The Rules of Ackanomic

Rule 42/0
The Oldest Rule in the Book
breadbox (Brian Raiter)

All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.

Rule 101/9
The Game of Ackanomic

Ackanomic is a self-modifying game of rules. All players must always abide by all the rules then in effect, in the form in which they are then in effect, and interpreted in accordance with current game custom. The term "rules", as used in the rules, means the rules of Ackanomic.

The rules and the game state may only be changed as described in the rules. Actions described in the rules may only be performed, and shall only have those effects, as specified by the rules. Whatever is not explicitly prohibited or regulated by the rules, however, is permitted and unregulated. Game custom, spirit of the game, and linguistic interpretation are external concepts and are not regulated or part of the game state.

The game consists of a sequence of "Cycles". Cycles end when specified by the Rules. At most one Cycle is in progress at any one time. Cycles of Ackanomic may only be won as described in the rules, and may only be won by voting players. A player may not win the Game of Ackanomic. A player always has the option to leave the Game of Ackanomic.

This rule has precedence over all other rules.

Rule 102/8
Resolving Conflicts

If two or more rules other than this one conflict about a particular issue, and if the rules other than this one (and not restricted to the conflicting rules) specify a single, coherent, unambiguous method for resolving the conflict then that method is applied to determine which rule or rules take precedence with regard to that issue. Otherwise, wherever the rules conflict on a particular issue, the rule with the lowest number among those rules which conflict on that issue shall guide play with regard to that issue.

If two statements in the same rule conflict with each other, and the rule doesn't define a way to resolve the conflict, then the statement which appears later in the rule takes precedence.

If two rules have different base numbers, use the base number to determine which is lowest. Among rules with the same base number, use the sub rule numbers to determine which rule has the lowest number, treating a rule without a sub rule number as if the sub rule number was zero.

Rule 103/12
Retroactive Effects

No rule may generate any effect that applies retroactively to a time before the generation of the effect.

This rule takes precedence over all other rules except those which explicitly claim precedence over this rule mentioning it by both name and number [i.e. not just rules claiming universal precedence].

Rule 104/8
Proposals

A Voting player may submit a proposal by sending its text to the Promoter, who shall then post it publicly to be voted on.

All proposals shall be voted on, unless they are retracted or deemed invalid in accordance with the Rules. In these cases, they are removed from consideration, and are considered to be neither accepted or rejected.

As soon as possible after a proposal's prescribed voting period ends, the votes on that proposal shall be posted publicly. The proposal is then accepted if a quorum has been achieved and the required number of YES votes were cast on the proposal.

If a proposal is accepted, one of two things happen. If the proposal consisted of a list of one-time effects, such as changes to the rules, then those effects shall be applied, one at a time, in the order in which they appear in the proposal. (Ambiguous, retroactive, and/or meaningless effects are ignored.)

Otherwise, the proposal itself changes from a proposal to a rule. [It is assigned a title and number as described in Rules 301 and 303.]

Once a proposal has been properly distributed, none of its text may be altered; likewise, its authorship and time of distribution cannot be changed.

Rule 106/18
Voting on Proposals

Players eligible to vote on proposals may vote either YES, NO or BAA! on each proposal, by sending their vote to the Tabulator. Votes must be unambiguous and unconditional. A Voting Player may also choose not to vote on a proposal, which is called abstaining. Players eligible to vote on proposals who do not vote within the prescribed voting period shall be deemed to have abstained. Players eligible to vote on proposals may change their vote up until the end of the prescribed voting period, but in any case are limited to one vote per proposal.

The required number of YES votes for a proposal to be accepted is three-fifths of the total number of YES and NO votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period. If that value is 0, however, the required number of YES votes for acceptance is 1.

The prescribed voting period on a proposal is seven days, starting from the moment that the proposal is publicly distributed as specified by the rules.

Entities may vote only as specified by the rules. Non-entities may not vote.

Rule 107/10
Quorum

The head count for a given proposal includes all players who legally cast a vote on that proposal and all players who were eligible to cast a vote on that proposal at the end of that proposal's voting period but did not do so.

Then, quorum is met if either (a) at least 60% of the players in the head count have cast a vote, or (b) at least 36% of the players in the head count have voted YES, or both. In no other circumstances is quorum met.

Rule 110/0
Infinite Schminfinite
ThinMan (John Bollinger)

If the rules are modified so as to specify that an action occurs without specifying at what time or under what circumstances that action occurs, then the action occurs exactly once, an infinitesimal time after the rules are so modified.

Rule 205/9
When Score Changes Take Effect
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Score changes take effect as specified below, depending on the category of the score change. If the category cannot be determined for some reason, the score change is deemed to take effect when it is publically knowable.

1) Score Changes Managed by Officers

a) All score changes take effect when the officer in charge of managing or reporting on an activity which could produce a score change, announces the effect which results in the score change.

b) [For example, if a player fails to deliver judgement in a certain time, the penalty for that failure is not scored until the officer responsible for managing and reporting CFJs announces this fact. Another example is polls taken where the result of the poll dictates a scoring change. That change occurs when the results of the poll are publically released.]

c) Officers must announce all score changes they are responsible for notification of in the order which they are made aware the occurrence. They must do so within 3 days.

d) The Scorekeeper is not considered an office for the purpose of this section (1). This section (1), defers precedence to R 207.

e) [Examples of current rules in this category are: 213, 374, 212, 593 (-20), 404, 1307 (-10), 909 (-12, -3), 913 (-10 only), 927.]

2) Score Changes Triggered by Player Actions and Public Announcements

a) If a score change is due to some other effect, such as the result of a public posting, proposal retraction, or CFCJ penalty, etc, the score change is said to occur at the time of the public post.

b) [Examples of current rules in this category are: 423, 217, 578, 593 (-5 only), 730 (+6 only).]

3) Rule Based Triggered or Mandated Score Changes

a) If the score change is due to an event occurring (such as a player reaching a certain score, or the adoption of a proposal), this score change is said to occur an infinitesimal amount of time after it is possible for the public to be aware of the event occurring. All score changes due to a single event occur simultaneously.

b) [For example, if there exists a trigger whereby a player has 80 points added to their score if they reach -60 points, and they have -58 points, and make a public proposal retraction which causes a loss of 2 points, they gain 80 points an infinitesimal amount of time after that post. The public may not actually know this at the time, but it is possible for them to know it].

c) [Examples of current rules in this category are: 207, 901, 207.2, 913 (except the -10), 919, 866, 962.2]

4) Scoring Changes Based on the Content of an Adopted Proposal

a) If a Score change is called for based on the content of a Proposal, or an effect generated from that proposal, it is deemed to have occurred simultaneously with any score changes mandated by R 207. It is the duty of the Scorekeeper to announce such score changes.

b) [Examples of current rules in this category are: 207.1]

5) Scoring on Changes to Rules Which Cause Score Changes

If a Rule describes a score change that would normally come about as the result of the passage of a Proposal, then that score change is considered to occur an infinitesimal amount of time before any of the rule changes or effects listed in that Proposal occur. (For instance, if a Modest Proposal passes which changes the score for a Modest Proposal passing from 5 to 4, that Proposal would score 5 points, since that scoring would occur before the score change.)

6) Exceptions, Errors, and Omissions

a) No score changes can occur simultaneously for a given player, except where the rules explicitly say they can. If it appears that they do, they shall be categorized into the above categories, and occur in the order the above categories occur in this rule. If that still leaves any apparent simultaneous score changes, the score changes will occur in the order of largest absolute value first. If that still leaves a tie, however, the tied score changes shall occur at the same time.

Retroactive score changes are not permitted, but corrections to the scores are allowed when an error is discovered. This section (6) has precedence over sections 1 thru 5, where there is a conflict.

7) Rule Precedence

This rule has precedence over all other rules dealing with scoring, except that it defers precedence to R 207, and except where specific clauses above defer precedence.

Rule 206/7
Keep 'Em In The Game
Mitchell Harding

Any player whose score is below -60 automatically has it reset back to 0. Any player whose score reaches exactly -60 has their score changed to 20.

Rule 207/28
Scoring When A Proposal's Voting Results are Reported

I. Timing of these score changes

All the following scoring changes are applied at the time the Proposal's tabulated voting results are officially reported, unless the new rule or effect calls for an instantaneous change to 1 or more players' score, in which case the score changes detailed in this rule are applied an infinitesimal amount of time after those effects are applied.

II. Timing when results are reported simultaneously

If more than one Proposal's tabulated voting results are officially reported at the same time, the scoring changes are applied in numerical order of the Proposals, with an infinitesimal amount of time separating each application.

III. Scoring on Proposals

If a Modest proposal is accepted, the player who proposed it receives 5 points. If a Grandiose proposal is accepted, the player who proposed it receives 16 points. If a proposal which is neither Modest nor Grandiose is accepted, the player who proposed it receives 10 points.

If a Modest proposal is rejected, but meets quorum, the player who proposed it loses 4 points. If a Grandiose proposal is rejected, but meets quorum, the player who proposed it loses 12 points. If a proposal which is neither Modest nor Grandiose is rejected, but meets quorum, the player who proposed it loses 7 points.

A proposal can only be declared to be Modest or Grandiose as defined by the Rules.

All players who voted on any proposal receive one point.

IV. Effect of Proposals which do not meet Quorum

If a proposal does not meet quorum, each player eligible to vote on it who abstained on the proposal shall lose 5 points and receive a Puppet Head (a nontradeable entity), if e does not already have one. A player with a Puppet Head may get rid of it by saying "Memo to myself: Do the dumb things I gotta do. Touch the puppet head." [They Might Be Giants, "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head", "They Might Be Giants"] in a public message. After a player has possessed a Puppet Head for seven consecutive days, e immediately becomes a non-voting player. The Puppet Head is then destroyed.

V. Newbie Author Bonus/Soft Penalty

Newbies shall receive a bonus equivalent to the points which would be gained by anti-voting[one point for Modest proposals, five points for Grandiose proposals, three points otherwise] whenever one of their non-Modest proposals is accepted or any one of their proposals is rejected.

VI. Null Proposals

If an accepted proposal does not become a new rule or generate at least one valid effect under Rule 104, then it is a "Null Proposal". No points are scored by any player via the preceding provisions of this rule from the acceptance of a Null Proposal.

VII. Boring Proposals

A proposal is Boring if and only if at least half of the votes cast on the proposal were Baa! votes. The above provisions notwithstanding, no points are scored by any player as a result of a Boring proposal being accepted or rejected.

Rule 207.1/13
That's just silly
Bascule (Matt Black)

If an accepted proposal contains the phrase "contains monosodium glutamate" and the phrase is not part of a comment, then the player who submitted the proposal is said to be silly, and shall score 5 points. However, if the proposal was also distributed by the Promoter on April First (All Fool's Day), the player is instead said to be foolish, and shall score 10 points.

Any player who scores points in the above manner may publicly announce, in the seven days following the proposals acceptance, "The new silly phrase is ****", where **** is a three word phrase. All quoted instance of the phrase "contains monosodium glutamate" in this rule will be replaced by the three word phrase chosen by that player.

Rule 207.3/6
Foolishness
IdiotBoy (Matt Miller)

If a player submits a proposal which meets the following conditions, then proposal is a Foolish Proposal:

a) The first line of the proposal is "I was young and foolish then, I feel old and foolish now."

b) The rest of the text of the proposal is a previously submitted and rejected proposal, altered in no way from this previously submitted proposal except in the updating of numerical rule pointers.

c) The player submitting the proposal was the author of the previous proposal.

Whenever a Foolish Proposal is accepted or rejected, all scoring effects from rule 207 related to its acceptance or rejection shall be doubled.

Rule 209/4
Modesty and Pride
Brinjal (Simon Clarke)

A proposal is considered to be Modest if and only if the author of the proposal prefaces the proposal with the words "This is a Modest proposal".

A proposal is considered to be Grandiose if and only if the author of the proposal prefaces the proposal with the words "This is a Grandiose proposal".

If a proposal appears to be designated as both Modest and Grandiose, or it cannot be determined which designation should hold sway, the proposal is declared invalid, and removed from voting consideration.

The sentence that declares a Proposal to be Modest or Grandiose is considered "furniture" for the purposes of Rule 207.

Rule 210/10
Literature
Vynd (John McCoy)

I. Some special proposals are literature. These are, of course, the proposals in which actual literature is quoted. To be considered a piece of literature, a proposal must meet the following requirements:

A) The proposal must contain in its body [as opposed to title] one or more quotations from sources listed on the Literature list. This quotation must be an exact copy of words found in, written, uttered or otherwise communicated by the source, enclosed in quotation marks. It must contain one of the following:

(i) a complete sentence or series of consecutive sentences totalling 7 words or more [i.e. if a player has two sentences of six words in length it is a phrase of consecutive sentences totaling seven or more words].
(ii) a continuous phrase of at least 14 words in length
(iii) a phrase that is not found in any other piece of literature.

[The reasoning for these limitations is to try and stop people from trying to pass off "to be" as a quote from Hamlet, and the like. There are however some short snippets that are very unique to individual pieces and this takes that into account.]

It is up to the player who submitted the proposal to find proof that his quote is indeed literature, and up to any player to find another piece of literature that also contains the quote. All such proofs are adjudicated by the scorekeeper, unless the scorekeeper submitted the proposal, in which case it should be adjudicated by the President. If the scorekeeper and president are the same person then it will be adjudicated by any other random active player (as selected by the OiCoRT).

B) The source of the quotation must be cited in brackets [like this] immediately following the quotation itself. This citation should include the author or orator of the quotation, and also the work and page number(s) [or scene, act, lines, stanzas, etc] where it can be found, if applicable. [Note that I am deliberately not making any penalty for failing to cite a quotation, beyond the fact that it won't let your proposal qualify as literature. I considered including a "plagiarism" penalty here, but I think it's better to have the quote uncited than to not have them at all because so and so couldn't remember the page number for the line he's thinking of].

C) Even if the quotation meets the above requirements, it is invalid if it is does not actually become part of a Rule, or a Rule in and of itself. Quotations are invalid if they are contained within double curly braces as described in Rule 346, unless the entire text of the proposal is in double curly braces. [In other words, the quote has to actually go into the ruleset, as opposed to being Self Deleting text.]

II. Whenever a proposal that is literature passes, its author gains X points. X is either, the number of sentences, or series of sentences, quoted according to section I of this rule, or the total number of words quoted according to section I divided by 14, whichever is smaller. [That is, for each sentence or phrase which is eligible to be literature the author scores one point, taking the lower total if there are more than two ways in which such a phrase is eligible, i.e. two complete sentences making a total of fourteen words would only score one point.]

III. A proposal is a Great Work if it meets the following requirements:

a) All of the text that is amended to a Rule, or becomes part of a new rule, consists entirely of quotations and citations as described in section I.

b) It creates at least one new rule, or makes at least one amendment to existing rules, and these amendments and new rules must include a total of at least 42 words quoted as described in section I.

c) It is not Modest.

If a proposal that is a Great Work passes, then the player who authored the Great Work will gain A$200 in royalties, in addition to any other bonus or penalties caused by the passage of the proposal. All players who voted against a Great Work that was accepted will lose 7 points, for their poor taste, in addition to any other bonuses or penalties caused by the passage of the proposal. Great Works that do not pass have no special effects.

IV. The Literature list is not a Rule, nor part of a Rule, but rather a document on which is kept the list of sources that can be quoted as Literature by following the procedures described in this rule. Entries on the Literature list can be either Artists of Works. They must follow the format of: Artist (or Work): name of Artist ; descriptive information. Artists can be any individual, or any group of people who collaborated to produce quotable material [For example, The Police]. Works are some type of recording of words. Collections of connected works [such as the Star Wars trilogy] are permissible as a single entry, but not collections of unconnected works [such as an anthology of work by several authors]. Descriptive information is information that helps to clarify exactly who or what a given entry on the list refers to [Artist: The Police ; band with Sting as lead singer. ; or Artist: George Washington ; First President of the USA]. Any entries on the Literature list which do not abide by this rule, and follow the format described above, are invalid and cannot be quoted from. Inclusion of descriptive information is, however, optional.

It is a duty of the Web-Harfer to maintain a publicly available copy of the Literature list, and to link it with this Rule. He is encouraged, but by no means required, to maintain links to sites about the various sources on the list.

This Rule takes precedence over all other Rules dealing with Literature, the Literature list, and Great Works.

V. Any player may issue a CSR that consists solely of modifications to the Literature list. Otherwise, the Literature list may only be modified by Proposals and by the Spelling Bee.

Rule 211/21
Invoking Judgement

A Call for Judgement (CFJ), is an assertion about the rules, the facts, or their interpretation. A CFJ should include a single, clear, and clearly labeled statement that can be answered TRUE or FALSE. The remainder of the CFJ may consist of additional comments or reasoning, which the Judge is under no obligation to consider.

A CFJ may be made by any active player by sending it to the Clerk of the Court, who will select a judge as described in the rules, and then post it publically, along with the identity of the selected Judge.

CFJ's with no clear statement, or consisting of empty statements or inherently contradictory statements or multiple statements, in the judgement of the Judge, shall be judged "Invalid". A statement with multiple sentences is not necessarily disqualified; it is up to the judgement of the Judge as to whether such submission is Invalid, as per above.

[eg "SnafuMoose has the power to amend a rule" is valid, while "Can I amend a rule?" is not (cannot be answered true, false). "I think PlayerXXX is a butthead" is also not valid, since it also cannot be answered true/false ("PlayerXXX is a butthead" is valid)]

Any CFJ whose statement is substantially similar, or whose negative is substantially similar, to the statement of another CFJ submitted by the same player within the past week, in the judgement of the judge, shall be judged Invalid. This applies even in the case that the previously submitted CFJ was retracted by the player in question. However, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply if the prior CFJ was declared Invalid by the Clerk of Court due to a lack of eligible judges, as provided in Rule 212.

If the statements of two unresolved Paradox Win CFJs are substantially similar, in the opinion of the judge of the most recently distributed one, then the most recently distributed one shall be judged Invalid. Any Paradox Win CFJ which is based on the same sort of Paradox, in the judgement of the judge, as any Paradox Win CFJ ever judged TRUE, shall be judged Invalid.

Rule 212/17
Selecting A Judge

When a Player is to be selected to judge a CFJ the following steps are performed in order to determine those Players who are eligible to judge it:

i) All Voting Players are eligible.

ii) All Players on the CFJ Ineligibility List are excluded.

iii) The author of the CFJ is excluded.

iv) If the CFJ is also a CFCJ the Player or Players named in its statement are excluded.

v) All Justices are excluded.

vi) All Players who have declined to judge the CFJ are excluded.

vii) All Players who have already been assigned a CFJ and are yet decline or return a verdict on it are excluded, unless this would reduce the number of eligible Players to less than half the number of Active Players.

If any of the above steps would cause the number of eligible players to be reduced to zero or fewer, that step is not performed.

When a CFJ is received by the Clerk of the Court, if no Active Players are eligible to judge it, then the CFJ is deemed Invalid, and removed from consideration, and no judge is selected. Otherwise, the Clerk of the Court randomly selects a Player from those eligible to judge it.

The selected Judge may decline a particular appointment, as a public action or by mailing the Clerk of the Courts, within 3 days of being selected. In this case, a new Judge is selected as described above.

As a public action, an Active Player may remove their name from the CFJ Ineligibility List if it is on the List, or add their name to the List if it is not there already.

Rule 213/6
Delivering Judgement

Having been appointed and having not declined, a Judge has exactly one week from the time of eir appointment to post eir Judgment to the Clerk of the Court. A Judge who defaults is a deadbeat. This causes em to be penalized 10 points, eir name to be added to the CFJ Ineligibility List, and the CFJ e defaulted on to be reassigned to another random judge.

Any judge may change eir mind on a verdict that e has sent to the Clerk of the Court (CotC) but has not yet been distributed by the CotC by mailing the CotC informing em of this fact. At this point the initial judgement will be considered to have not been posted to the CotC.

Rule 214/2
Possible Judgements

There are only the following possible Judgements: (1) True; (2) False; (3) Undecided; or (4) Invalid. A Judgement may be accompanied by reasons and arguments, but any such reasons and arguments form no part of the official Judgement itself.

If the Judgement is Undecided then the CFJ shall be decided by the Supreme Court as if it had been appealed, except that the original Judge shall not be penalized for an overturned verdict on that CFJ.

Rule 215/2
Judgement-Rule Interaction

All Judgements must be in accordance with all the rules in effect at the time judgement was invoked, and with respect to the game state at that time. When the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the statement in question, however, then the Judge shall consider currently existing game custom and the spirit of the game in reaching a decision.

A statement verified (or nullified) by judgement applies retroactively to any past game situation it may concern.

If a statement on which Judgement has been called is Judged to be true, and that Judgement is not overruled, it does not thereby become a rule, or any part of a rule. It merely becomes an explicit part of currently accepted game custom.

Rule 217/29
Overturning Judgements

I. Sending CFJs to the Supreme Court

After any Judgement is returned, an active player may appeal the case to the Supreme Court for consideration. The time period for appeal shall be 4 days from the posting of the Judgement.

The player may include with his appeal any such material he deems relevant to the case. The Court is under no obligation to consider such material, and should use normal procedures to determine a verdict.

If a single judgement is appealed more than once, only the first one shall cause the process of determining a new judgement to begin, and the previous judge shall be penalized only once if the verdict is overturned, though all who appealed that judgement shall be penalized if the verdict is upheld, and all appealers' reasonings are added to the official record.

II. How the Supreme Court judges a CFJ

The Supreme Court shall then decide the case, and should return its verdict within one week. If this is the first time the Supreme Court has considered that CFJ, the unanimous decision of the owners of the Supreme Cortex that was assigned the CFJ shall be the verdict of the Court. If the Supreme Court has already returned a verdict on the CFJ in question, and this verdict was appealed, the Supreme Court's verdict shall be the unanimous decision of all active Justices (returned within one week of the full Court receiving the CFJ) or the decision of a 2/3 supermajority of the active Justices (if the Court does not reach a unanimous decision within one week).

