be a cosmetic item.^[7]
The Peyote Cactus was originally intended to go with the Hibernating Bear set instead of the Buffalo Steak Sandvich.
The Honcho's Headgear, Jag, Prairie Heel Biters, and Backwards Ballcap were once part of the 'World War II Pack', 'Jag', 'Bigger is Better', and 'Suburban Scout' packs respectively, but only the single items were added from the pack.
The Bonk'n'Flash cosmetic featured on the Bonk Atomic Punch set was originally going to be part of the #1 Fan item set, but it was dropped in favor of Bonk Boy due to concerns of copyright.