III. Effects upon a judgement of an appeal by the Supreme Court

If the court agrees with the previous verdict, the player who lodged the appeal shall be fined between 0 and 25 points for a frivolous appeal, with the penalty to be 25 points unless the Justices specify otherwise.

If the court disagrees with the previous verdict, then the verdict shall be overturned to the new verdict, and all players who decided the previous verdict [i.e. judge, or justice on a Cortex] shall be fined between 0 and 10 points, the penalty to be 1 unless the Justices specify otherwise.

Further, if the judgement (A) under appeal included a penalty for a frivolous appeal or a judgement overturn, and judgement A is itself overturned, then points shall be awarded to the parties penalised by judgement (A) as described above, to exactly balance the points lost from that judgement.

IV. Appeal limits

In the event that an active player opposes the appeal, they may appeal again to the Supreme Court, assuming they are not exceeding any appeal limits specified elsewhere in this, or other rules.

Supreme Court Justices or Acting Supreme Court Justices may not appeal Judgements or Supreme Court appellate decisions to the Supreme Court unless they also exercise their option under rule 417 (Justices Rock) to decline judgement on that CFJ.

A verdict returned by the Supreme Court as a whole (e.g. a second appeal verdict) may not be appealed. Only the most recent judgement on any CFJ may be appealed.

V. Delays

Supreme Cortices should make every effort to return verdicts assigned to them within a reasonable amount of time in order to keep the game moving along. A Supreme Cortex may decline a CFJ assigned to it; this action is accomplished and occurs upon all owners of that Cortex publically identifying the CFJ they are considering that they wish to decline.

In addition, if a Cortex has been considering a particular CFJ for more than 30 days, that Cortex shall automatically decline that CFJ upon this fact being pointed out publically by any active player.

Upon a Cortex declining a CFJ, that CFJ is reassigned to another Cortex as if it had just been appealed, except that it will not be assigned to the declining Cortex unless no other Cortex exists.

Rule 217.1/0
Selecting a Cortex
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

Whenever the Rules call for the Supreme Court to consider a CFJ for the first time, the Clerk of the Courts shall assign that CFJ to a Supreme Cortex.

E shall select a Supreme Cortex (hereafter Cortex) based on the following guidelines.

1. E shall assign the CFJ to the Active Cortex that is already considering the fewest CFJ's. If multiple Active Cortices are tied for this distinction, e shall choose randomly among them.
2. If there are no Active Cortices, e shall assign the CFJ to the Undermanned Cortex that is already considering the fewest CFJ's. If multiple Undermanned Cortices are tied for this distinction, e shall choose randomly among them.
3. If the only Cortex in existence is Vacant, e shall assign the CFJ to the Vacant Cortex.

When a Cortex is destroyed, all CFJ's assigned to it are reassigned to another Cortex as per the above guidelines.

If the Rules direct the Supreme Court to consider a given CFJ for a second time, the entire Court shall consider the matter (as opposed to a single Cortex).

Rule 230/3
Random Things
ThinMan (John Bollinger)

I. Whenever the rules call for a random determination to be made among a finite number of possibilities, each of the alternatives shall be assigned the same probability. [I.e. use uniform weights.] This rule defers to any rule that specifies an alternative weighting scheme.

II. An event that depends on a random determination for its full specification shall not occur until the random determination is publicly knowable.

III. Whenever the rules call for a unique entity to be given or transferred to a random player, the player who currently has that entity (if any), is excluded from the pool from which the random selection is made.

Rule 250/15
Players and Player States

I. Player States

All natural persons exist in exactly one of the following states:

Voting
Non-Voting
Vacationing
On Ice
Non-Player

Those natural persons, and only those natural persons, who are not Non-Players are Players. Players are named, unownable entities. Non-Players may observe the game and participate in discussions, but their posts shall not affect the game state except as described in rule 252. Non-player persons are not entities.

No natural person may be associated with more than one player concurrently. No matter how many times a person legally registers as a player in Ackanomic, that person is always considered the same player. [That is, if a player quits and later rejoins, e is considered the same player.]

II. Player-related Definitions

a) An "active" Player is a Player whose state is Voting or Non-Voting. Only Active players may be randomly selected for anything, except where the rules specifically allow non-active players to be selected.

b) An "absent" Player is a Player whose state is Vacationing or On Ice. Absent players may only leave the game, change their state, or send public messages; they may perform no other actions.

c) Where the rules refer to a "Vacationing" player, that specifically means a player whose state is "Vacationing".

d) A "Newbie" is a Player whose AckaAge is less than 21 days.

e) A Player's AckaAge is the length of time since they first registered as a Player of Ackanomic (or since when the game started, whichever is less).

f) A "pending" Player is a Voting Player who has not voted on a proposal since their most recent registration.

III. Changing State

A Player may change eir state as a public action by announcing the new player state, provided eir state has not changed within the past 3 days, and provided no other rule places any restrictions on eir ability to change to a particular state. Whenever a player's state is changed, the appropriate following section applies to them:

IV. Upon Becoming Non-Voting:

a) E is treated as having declined judgement on all CFJs that have been assigned to em, and treated as having failed to return a verdict on any e has accepted. This includes those for which the three day limit for declining has passed; no deadbeat penalty is assigned, and the CFJ is randomly assigned as in Rule 212.

b) E is removed from all offices non-voting players cannot hold, and removed from the list of candidates in any Election or Nomination for an office non-voting players cannot hold.

c) E is removed from the mentor pool.

V. Upon Becoming (and while) Vacationing:

a) Their expected duration of Vacation is set at 28 days if unspecified, otherwise it is calculated as 14 days plus the specified duration, with an overriding minimum of 3 days and maximum of 75 days. (Durations specified as a range of time are assumed to span from the time of specification until the end of the specified range of time.) Players who gone on Vacation voluntarily may specify a duration at the time they specify they are going on Vacation.

b) The duties of any offices held by the player shall be performed by the Speaker or someone appointed by the Speaker, unless some other rule provides for an Acting Officer or some other assignment (including possible non-assignment) of these duties (or the office). The person assuming the duties of these offices is said to be assuming them in an acting capacity, and as such, these appointments or assumption must be made in accordance with R 401, section (i). It is permissible for an acting officer, appointed by this clause, to assume the duties of another acting officer.

c) Upon having been on vacation for a period of time in excess of the expected duration of eir vacation, their state is changed to On Ice.

VI. Upon Becoming (and while) On Ice:

a) They are removed from any offices they hold.

b) Section IV is applied as if they became Non-Voting.

c) All their existing votes on proposals, elections, and hearings whose results have not yet been released are canceled.

d) Their score is set to 0. Players who are On Ice never gain or lose points, nor do they ever gain entities.

e) They are removed from all organizations of which they are a member.

f) If the Player never voted, their state is changed to Non-Player.

g) All of their mimsy entities are transferred to the treasury.

h) Upon being On-Ice for 90 days, their state is changed to Non-Player, unless they (or their likeness) is enshrined in the Hall of Elders, in which case they will never become a Non-Player.

VII. Upon Becoming a Non-Player:

a) E is removed from the CFJ Ineligibility List if possible.

b) All of eir tradeable entities are transferred to the treasury except for land and buildings which become unowned. All of eir nontradeable entities are destroyed.

This rule has precedence over all other rules.

Rule 251/21
Player Names
Wayne Sheppard

Every player has exactly one Ackanomic name. This name must be a string of name characters from two to twenty characters in length. Neither the first nor the last character in this string may be the space character, and there must be at least one character that is not a numeric digit. All official nomic business shall use this name to refer to that player.

A player may change eir Ackanomic name, so long as the new name complies with all applicable rules. If a player attempts to change eir name to something not in compliance with the Rules, that attempt fails. In addition, if the name change has not yet been accepted as described in the following paragraph, the Registrar may object to the name change if e feels that the new name is not within the spirit of the game. When the player changing eir name is the Registrar, the President or any Senator can object to or ack the name change as if e were the Registrar. The Registrar may not ack eir own name change.

If the Registrar acknowledges a legal name change, or after three days have passed if the Registrar (or, in the case of an attempt by the Registrar to change eir name, neither the President nor any Senator) neither acknowledges the change nor objects to it (and the new name complies with all applicable rules), then the name change is accepted and occurs, at which time the player in question shall pay the Standard Harfer Fee.

The Registrar is required to record and announce any legal name changes, and is encouraged but not required to point out any failed name changes as well.

When a player changes eir Ackanomic name, all Ackanomic business besides Rules will be changed to follow their new name, and any Rules which refer to the player by their old name will still refer to that player even though their name has changed.

If a player changes eir Ackanomic name twice and the second change is acked by the Registrar while the first one has not been, then the first change will not occur.

Rule 251.1/1
True Names
JT (JT Traub)

Every Ackanomic player possesses, in addition to eir Ackanomic Name, something known as eir True Name.

When a player first joins Ackanomic, the Registrar will choose the new players True Name as follows.

a) The True Name for the new player is initially set to that players Real Life name.

b) If the form of this player's True Name is equivalent to the primitive form of the True Name of any current or former player, the True Name of the new player shall be suffixed by the '/' (slash) character followed by the smallest possible positive integer that creates a unique name. [IE if two players with the RL name of JT Traub joined the game, their True Names would be 'JT Traub' and 'JT Traub/1' respectively]

No player may (through any means) acquire an Ackanomic Name whose primitive form is identical to the primitive form of the True Name of any current or former player. This paragraph takes precedence over all other rules regarding player names and their modification.

No player may change their True Name, and the True Name of a player may always be used as a valid and unambiguous reference for that player.

"the prudent sorceror regarded his own true name as his most valued possession but also the greatest threat to his continued good health" [Vernor Vinge, True Names]

Rule 252/17
Joining the Game
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

I. Joining as a New Player

A Non-Player wishing to join the game shall notify the Registrar, providing a valid e-mail address, their real name, the legal Ackanomic name they wish to play under, and optionally the Ackanomic name of the current active player who convinced them to join the game, how they heard about the game, and whether they wish to be a Voting or Non-Voting player.

Upon them providing this information, and the Registrar being satisfied that it is legal, the Registrar shall post a public message announcing the new player along with the information they provided. Upon the posting of this announcement, the person's state is changed to either Voting (the default) or Non-Voting, depending on their wishes expressed as above.

II. Upon the joining of a new player, the following procedure takes place, in the order shown:

1) The new player is granted 1 kaa of urban land and a Small building thereupon as their residence. This building shall be known as their Home. This building shall also be known as "player name's House", where "player name" is replaced by their Ackanomic name.

2) The new player is paid from the Treasury the sum of A$900.

3) The Registrar shall select a Mentor for the new player. If the player provided a valid Sponsor, that Sponsor shall be the first choice of Mentor for the new player if e is eligible as a Mentor. If the Mentor was chosen from the mentor pool, e receives The Standard Harfer Fee from the Treasury immediately; otherwise, e receives The Standard Harfer Fee if and when e accepts the mentorship.

4) If the player provided a valid Sponsor the new player receives a Trinket named 'Sponsored by <name> #x', where <name> is the name of the Sponsor and x is the smallest prime number required to give the Trinket a unique name. This Trinket has a value of A$10 and a description of 'I joined the madness on <date> at the urging of <name>' where <date> is the date the new player joined and <name> is the name of the Sponsor. The Sponsor shall likewise receive a Trinket named '<name> is all my fault' with a value of $A10 and a description of 'On <date>, I encouraged <name> to join.' where <date> is as above and <name> is the name of the new player.

Rule 253/7
Mentors
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

When the Registrar must select a Mentor for a new player, e shall follow these guidelines. No one may become a Mentor except as specified in the rules.

It is the duty of the Registrar to maintain a list of players who are in the Mentor pool. Any Active player may place emself in the Mentor pool or remove emself therefrom by notifying the Registrar. This notification may be done privately. If there are not enough players in the Mentor pool to assign a Mentor for each new player, the Registrar may randomly select an active player from the general population. A player who is currently serving as Mentor to a new player is not considered to be in the Mentor pool while so serving.

Non-volunteering selectees must publicly accept mentorship within 1 day or be assumed to have declined, in which case the registrar must select a new Mentor.

The duties of the Mentor are as follows:

1) Answer any questions concerning game procedure to the new player.

2) Provide the new player with history and arguments for and against either side of a proposal in the voting queue upon the new player's request.

3) Provide the new player with information on any matter that requires eir immediate attention [for example, a newly active player who is required to return judgement].

4) Answer any other questions the new player has concerning the game of Ackanomic.

The Mentor shall be responsible for performing these duties while the player is a Newbie, or until the new player declines further services [whichever comes first].

A Mentor shall provide information to the new player without bias while performing the above duties.

Rule 254/16
Leaving the Game
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

Any person may leave the game by posting in a public message that they are doing so. For the purposes of the rules, they are considered to have "left the game" at the time of their announcement.

Upon leaving, if they are a player, their state is changed to On Ice, unless they are already On Ice. Then, in all cases, they are unsubscribed from all official mailing lists unless they request not to be.

Whenever other rules direct the removal of a person from the game, they are removed via the procedure described in the previous paragraph.

Rule 257/15
No Dead Players Allowed
Mitchell Harding

Any active player who has failed to either vote or post a public message within the last 7 days is considered AWOL. If a player is AWOL and this fact is pointed out to the Speaker, and a query as described in this rule is not already pending against that player, then the Speaker shall ask that player if e wishes to continue playing. If the player does not reply to this query within 3 days, eir state is changed to Vacationing with an expected duration of 3 days, unless e has never voted, in which case e is placed On Ice.

If e does respond to the query, e is no longer AWOL upon the fact of this response being publically knowable. If this response indicates that e wishes to leave the game, then e may be removed from the game by the Speaker forwarding eir email response to the public forum, in which case e is removed from the game as described in rule 254.

If the Speaker is AWOL, however, and this fact is pointed out in a public message by any player, the Speaker has 3 days to respond to this message publically or eir state is changed to Vacationing with an expected duration of 3 days.

Rule 301/11
Proposal and Rule Titles
Wayne (Wayne Sheppard)

Rules and Proposals are named, unownable entities. The names of Rules and Proposals are referred to as their titles.

The titles of Rules and Proposals are not required to be unique, with respect to each other or with respect to any other entity. (This paragraph takes precedence over Rule 348.)

The following characters:

":;()

[i.e., double-quote, backquote, colon, semicolon, and parentheses] are legal name characters when they appear in the titles of Proposals and Rules. Proposals and Rules may have titles of up to one hundred forty name characters. (This paragraph takes precedence over Rule 500.1.)

When a Proposal is accepted that creates a new Rule, the new Rule shall have the title indicated by the Proposal, or, if no valid title is specified, the new Rule shall have the same title as the Proposal.

Rule 303/20
Proposal and Rule Numbering

I. Each rule has an effective ordinal number, hereafter referred to simply as the rule's number. Rule numbers and proposal numbers are unownable entities. A valid rule number is one or two positive integers. The first is called the base rule number, and the second, if present, is called the sub rule number and is separated from the base rule number by a period.

II. When a new rule is created as a result of the acceptance of a proposal, it is numbered as follows:

1. If the proposal specifies a valid rule number for the new rule, and that number is not already the number of another rule, then the new rule is assigned that number. [Proposals should specify rule numbers for any rules they create so that the new rule(s) are numbered into the appropriate section of the rules.]

2. Otherwise, if the proposal specifies that the new rule is to be a member of a Rule Suite, and a Head of a Rule Suite rule exists for that Rule Suite, then that new rule has the base rule number of the Head of the Rule Suite, and the least sub rule number greater than all other sub rule numbers in that Rule Suite. [New rules in Rule Suites default to going at the end.]

3. Otherwise, the new rule is created as a member of the Miscellaneous Rule Suite, as per above.

III. When a new rule is created by another rule, or by some entity (besides a proposal) granted the power to create rules by some rule, it is numbered as follows:

1. If the entity creating the rule declares it to be a member of a Rule Suite, as in II.2. above, then it is numbered as in II.2. above.

2. Otherwise, if the rule or entity creating the new rule assigns it a valid rule number which is not already the number of another rule, then the new rule is uses that number.

3. If neither 1 nor 2 above numbers the rule, then the rule is numbered with the least positive integer greater than all existing base rule numbers.

Rule 309/4
Substantially Similar Proposals
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

If two Proposals, A and B, have identical text, or if (in the judgement of a judge) the game effect that would occur if Proposal A was adopted is substantially similar to that of Proposal B, and furthermore if both of the following are true:

a) Proposal A was distributed after Proposal B;
b) Proposal B is still under voting consideration;

then Proposal A is invalid.

Rule 311/5
Rule Suites
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) A rule is a Head of Rule Suite if and only if all of the following lettered items are true of it:

a) Its rule number is a single integer (i.e. without the . (dot)).

b) Its title consists of a word or phrase followed by the words "Rule Suite", and no other rule has the same title.

c) Its text contains an overview of the content or purpose of the Rule Suite. This overview may be in notes brackets.

d) Its text contains a phrase or sentence in notes brackets which can serve as a link to the Rules in the Rule Suite.

2) A Head of a Rule Suite may contain other material which shall be interpreted normally. If, for a particular Head of a Rule Suite, represents the word or phrase described in section 1b, then that Rule can be referred to as the Head of the Rule Suite.

3) A rule is a member of a certain Rule Suite if and only if its number is X.Y, where X is the number of the Head of that Rule Suite, and Y is a positive integer.

4) [It is a privilege of the Rule-Harfer to move rules which are members of Rule Suites out of the main rules document into separate physical documents, and to establish and maintain a link from the link phrase (section 1 d)) to these documents.]

5) Each Rule Suite (being the collection of all rules X.Y for some fixed integer X which satisfy the above conditions) may have exactly one Office as its Custodian. It is a privilege of an Office to issue a CSR which only modifies rules in the Rule Suite or Rule Suites of which that Office is Custodian.

Rule 313/12
Proposal Bribery
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)

I. The Right to Fair Voting

A proposal is invalid if it calls for one or more effects that discriminate in any way between players based on their voting actions on that proposal, or any other specific proposal or proposals identified in the proposal. Effects that depend on the way players vote are allowed if they apply to all proposals, or to all proposals in one or more classes previously defined by the rules. [This would be modest proposals, harfy proposals, etc.] This section defers to section IV of this rule.

II. Voting Actions

The following are voting actions:

A. Casting a legal vote as defined by rule 106.
B. Bribing Tammany by rule 315.
C. Being part of a political party that gets a unity vote.
D. Using a Bonus Vote by rule 317.

Other actions may be designated by the rules to be voting actions.

III. Effects Triggered on Changing the Triggering Rules

If a proposal adds, changes, or repeals rules that generate effects or cause some entity to generate effects (including but not limited to score changes) based on the way players vote, then those rules generate no effects based on the way players vote on that particular proposal. This section of this rule takes precedence over all other rules which generate effects based on the way players vote on proposals, but defers to the following paragraph.

IV. Bribes

A. Bribes which violates any of the rules regarding Bribes are invalid.

B. A proposal may include a Bribe section, which must be in a separate paragraph in preface to the main text of the proposal in a proposal, beginning with the word "Bribe", a colon, the vote being bribed for, a comma, and the bribe. [as in "Bribe: YES, A$1"].

C. Each proposal may contain one and only one bribe section and the text of the bribe must be formatted as described above.

D. Bribes may only cause the transfer of tradeable entities from the author of the proposal to players who voted the way the Bribe specified on the proposal; a Bribe need not specify that the entities come from the author of the proposal, since it is assumed.

E. If a proposal does not specify a condition for receiving its Bribe, then every player who voted the appropriate way on the proposal is eligible to receive the Bribe. A Bribe may specify further conditions, and may offer different amounts to different players, or based on different conditions [I.e., extra bribes can be given to players whose parties generate unity votes], but any conditions in the Bribe must be determinable when the voting results are posted.

V. Processing Bribes

A. When the voting results for a proposal containing a Bribe section are posted, if the amount(s) specified by the Bribe cannot be transferred from the proposal's author to all eligible players, based on the conditions stated in the Bribe, the Bribe is invalid.

B. The required number of YES votes for a proposal containing an invalid bribe to be accepted is one more than the total number of YES and NO votes legally cast within the prescribed voting period. This paragraph takes precedence over rule 106.

C. When the voting results for a proposal containing an invalid Bribe are posted, the author of that proposal loses 15 points, and no other rules that generate score changes or other effects when a proposal is rejected trigger any effects for that proposal; this takes precedence over any such rules.

D. When the voting results for a proposal containing a valid Bribe are posted, the amount(s) specified by the Bribe are transferred from the proposal's author to all eligible players, based on the conditions stated in the Bribe.

Rule 315/15
Tammany
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

Tammany is a unique entity capable of casting one vote on each Proposal. Tammany only votes on Proposals as specified by this Rule.

A statement sent to the Tabulator is a Tammany Bribe if, and only if, it conveys the following information:

a) the Proposal number of a Proposal that has not yet come to resolution.
b) an amount of currency in the range of A$ 25 to A$ 100 (inclusive)
c) a Desired Vote of either YES, NO, or SILENT.
d) the intent of the sender of the message to bribe Tammany the amount specified, in order to vote in the manner specified on the Proposal specified.

It is the Duty of the Tabulator to ensure that each Tammany Bribe remains secret until the end of the voting period of the Proposal to which it applies. The Tabulator shall not intentionally examine the text of any Tammany Bribe until this rule makes it eir Duty to do so. If he should inadvertently do so, he should, as a matter of ethics, avoid allowing this foreknowledge to influence his game actions in any way.

Each voting player may submit a maximum of one valid Tammany Bribe per Proposal. Should more than one Tammany Bribe be submitted by a Player for a given Proposal, the Tammany Bribe received most recently by the Tabulator shall be deemed the sole valid Tammany Bribe by the Player for that Proposal, with all others being disregarded.

Before the voting results for a given Proposal are announced, the Tabulator has the Duty of determining whether and how Tammany will vote on this Proposal, based upon the valid Tammany Bribes for that Proposal and the specifications below in this Rule. Tammany's vote and all Tammany Bribes pertaining to a Proposal shall be reported along with the voting results for the Proposal.

Each Player who submitted a Tammany Bribe on a Proposal which is about to be resolved shall have the designated amount of currency deducted from his account and placed in the Treasury. If this would result in a negative currency balance for the player, his entire Bribe is disregarded and no currency is deducted.

Tammany shall vote YES on a Proposal if and only if the total amount of currency associated with Tammany Bribes that had a Desired Vote of YES is greater than the total amount of currency associated with Tammany Bribes that had a Desired Vote of NO plus twice the total amount of currency associated with Bribes that had a Desired Vote of SILENT.

Tammany shall vote NO on a Proposal if and only if the total amount of currency associated with Tammany Bribes that had a Desired Vote of NO is greater than the total amount of currency associated with Tammany Bribes that had a Desired Vote of YES plus twice the total amount of currency associated with Bribes that had a Desired Vote of SILENT.

Rule 317/9
Bonus Votes
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

1. Bonus Votes are tradeable entities.

2. A player can own at most five Bonus Votes at an given time. If a Player who already owns five Bonus Votes receives an additional Bonus Vote, by any means, the additional Bonus Vote is destroyed.

3. Bonus Votes are used in the following manner - A player sends a message to the Tabulator that e is casting eir Bonus Vote on a specific proposal, and the legal type of Vote that Bonus Vote represents. The Bonus Vote shall then be counted as a vote on that proposal. When the results of that proposal are released by the Tabulator, the Bonus Vote is destroyed.

4. A Player can only cast a Bonus Vote e owns. A particular Bonus Vote can only be cast once. Any attempt to cast a Bonus Vote fails if it does not meet these restrictions.

5. A voting player can use at most one Bonus Vote per proposal. A voting Player can use at most one Bonus Vote on any string of three consecutive proposals. On any single proposal, at most four Bonus Votes are counted. If more than four Bonus Votes were sent to the Tabulator on a single proposal, only the last four valid Bonus Votes to have arrived before the end of the voting are counted, the rest are destroyed. Only voting players may use Bonus Votes.

6. Other rules may specify means by which Bonus Votes are acquired or destroyed, subject to the restrictions in this rule.

7. A voting player may pay $A150 to the Treasury to declare any one proposal in the voting queue to be a Guarded Proposal. Bonus Votes may not used on a Guarded Proposal. Bonus Votes already cast on that proposal are not counted, and any player who cast a Bonus Vote that was nullified in this manner is given one Bonus Vote as compensation.

Rule 319/2
Unanimity Is Lovely (although not so lovely as it used to be)
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)

When a non-modest proposal passes, and had no votes other than YES votes cast, the President shall publicly congratulate the author by giving a formal speech. Also in celebration of this joyous occasion, the player with the lowest score shall have their score increased by 2 points. If more than one player is tied for lowest score, all of their scores change to 2. If this would cause a player to lose points, that player will instead have their score increased by 3 points.

Rule 320/2
Governments Rule Suite
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)

There exists a type of unownable, named entities called Government Types. All Government Types are either Active or Dormant. At most one government type may be Active at any one time; if the rules cause one to become Active and there is already an Active Government Type then the latter will become Dormant an infinitesimal ammount of time before the former becomes Active. If no Government Type is Active then the Government Type Anarchy (if it exists) becomes Active. The Active Government Type is known as The Current Government of Ackanomia.

All existing Government Types are defined by rules within this rule suite, and then only by rules with a name "Government Type: X" where X is replaced by a legal Ackanomic name. The name of the Government Type as specified in that rule shall then be X (as used above). Such rules, and only such rules, are known as Governmental Rules.

Governmental Rules should specify who is eligible to vote on proposals (if it fails then all active voting players may vote), and may also specify any deviations from the normal rules and conditions under which that Government Type may become active, other than those listed below. It may also specify conditions other than those listed below under which a Revolution may start while that Government type is Active. Such deviations apply only when the Government Type described in the rule is The Current Government of Ackanomia [examples would include things like "the Illuminatus receives a salary as if it were a functional office", "rule 1029 does not apply", "Senators may not make proposals", etc.]

All players have a rebeliousness characteristic which may either be "on" or "off" (the default value is off). A player may freely change the value of this characteristic by publicly stating that they are doing so, and what they are changing it too.

If ever over 50% of all player have a rebeliousnees characteristic of "on" and any player points this out publicly then a Revolution shall begin. During a Revolution the folloing events will happen:

1. The Government Type "Anarchy" shall become Active.

2. All players have their rebeliousness characteristic changed to "off".

3. The OiCoRT should pick a Random Government Type other than Anarchy and the type of Government imediately before the Revolution. If that Government Type specifies any other random determinations are to be made at this point then e should do that too. This Government Type then be known as the Proto-Government.

4. Exactly one week after the Revolution started the Proto-Government shall become Active.

5. The Revolution shall end.

It is considered good form for the Scare Monger to be particularly active during a Revolution.

All rules in this rulesuite take precedence over all other rules. This rule takes precedence over all other rules in this rulesuite.

[Link to the governments]

Rule 330/15
Retractions
Wayne (Wayne Sheppard)

A player may retract his own proposal as a public action. This action will fail if the results of that proposal have already been announced at the time that the action is attempted. All votes cast on a retracted proposal shall be ignored. A player who retracts his own proposal in this manner loses 2 points.

A player may retract his own CFJ as a public action. This action will fail if a verdict on the CFJ has already been delivered. The player retracting the CFJ does not lose any points unless the CFJ was a paradox win CFJ or a cycle win CFJ in which case e loses 3 points.

A player may retract his own Miscellaneous Submission as a public action. This action will fail if a decision on the acceptance or rejection of the submission is already publically knowable. The player retracting the submission loses 1 point. This section takes precedence over any rule which would prevent retraction of these entities. Instances of following, and nothing else, are Miscellaneous Submissions:

a) Impeachment Papers
b) Common Sense Reports
c) New Games and Contest submissions as described by Rule 1250.1
d) Discoveries (retracted Discoveries are Debunked).

Newbies shall not lose points as a result of this rule.

Rule 340/12
Conventions
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

The following conventions apply to all Ackanomic text, except where a specific type of text (e.g. rules), is specified.

I. The meaning of a word which is unambiguously misspelled will be the same as if the word had been spelled correctly.

II. Numbers shall be considered misspelled words for the purposes of the rules when it can be determined beyond reasonable doubt that a particular number is in error, and what the intended number is. The intended number is considered the correct spelling in this case.

III. When text is specified as delimited, the end of the document in question serves as an ending delimiter if an ending delimiter is otherwise missing. Delimiters do not nest, except when the double quote character is used as a delimiter. Text delimited by double quotes is known as a string.

IV. Except in Public Messages, text delimited by square brackets [e.g. this] is a note. Notes have no semantic meaning.

V. Text delimited by double curly braces, e.g. {{this}} is self-deleting text, except in this sentence. Self-deleting text is applied once, in the order it appear in the document, then it is deleted. Rules whose text section consists of nothing but self-deleting text, whitespace, and furniture are called "Self-Deleting Rules", and such rules are repealed after their self-deleting text is applied.

VI. Whenever division is performed in Ackanomic, and the denominator of that division evaluates to 0, then the result of that entire division shall be 0.

VII. Alphabetical ordering shall be determined by a word-by-word comparison, each word compared letter-by-letter. For these purposes: A word is considered to be delimited by whitespace; an initial word 'The' or 'the' is ignored; a single string of digits is considered equivalent to a letter; digital 'letters' precede alphabetical letters; and non-alphanumeric characters are ignored (excluding whitespace used for the purpose of delimiting words, which counts only for this purpose); and case is ignored. All else failing, two words that are otherwise equivalent shall be sorted in ASCII collation order.

VIII. When any Rule requires a public message contain a fixed piece of text in order to satisfy some condition, then, that Rule notwithstanding, any piece of text in a public message which is unambiguously a close approximation to the text in question, such that the intent of the text in the message is unambiguously to satisfy the condition laid down in the Rule, shall be considered, for the purposes of that Rule, to be equivalent to the fixed piece of text.

IX. The following pairs of words are considered to be both semantically and lexically equivalent: "grey", "gray"; "honour", "honor"

Rule 342/16
Spelling Bee
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) The Spelling Bee is an unownable entity. Its purpose is to fly through Stingable Entities and sting out misspelled or mistyped words. It may not fly through, or sting, any other entities.

2) Its flight may be initiated by a player privileged to do so, as a public action.

3) The Stingable Entities are:

a) The Rules and the Official Rules Document
b) The CFJ Archive
c) The Literature List

4) A player initiates its flight by posting a public message with either the word "Spelling" or the word "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" in its subject line. Its flight consists of, in that post, a listing of all changes being made, clearly identified by title, number, or document as appropriate, old word, and replacement word. These changes are called "stingings" and must be made in accordance with the rules below. Words in titles and headers of Rules and CFJs may be stung. No one may initiate a flight which is illegal, or contains illegal stingings.

5a) Permissible Stingings:

a) Replacing a misspelled word with its correctly spelled equivalent.
b) Changing the capitalization of the first letter of a word.
c) Replacing correctly spelled words with the word that was intended. Ie, replacing "an" with "and" in the following example from R 214: "A Judgement may be accompanied by reasons an arguments".
d) Replacing proper nouns with their proper spelling when the proper spelling is generally known and accepted.
e) Adding a period at the end of a sentence when it is missing.
f) Correcting the labels (numbers or letters) of a set of numbered or lettered sections when there are skipped or repeated labels, and at the same time, changing any reference in any rules to any of the relabeled sections so that they refer to the intended sections.

5b) Impermissible stingings. This list takes precedence over 5a) where there is conflict:

a) Replacing a creative or made up word, such as "Torkola".
b) Replacing British, American, or archaic spellings with their American, British, or non-archaic equivalent.
c) Replacing a foreign word with its Anglicized equivalent.
d) Replacing Spivak pronouns with other pronouns, or replacing non-gender neutral language with gender neutral language, or replacing any pronoun or phrase with a Spivak pronoun.
e) Replacing words in quotes or words followed by [sic].
f) Replacing slang or colloquial words, or spellings thereof.
g) Changing the word, such as replacing "superceeds" with "takes precedence over", or "computer" with "machine", even if the word being replaced is misspelled.
h) Fixing grammar errors, except what is allowed by 5a).
i) Replacing abbreviations and acronyms.
j) Making any change that violates the "spirit" of what was intended in the writing being edited.

6) Upon the flight being announced, the legal changes are applied to the rules.

7) Changes made by the Spelling Bee are not noted below the appropriate entity, as is customary for other changes. This clause takes precedence over any rule which would require such notation.

8) Where there is doubt, correct spellings are adjudicated by the Official Dictionary.

Rule 343/5
Spellbooks
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

Shimmering Spellbooks and Dull Spellbooks exist. Both are nontradeable entities. If a player ever owns more than one of either type, all but one are destroyed. If ever a player owns one of each type, then the Dull Spellbook is destroyed.

Any player with either kind of Spellbook is permitted to initiate a flight of the Spelling Bee, as in Rule 342.

In addition, a player with a Shimmering Spellbook may grant a Dull Spellbook to another player, or destroy another player's Dull Spellbook.

To grant a Shimmering Spellbook to another player, or destroy one, requires an action of the entire set of players with Shimmering Spellbooks. Such an action occurs as if that set were an Organization, and it were an Organizational Action.

Some Offices may include possession of Shimmering Spellbooks among their privileges; in this case, if ever the holder of such an Office does not possess a Shimmering Spellbook, one is created in eir possession. If ever a player leaves such an office through any means then their Shimmering Spellbook is destroyed and a Dull Spellbook is created in their possession.

Rule 346/1
The Ackanomic Lexicon
Veal Fan (Aaron Humphrey)

There exists a document called the Ackanomic Lexicon, which contains a list of words which are considered to be in the Official Dictionary, in addition to any other words that other Rules may specify to be there.

The Ackanomic Lexicon may only be modified by use of Proposals or CSRs. Any Player may author a CSR which modifies only the Ackanomic Lexicon. No player may be considered to "control" the Lexicon, although it may be the duty of one or more players to maintain an copy of it.

Rule 348/12
" "
mr cwm (Eric Murray)
[Web-Harfer's note: The name of this rule is a single space character.]

No two named entities may have names that match.

No named entity may have a name that matches a former name of any current or former player, except that a player may have a name e previously held.

An attempt to do anything that requires a name to be chosen [such as creating a Trinket or Organization] fails if the chosen name matches a name already in use.

Two names match if and only if their primitive forms are the same. The primitive form of a name is found by removing all articles ("a", "an", and "the") from the name, then removing all characters except letters and numbers, then converting all uppercase letters to lowercase. ["Bronze Torch" and "Bron, the Zet oRch" have the same primitive form: bronzetorch.]

If two names are found to match in conflict with the first paragraph of this rule, the CSRR Officer shall change one or both of the names in such a way as to fix the problem. All Ackanomic business besides Rules that referred to such an entity by name shall be changed to indicate the new name, and all Rules which refer to the entity by its old name shall still refer to that entity, even though the name has changed. The CSRR Officer should try to make such changes so that entities whose names appear in the Rules are not renamed, if possible.

Rule 360/13
Hearings
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

A Rule may specify circumstances under which a Hearing is called. When this happens, the Hearing Harfer shall announce in a public message that a Hearing has been called, naming the type of Hearing, describing the circumstances that brought it about, and listing the valid responses [and other pertinent details]. As of this announcement, the Hearing is in session.

Count Tabula shall be the Hearing Harfer unless the rules specify someone else for that duty for a particular Hearing. The Hearing Harfer is considered an officer with respect to clauses in the rules regulating officer efficiency.

While a Hearing is in session, each Player may send his or her response to that Hearing to the Hearing Harfer for that Hearing privately. The Hearing Harfer shall record each response that matches one of the valid responses for the Hearing. If a Player who has already responded sends another valid response, the Hearing Harfer shall discard the previous response and record the new one. If a non-player entity is authorised by the Rules to state one or more responses on a particular Hearing, then the Hearing Harfer shall also record these responses. Any response contained in a post that does not unambiguously identify the Hearing it is in response to, even if only one Hearing is in progress, is invalid. Non-voting players may not vote in hearings, unless a rule says otherwise for a specific type of hearing.

The Hearing shall end when it has been in session for three days, unless another rule defines a longer period of time for a particular Hearing. When it ends, it ceases to be in session.

Once a Hearing has ended, it has a verdict. The verdict of the Hearing is whichever valid response was given by the most Players, and other entities capable of voting in hearings, in response to the Hearing, if exactly one valid response holds this distinction. Otherwise, if there is a tie among two or more responses, or there were no responses, the result of the Hearing is said to be inconclusive. If exactly one Good Ballot Stuffer attempts to shut Evil Ballot Stuffers out of a hearing, then no responses from Evil Ballot Stuffers shall be counted in determining the verdict.

A Hearing is Serious if and only if there exists one or more verdicts for that particular Hearing that would lead to a modification of the ruleset. Attempts by entities other than voting players to respond in Serious Hearings automatically fail, and if such attempting entity is a mechanical Gadget, it breaks.

If exactly one of the verdicts of a Serious Hearing would lead to a modification of the ruleset, that verdict requires at least the same percentage of responses cast in its favor as the percentage of YES votes needed to accept a proposal as defined in rule 106. In this case, if this particular response received less than that percentage, but received the most responses, the response that received the second most responses is the verdict of the Hearing.

When the results of a Hearing are inconclusive, the Hearing Harfer shall recount the votes, discounting any cast by a non-Player Entity. If the result is still inconclusive, the result is whichever of the tied responses appears first in the Rule defining them, unless the Rule for a particular hearing defines an alternative way to resolve the inconclusive hearing.

A hearing may be retracted, provided it is in session, by the Hearing Harfer for that Hearing. A retracted Hearing has no verdict, and its conclusion has no effect on the Rules unless the Rules explicitly apply to retracted hearings.

Rule 362/12
Crisis Resolution
The Governor (Dan Marsh)

1) The Speaker, and only the Speaker, may declare a State of Crisis at any time via public announcement, provided the game is not in a State of Crisis. Upon such declaration being legally made, the game is said to be in a State of Crisis until the State of Crisis is lifted as specified by the rules.

2) When, and only when, the game is in a State of Crisis the following officers have the following powers:

a) The Speaker may declare the State of Crisis lifted.
b) The President may publically issue a State of Crisis Resolution Document detailing a list of changes to be made in the ruleset. These changes will be applied three days after the issuance of that document, or at the end of a failed challenge (whichever is later) unless it has been challenged and defeated. The President may retract a State of Crisis Resolution Document before it is applied, if there is no challenge hearing pending.

3) Any voting player may publically challenge the State of Crisis Resolution Document within three days of its issuance, provided that document has not been previously challenged. If such a challenge is lodged, a Hearing is called. The valid responses in this Hearing are "The President is scamming us", and "This will patch the crisis". If the verdict of the Hearing shows that the President is scamming us, the document is defeated, and an Impeachment Paper is immediately filed against the President. Otherwise, the challenge is said to have failed.

This rule takes precedence over any rule with which it conflicts.

Rule 370/7
No E-mail, No Game
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)

All persons participating in Ackanomic must have a valid e-mail address reachable from the official mailing list at the time they join, or else they may not join or participate.

An active player who is not subscribed to at least one form of the official mailing list is committing the Crime of Disinterest. A voting player who is not subscribed to at least one form of the official voting mailing list is committing the Crime of the Vermillion Stripe.

Any person subscribed to any public forum who is not a player is considered to be an observer.

If a message is sent to a mailing list named in the Postal Code, then it is a public message if and only if the Postal Code indicates that mailing list is a public forum, and any actions attempted in the message obey the restrictions outlined in the Postal Code for that list.

A message not sent via a mailing list named in the Postal Code is a public message if and only if it is sent to all active players.

[It is strongly encouraged that the subject line of public messages contain either "Ackanomic:" or "Acka:"; see Rule 422.]

A private message qualifies as being "from" a certain Player if and only if the recipient is satisfied that the sender of the message was in fact the Player in question. An officer who receives private messages in the course of his Duties may set a reasonable protocol in place for verifying the authorship of such messages.

All participants in Ackanomic should configure their e-mail software to correctly report the current time for the time zone specified.

Rule 370.1/0
Postal Code
breadbox (Brian Raiter)

The Postal Code is an official document maintained by the Postmaster.

The Postal Code must always define which mailing list is the official mailing list, and which is the official voting mailing list. The Postal Code shall also indicate which mailing lists are public fora, and what actions, if any, are restricted on each. For the purposes of this rule and the restrictions in the Postal Code, an action is a statement that the player is doing something regulated by the rules, or a public post required by the rules. [Only actions are regulated; discussion can take place anywhere, though players should try to post to appropriate lists.]

There may be multiple forms of a given mailing list (such as a regular list and a digest list).

Rule 371/2
Timing
ThinMan (John Bollinger)

Posts that are sent through any mailing list maintained by the Postmaster are deemed to have occurred at the time that they are received by the list server. Posts that are not sent through such a mailing list and for which the Speaker is one of the designated recipients are deemed to have occurred at the time that they are received by the Speaker's mail server. Other posts not sent through any of the Postmaster's mailing lists are deemed to have occurred at the earliest time that they are received by the mail server of any of the Players, other than the sender, designated as recipients. If a Player posts a message only to himself, then that post is deemed to have occurred at the time that it was sent.

(The term "mail server" is intentionally left open to some interpretation. It is intended to indicate the actual computer used for e-mail by the relevant player if that computer has a full-time internet -- or other form of e-mail -- connection; otherwise it is intended to mean that computer from which the relevant player downloads his mail.)

Players are encouraged to use an appropriate Postmaster-maintained mailing list if available. If the times of two posts are compared and (i) only one of them went through one of the Postmaster's lists and (ii) their times are otherwise within three minutes of each other, then the post sent through the Postmaster's list is deemed to have occurred first.

This rule defers to any rule which specifies an alternative method for determining the times or relative times of posts.

Rule 373/2
Public Actions
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

This rule defers to all other rules.

Each attempt to perform an action either succeeds or fails. To perform an action entails two things: first, to attempt the action; and second, for the attempt to succeed. Referring to information contained in other documents or data sources does not constitute including that information in the message.

The rules may specify that certain possible courses of play are public actions. Any active player may attempt any public action available to him or her simply by sending a public message specifying the action to be taken. However, if any information that is necessary to specify the action fully and unambiguously is left out of that message, then the attempt fails. [An attempt may also fail for other reasons.]

If the rules specify that a certain course of play is available to a player or organization, but do not specify how that course of play is to be taken, then that course of play is a public action, and it is taken as described above.

Rule 374/7
Politeness Moon
Mitchell Harding

Any Player sending a public message should avoid deliberate rudeness and/or ad hominem attacks, where deliberate rudeness is characterized by not furthering game play or discussion and/or doing so in such a way as to unnecessarily offend or alienate players from the game of Ackanomic. Any Player may call a Hearing on the matter of whether a certain public message from another Player was polite.

The valid responses to a Politeness Moon Hearing are "Yes, it was polite." and "No, it was not polite.". If the verdict of the Hearing shows that the message was not polite, the Player who sent it loses 3 points. If it shows that it was polite, its author gets the nickname Jazz JackRabbit for the next 3 days, and the player who called the hearing loses 2 points.

Rule 380/3
Time Zone
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

A day in Acka starts when the day starts in New York City, USA, and ends when the day ends there. This is called the Acka Day. [That is to say, the official time zone is EDT(-0400)/EST(-0500).]

Whenever a day of the week, day of the month, or time of day is specified, in the rules or other official document, and it is not qualified with a time zone, it shall be said to occur, if it is a time of day, when that time of day occurs in the Acka Day, and if a day or date, it shall begin and end when the corresponding Acka Day begins and ends.

When a day of the week or a day of the month is specified, and no time of day is specified, then the action is said to occur at 12:00, noon on that day.

When the term "calendar week" is used, it is interpreted to mean a 7-day period from the beginning of a Sunday to the end of the next Saturday.

Rule 399/0
Remembrance Day
else...if (Henry Towsner)

July 31st is an Ackanomic holiday known as Remembrance Day, commemorating the day the last unchanged rule from the original ruleset was repealed. Regardless of bribes, on Remembrance Day Tammany will vote FOR all proposals which repeal at least one rule. This paragraph takes precedence over rule 315.

Rule 401/20
Offices, Commonalities
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

Offices are named, unownable entities, except for Capital Offices, which are Tradeable entities.

The following applies to all Offices:

(i) Seats:

A Seat of an Office is an unownable entity, unless the rules specify otherwise for a particular Office or Seat. [Seats are held, not owned.] The Rule that creates an Office should specify how many players can hold that Office at any one time. This is referred to as the number of "Seats" an Office has. If the Rules fail to specify the number of Seats for any given Office, the Office has only one Seat. A Seat is either held by one Player or it is vacant. No player may hold more than one seat for a given Office, including any seat held in an acting capacity, and the holder of a seat in a given Office is ineligible to be Nominated for that Office unless the seat e currently holds is up for grabs. Non-voting players may not hold offices unless a rule says otherwise for a specific office. Players are the only entities eligible to serve as officers.

(ii) Duties:

The Duties of an Office are the tasks that the Officer(s) are expected to carry out to facilitate the conduct of Ackanomic business. Duties tend to be typified by the compilation, maintenance, and distribution of information. It is possible that an office has no duties.

(iii) Privileges:

The Privileges of an Office are the considerations the Officer(s) receive according to the Rules regulating the Office. Examples can include the receipt of Ackanomic currency, the ability to cast extra votes in certain circumstance, or special consideration with regards to making appointments or issuing CFJ decisions. It is possible than an office has no privileges.

(iv) Salaries:

If the Rules specify that a particular Officer is to receive a specified salary in A$s, then that number of A$ is transferred from the Treasury to that Officer at noon on the first Monday of each month.

(v) Term of Office:

a) The Rules may specify a Term of Office, which is the amount of time a Player may hold an Office before his Term is considered to have expired. If the Rules fail to specify a Term for any Office, the Office is considered to have none, which is to say that the Term never expires.

b) The Rules may specify a Minimum Term of Office. When a player has held a particular seat of an office for a period greater than its Minimum Term of Office, any player who is eligible to hold that seat may as a public action demand "an end to this banna republic", specifying the seat and paying the Standard Harfer Fee. When this occurs the term of office for the specified seat expires and an election is held. The player who called for the election is automatically nominated. If the rules fail to specify a Minimum Term of Office for a particular office, then this paragraph shall not apply to that office.

c) When a Player's Term expires, he is no longer considered to be holding the Office. The Player performs the Office in an "Acting" role until the Seat is filled (except for Capital offices).

d) If the Rules should ever require an Election or Nomination to be called for an Office seat which is not currently vacant, then its Term of Office shall be considered to end when the Election or Nomination is called.

(vi) Stepping Down:

An Officer may always voluntarily step down from office, leaving it vacant. Whenever possible, the Officer should give at least 3 day's notice of his intention to vacate an office.

(vii)

A player may not acquire titles or offices except as specified by the rules.

(viii) Optional Offices

An office is considered "optional" if and only if it is specified as such by the rules. An optional office has the following effects:

a) A player filling an optional office in an acting capacity is not required to perform the duties of that office. This sub-section takes precedence over section (iv) and R 403.

b) If a nomination is held for an optional office, and no one volunteers for that office, no action is taken to fill the office once the nomination period ends, except as follows: If an optional office is vacant, and no nomination or election is currently being held for that office, any player may insist that a nomination (or election, as the case may be) commence, by making a statement to that effect to the public forum. At such time, a nomination (election) shall be conducted by the appropriate officer.

(ix) Office Type

All offices are either Functional, Political or Capital. If the rules fail to specify the type of an office, that office is a Political Office. Vacancies in a particular Political office are filled by election for office (by the procedure in R 402), unless other rules specify otherwise. In the case of an optional Political office where a nomination did not produce any volunteers, the election process is aborted at that point. Capital Offices are filled by the owner of the Office, when the owner is an entity eligible to hold Offices, otherwise such an Office remains vacant.

(x) Efficiency

Officers have 3 days to complete the tasks and duties they are responsible for, not counting any time the officer is vacationing or in Gaol, unless other rules unambiguously specify a different finite amount of time for these things.

Officers, in good faith, shall do all tasks and duties as quickly as feasible to keep the game moving along.

Rule 401.1/2
Acting Officers
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

I. Definition of An Acting Officer

The Rules may specify conditions under which a Player serves in an Office in an "Acting" capacity; e is referred to as an Acting Officer. E is not considered to actually "hold" the Office with reference to any Rule besides this one and Rule 401.

An Acting Officer is responsible for performing all of the Duties of that Office. E receives none of its Privileges, except for the following:

i. Privileges which are also explicitly defined to be Duties by the Rules.
ii. Privileges required to perform explicitly defined Duties.
iii. Privileges explicitly stated to be available to an Acting Officer.
iv. All privileges of the Office when the Acting Officer is filling in for a Vacationing player.

II. Who May Hold An Acting Office

Any voting player may become an Acting Officer, unless e holds a seat of that Office. Non-voting players may only be Acting Officers for Offices which may normally be held by non-voting players, subject to the same limitation as voting players.

An entity never holds a particular seat in both an Acting capacity and a "normal" capacity. If this ever appears to be the case, it is assumed that e is holding the office in an Acting capacity only.

If a player who holds a seat of an Office in an Acting capacity resigns from that Office or otherwise becomes ineligible to hold that Office, then at that point e is no longer an Acting Officer for that seat. This also occurs when there is a holder of that Office in a "normal" capacity, i.e. when an Officer is appointed to hold a vacant Office, or when a Vacationing Officer again becomes active.

III. When An Acting Officer May Be Appointed

If it is the case that, for a given seat of a non-Capital Office, there is no holder of that seat who is an Active(or Non-Voting, if such players are allowed to hold that Office)player, even in an Acting capacity, then an Acting Officer may be appointed for that seat; otherwise, no Acting Officer may be appointed for that seat. (It is possible for a player to become an Acting Officer by other means, e.g. by Rule 404.)

IV. Who May Appoint Acting Officers

For any Office A, there is an Office B which has the Duty of appointing Acting Officers for any seats of Office A for which it is possible, as specified above. Office B is known, in that case, as the Supervisory of that Office, and the holder of Office B is the Supervisor of Office A. It is possible for an Office to be its own Supervisory. If no other Supervisory is specified for an Office, then the Office of Speaker is its Supervisory.

In addition, for each Office C there is an Office D which is specified with the Duty of performing the duties of Office C in an Acting capacity. In this case, Office D is known as the Substitute for Office C. If no Office is explicitly listed as the Substitute for a given Office, then its Substitute is the Supervisor for that Office. The Substitute is not considered to be an actual Acting Officer; i.e., an Acting Officer may still be appointed for that Office.

If an Officer who is Supervisor for an Office of which e holds a seat goes on Vacation, and e specified a player as an Acting Officer for that seat during the day preceding, then e is considered to appoint that player as Acting Officer at the moment e goes on Vacation, as long as e would have normally been able to appoint that player Acting Officer for that Office.

Rule 402/10
Offices, Related Definitions
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

(i) A Nomination is conducted as follows:

a) The appropriate Officer publicly announces the beginning of the Nomination, the reason the Nomination is being called, and when the Nomination shall end.

b) If there is no Nomination Period specified for the Nomination, the default Period is 3 days.

c) During the Nomination Period, volunteers shall notify the appropriate Officer of their intent to be considered.

d) At the end of the Nomination Period, the appropriate Officer shall publicly report the list of eligible volunteers (Nominees).

e) If there are no eligible volunteers, the Nomination Period shall continue until there is an eligible volunteer, except in the case of optional offices [qv Rule 401, section (ix)].

f) If the rules fail to state who is eligible to volunteer, then all Players are eligible.

(ii) An Election for Office is conducted as follows:

a) A Nomination is conducted. Any Player who is eligible to hold the Office is eligible to volunteer.

b) If the number of Nominees is the same as the number of vacant Seats for the Office in question, the appropriate Officer shall announce this fact, and the Seats shall be filled by the Nominees. This shall conclude the Election process; no actual Election shall be held in this case. Otherwise,

c) The appropriate Officer publicly announces the start of the Election, the Office for which the Election is being held, and when the Election will end.

d) Elections last 3 days from the time the appropriate officer announces he is starting to accept votes.

During the Election Period, each voting player may cast one vote for any one of the Nominees by so notifying the appropriate Officer. A voting player may change eir vote at any time by so notifying the appropriate Officer. The appropriate Officer shall only consider the last vote e received from each voting player.

f) At the end of the Election Period, the appropriate Officer shall publicly announce the vote tallies for each Nominee, and which Nominee(s) shall hold the Office.

g) Letting N stand for the number of vacant Seats for the Office in question, the top N Nominees, ranked by votes received, shall hold the Office.

h) In the event of a tie for number of votes received, the tie can be resolved in one of the following manners:

1) Recount: Count Tabula shall once again tally the votes and announce the election's winner(s) as described in sections (f) and (g) above, except that this time, votes by non-Player entities shall not be counted.

2) Random: Count Tabula shall randomly assign a ranking order among any Nominees tied for votes received. All tied Nominees shall be ranked this way, including any non-active ones.

3) <Officer> Preference: the Officer named shall select a ranking order among any Nominees tied for votes.

4) New Election: the entire Election for Office shall start over, with all results of the current Election for Office disregarded.

i) If the Rules fail to specify what method shall be used to resolve ties, then the Random method shall be used.

Rule 403/15
Functional Offices, Commonalties
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

This rule takes precedence over rule 401.

An Office is a Functional Office if and only if the Rules specify it as such.

The following applies to all Functional Offices:

(i) A functional Office has only one Seat unless the Rules specify otherwise.

(ii) As a Privilege of Office, each Player shall receive a monthly salary equal to the Standard Harfer Fee for every Functional Office held.

(iii) A Vacationing Functional Officer is considered to have vacated eir Seat for the duration of eir vacation, after which he shall hold the Seat once again. At his discretion, the President may appoint a volunteer to fill an "Acting" role for a Functional Office vacated by vacation. In this case, there shall be no action to fill the empty Seat. This section takes precedence over section (vi) of this Rule.

(iv) The President is the Supervisory Office for all Functional Offices, unless otherwise specified for that specific Office.

(v) Functional Officers may be impeached by the following process:

a) The President declares publicly his intention to impeach a stated Player from a given Functional Office.
b) At least 2/3 of Senators concur with the impeachment by so notifying the President within 3 days of the President's declaration.
c) At this time, the Functional Office is vacant.

(vi) Whenever a Functional Office has a vacant Seat, or if the current holder of that Seat publically states an intent to vacate his Seat and requests the President conduct a Nomination to fill it, the President shall conduct a Nomination for that Seat. After the Nomination, the President shall select an eligible Nominee and announce that Nominee's name publically. That Nominee shall hold the Functional Office. If the Nomination was initiated at the Functional Officer's request, he shall be considered to have resigned at the instant the new Officer is announced, if he has not already left the Seat.

Rule 404/12
Offices, Impeachment
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

This rule defers precedence to other rules which describe methods for impeaching officers.

An Officer is Impeached by the following process:

(i) An Impeachment Paper (IP) is authored by a voting Player and posted to the public forum. The IP shall contain the stated intent to remove one Player from one Office held by that Player. An author may only have one IP pending at any one time. A player may not submit more than one IP per calendar week, and may not submit more than one IP against the same officer in a calendar month.

(ii) All voting Players except the Officer named in the IP shall be able to cast one vote either YES or NO on the matter of removing said Officer from Office. The voting period shall be 3 days. All votes on the IP shall be cast in the public forum.

(iii) Upon submission of the IP, and while it remains unresolved, the entity holding the Office shall be said to be holding it in an Acting capacity.

(iv) At the expiration of the voting period, there will be a resolution of ACCEPTED or REJECTED for the IP. An IP is REJECTED unless it meets ALL of the conditions below, in which case it is ACCEPTED: a) At least 1/2 of all active players, excluding the Officer named in the IP, voted YES. b) At least 2/3 of all Players who voted on the IP voted YES.

(v) If the IP is ACCEPTED, the Player named in the IP is no longer considered to be the "Acting" officer, and the Seat is open. If the office was a Capital Office, it is transferred Somewhere Else, and becomes unowned.

(vi) If the IP is REJECTED, the Player named in the IP is restored to Office, and the author of the IP is penalized 10 points.

(vii) The Rules may specify additional means of impeachment without invalidating the process outlined above. As well, this rule defers to all other rules on the matter of what conditions are required for an IP to be ACCEPTED.

Rule 405/16
Speaker
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

This rule takes precedence over all other rules.

(i) The Office of Speaker is declared to have one Seat.

(ii) Whenever this Office is vacant, it shall be filled by an Election for Office. The specifications for the Election for Office are:

a) Nomination Period: 3 days.
b) Voting Period: 3 days.
c) Tie Resolution: New Election.

(iii) As an additional Privilege of Office, the Speaker shall receive a monthly salary equal to A$10 more than the Standard Harfer Fee.

(iv) The Clerk of the Court is the Substitute for the Office of Speaker.

(v) Performance of tasks required by Sections (vi) thru (viii) are duties of the Office of Speaker.

(vi) The Speaker is the Officer in charge of random things, and shall make random determinations when the rules require such, and those rules do not specify another officer or procedure for making the random determination, or it is not possible for the specified officer to do so.

When the rules require one of a set of distinct objects to be chosen or operated on without specifying how one is to be chosen, the Officer in charge of random things shall choose one of the possible choices at random, with equal probabilities for all possible choices.

(vii) If, in any rule, an action is required to be carried out, and the rule does not either specify who is to carry it out or define a mechanism for choosing someone to do so, the Speaker is required to carry out the task.

(viii) If any game state information or data needs to be tracked, and the rules do not specify who is to track it, the Speaker is required to do so, and is required to make it available to any player on request or as needed [e.g. player locations and thread splits].

(ix) If it is ever the case that no active Player is Speaker or Acting Speaker, and the application of other rules and/or the preceding clauses of this rule do not correct that situation, the following succession procedure is used to appoint an Acting Speaker:

a) All offices are listed in the order of the rule number which creates or defines the office (in the case of a rule defining multiple offices, the offices are listed in the order in which they appear in the rule).

b) All offices not held by an active player are then removed from the list.

c) The player holding the office at the top of the list becomes the Acting Speaker. If, however, that office has more than one seat, the active player whose Ackanomic name appears first in an alphabetic listing of active seatholders of that office becomes the Acting Speaker. [The Acting Speaker then has the duty to assure that all offices are filled, including Speaker, as the case may be, in accordance with the rules.]

Rule 406/10
Promoter
David Chapman

The Office of the Promoter is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Promoter are:

(a) to accept proposal submissions from players;

(b) to keep a record of each proposal from the time it is submitted to the time its voting period ends;

(c) to assign each proposal an integer number greater than any number previously assigned to a proposal. It is expected, but not required, that the promoter shall give each proposal a number exactly one greater than the previous proposal's number;

(d) to assign a title to each proposal for which the submitter did not indicate a legal title;

(e) to promptly distribute each proposal for voting.

The Privileges of the Promoter are:

a) To frob or tweak the proposal queue, as a public action. The proposal queue remains in whichever state (frobbed or tweaked) it was last set to.

b) To ignore any proposal submission by a player who already has three or more proposals that are currently being voted on (i.e., in the voting queue). This Privilege may only be exercised when the voting queue is frobbed. [Furthermore, the Promoter shall only use this power for good, and never for evil.]

These two privileges may be exercised even by an acting Promoter.

Rule 407/14
Web-Harfer
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)

The Office of the Web-Harfer is a Functional Office. The Duties are:

a) To keep the information on the Ackanomic WWW page up-to-date.

b) To select and maintain one or more links to on-line Dictionaries of the English language, and the Ackanomic Lexicon, when the Office of Spelling Exchequer is not filled.

c) To seek and appoint Assistant Web-Harfers (who must be volunteers) to help keep the Ackanomic WWW page up-to-date. [This mainly would be, for example, putting an assistant in charge of the CFJ portion of the page.]

The Privileges are:

a) To possess a Shimmering Spellbook.

It is the responsibility of other players to make public any information that should be reflected in the WWW page.

Rule 407.1/2
Rule-Harfer
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

The Office of the Rule-Harfer is a Functional Office. The Duties are:

a) To keep an accurate copy of the Rules of Ackanomic (known as the Official Rules Document), and to make the text of the Official Rules Document available to any player upon request.

b) To annotate each rule in the Official Rules Document with customary ancillary information, such as the Rule's author, revision number, and revision history, when known. If the length of a Rule's revision history becomes unwieldy (in the opinion of the Rule-Harfer), and if the format in which the Official Rules Document supports such, a Rule's revision history may be maintained in a separate document, with a link to this document at the bottom of the Rule text.

The Privileges are:

a) To add section headers and other furniture to the Official Rules Document. This furniture does not become part of the Rules.

b) To add whitespace and line breaks to the Rules. The Rule-Harfer should consider all player requests to do so.

c) To maintain the Official Rules Document as separate physical documents, provided there is at least one physical document from which all the rules can be located.

d) To submit Common Sense Reports (CSRs) which only affect rule numbers and rule number references in the rules.

The Official Rules Document is not the Rules. Modification of the Official Rules Document does not affect the rules.

Rule 408/27
Tabulator and Count Tabula
Sean Crystal

The Office of the Tabulator is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Tabulator are:

(a) to count votes on each proposal.

(b) to maintain the voting records of each player on each proposal.

(c) to report the acceptance or rejection of proposals, in the time order in which their voting periods ended.

(d) to be the Substitute for the Office of Count Tabula.

The Tabulator need not perform duties (a),(b), or (c) on any proposal which has been retracted, nullified, or deemed invalid in accordance with the Rules.

The Tabulator has the following Privileges:

a) To appoint a player to the Office of Count Tabula. This is the only way that Office can be filled.

The Office of Count Tabula is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Office include solicitation, tabulation, and reporting of votes on all Ackanomic matters, excluding Proposals. This includes, but is not limited to, Hearings (unless otherwise specified) [see Rule 360], Impeachment Papers [Rule 404], and all Elections for Office [Rule 402]. Count Tabula also has the Duty to conduct any Nominations for Office that are not the responsibility of any other Officer.

Count Tabula is the Substitute for the Office of the Tabulator.

Rule 409/10
Registrar
David Chapman

The Office of the Registrar is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Registrar are:

(a) maintaining a list of all registered players, their current Ackanomic names, their e-mail addresses, and their player states.

(b) maintaining a list of all current and previous players, all Ackanomic names held by them at any point, and their True Names.

(b) furnishing new players with any game information they need, including but not limited to:

(i) instructions on how to vote and how to submit proposals,
(ii) definitions of commonly used acronyms such as CFJ, AOJ, RFC, and CSRR,
(iii) the address of the Ackanomic web page,
(iv) the current list of players,
(v) the current rules,
(vi) the fact that the Registrar is available to answer new players' questions
(vii) the name and email address of their Mentor.

(c) to make oneself available for questions from new players.

(d) keeping track of all of the titles and offices the players hold.

(e) asking new players how they found out about the game, and making any answer they provide public.

Rule 410/5
Scorekeeper
David Chapman

The Office of the Scorekeeper is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Scorekeeper are:

(a) maintaining a record of the players' current scores
(b) recording each score change
(c) detecting and announcing as soon as possible the event of a player achieving a Winning Condition by points.

Rule 411/8
Senate
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Office of Senator has four Seats. The Speaker and the President are both ineligible to hold this office. The Senators are collectively a Unique Organization known as the Senate. The Speaker or Acting Speaker is the titular head of the Senate, with the title of ProConsul. If a Senate vote is tied after all the Senators and Acting Senators have voted, then the ProConsul may cast a tiebreaking vote on the matter in question.

At the time of a presidential election at most two seats are selected in the following manner:

i) All seats for which an election was held during the previous 16 weeks are disregarded.

ii) Of the remaining seats, the two seats which have not had an election for the longest period or all of these seats, whichever is less, have their term of office expire.

iii) Ties in section ii) are broken randomly.

If Nominations are being held concurrently for the Office of President and the Office of Senator, then no player may nominate for both Offices. If a player attempts to nominate for both Offices, only the first nomination received by Count Tabula from that player for either of the offices shall be legitimate. This paragraph overrides Rule 402 in the event of a conflict.

A Senator may, if e has not already done so in eir current Term of Office, rename eir Seat. E does so by announcing the new name(which must satisfy all the Rules for entity names), and paying the Standard Harfer Fee.

Rule 412/8
Financier and Free Market
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Office of the Financier (OotF), or Financier, is a Functional Office. This rule defers to other Officer rules that define another officer to perform a subset of the duties described here.

The Duties of the Financier are:

a) To maintain accurate records of the who owns each ownable entity, what each Player owns, and what each named non-Player entity [such as the Treasury or the Chartreuse Goose] owns.

b) To log (or collate logs made by other officers) all transfers of entity ownership and the creation and destruction of entities, and to verify that these events happen only in accordance with the Rules.

c) To make the records and logs available to any Player upon request.

d) To maintain the Free Market (FM), and to verify any transaction made there was made in accordance with the rules.

Rule 413/6
Clerk of the Court
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)

The Office of the Clerk of the Court is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Clerk of the Court are:

(a) to receive Calls for Judgement (CFJs),

(b) to select Judges for CFJs, distribute them publically, and to otherwise administer CFJs as necessary

(c) to receive verdicts from Judges and other judicial entities, and to distribute the verdicts publically, at which time they become official.

(d) maintaining and making public upon request the CFJ Ineligibility List.

The Clerk of the Court shall be Acting Speaker when there is otherwise no Speaker or Acting Speaker.

Rule 414/7
President
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Presidency of Ackanomia is an Office with one Seat. The player who holds that seat is called the President. The President's Term of Office is 8 weeks. The Presidency is filled by an Election for Office.

(i) The Duties are:

a) To publicly announce the occurrence of an open Seat for a Functional Office.

b) To conduct a the nominations for open Functional Office seats.

c) To publicly announce the occurrence of a Player being appointed to hold a Functional Office.

d) Other rules may define other duties.

(ii) The Privileges are:

a) To decide who among the volunteers shall be selected to hold an open Seat for Functional Office.

b) Other rules may define other privileges.

(iii) Whenever this Office is filled in an acting capacity, the Acting President may exercise Privilege "a" as listed in section (ii) of this Rule. This section has precedence over rule 401.

Rule 415/9
Presidential Decisions
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

All of the powers granted on this list are considered Presidential decisions. The President, and only the President, may invoke them. Such invocation must be in a public message, and must be accompanied by reasoning as to why it is being done.

I. Holiday

The President may declare any period of 1 to 7 days a Holiday, provided there are no declared Holidays which have not ended, and provided no Holiday has ended within the past 3 days. The declaration must include the Holiday's duration and start date/time.

No time during a Holiday shall count towards the times officers have to do their tasks. Nor shall it count towards any "periods" as defined elsewhere in the rules. This clause takes precedence over any rule which would require the counting of such time.

Rule 416/13
Supreme Court
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

I. Becoming a Justice

The Office of Justice has a variable number of Seats. A player eligible to be a Justice may, as a public action, make themselves a Justice. Upon them doing so, they will either occupy a formerly empty Seat in the office of Justice (should any exist), or a new Seat in the Office of Justice shall be created and they shall occupy it (this happens only in the case where no Seats in the Office of Justice were empty at the time they made themselves Justice). When a Justice resigns or is otherwise removed from eir Office, the seat they vacated is destroyed. The previous sentence notwithstanding, no game events shall cause the Office of Justice to have fewer than two seats. The Justices are collectively known as the Supreme Court.

II. Justice Eligibility

Only those players with Bronze Torches are eligible to be Justices, except that a player holding a seat in the Office of Justice is always eligible to hold that seat. A player impeached from the Office of Justice during the last 90 days, or a player who resigned from the Office of Justice during the last 30 days, is ineligible for the Office of Justice.

III. Filling in when there are fewer than two Justices

Should a Seat in the Office of Justice remain vacant for three days, or should such a Seat be vacant for any length of time if there are no players eligible to fill it, it is the privilege of the President to appoint a willing player to fill that Office. The appointee fills the empty Justice seat, regardless of eir eligibility stated elsewhere in this Rule. Within the first two weeks of eir Justicehood, the Senate may, as an organizational action, remove the appointee from office. Players who held the office of Justice for less than two weeks are not considered former Justices for the purposes of this or other Rules.

IV. Filling in for Vacationing Justices

When a Justice goes on Vacation, a randomly selected Justice (not including any vacationing Justices, owners of the same Supreme Cortex as the one going on Vacation, or Justices substituting for owners of the same Supreme Cortex as the one going on Vacation; the final two provisions shall be ignored if their application results in zero or fewer justices eligible to be selected.) shall fill that Justice's seat in the Supreme Court in an Acting capacity. The Clerk of the Court shall make the random selection. This paragraph takes precedence over Rules that would prevent the same player being an Officer and an Acting Officer in the same Office. If the vacationing Justice is an owner of a Supreme Cortex, then the Acting Justice performing eir duties is treated by any other Rules dealing with Supreme Cortices to be an owner of that Supreme Cortex in place of the vacationing Justice.

Rule 416.1/1
The Supreme Cortex
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

A Supreme Cortex (hereafter Cortex, plural Cortices) is a named, nontradeable entity. At any time it may have zero, one or two owners. A Cortex with two owners is Active. A Cortex with one owner is Undermanned. A Cortex with zero owners is instantly destroyed, except if it is the only one in existence. Such a Cortex is Vacant.

Only Justices may own a Supreme Cortex, and no Justice may own more than one Cortex. If a player who is not a Justice owns a Cortex, then they lose ownership of that Cortex. A Justice who owns a Cortex is Grafted; one who does not is Ungrafted.

If there are no Vacant or Undermanned Cortices, an Ungrafted Justice may create a new Cortex as a public action, by specifying its name ("The Supreme Court" or any name with the same primitive form is not a valid name for a Supreme Cortex). The new Cortex is initially Undermanned, its creator being its sole owner. At any time, an Ungrafted Justice or Acting Justice may, as a public action, become an owner of a Vacant or Undermanned Cortex. A player ceases to be an owner of a Cortex if they either publically give up eir ownership of that Cortex, or cease to be a Justice or Acting Justice.

Rule 417/14
Justices Rock
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

Justices have the following special powers:

They may nullify a Presidential decision. That is, a decision made by the President acting in his or her capacity as the President.

They may nullify a Senatorial decision. That is, a decision made by the Senate acting in its capacity as the Senate.

They may nullify a previous Supreme Court decision. That is, a previous decision made by the Supreme Court acting in its capacity as Supreme Court, including, but not limited to, AOJs, and CFJ appeals.

Justices may only use these special powers as a group. If 2/3rds of the members of the Supreme Court, or all of the members of the Supreme Court if there are fewer than 4 members, agree to, they may issue an Act of Justice (AOJ), of which they are considered to be the authors. An AOJ is a public statement by the Justices authoring it, in which they state what decision is being nullified, an explanation as to why, and the names of its authors. Once made public, the AOJ goes into effect and cannot be overturned except by another AOJ, or by a CFJ or CFCJ that shows that it was not issued in accordance with the rules.

The following types of AOJs are explicitly prohibited:

1) An AOJ to nullify a Presidential Decision to appoint a particular player to the Supreme Court.

2) An AOJ to nullify a Senatorial Decision to remove a particular player from the Supreme Court.

3) An AOJ that nullifies a decision made 7 days or more prior to the time of the (attempted) AOJ.

If either/both the Senate and president do not exist, then Justices cannot use their first two powers.

Supreme Court Justices and acting Supreme Court Justices are ineligible to be selected to judge CFJs.

When a CFJ is assigned to the Supreme Cortex that a Justice or Acting Justice owns, that Justice or Acting Justice may, as a public action, decline Judgment on that CFJ. In this case, an Acting Justice is selected to act as an owner of that Supreme Cortex with respect to that CFJ only, in the original Justice's or Acting Justice's stead; the procedure used to select the Acting Justice is in this case the same as if the original Justice or Acting Justice had gone on Vacation.

Rule 418/5
Justices Are Keeper Of The Sacred Laws
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

Before the result of a CFJ is made public, a Justice or Bronze Torch owner can add their own reasoning to the official publication of the result by sending it either to the Clerk of the Court, or to the public forum. Prior to its official publication, this reasoning can be made public by no one other than the author of the reasoning.

Upon the Judge or Court reaching a verdict, the Clerk of the Court will also add any reasoning submitted under the auspices of this rule to the official publication of the CFJ, along with the judge's decision.

For one week following the Supreme Court returning a non-unanimous verdict on a CFJ appeal, dissenting Justices may publically post an official Dissent to the Supreme Court's reasoning. This Dissent should be included along with the majority reasoning in any CFJ archives.

Rule 419.1/8
Ambassador
pascal (Jason Reed)

There exists the functional office of Ambassador which has one seat.

The duties of the office are to keep in touch with what is happening in other nomics, namely:

1) Providing information about Ackanomic to people holding similar posts in other Nomics.
2) Requesting similar information about any other nomic at any player's request.
3) Acting as Ackanomic's liaison to Internomic and performing all the duties of the liaison as specified in rule 419.2 (Internomic Interface). If such a thing exists the Ambassador must be subscribed to the Internomic mailing list [currently internomic@muppetlabs.com].
4) Providing general information about Internomic to any player requesting it (such as how to subscribe to the mailing list, or what the web site URL is), and generally keeping all players up to date on things such as Internomic proposals.

The privileges of the office are:

1) To send an Internomic Proposal to the Spelling Exchequer if e believes it contains any spelling mistakes.

Rule 419.2/19
Internomic Interface
Kelly Martin (Kelly Martin)

I. Internomic Entityhood

Internomic is an entity. Member nomics of Internomic, excepting Ackanomic, Internomic, and any Ackanomic Organization considered to be a Member nomic of Internomic, are named tradeable entities. The name of any such entity is that of the corresponding nomic. Whenever a Nomic joins Internomic, it is owned by the Treasury. Whenever a member nomic(excepting Ackanomic and Internomic)leaves Internomic it is destroyed.

II. Liaison

The Ambassador (or, in the absence of an Ambassador, the Speaker) is Ackanomic's Liaison to InterNomic. The Liaison shall keep the Players of Ackanomic apprised in a timely fashion of events in InterNomic of interest to Ackanomic.

III. InterNomic Proposals

Any Voting Player may request the Liaison to make an InterNomic Proposal by sending the Proposal to the Liaison. If said Proposal is adopted by InterNomic, the player who requested it receives 7 points upon the Liaison reporting the fact of its adoption to Ackanomic.

Though not required, players are strongly encouraged to have the Spelling Exchequer proofread such Proposals before submitting them to the Liaison.

IV. InterNomic Voting

Whenever Ackanomic is permitted to vote upon any matter in InterNomic, the Liaison shall initiate a binding Hearing to determine how e should cast Ackanomic's vote in InterNomic by publically posting the proposal or question to be voted upon. The valid responses in this Hearing shall be the valid votes the Liaison may cast on the matter in InterNomic. This Hearing shall have a voting period of 7 days, and, in the case where the results are inconclusive, the President shall, as a public action, decide how the Liaison shall cast Ackanomic's vote. The Liaison shall be the Hearing Harfer for this Hearing.

V. InterNomic Judgements (ISFJs)

Whenever Ackanomic is required to serve as a judge in Internomic, the Liaison shall publically post the statement for judgement along with the initiator's reasoning, if any. During the three days following this post, players may respond to the statement for judgment with whatever comments and reasoning they may have on the judgement. Three days after the Liaison's posting of the statement for judgement, a Hearing will commence. The valid responses for this Hearing will be the allowed verdicts Ackanomic may deliver in response to the ISFJ. For the purposes of determining a verdict in this Hearing, each response from a Bronze Torch holder counts as two player responses, and non-player responses do not count. The verdict of this hearing shall be the verdict delivered on the statement for judgement. In the event of a tie or a verdict of "Never Mind", the Liaison shall determine which verdict to deliver. This section has precedence over rules governing Hearings. When reporting the verdict to Internomic, the Liaison shall use whatever player comments he feels are appropriate, including dissenting ones, and shall annotate these comments with their author's Ackanomic name.

VI. Internomic Attitude

The Attitude of Ackanomic toward any other member nomic of InterNomic shall be changed as directed by the Rules of Ackanomic, and in no other circumstances. [in other words, it shall be changed when a proposal is accepted that contains a rule change directing such a change of attitude].

Rule 419.3/2
How are Things Out There
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

Whenever it is necessary to know a fact about another nomic which is a member of Internomic, the Ambassador will send an official query requesting the necessary information to the Internomic Liaison of that nomic, and forward the reply from that Liaison to Ackanomic. Whatever reply is given by the Liaison will be accepted as the Official Reply of that nomic.

When the Ambassador receives a messaged from a Liaison of another nomic which is a member of Internomic, and the message is addresses to the People of Ackanomic, then the Ambassador must forward this message to the Public Forum, and it is deemed to be a public message by the nomic from whose Liaison it was received.

Rule 420/6
Historian
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

The Historian is an optional office with one seat. It has a Minimum Term of Office of 12 months.

The duties are to maintain a WWW page of the History of Ackanomic. Content of the page is up to the Historian [but should include the comings and goings of political parties (and their agendas); history of Presidents, Senators, and Winners, notable historical events such as the Quorum Crisis, etc]. The Historian should maintain a copy of all Historical Dissertations.

The Historian does not receive a salary, but it is considered good form for players to give donations to the Historian when he or she is doing a good job.

Rule 421.1/10
Office of Common Sense, Redundancy, and Redundancy
The Governor (Dan Marsh)

There shall be a functional office called Common Sense, Redundancy, and Redundancy. This office may be referred to as CSRR.

The purpose of the CSRR is to correct the Rules where they are redundant, do not make sense, do not conform _in fact_ to their interpretation in game custom, or are redundant. Other functions may be assigned to this office by the Rules.

It is a privilege of the Office of CSRR to author Common Sense Reports in accordance with the Rules on said Reports.

Rule 421.2/2
Common Sense Reports
Vynd (John McCoy)

A Common Sense Report (CSR) is a list of suggested changes to the Rules or other documents, but is not a proposal. A CSR may only be authored by someone given explicit permission to do so by the Rules. Other Rules may restrict the possible contents of a CSR authored by a given player, and nothing issued by that player is considered a CSR unless it follows these restrictions. However, if it is possible for a player to issue two CSR's of different kinds(i.e. which affect different sets of Rules, or make different sorts of changes), then a single CSR which includes both kinds of changes is also legal; this takes precedence over any Rule which may otherwise restrict issuing of CSR's by that player. (Thus, a player who is both Chess-Umpire and RuneMaker may issue a single CSR which affects both the Party Chess Rule Suite and the Otzma Card Rule Suite.)

Whenever a player authors a CSR, he must assign it a unique number and distribute it publicly. After it has been distributed, any player may publicly object to that CSR. 3 days after it has been distributed, the changes described in a CSR are enacted, unless 2 or more players objected to the CSR within those 3 days. The author of the CSR shall publicly announce the fact of its enaction, or failure.

Rule 422/15
Postmaster
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)

The Postmaster is an optional functional office with one seat.

A duty of the Postmaster shall be to create and maintain an official mailing list and a separate official voting mailing list for Ackanomic, so public messages can be sent to one address and forwarded from there to all players and observers automatically. [The official list is intended for messages of interest to all Ackanomic, and the official voting list for messages of interest only to voting players.] The Postmaster shall create additional, optional lists as e deems it appropriate.

It is a duty of the Postmaster to keep a publicly available record of the Postal Code. It is a privilege of the Postmaster to issue CSRs that consist solely of modifications to the Postal Code.

The following is a list of privileges the Postmaster may exercise as public actions. In order to full specify the action, the Postmaster must state the email address of the person affected and the reason for exercising the privilege.

a) When a person's email [player or observer alike] is bouncing, the Postmaster may move that person's subscription from a regular list to the digest version of that list, if such exists.

b) If ten or more of an active player's email messages bounce during a period of at least three days, then the Postmaster may change that player's state to Vacationing.

c) If twenty or more of a Vacationing or Non-voting player's email messages bounce during a period of at least seven days, then the Postmaster may unsubscribe that player from any and all mailing lists.

It is a privilege of the Postmaster to remove any observer from any list provided they are given seven days' notice, and they do not object within that time.

If a player posts a public message with a subject line that does not contain either "Ackanomic:" or "Acka:", the Postmaster may declare that player to have Gone Postal. A player who has Gone Postal is treated as if e is Hosed for one day; this period is extended by another day for each additional message lacking the aforementioned strings that is posted while e has Gone Postal.

Whenever a player is Hosed, all public messages by them should contain nothing but poetry, specifically original haikus, limericks, sonnets, sestinas, and rhymed couplets, and no other forms (except of course, proper madrigals). Whenever a Hosed player authors a public message that contains something other than this (excluding customary headers, quoted material written by someone else, or customary instructions to officers), they automatically transfer A$79 from them to the Treasury, if they have that much. If they don't have that much, a random organization which they are a member that has that sum transfers it to the treasury. If no such organization exists either, the player is deemed Weird, with no further effects, unless they are the Harfmeister, in which case they are deemed Really Weird.

Rule 423/6
Map-Harfer
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

The Office of Map-Harfer is a Functional Office.

The duties of the Map-Harfer include:

a) To maintain and make publically available a list of the locations of all entities, including players, for which locations are known or specified.

b) To maintain the Map of Ackanomic, and the Map of the City, as specified in the Rules.

c) To maintain any other maps which do not have another Officer assigned to maintain them.

d) To announce when an earthquake or Really Bad Earthquake has been triggered, in accordance with the Rules, at which point that Earthquake occurs, unless the Rules specify another Officer to announce the occurence of a particular earthquake [In other words, the Map-harfer announces earthquakes that no one else announces].

The privileges of the Map-harfer include the following, they may also be exercised by Acting Map-Harfers:

1) To appoint Assistant Map-Harfers to assist his in the execution of duties b) and c) above.

2) The Map-Harfer may, by public announcement, cause an earthquake to occur, provided he has not exercised this ability within the last 7 days. This is in addition to announcing the occurence of earthquakes as per duty d) above.

Rule 424/5
Poet Laureate
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

The optional Office of Poet Laureate has a Minimum Term of Office of 6 months. The Duties are:

1) To compose poetry as described below.

2) To maintain a web page preserving the literary heritage of Acka.

Once a month, the President may require the Poet Laureate to compose a poem to commemorate an important milestone in Ackan history (winning a cycle of internomic, a great e-mail blizzard, the resolution of a major crisis, the enshrinement of an Elder, etc.) or to liven a festive occasion. These lists are by no means all-conclusive, and the President may require the Poet Laureate to compose for just about any event, although if players feel he is using this power frivolously, they are permitted to sneer. The Poet Laureate has seven days from the date of the President's request to publically post such a poem, unless the President's original public request allows him a longer period of time. The Poet Laureate receives no special compensation for such compositions.

Other players may commission the Poet Laureate to write poems on their behalf (to commemorate great accomplishments of theirs, to mock their adversaries, or just to make sure their otherwise imminently forgettable career will be recorded somewhere). It is solely the privilege of the Poet Laureate to earn fees for such works, though he may refuse to accept a commission entirely. The amount of the commission fee can be anything agreed on by both the commissioning player and the Poet Laureate, so long as this does not conflict with rules regarding transfers of currency or entities. For such a commission to have effect, a public post must be made giving the commissioning player, the fee (if any), and the date by which the work must be completed.

The Poet Laureate must also maintain a web page recording the literary treasures of Acka. Such items include poems of the Poet Laureate, Party Hall Party poems, sad little Gaol songs and Dueling Limericks (should such styles exist), and any other works of verse or song described in the rules.

Rule 427/1
Org-Harfer
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

The Office of the Org-Harfer is a Functional Office. The Duties of the Org-Harfer are:

(a) keeping track of all Organizations, as such are defined by the Rules, including their names, membership status, type, etc.

(b) keeping track of the membership of Organizations, including the adding and removal of players, who has proxied their approval to the Organization, etc.

(c) determining whether Organizational Actions succeed or fail, as per Rule 1006, and whether the Standard Harfer Fee was paid.

Rule 428/1
Trinket-Harfer
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Trinket-Harfer is an Optional Functional Office.

The Duties are:

a) To keep an accurate record of all Trinket names, values, and descriptions, and to make that record available to any player on request.

Rule 429/0
Treasure-Harfer
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

There exists an optional Functional Office of Treasure-Harfer.

The Duties are:

a) To keep a record of all buried and found treasures -- who buried them, who found them(if applicable), their map when revealed, and the entities they contain, as well as any other information, clues, or riddles provided formally or informally that e feels are relevant.

b) To be the default Map Custodian for any Treasure Map whose Writer requests it, as in Rule 1217. The Treasure-Harfer is not excluded from finding any Treasure for which e is not a Map Custodian.

Instead of the normal salary for a Functional Officer, the Treasure-Harfer shall receive an Automatic Sculpture every month. The Treasure-Harfer is encouraged to bury these for other players to find; if e does not, and lets them accumulate in eir possession, then other players are permitted to sneer.

Rule 430/7
Spelling Exchequer
breadbox (Brian Raiter)

The optional Office of Spelling Exchequer exists.

I.

A Duty of the Office of Spelling Exchequer is to proofread Miscellaneous Submissions. The term "Miscellaneous Submissions", for the purposes of this rule, refers to texts that effect Ackanomic business, but have not yet been submitted. Such texts include submissions to other Offices [such as proposals and CFJs], and public messages that are required by the rules. Other texts may also be considered Miscellaneous Submissions for the purposes of this rule, and the Spelling Exchequer is not required to refuse any text submitted to em.

Another Duty of the Office of Spelling Exchequer is to select one or more links to on-line Dictionaries of the English language, as well as to maintain a copy the Ackanomic Lexicon and make it accessible to players upon request. The term "Official Dictionary", as used elsewhere in the Rules, shall be construed to mean the union of these Dictionaries and the Lexicon.

II.

At any time, players have the option of privately sending the Spelling Exchequer Miscellaneous Submissions to be proofread for errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Unless the author has specifically requested otherwise, the Spelling Exchequer shall only make corrections or suggestions that are concerned with errors of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. [Comments regarding issues of style, for example, are normally considered inappropriate.] The Spelling Exchequer shall, in good faith, attempt to revise each document so that it is free of errors and has the intended meaning of the author. (It is recognized, however, that this is not always possible to achieve.)

Barring the exceptions listed below, the Spelling Exchequer must reply to the author within three days after receiving a text. The Spelling Exchequer's reply shall contain a corrected version of the original document, a list of errors with explanations, or some other indication of the changes deemed to be necessary. (The actual form should be one that the Spelling Exchequer judges to be the most useful to the author.)

The author of a Miscellaneous Submission may permit a longer time period for the Spelling Exchequer to compose a reply. The author should do this by specifying a different required time when sending the Miscellaneous Submission to the Spelling Exchequer, or alternately specifying that there is no required time. Any such indication shall apply only to the text it accompanies.

When the Miscellaneous Submission is a text that is to be privately sent to another Office, the player submitting the text may choose to allow it to be Directly Forwarded, as long as that player is a player other than the Spelling Exchequer. A player doing so must indicate this wish, and specify the intended final recipient unambiguously. In this case, if the Spelling Exchequer finds no errors, or finds only errors that the Spelling Bee would be permitted to fix if the text in question were a rule, then the Spelling Exchequer may send the text directly to the intended recipient, instead of replying to the original author. (If the Spelling Exchequer finds any errors of a more serious nature, e must still reply to the author as above, and must not forward it to anyone else.) The Officer who receives the proofread text shall then treat it as if it had been submitted by the original author.

If, for some reason, a document cannot be proofread within the required time, the Spelling Exchequer's reply to the author should instead be an indication of this fact (preferably with an explanation of why).

While the Spelling Exchequer is free to proofread Miscellaneous Submissions of any nature, it is understood that documents pertaining to Ackanomic business are the primary concern of this Office. In particular, texts containing potential proposals shall have the highest priority.

III.

A Privilege of the Office of Spelling Exchequer is to possess a Shimmering Spellbook.

IV.

Players are in no way required to follow the suggestions of the Spelling Exchequer. As always, the author of a public message or other text retains full control over, and full responsibility for, its content. Similarly, the Spelling Exchequer is not responsible for errors that appear in the texts of other players.

As always, the Spelling Exchequer is required, as a matter of ethics, to not allow eir actions as a player to be influenced by what e reads in the course of fulfilling eir duties as an Officer.

Rule 431/8
Illuminatus
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)

The Office of the Illuminatus is an optional office.

The duties of the Illuminatus are to collect Agenda Conditions, conduct bidding on Nemesis Eggplants, and distribute and track Agenda Hats, as described in this rule.

The Illuminatus shall announce a call for Agenda Condition submissions if, for any reason, the player currently holding the office of Illuminatus has announced no such call during the current cycle. The Illuminatus has the privilege of calling for Agenda Submissions whenever no such call has occurred in the past 90 days. The Agenda Condition submission period will last for seven days after this. During this time, any voting player may submit a number of Agenda Conditions equal to three minus the number of Agenda Hats e owns by sending them to the Illuminatus. If a player sends more than this number of Agenda Conditions, only the first Agenda Conditions sent will be counted.

Agenda Conditions should be statements that may be true or false depending on the game state. If the words "this hat," or "this eggplant" are used in an Agenda Condition, they shall be equivalent to, "the Agenda Hat associated with this Agenda Condition," and "the Nemesis Eggplant associated with this Agenda Condition," respectively.

At the end of the seven days, the Illuminatus must release a list of all submitted Agenda Conditions, along with the names of the players who submitted each. If at least 4 players have submitted Agenda Conditions, the Illuminatus must initiate a seven day Nemesis Eggplant bidding period. During the Nemesis eggplant bidding period, each player who submitted Agenda conditions may send a Weight bid corresponding to each submitted Agenda Condition to the Illuminatus. Weight bids must be integers between (-2 Magic Number / 3) and (Magic Number / 3). If a player does not send a weight bid for a particular Agenda Condition, that player will be considered to have bid (Magic Number / 3), rounded down, on that condition.

At the conclusion of the bidding period, the following occurs:

z) Initially, all conditions are under consideration.

a) The Illuminatus will determine the condition under consideration which has the lowest bid. Ties should be broken randomly.

b) A Nemesis Eggplant with that condition is awarded to the lowest bidder on that condition who has less than 3 Nemesis Eggplants. Ties among lowest bidders should be broken randomly. (If there are no bidders who have less than 3 Nemesis Eggplants, then the Nemesis Eggplant shall be awarded to a randomly chosen player who has either one or two Nemesis Eggplants, or zero Nemesis Eggplants but one or more Agenda Hats. If there are no such players, then the Nemesis Eggplant is awarded to a randomly chosen player.)

c) That condition is removed from consideration. If any conditions are still under consideration, this process repeats, starting with a)

d) The Illuminatus may change the condition associated with any Nemesis Eggplant if e believes any of the following :

i) that it is impossible for a player to achieve that condition in normal play

ii) achieving the condition would prevent the player from winning by agenda. [for example, The owner of this hat also has the Chartreuse Goose.]

iii) the condition is otherwise unharfy [For example, a condition that would be satisfied by spamming the mailing list with 1000's of messages would be technically easy to achieve, but a bad idea all around.]

The condition that the Illuminatus chooses should be easily attainable. It should also be silly.

e) For each newly created Nemesis Eggplant an agenda Hat is created in the hidden state, which has:

i) with the same condition.

ii) a weight equal to the lowest bid on its condition that was greater than the winning bid. If no bid was greater, the hat is assigned the winning bid as a weight. If the eggplant was awarded to a player who did not bid on it, then the hat is assigned the highest bid on its condition. Any Agenda Hats with a condition that was chosen by the Illuminatus according to d) are Silly Agenda Hats, and instead are created with a weight of (Magic Number / 4) rounded up.

f) Each player who submitted Agenda Conditions receives a number of agenda hats equal to the number of conditions e submitted. The Agenda Hats must be distributed randomly among these players, except that no player shall receive an Agenda Hat with a condition that e authored or that is the same as that of a Nemesis Eggplant e owns. If, after some part of this distribution has been done, there is no way to distribute the remaining hats as specified above(e.g. all players who submitted Agenda Conditions have three Agenda Hats, because of one or more players leaving the game or hats being transferred among players), then the remaining Agenda Hats are randomly distributed among players with one or two Agenda Hats or no Agenda Hats but one or more Nemesis Eggplants. If there are no such players and Agenda Hats still remain to be distributed, then they are distributed randomly among other players. Any Agenda Hats still remaining are transferred to the Mad Hatters.

g) The Illuminatus must publicly announce the owners and conditions for each Nemesis Eggplant created, and the weights and conditions for each Agenda Hat created. The Illuminatus must privately notify each player who received Agenda Hats as to the conditions of each Agenda Hat that player received.

It is also a duty of the Illuminatus to check that the correct condition is being revealed when a player makes an Agenda Hat visible.

It is a privilege of the Illuminatus that e achieves a Winning Condition if it is publicly knowable that e has a score that is greater than 5/6 times the Magic Number.

Rule 432/1
Son I am able though you scare me / Watch beloved / Watch me scare you though / Able am I son
rufus (David Scheidt)

The Office of Scaremonger is an optional, political office. The duties of Scaremonger are to promote panic and foment fear. They should take every opportunity to point out the crashing of the game, officers failing to perform their duties, and the End of the World. If the Scaremonger fails to do this, another player may call a Test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

A test of the Emergency Broadcast System is a loud tone. It is also a hearing, and player who called the Test of The Emergency Broadcast System is the Hearing Harfer. The possible votes in this hearing are "The sky is falling!" and "It is only a little hailstorm." If the verdict is "The sky is falling!", the Scaremonger is removed from office, and the Hearing Harfer is installed as Scaremonger.

Rule 433/0
General Contractor
JT (JT Traub)

There exists the functional office of General Contractor which has one seat.

The office of General Contractor has the following priveledges:

a) Declare any Contract invalid if it doesn't meet the rules for Contracts.

b) May designate a Contract to be Stale.

The office of General Contractor has the following duties:

a) to maintain a list of all public and private contracts, their public text if any, and who has signed them.

b) to make this list available to any player at their request.

c) to keep the contents of any private contract private except when required to reveal it according to the rules.

Rule 435/0
Herald
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

There exists the Political Office of Herald, with a Minimum Term In Office of 6 months.

The Herald has the following Privileges:

1. Granting Coats of Arms. This is the only way that they may be bestowed. (See Rule 1160.)

2. Altering Coats of Arms by means of abatements, as described in Rule 1160.

3. Receiving a monthly salary of the Standard Harfer Fee less A$5.

The Herald has the following Duties:

1. To track the Honour of each player or undead, and make that information publicly available to any player upon request.

2. Maintaining a web page of graphical depictions of all the Coats of Arms of the various players and Organizations that possess them, or failing that, their blazons.

3. Announcing the beginnings and ends of Duels.

Rule 437/2
Providing Meaning Where We Can
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Senate and its members are the guarantor of functional stability in Ackanomic. The following lists the Senatorial Calls which may be used to that effect. Only a Senator may make use of such a Call, and does so by making it publicly. No Call may be issued if one is already in progress. These powers are not actions of the Senate but of individual Senators. All Calls last for three days after they were issued, unless canceled by the President.

I. Quorum Call

The senator who issued the Quorum Call is deemed to have acknowledged it publicly. All players who have not acknowledged the Quorum Call publicly before it ends gain a puppet head. In the 24 hours following the end of the Quorum call, only players who do not have puppet heads are counted for Quorum purposes.

II. Committee Call

When a Committee Call is made, the Senator must also specify an office that is not the Senate. All deadlines pertaining to the duties of that office are now suspended and will be due 24 hours after the Committee Call finishes.

III. House Call

When a House Call is made, a senator's Call of the past week must be specified. The Senate has until the end of the following day to censure that Call. All senators who think that Call should not have been made vote against. If a majority is against, then the senator who made that call loses 10 points and may not issue a call for seven days.

Rule 440/0
Thrallmaster
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

There is a Functional Office of Thrallmaster.

The Duties of the Thrallmaster are:

(i) To maintain a list of player Thrall Attributes.

(ii) To publicly announce whenever a Thrall Attribute has changed.

Rule 441/0
Dungeon Master
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)

The Office of Dungeon Master is an optional office, whose duties are:

(i) to generate Basic Player Characteristics when required to do so.

(ii) to track any Characteristics of players that are not explicitly tracked by any other officer.

(iii) to track the membership of each of the Castes [See rule 1030].

and whose privileges are:

(i) to change eir Caste as a public action.

(ii) to add or subtract one point from any of the characteristics defined in Rule 540.2 (Basic Player Characteristics) of any player as a public action. This privilege may be used at most once per month.

Rule 451/0
Nocuous Stimuli
breadbox (Brian Raiter)

At most once every calendar month, the Rule-Harfer may, as a privilege of eir Office, select one active Voting player to be singled out for abuse [typically someone whose proposals have been particularly difficult and/or annoying to harf]. The Rule-Harfer exercises this privilege by sending a public message that indicates this rule (by name and/or number) and contains the sentence "NAME is giving me a real headache", where NAME is replaced by the name of the player chosen.

For seven days following the exercising of this privilege, the Promoter is permitted, as a privilege of eir Office, to ignore the titles of all proposals submitted to em by the selected player, and replace them with (legal) titles of eir own choosing. This paragraph takes precedence over Rule 406 with respect to the Promoter's duty to distribute proposals in the form that e receives them.

Rule 500/1
Entities
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

Something is an entity if and only if the rules specify that it is, or it is defined by the Rules and Ackanomic tradition indicates that it is an entity. [Caveat: implicit entityhood (by game custom) may be abandoned in a future version of this rule. Explicitly defining your entityish creations to be entities is strongly recommended.]

An entity may not be created, destroyed, or manipulated except as specified by the Rules. It can have no material effect on the game other than those effects specified by the Rules.

Rules, the rule set, and Proposals are unownable entities. Rule changes may manipulate Rules and the Rule set.

Manipulation of an entity is permissible if such manipulation is not explicitly regulated by the rules, and such manipulation would not have a material effect on the game. In other words, the game state must be the same after the manipulation as it would have been had the manipulation not occurred.

For the purposes of this rule, discussion and messages (public or private) are not considered a material effect on the game. Nor are the initiation or results of a CFJ or CFCJ concerning the matter of whether or not a certain event constitutes a material effect. It is recognized that deciding whether a particular manipulation materially affected the game state is a matter that often can only be decided by judgement alone.

Entities may not be broken into fractional pieces, and fractional pieces of entities may not be created. When any rule or anything else empowered by the rules specifies a fractional number of entities are created, destroyed, transferred, or otherwise operated upon, that action uses the least integer greater than the fractional number in place of the fractional number. This paragraph takes precedence over all other rules.

Rule 500.1/7
Entity Names
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

Each entity is either named (which means it has a name) or nameless. An entity is nameless unless the Rules specify otherwise.

When a named entity is created, it shall be given a name in accordance with the Rules. If the Rules do not specify any other method for determining its name, or if the method specified does not give a legal name, that entity shall be considered nameless until a name is legally assigned to it.

A name is a sequence of no more than seventy name characters. The name characters are:

!#$%&*+-/0123 456789=?@\^_|
ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz
~.,'

and the space character.

[Parentheses, double quotes, back quotes, square brackets, angle brackets, braces, colons, and non-ASCII characters are not name characters.]

If a named entity at any time ever does not have a name, or has a name which does not comply with the Rules, it shall immediately take the name "Nameless Thing #X", where X is the lowest positive integer creating a legal name for the entity. If this would result in multiple entities having the same name, one of them is chosen at random. If this method does not produce a legal name, the entity remains unnamed.

Rule 500.2/3
Entity Ownership
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

Named entities may own other ownable entities, or even own themselves. (Nameless entities may not.)

Each entity is either unownable, nontradeable, or tradeable. Tradeable entities are either giftable or ackable, and are either protected or exportable. Tradeable entities are ackable and protected unless the Rules specify otherwise. An entity is nontradeable unless the Rules specify otherwise. If an entity is nontradeable or tradeable then it is ownable.

At any given time, each ownable entity is either owned by one or more named entities, Somewhere Else (unowned), or exported. If the Rule(s) defining an ownable entity do not explicitly state that it may have multiple owners, then it can have at most one owner. Exportable entities may never have more than one owner; this sentence takes precedence over any rule claiming otherwise.

When an ownable entity is created, it is in the Treasury, unless the Rules specify an initial owner for it. Entities may be transferred from one owner to another only through methods specified by the Rules.

Rule 500.3/2
Entity Uniqueness
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

An entity is unique if, and only if, the Rules specify that it is. Each unique entity is the only entity of its type.

If there are several entities of the same type, and at least one of them is unique, all the non-unique entities of that type are destroyed. If there are several unique entities of the same type, the oldest one survives and the rest are destroyed.

Unique entities may not be cloned, copied, duplicated, or Xeroxed; an attempt to forge a copy of a unique entity always results in humiliating failure.

A unique entity is also mimsy, unless the rules specify that it is not. A non-unique entity is not mimsy, unless the Rules specify that it is.

Rule 501/6
ExtraNomic Entities
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

An Import is a tradeable, exportable entity. Imports may only be created or destroyed as specified in the rules. All Imports have a noo (nomic of origin), which is appended to the end of its name between curly braces ('{','}'). If a rule would destroy an Import then it is instead transfered to the Customs Office and offered to its noo; this sentence takes precedence over any rule which would destroy an Import.

The Customs Office is a branch of the Treasury, and a named, unownable entity.

The Customs Officer is an optional functional office, and is Ackanomic's Customs Officer to the ITA if Ackanomic is a member of the ITA. It is a duty of the Customs Officer to apply for ITA membership if Acka is not a member of the ITA. It is a duty of the Customs Officer to keep an ITA-compliant log of all ITA trades involving Acka and an entity for which Acka is the noo. If the Customs Officer of another nomic makes an offer to Ackanomic then it is the duty of the Customs Officer to determine which of the following cases applies (higher ones take precedence), and inform the ITA of Acka's decision to accept or refuse the offer:

1) If a recipient is specified, but the recipient is not a named entity which can legally own imports then the offer must be refused.

2) If a recipient is specified and another rule specifies when that entity accepts and refuses trades then that rule takes precedence.

3) If a recipient is not specified and the offer is not conditional then the offer is accepted and The Treasury becomes the Ackan-anchor. The CO must then publicly announce that this has happened.

4) If a recipient is not specified and the offer is conditional then the Customs Officer should publicly announce the offer. If any player or organization publicly accepts the offer, can legally accept trades, can legally own Imports, and owns the conditional portion of the trade then Acka accepts the offer. The accepting entity becomes the Ackan-anchor. The CO must then publicly announce that this has happened.

5) If a recipient is specified then the CO should publicly announce the offer. If the recipient accepts the offer and has any objects the offer is conditional upon then so does Acka, if the recipient refuses the offer then so does Acka. If the offer is accepted then the recipient becomes the Ackan-anchor. The CO must then publicly announce that this has happened.

When Acka is involved in an accepted ITA trade offer, an Import is created for each object which Acka receives and for which Acka is not the noo, and the newly created Imports are transfered to the Ackan-anchor. All entities Acka receives for which Acka is the noo cease to be exported and become owned by the Ackan-anchor. All entities sent out of Acka by the trade become exported, unless they are Imports, in which case they are destroyed.

If an Ackan wishes to trade with another nomic, they must publicly post the trade they wish to make, including the destination. If e owns everything offered in the trade then it is a duty of the CO to make a trade offer on behalf of Acka offering the entities and with whatever conditional entities are required by the trade. It is a duty of the CO to publicly announce when the trade is accepted or refused.

Rule 503/0
Imports Rule Suite
Eris (Gavin Logan)

[This is a link to the Imports Rule Suite.]

An import’s Nomic Of Origin (noo) may make a public message [as per rule 419.3] placing that import into the set of a type of entity. That entity type may not be a type currently defined by a rule inside or outside of this rule suite. [e.g. The noo may place the entity into the set "dollars" or "donuts" but not "Ackadollars".] If the same noo makes an announcement of this sort more than once in a calendar week, then all announcements after the first are ignored.

When this announcement is made, a rule is created within this rule suite named "Import Type: <type>", where <type> is replaced by the type announced by the noo; numbered 503.X, where X is the lowest positive integer such that this is a unique rule; with the following double quote delimited text:

"
<type> are tradeable, exportable entities.
"

where <type> is replaced by the type of entity concerned and any necessary capitalisation may be performed by the Rule-Harfer. Players are encouraged to augment the rules in this rule suite so that these types mimic the properties they have within the rule set of their noo, or have at least nominal worth or use within the game of Ackanomic. If an officer or any player responsible for accepting an import from another nomic is informed that such an import falls into a pre-defined type within this rule suite, that player must announce this fact publicly before this import is accepted.

All rules in this rule suite take precedence over rule 501, "ExtraNomic Entities" where there is conflict.

Rule 505/29
Treasury and AckaDollars
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

I. AckaDollars

The AckaDollar (A$) is the official currency of Ackanomia.

AckaDollars are gift entities.

II. Treasury:

The Treasury is a named, unownable entity that serves as a storing house for entities that belong to no other entity, except for those entities for which the rules explicitly state are not in (or considered to be in) the Treasury. Items owned by the Treasury are said to be "in the Treasury", and they may not be manipulated in any way except as explicitly allowed by the Rules.

The Treasury has a number of branches dedicated to special purposes. Such branches may own A$ or other entities, but those entities are not counted as being in the Treasury except for tax purposes. This paragraph takes precedence over all rules which define what is in the Treasury.

III. Hard Currency:

AckaDollars may not be created nor destroyed, except as Trinkets are created and destroyed. This Rule has precedence over any Rule that would create or destroy A$, except it defers to rules concerning the creation and destruction of Trinkets. Whenever the Rules specify that a Player should receive A$, and do not indicate where those A$ should come from, they shall come from the Treasury. Whenever the Rules specify that a Player should lose A$, and do not indicate where those A$ should go to, or specify that they should be destroyed, they shall go to the Treasury instead. The total number of A$ shall always be 100,000 less the combined value of all extant Trinkets (including those Trinkets created in Ackanomic, yet exported as described in the rules).

IV. Bankrupt Treasury:

Whenever the rules require an amount of A$ from the Treasury for any reason, and there are insufficient available A$ to meet those obligations, the following process is executed:

a) If there are no A$ owned by On Ice players, skip to step (e) of this process.

b) Each On Ice player and Branch of the Treasury transfers 10% (round up) of its A$ to the Treasury.

c) If there are still insufficient available A$ to meet the obligations, the process returns to step (a).

d) If there are sufficient available A$ to meet to the obligations, the obligations are met, and the process ends.

e) The remaining available A$ in the treasury shall be used in proportion to the number of A$ required for each application.

V. Donation:

A player may donate any non-mimsy Tradeable entity they own to the Treasury. When a Trinket is donated (or otherwise transferred to the Treasury), it is transformed into its value in A$ upon donation.

VI. Total Wealth:

The Total Wealth of a Player or Organization is defined as the sum of the total number of A$ it possesses plus the combined values of all trinkets in its possession.

VII. Harfer Fee

The standard Harfer Fee is A$25. Whenever the rules direct a Harfer Fee to be paid, it is paid to the Treasury.

Rule 506/13
Trinkets
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

A class of gift entities known as Trinkets exist. Trinkets always have a positive, integral value in A$; this takes precedence over all other rules. The value of a Trinket may only be changed as specified by the rules.

A player may transform some or all of his A$ into a Trinket as a public action. In order to fully specify this action, the player must state the name, description, and value of the Trinket to be created. The creation fails if the player does not have at least as many A$ as the stated value of the Trinket, and/or if the name specified for the Trinket is not a valid Ackanomic name, or is already the name of a named entity. If the Trinket creation succeeds then the player who created the Trinket is its initial owner.

The owner of a trinket may transform it into its value in A$ as a public action. This action destroys the Trinket, creating A$ in its stead, and it upsets the art and antiquities communities.

Other rules may also create and bestow ownership of Trinkets, so long as the rule provides for naming, describing, and valuing the Trinket.

A player-created Trinket, whose name contains the name of a current or former player other than that of the creating player, such that the player name in question existed before the Trinket was created, and which has not been owned at some time by each player whose name it contains, is a forgery. The rules may define other circumstances under which a Trinket is a forgery. Upon it becoming publically knowable that a Trinket is a forgery, it is transferred to the Treasury, unless it contains the name of exactly one current player and no former players, in which case it is transferred to that player. For the purposes of this clause, the Trinket name "contains" a name N, if it contains a word or phrase of the same length in words as N, that when stripped of any conventional English morphological changes, matches N as described in rule 348. [e.g. "Malenkai's Loophole" and "Malenkai-esque Statues" would be forgeries].

Trinkets have no power to affect any entities except as specified in the rules.

Rule 508/8
Fortnightly Dividends
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

Every other Monday at noon, Fortnightly Dividends are calculated. The Virtual Fortnight shall be either the last two weeks, or the period since the beginning of the most recent cycle, whichever is shortest. If a player's net score change over the Virtual Fortnight was positive, then e receives A$1 for every point eir score increased in that period. If eir score change was negative, e loses A$1 for every 2 points eir score decreased. This rule defers to rules which may specify other ways of calculating the score change for the fortnight.

Rule 510/5
Voluntary Debt Prohibited
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

No Player or Organization may use more A$'s to buy, trade, give or in any way move out of his account, than there are in his/her account at that moment in time. In other words, a player may never voluntarily go into debt, but it is possible that a player may go into debt involuntarily.

A player in debt still earns A$ from events in the game as if they were not in debt. However, they cannot spend any A$ voluntarily until their net A$ balance is positive.

Rule 515/7
Trading and Gifts
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

This Rule defers to all other rules. [Rules may specify conditions in which certain trades may not take place, even though this rule specifies that they are legal. Rules may specify alternate means of trading entities, beyond those given here.]

A Player may offer a trade of one group of entities for another, by sending a public message specifying the entities offered (if any) and the entities requested (if any), if and only if the trade is legal. If the message further states specifically to which Players the trade is offered, then the trade is exclusive; otherwise it is offered at large.

A trade that offers or requests any entity that is not tradeable is illegal. A trade that offers any entity not owned by the Player offering the trade is illegal. All other trades are legal.

An offer made in this way stands until it is legally retracted or accepted, or the entity who offered it no longer owns the entities offered, or the offer has been standing for at least three days, whichever comes first.

A Player may retract a trade he or she offered by sending a public message to that effect.

A Player may accept an exclusive trade offered to him or her, or any trade offered at large [but not one that was offered specifically to someone else], if and only if he or she owns all of the entities requested, in at least the quantities requested. He or she does this by sending a public message to that effect.

When a Player accepts a standing trade, the entities offered are transferred from the Player who offered the trade to the Player who accepted it, and the entities requested in exchange are transferred from the Player who accepted the trade to the Player who offered it.

A Player or organization who owns a gift entity may transfer that entity to another Player or organization as a public action.

All trades made as described by this rule are said to occur on the Free Market.

A trade or gift must specify a positive, integral amount of entities to be traded.

Rule 516/18
Auction
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) An Auction can be called either as specified by another Rule, or by any Player as a public action.

The call for Auction must include:

a) the item or items to be Auctioned, which must be unowned if the Rules are calling (or directing a player to initiate) the Auction, and must be tradeable entit(ies) owned by the Player calling the Auction if it is being called by a Player acting on their own. Default quantity is 1 item.

b) if more than one item is being auctioned, whether or not the items should be grouped and auctioned as a lot (default = no). If yes, then "item" (and "items") as used in the remainder of this rule shall be construed to mean the entire lot of items being auctioned, and quantity shall be 1.

c) the minimum bid (default = A$0)

d) whether the Auction is to be private or public (default = public)

e) the player initiating the auction (default = Speaker)

2) The Auctioneer will be the player initiating the auction. If this is not possible for some reason, the Speaker shall be the Auctioneer. If this is impossible as well, there shall be no Auction until the situation is corrected.

3) The Auctioneer is disqualified to bid in a private Auction. The Auctioneer may use the title of Chief Cheese for the duration of any Auction.

4) The Auctioneer has the following duties: announcing the start of the auction and the relevant details of the auction; announcing the conclusion and results of the auction; making sure the auction procedure is conducted as specified by the rules; and accepting bids in private auctions.

5) The Auction shall last for 3 days, or 12 hours past the auction's most recent bid (in public auctions), whichever is longer, after which time the Auctioneer shall announce the results, and all A$ and items shall be transferred to their new owners. If the Auction was private, the Auctioneer shall keep a 10% commission of all monies transferred to the Treasury as compensation for performing the work and not being permitted to bid.

6) The Auction shall be conducted as follows:

6a) All qualified active players are permitted to submit bids of a positive amount of A$ equal to or less than the amount they possess. If a player submits multiple bids, only the highest will be considered. Anyone who submits a bid in excess of the A$ they have is disqualified, and their bids are disqualified. Anyone who submits a bid below the minimum bid is also disqualified. Bids may not be retracted.

6b) In a public auction, each bid, except the first one, must exceed the previous bid by at least 10% for regular public auctions, and at least 1% for Shubik auctions, or it is disqualified.

6c) Let N be the quantity of items up for Auction. The players who made the N highest qualified bids shall each receive an item in exchange for the amount of A$ they bid. If the number of players who made qualified bids is less than N, then the Auctioneer shall receive all the the remaining items, if the minimum bid was A$0. If it was not A$0, then the remaining item(s) shall revert to the player initiating the auction. If, instead, they were unowned when the Auction was initiated, they are destroyed. If the auction was called by a player, and that player no longer has has at least N items at the conclusion of the auction, that player is placed in Contempt. If a bidder does not have enough A$ to honor their bid in either type of auction, they are placed in Contempt. In either of these cases, the auction is voided, and reinitiated if originally called by the rules.

6d) If the bids are tied such that the Auctioneer cannot determine who gets item(s), the Auctioneer shall resolve the tie(s) via random means, and disclose this fact. All tied bidders shall be eligible for the random selection, including any non-active ones.

6e) If the Auction is private, the Auctioneer shall not disclose the bids to anyone during the process of the Auction. If the Auction is public, bids must be submitted to the public forum.

7) When a player acting on their own calls a public auction in which exactly one item is being auctioned, that player may declare that auction to be a "Shubik Auction" when it is initiated. An auction may not be so declared under any other circumstances. At the conclusion of a Shubik Auction, the player who made the second highest bid, if such a player exists, forfeits his bid to the treasury as well, and receives no compensation.

8) Any unowned entity that is being auctioned is not considered to be in the Treasury from the time the Auction is declared until its results are announced.

Rule 520/3
Auction Them Entities
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

Once per calendar week the Financier may, as a Privilege, call a public auction, called an "Auction Them Entities" auction, for a single tradeable entity which is in the Treasury by specifying the entity. If the Financier has not yet called such an auction in a given week, any player may, as a public action, request that a particular entity be auctioned and pay A$10 into the Treasury, and the Financier must call such an Auction within three days. The Financier is only bound to honour the first such request each week, and is never otherwise required to call an Auction Them Entities auction.

Rule 540/0
Characteristics
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

Certain types of entities may be defined as having Characteristics, which are named but are not entities. However, Characteristic names follow the same Rules as entity names; that is, a Characteristic may not have a given name unless it is legal for an Entity to have that name.

If a Characteristic is defined for a given entity, then that entity has a number associated with that Characteristic, called the Value of that Characteristic. (For instance, if Trinkets had a Size characteristic, then the "whatever it is we're auctioning today" may have a Size Value of 1.)

The normal range for a Characteristic is from 0 to 100, unless the Rule describing that Characteristic assigns a different range. It is possible for the range of a Characteristic to be infinite or semi-infinite. The default value for a Characteristic is either 0 or the lowest possible value for that Characteristic, whichever is lower, unless a different value is defined to be the default for that Characteristic.

The value of a Characteristic may only be changed as described by the Rules. If the Rules describe a Characteristic being "lost" or "gained" with respect to a given entity, then that entity's Characteristic Value is considered to be lowered or raised by the amount described(one, by default).

Rule 540.1/1
Characteristic: Harf
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

Players possess the Characteristic of Harf. The Harf Value for a Player starts at a default of 0, and has a range which encompasses any integral value.

Whenever a Player gains points from Rule 1112, eir Harf Value goes up by the number of points e gains thereby. A Player who is convicted of hogging the Harf loses 5 Harf; if an Inquisition is called and the verdict is 'No! He's going to share the Harf!', then the Supreme Inquisitor for that Hearing loses 5 Harf.

Whenever a proposal is declared harfy its author gains 1 Harf.

Rule 540.2/2
Basic Player Characteristics
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

Each Player has the following six Characteristics(as well as others that may be defined by other Rules): Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. The range of these Characteristics is between 3 and 18, and their Default Value is 10. The Basic Player Characteristics are Testable.

Initially, all players have the Default Values for each of these Characteristics; if a player has not done so, then at any time e may ask the Dungeonmaster [see below] to generate eir scores, which the Dungeonmaster may do by generating six values from 3 to 18 using three six-sided dice(preferably using the Dice Server)for each value. (That is, each Characteristic's value shall be the sum of three randomly generated numbers from 1 to 6.)

Rule 541/1
Characteristic Tests
JT (JT Traub)

Other rules may call for a test of a characteristic. A test of a characteristic is only valid if all objects to be tested contain the characteristic to be tested, and if the characteristic is defined as Testable.

When a rule calls for a Characteristic Test, the following procedure is performed by the Dungeon Master.

For each object to be tested, a Characteristic Roll is performed. A Characteristic Roll is defined as a random number generated such that it has the same distribution as that characteristic. [For instance to generate a characteristic roll for Strength one would use 3d6].

For each object the Characteristic Roll is compared subtracted from the Characteristic Value. The resulting number is the Test Value.

The object with the maximum Test Value is declared to have won the test.

[Example: JT has a STR of 12 and Alfvaen has a STR of 17. The Characteristic Roll for JT is 7 and the Characteristic Roll for Alfvaen is 14. The Test Value for JT is 5 (12-7) and the Test Value for Alfvaen is 3 (17 - 3). Therefor JT would win this hypothetical test.]

Rule 550/4
Honour System Rule Suite
JT (JT Traub)

[Honour System Rule Suite]

Every player has an Honour Characteristic with a Default Value of 0 and a range of -1000000 to 1000000

The Honour Characteristic of a player may be referred to as their Honour.

The Honour Characteristic is always an integer.

The rules in this rules suite take precedence over any other rules which deal with when Honour is gained or lost.

The Herald is the Custodian of the Honour System Rule Suite.

Rule 560/0
Contracts
JT (JT Traub)

A class of named entities known as Contracts exists.

Any player may create a Contract at any time by paying the Standard Harfer Fee, providing a unique name for it, and announcing the fact of its creation and whether or not it is a public Contract. If the Contract is a public Contract, the creator must also post the text of the Contract at this time.

If it is private, e must mail the text of the Contract to the General Contractor privately. The contract does not actually exist until the General Contractor publically acknowledges reciept of the text, which e must do within three days of recieving it.

When a Contract is created, the creator is considered to have signed it.

Any signer of a private contract may request the General Contract to forward that contract to another player and the General Contractor must do so.

Once a Contract is created, the text of it may not be altered.

For the signers of a Contract to destroy it requires an action of the entire set of signers of the Contract. Such an action occurs as if that set were an Organization and it were an Organizational Action.

A Contract may specify an expiration date. If a Contract does so, then on that date, the Contract is automatically destroyed. Such an expiration date may not be less than 1 month from the time of the creation of the Contract.

A Contract may specify a penalty clause for breaking any of the terms of the Contract. This penalty clause may only specify the loss of a positive number of points, tradeable entities or some combination thereof. If a penalty clause is not specified explicitly, it is considered to specify the loss of 5 points. If the clause specifies entities and the player who broke the terms of the Contract does not own that number or type of entities then that player shall lose 5 points in addition to any points specified by the penalty clause.

When a signer breaks a Contract any player (for a public Contract) or any other signer (for a private Contract) may point this fact out publically within 1 week of the action or inaction which broke the Contract. At the time this is pointed out, the penalty clause of the Contract will take effect. In no case may the penalty clause of any Contract be applied to any player more than one time in a calendar week for the same action or inaction.

No Contract will have any game effect until it has been signed by at least two players (including the creator)

Any player may sign a public Contract by paying the Standard Harfer Fee and signing it as a public action.

Any player may sign a private Contract by paying the Standard Harfer Fee and signing it as a public action. If the creator of the Contract agrees, then the Contract is signed by the player.

In addition to the penalty clause defined above, a Contract may specify a number of other clauses which either permit action, restrict action or require action. At no point may a Contract require or allow an action which would otherwise be prohibited by the rules.

A Contract is only ever binding upon the players who have signed it.

If a Contract is deemed Invalid by the General Contractor then it is destroyed.

A Contract may only be declared Stale according to the rules. Stale Contracts are intended to be ones which no longer have any effect on the game, or which have simply been neglected by the creator and/or signers. Any signer of the Contract may object to it being made Stale, at which time it ceases to be Stale. Any Contract which is Stale for 1 week is destroyed.

Rule 593/15
Ackanomic University
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

The Ackanomic University is the home of the wizardly arts.

The Office of Wizard is a Capital Office with one seat. When the office is in the Treasury or Somewhere Else, it is auctioned in a public Auction, with a minimum bid of A$100.

Rule 594/20
Blueprint Rule Suite
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

I. Discoveries are unownable entities. Players may create Discoveries by posting their name and text, and paying A$100 to the Treasury for research and development. The text must describe the behaviour of exactly one new type of Gadget, and the name must be legal and unique, or the creation fails.

II. A Discovery is said to be made by the player who posted its text. If a Rule creates a Discovery, authorship credit is given as listed by that Rule. If that Rule gives no authorship credit, then no authorship credit shall be given.

III. A Discovery is Debunked if, within 7 days of its creation, at least 4 different players have protested its creation in a public forum. Whenever a Discovery is Debunked, it is destroyed. If a Discovery is not Debunked after 7 days of its creation, then a new rule is created as a member of this rule suite, with the title "Blueprint: <name>" where <name> is the name of the Discovery, with authorship credit as described in section II, and with text identical to the text of the Discovery. The Discovery is then destroyed. Creation of a Blueprint does not create any instances of the type of Gadget described by that Blueprint.

IV. The term "Blueprint", as used in the rules, means a member of this rule suite.

V. The custodian of the Blueprint Rule Suite is the Wizard.

VI. Blueprints defer to all non-Blueprint rules, except as specified elsewhere in this rule. [This allows blueprints to claim precedence or defer to one another, and allows the Whamiol's trade restriction to work.]

VII. A Blueprint may only define the behavior and attributes of gadgets of the type which is named in its title, define ways in which such gadgets and their attributes may be manipulated, manipulate or destroy (but not create) such gadgets and/or their attributes, and place restrictions on how such gadgets may be created, destroyed, or otherwise manipulated. Restrictions of this last type do not defer to other rules by default.

Blueprints may not create, destroy, or manipulate any other entities, except in the ways that they direct their gadgets to do so.

[Follow this link for the Blueprints]

Rule 595/20
Gadgets
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

I. A Gadget's Blueprint is the Blueprint that defines the class of Gadget to which that Gadget belongs. If a Gadget's Blueprint exists, the Gadget behaves in the manner defined by the Blueprint, and may be manipulated in accordance with it. If a Gadget's Blueprint is repealed, the Gadget is destroyed.

II. Gadgets are tradeable entities. The owner of a Gadget may destroy it.

III. Gadgets may be created by rules, provided the rule specifies the quantity created, the Blueprint which defines its behaviour, and how ownership is to be determined. If ownership is to be determined by Auction, The Auction shall be conducted by the process described in Rule 516.

Rule 600/6
Winning Conditions
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

A player may only achieve a Winning Condition as described in the Rules. If any Rule besides this one, Rule 601, Rule 603, Rule 620, and Rule 666, refers to a player winning a Cycle, this shall be considered to be achieving a Winning Condition, and will not result in an actual Cycle win except as described by this Rule. A player cannot achieve a Winning Condition while e holds the Chartreuse Goose.

If a player believes emself to have achieved a Winning Condition, then e should submit a CFJ whose statement alleges that e has achieved a Winning Condition during the current Cycle. The rest of the CFJ should describe how the player thinks e has achieved a Winning Condition. (Such CFJ's, and only such CFJ's, are known as Cycle-Win CFJ's.)

When it ceases to be legal to appeal a particular Cycle-Win CFJ, if the final verdict is true, and the player who submitted the CFJ is a voting player at that time, then that player wins the cycle.

A Cycle Win CFJ shall be judged INVALID if the Scorekeeper has judged its author to have achieved a Winning Condition within the last 3 days, and no-one has yet objected to the Scorekeeper's announcement.

This rule takes precedence over all rules which mention winning a cycle where there is a conflict. This is true even if that player holds the Chartreuse Goose, as long as e did not do so when the Winning Condition was achieved.

Only Cycle-Win CFJs and Paradox Win CFJs are Winning Condition CFJs.

Rule 601/8
Winning By Paradox

A Call for Judgement whose statement alleges that changing the rules is impossible, or that a player action which would affect the game state appears equally legal and illegal is a "Paradox Win CFJ." Only those CFJs so specified by the rules are Paradox Win CFJs. When it ceases to be legal to appeal a particular Paradox Win CFJ, if the final verdict is true, and the player who submitted the CFJ is a voting player at that time, then that player wins the cycle. This takes precedence over Rule 600.

Rule 603/23
Winning by Points

Points are entities. It is possible for a Player to have a negative number of points.

The number of points a Player has is commonly referred to as his or her score; when it is specified that a Player's score is changed, the appropriate number of points are created or destroyed in order to accomplish the specified change.

The Magic Number is the number of points needed to win a cycle by points. The base value of the Magic Number is 379. The Magic Number, and its base value, may only be changed as specified by the rules.

A player achieves a Winning Condition at the instant their number of points first reaches or exceeds the Magic Number in any given Cycle, provided that no one else has previously had a score reach or exceed the Magic Number during that cycle. In addition to the process outlined in Rule 600, it is also possible for a player(other than the Scorekeeper) to win the Cycle if the Scorekeeper declares em to have satisfied the above condition. If no player objects to the Scorekeeper's announcement within three days, then the above-mentioned player wins the Cycle. (Otherwise, the player may still resort to CWCFJ as outlined in Rule 600.)

If two or more voting players reach the Magic Number at exactly the same time, as determined by the Scorekeeper, the Magic Number shall be increased by 100, or to 11 points above the highest player score, whichever is greater. None of the players shall achieve a Winning Condition at that time.

If two or more voting players reach the Magic Number at substantially the same time, and the Scorekeeper, in a good faith attempt, cannot determine which of the players reached it first, then the players are deemed to have reached the Magic Number at exactly the same time, and the preceding paragraph shall apply. Making this determination is a duty of the Scorekeeper.

Rule 605/9
Winning is Inherently Amusing (or Winning by Palindrome)
mr cwm (Eric Murray)

Upon each creation, via Proposal, of a Rule fulfilling all three of the following conditions:

(1) the Rule has a game effect in addition to its own addition to the Ackanomic Rule Set and any effect claimed under this Rule.

(2) each word in the Rule exists either in the Ackanomic Rule Set previous to the creation of the Rule, or in the Official Dictionary, provided that such dictionary exists and is not under the control of any Player.

(3) the text of the Rule is palindromic, that is, the text of the Rule would be the same, character by character, forward and backward if all alphabetic characters were lower-case, and anything other than alphabetic characters and numeric digits was removed.

the Player who submitted the Proposal that created the Rule shall:

(1) achieve a Winning Condition, if the Proposal which created the rule was non-Modest. This win, if it occurs, shall occur immediately after the score changes as a result of the Proposal being accepted are applied.

(2) receive the honorific title "Sage o' Doe Gas" to hold until such time as another Player achieves that title under this Rule.

Rule 607/2
Winning by Agenda
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)

If a voting player owns at least three Agenda Hats, and it is publicly knowable that the condition for each Agenda Hat e owns is true, and that player's score is greater than or equal to the sum of the weights of all of the agenda hats e owns, then the following will occur:

a) E will receive the title of Agent of KAOS. Any other player with this title loses it.
b) The owner of any Nemesis Eggplant with a condition that is the same as the condition of an agenda hat owned by the Agent of KAOS must pay 40 A$ to the Agent of KAOS.
c) All Agenda hats owned by the Agent of KAOS and all Nemesis eggplants with corresponding conditions are destroyed
d) The Agent of KAOS achieves a Winning Condition.
e) The Agent of KAOS has three days from when eir Cycle-Win CFJ becomes unappealable to publicly announce eir desire to be Illuminatus. If they do so the current Illuminatus is removed from office and the Agent of KAOS becomes the new Illuminatus. Otherwise the office of Illuminatus becomes vacant.

Additionally, any player who had owned a Nemesis Eggplant that was destroyed as above has eir score reset to -40 rather than 0 when scores are reset at the start of the next cycle. [See Rule 666]

Rule 611/7
Le Grand Fromage
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)

There exists a type of non-tradable entities known as cheeses. There are five varieties of cheeses. These are:

1. Stilton
2. Cheddar
3. Edam
4. Brie
5. Gouda

At any point any player may own at most one of each variety of cheese. If a player owns more than one of any given variety of cheese then all but one of them are destroyed. If ever a voting player owns one of each type of cheese then e will achieve a Winning Condition. If anyone wins a Cycle by this method then all cheeses are destroyed at the end of that Cycle.

A player may gain a cheese only by doing the following. If e does so the e is automatically given a cheese of the correct type.

A player receives a stilton if e the ten most recent proposals e authored for which valid voting results have been released were all accepted.

A player receives a cheddar if e has had three harfy proposals accepted since the adoption of this rule, or the most recent destruction of a cheese of this type belonging to this player; whichever is the most recent.

A player receives an edam if e has held five offices (not including Capital Offices) since the adoption of this rule, or the most recent destruction of a cheese of this type belonging to this player, or the players most recent impeachment; whichever is the most recent.

A player receives a gouda if e wins a game of grab a donkey, wins a game of party chess or wins three games from the games and contest containing five or more players (starting from the instant this rule is adopted or the time a cheese of this type belonging to this player as destroyed; whichever is more recent).

Rule 615/0
Win By World Domination
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

If a single Player (A) is Overlord of more than 60% of all Active Players, then Player (A) achieves a Winning Condition, provided that Player (A) did not win the previous Cycle by achieving a Winning Condition under the provisions of this rule. Player (A) also receives the title of Small Lab Mouse, if e does not already have it.

If anyone wins a Cycle by this method, then at the end of that Cycle all Thrall Attributes are set to "".

Rule 620/17
Chartreuse Goose
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Let a unique, nontradeable, non-mimsy entity exist named the Chartreuse Goose.

A player who possesses the Chartreuse Goose may not win the Cycle except as specified under Rule 600. This clause takes precedence over any other rule which establishes winning conditions.

The player possessing the Chartreuse Goose is responsible for feeding it. At such time that officers' salaries are paid, The Standard Harfer Fee shall be deducted from the account of the player then possessing the Chartreuse Goose, if such a player exists. He may post a public message describing exactly what he has fed the Goose. Otherwise, it shall be assumed that the Goose has eaten grass, much like cows eat grass. If this payment would force a player to go into debt, the Standard Harfer Fee is not paid, but instead the Goose becomes grumpy and bites its owner, inflicting a 9-point penalty.

Once per calendar week, the Goose-holder may spend the Standard Harfer Fee to treat the Goose to some luxury (feather preening, an extra-large meal, a trip to the movies, etc.). If he does so, the Goose has a 10% chance of taking pity on its owner and flying Somewhere Else. Whether or not the goose flies away is determined by the officer in charge of random things.

The Chartreuse Goose (hereafter called "Goose") is transferred as specified below. Other rules may specify other ways for it to be transferred.

Conditions upon which the Goose is transferred:

1) Upon a verdict of other than TRUE on a Winning Condition CFJ, the initiator of the CFJ receives the Goose from wherever it is. If the initiator already has the Goose, however, they shall transfer an A$60 court fee to the Clerk of the Court.

2) Upon a verdict on a Winning Condition CFJ being overturned to TRUE, the Goose goes Somewhere Else, if and only if the player possessing it was the initiator of the CFJ in question. If this judgement is not overruled, then the player who called for judgement is declared the winner of the cycle; the win occurring at the time it becomes illegal to appeal the CFJ under the current rules.

Each of the following may be performed as a public action. Each of these actions will fail if it is attempted between the time a Winning Condition CFJ submitted by the Goose owner is publically knowable to have been judged TRUE, and the last instant that CFJ may legally be appealed.

3) A player who possesses the Goose and has done so for at least 7 days may pay A$200 to the Treasury and cause it to go Somewhere Else.

4) A player who possesses the Goose and has done so for at least 30 days may pay A$75 to the Treasury and transfer the Goose to the single active player with the lowest score. The player receiving the Goose receives A$75 from the Treasury. This option is not available if more than one active player has the lowest score. The receiving player may not decline the transfer.

5) A player who possesses the Goose may pay A$350 to the Treasury and transfer it to any other active player of their choice. The receiving player may not decline the transfer.

6) A player possessing a Chartreuse Goose Egg may take the Goose off the hands of any player who possesses it, provided the Goose owner agrees to the transaction, and pays a mutually agreed upon amount of currency (of at least A$50) to the Treasury. The Egg owner will receive from the Treasury the same amount that the Goose owner payed in, as compensation.

7) Upon a player who possesses the Goose achieving any of the following titles, the Goose is transferred Somewhere Else: Commander of the Blue Cross, Officer of the Blue Cross, Sage o'Doe Gas, Agent of KAOS, Angry Villager. If the event which granted one of these titles also would have established a winning condition had the player not had the Goose, this transfer is deemed to have occurred an infinitesimal amount of time after that event.

Rule 666/32
End of Cycle
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)

Upon a Cycle being won as described by Rule 600 or 601, the following steps occur, in order:

a) Ackanomic play is suspended.

b) All Chartreuse Goose Eggs, Right-Handed Grapefruit and Agenda Hats that are not being worn are destroyed. All Nemesis Eggplants with the same condition as an Agenda Hat that was destroyed in this manner are destroyed.

c) The winner is given the title of winner of the cycle, and a Right-Handed Grapefruit and a Champion's Cloak are created in that player's possession. If this results in his having two Champion's Cloaks, one of them is instantly transformed into a Badge of Glory.

d) All players who have zero or fewer points are given a Chartreuse Goose Egg.

e) If the amount of A$s in circulation plus the value of all extant Trinkets exceeded the amount in the Treasury at the time this winner was declared, the following shall occur:

i) Excluding the winner, all entities with a Total Wealth greater than zero shall transfer 10% of eir Total Wealth to the Treasury.

ii) All entities with a Total Wealth greater than zero, shall be placed on The List in decreasing order of Total Wealth.

iii) The entity appearing highest on The List, shall transfer 5% of eir total wealth to the player lowest on The List and both entities shall be removed from The List.

iv) If there are at least two entities and at least one player are still on The List step iii is repeated.

f) Each Player is awarded A$ equal to his point total.

g) Each player's score is set to zero.

h) If the cycle currently ending has exceeded 30 days in length, all players who have been vacationing for the entire cycle are removed from the game as if they have quit.

i) If the cycle was won by points (i.e. the Winning Condition was due to Rule 603), then amend Rule 603 to change the base value of the Magic Number to the smallest prime number greater than (the current Magic Number*1.2). If the last two cycles were not won by points, then amend Rule 603 to change the base value of the Magic Number to the smallest prime number greater than (the current Magic Number*0.9).

j) The game cycle number is incremented, and the Magic Number is reset to its base value.

k) All players who are in Gaol are released from Gaol. All players who are in the Ackanomic Afterlife are relocated to their homes.

l) If the game state is such that the single winner of the last cycle would immediately win again upon the resumption of Ackanomic play, the Chartreuse Goose is transferred to that player.

m) All events specified by other rules to occur at the end of the cycle occur, in the numeric order of the rule that defines the event [see rules 593, 611 and 670].

n) Ackanomic play resumes.

Rule 667/8
Fat Lady
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

The unique, unownable, entity known as the Fat Lady exists.

The Fat Lady shall sing only if a player wins a Cycle. The Speaker is required to announce that the Fat Lady is singing within a reasonable time of a winner being declared, and the Fat Lady will not sing until the Speaker announces that she is doing so.

The Fat Lady's singing will endure for exactly one day, or until any player publically posts an original limerick politely asking her to stop, whichever comes first.

Any player who possesses both the Great Trombone of Ackanomia, and the Great Tuba of Ackanomia, may accompany her, provided they publically post an original lyrical composition of 8 or more lines while she is singing, for her to sing, and provided they were not the player who most recently accompanied her as described in this rule. Upon doing so, a Bonus Vote shall be created and transferred to the player. It is considered good form for the song to contain at least one truly deplorable pun.

Rule 668/4
Eggs and Fruit
ThinMan (John Bollinger)

A Chartreuse Goose Egg is a nameless, tradeable entity. A player who owns a Chartreuse Goose Egg may reduce his own score to zero at any time by informing the Scorekeeper that he is doing so, provided that his score is greater than zero. Chartreuse Goose Eggs have no other power.

The Right-Handed Grapefruit is a unique, nontradeable entity. A player who owns a Right-Handed Grapefruit may at any time make Right-Handed Grapefruit Juice (a tradeable, potable entity; the action of frinking it destroys it).

Rule 669/3
Marks of the Champion
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

Champion's Cloaks and Badges of Glory are nontradeable entities. Champion's Cloaks are Garments.

A Champion's Cloak is a regal garment of the color(s) and design of its owner's choice, while Badges of Glory are elaborate medals of various designs. (It is customary, though not required, for the owner of either of these entities to describe it within 3 days of acquiring it.)

A player may request to be called, "Exalted One," or the honorific of his choice while he wears any of these objects. It is not necessary to honor such requests.

Rule 670/10
Commission d'Arts
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) Upon the end of a cycle which exceeded 30 days in length, or as otherwise directed by the rules, The "Commission d'Arts" (Commission) shall begin session, which shall last for 7 days. The Senators shall be the Commissioners, thus composing this body. Exception: The Commission shall not be called if it has been less than 60 days since any previous one has been called.

2) The Commission (as represented by one of its members) shall publically post a report listing 4 Silver Moon Nominees, which the Commission decided on using the standard procedures for Senatorial decision making. A Nominee must be a work of art from Acka's past, such as a Silly Vacation Hat description, Phoebe post, Gaoler poem, Prosthetic Forehead, etc. Rules, Proposals, and other written works are also permissible, but are discouraged as Nominees, unless they are truly meritorious. One constraint is that the Nominee must be publically accessible from a web page maintained by the Web-Harfer. Material created by non-active players is discouraged as a Nominee.

3) Each Nominee in a given report must be unique, but Nominees from a previous report may appear on the current one, except that no Nominee which previously won a vote under this rule may be a Nominee again.

4) If the Commission fails to produce a report in accordance with this rule, then all the Commissioners who did not vote in favor of any proposed report are placed in Contempt. All other Commissioners are fined 2 points.

5) Upon the issuance of the report, a Hearing is called. The valid responses are the Nominees, as listed in the Commission's report. The winning Nominee is the Nominee indicated by the verdict of the Hearing (if any).

6) Upon a winning Nominee being announced, the author (or player who originally posted the material, in the case of something like Phoebe's wisdom) of the material is awarded a Silver Moon, and a cash prize of A$75, if they are a player.

7) The Silver Moon recipient, if an active player, is required to make an acceptance speech, not to exceed 10,000 words, unless they are in Gaol, in which case they will be represented by a cardboard cutout on wheels, which will lower the whole tone of the occasion, and they will lose 5 points for detracting from the festivities (although they still receive the above awards, of course).

8) It is a duty of the Web-Harfer to so note on the web pages which material has won a Silver Moon for its recipient.

9) Silver Moons are non-tradeable entities. They may only be created and awarded in accordance with the Rules. When one is required for this occasion, it is made by the Frobozz Magic Medal Company, Ackanomic Division.

Rule 671/3
Nemesis Eggplants and Agenda Hats
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)

Nemesis Eggplants are ownable Entities. Each Nemesis Eggplant has a condition associated with it.

Agenda Hats are ownable Headwear. Each Agenda Hat has a condition and a weight (which must be an integer,) associated with it. No player may own an agenda hat with a condition e authored or for which e owns corresponding Nemesis Eggplant. Agenda hats may be Silly as described by the rules. They may be either visible or hidden, (but not both.) The owner of a hidden Agenda Hat may make it visible by publicly posting the condition associated with it. Visible Agenda Hats are tradable. Only visible Agenda Hats may be worn. No player may wear more than three Agenda Hats at any given time. The author of an Agenda Hat's condition may publicly post a description of that Agenda Hat.

If player who is wearing a Silly Agenda Hat posts a public message that does not contain the words, "wearing a Silly Agenda Hat," that Silly Agenda Hat falls off and is no longer being worn.

If the owner of a Nemesis Eggplant is ever On Ice, then all of eir Nemesis Eggplants are randomly redistributed. These Eggplants shall go, if possible, to players who own one or two Nemesis Eggplants; if not, they shall go to players who own no Nemesis Eggplants. If there are no such players, then the Nemesis Eggplants are destroyed, as well as their corresponding Agenda Hats.

If the owner of an Agenda Hat is ever On Ice, then all of eir Agenda Hats shall be transferred to the Mad Hatters.

Rule 675/2
Mercury Poisoning
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

The Mad Hatters is an Organization. It is permitted to own and trade A$ and Agenda Hats. The Mad Hatters at all times owns a More Than Human. Beep, Blip and Bonk are three unownable entities. Beep, Blip and Bonk become members of the Mad Hatters, if they are not currently members. Beep, Blip and Bonk always have eir support proxied to The Mad Hatters. Beep, Blip and Bonk may express eir consent in the Public Forum by a message from the Illuminatus which indicates the consent of Beep, Blip and/or Bonk.

The Mad Hatters automatically approve any trade that satisfies one or more of the following forms, provided that the trade is possible:
1) A player trades a Visible Agenda Hat to the Mad Hatters in exchange for A$1.
2) A player trades A$10 to the Mad Hatters in exchange for a Visible Agenda Hat, and the player involved in the trade was not the last player to trade this particular Agenda Hat to the Mad Hatters.

If the Mad Hatters have been in possession of a given Visible Agenda Hat for more than 7 days, and a player points this fact out, then that Visible Agenda Hat and its complementary Nemesis Eggplant are destroyed.

Rule 701/5
Crime
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

To break the Rules is to commit the Crime of Blatant Disregard.

To perform an action specified by the Rules to be Illegal is the Crime of Illegal Action. An action specified by the Rules to be "impermissible" is, by contrast, impossible. Although such an action does not occur it is not in itself a crime.

If, however, the illegality or impossibility of a publically knowable change to the game state goes unreported for at least 14 days, the action or inaction which caused that change is considered legal, but it is still a Crime. The change is deemed to have occurred retroactively to the time of the attempt. The preceding does not apply to the case of events which occur automatically, but whose occurrence is not (or erroneously) reported [e.g., loss of the Great Trombone]. This paragraph has precedence over rule 103 (Retroactive Effects).

Failure of an Officer to perform a Duty of an Office e holds is the Crime of Non-Performance. The act of performing a Duty incorrectly is the Crime of Malpractice.

Rule 709/18
Gaol
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

This rule has precedence over all other rules, except where this rule explicitly defers to other rules.

The Gaol has an Evidence Room that is a Location unlimited in capacity. The Gaoler shall place items in the Evidence Room as directed by the Rules. Items in the Evidence Room belong to no Player. Items in the Evidence Room may not be manipulated in any way except as explicitly permitted by the Rules. This paragraph takes precedence over R505 (Treasury and AckaDollars) insofar as it is necessary to prevent the unowned items from being placed in the Treasury.

The Location known as the Gaol is hereby created. It is a cramped building. A player may not leave the Gaol except by the application of a Rule which explicitly defines a procedure or condition for the player to be released or removed from the Gaol.

If a player is in the Gaol, they shall not count for the purposes of determining Quorum.

Players in the Gaol may not be selected to judge CFJ's, to be mentors, to find Phoebe's Matchbox, or to be Mad Sculptors. If a player has been selected to judge a CFJ and has not yet accepted or declined the appointment when e enters the Gaol, e is considered to have declined the appointment as judge.

If a player is in the Gaol, they may perform no game actions except those on the following numbered list and those allowed by Rule 101. If a particular action on this list is not defined elsewhere the rules, however, it is considered to be "prohibited". This clause defers to any other rule which regulates any action on the following list:

1) A voting player in the Gaol may make a Call for Judgement (CFJ).

2) A voting player in the Gaol may make a Call for Criminal Judgement (CFCJ).

3) A player in the Gaol may make an Appeal for Pardon (AFP), as long as that player is not the President.

4) A player in the Gaol may bribe the Gaoler, if such an officer exists.

5) A player in Gaol may change their player state.

6) A player in the Gaol may make a Public Apology.

7) A player in the Gaol may post up to 3 public messages a day.

8) A player in the Gaol may remove a Puppet Head.

9) A player in Gaol may play a Skeleton Key Otzma Card.

10) A Player in Gaol may appeal a CFJ or CFCJ, provided it is otherwise legal for him to do so.

Note that "game action" means anything where the player must act. Examples include voting, submitting proposals, AOJs, chewing the Gumball, etc. Examples of what this does NOT include are things like gaining points, passively receiving currency or the Magic Potato, or winning.

A player is released from the Gaol if and when their sentence expires. Other rules may specify other conditions under which a player is released.

Rule 710/19
Criminal Justice
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

This rule defines the Call for Criminal Judgement (CFCJ) procedure. Except as detailed in this rule, it shall be like the Call for Judgement in all ways, including how it is submitted, how judges are selected, how it is appealed, etc. Any changes to the CFJ procedure will automatically be "inherited" by the CFCJ procedure when they do not contradict the exceptions detailed in this rule.

1) The player submitting the CFCJ shall pay the standard Harfer Fee.

2) A CFCJ will be clearly labelled as such, to distinguish it from an ordinary CFJ.

3) Its "statement" shall be "X committed the Crime of Y on Z", where X is replaced with the name of a registered player, Y is replaced by the name of a Crime as defined in the current ruleset, and Z is replaced by a date between 0 and 30 days prior to the current date.

4) Its "reasoning" section shall show how Player X committed the Crime of Y on the date Z. CFCJs shall only be judged TRUE if the Crime Y was committed by player X on date Z. CFCJs which do not detail exactly one Crime, in the judgement of the judge, shall be judged INVALID.

5) It shall include a "suggested penalty" section, which is a recommended penalty to be imposed on Player X, should a verdict of TRUE be reached. More than one class of penalty may be recommended. The valid classes of penalties are:
a) a DEDUCTION of 0 or more points from Player X's score.
b) a FINE of 1 or more A$ payable by Player X to the Treasury.
c) a SENTENCE in the Gaol of 1 or more days for Player X.
d) the TRANSFERENCE of one or more trinkets, gadgets, or A$ in the possession of Player X to the initiator of the CFCJ.
e) the EXPULSION of Player X from the game.
f) a PUBLIC APOLOGY of 1 or more lines by Player X.
g) the REMOVAL of Player X from one or more Organizations to which e currently belongs.
h) The IMPEACHMENT of Player X from a single specific office which e currently holds.

6) Before the result of a CFCJ is made public the player who is alleged to have committed a crime may add their own reasoning and claims of mitigating circumstance to the official publication of the result by sending it either to the person in charge of CFCJs, or to the public forum.

7) Upon a verdict of FALSE on the CFCJ, no penalty shall be imposed upon Player X.

8a) Upon a verdict of TRUE, the judge may retain or alter the recommended penalty. The result will become the actual penalty. This will be imposed following a 3 day "grace period".

8b) If the penalty was a SENTENCE in the Gaol, player X shall be moved from their current Location to the Gaol at the end of the grace period, at which time their sentence will start. If, however, player X was already in the Gaol at the end of the grace period, the sentence they are currently serving shall be increased by the length of the new sentence.

8c) If the penalty specifies a TRANSFERENCE of any entity which it is not permissible to transfer, that part of the penalty shall be void, but such shall not necessarily void other parts of the penalty.

8d) If the penalty includes a PUBLIC APOLOGY, Player X is required to post a public message of at least the court-required length apologizing for his criminal ways. This should be done within three days of the expiration of his grace period, and it should have "Acka: Public Apology" as its subject line. Failure to comply will result in the addition of three days to that player's Gaol sentence, if he is in Gaol, or the immediate transfer of that player to the Gaol for a three-day incarceration if he is not in Gaol. Self-abasement is especially encouraged in such a message.

9a) All other verdicts shall work as they would for a CFJ. Any verdict may be appealed as with a CFJ.

9b) If a TRUE verdict is not upheld on an appeal, any penalties, except SENTENCE, are reversed, effective the time of the appeal verdict. The amount of any penalty of SENTENCE is subtracted from player X's current sentence (if any, assume 0 if none), and the player is released from Gaol if their resultant sentence is non-positive. The player is also paid A$10 times the amount of the SENTENCE, up to a maximum of A$200.

9c) If a TRUE verdict is upheld on an appeal, the appellate court or judge may impose a penalty different from the previously imposed penalty. If such an appeal verdict is delivered during the grace period, the new penalty is imposed at the end of that grace period instead of the original one (ie, the grace period is not adjusted). If the appeal verdict is delivered after the grace period ended (previous penalty already imposed), then the appropriate transactions are performed to adjust the penalty. In this case, if either penalty involved a SENTENCE in the Gaol, then the difference is tacked on or subtracted from player X's current sentence. If the result is non-positive, player X is released from the Gaol if they are there. If the result is positive, and player X is not in Gaol, they are placed there immediately.

10) No more than one CFCJ may be brought against a single player for a single instance of committing a given Crime. No one may be tried more than once for the same action even if it commits more than one Crime.

Rule 711/5
Appeal for Pardon
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Any player may make an Appeal for Pardon (AFP), provided all of the following are true:

1) The player is not the President.
2) The player has had a verdict of TRUE reached against them within the past 3 days on a CFCJ, OR the player is in the Gaol, OR the player is Guilty of Patent Infringement.

An AFP must be made to the public forum. From the time it is made public, the President has 3 days to GRANT or DENY the pardon. If there is no President, the President is vacationing, or the President does not act on the AFP within 3 days, the AFP is considered DENYed.

If the AFP is GRANTed, the penalty from the most recent CFCJ against the player is waived, and/or the player is immediately released from the Gaol, if they are in the Gaol, or the player will no longer be said to be Guilty of Patent Infringement.

Rule 715/3
in Contempt
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

A player who is held in Contempt shall be required to either pay a fine of A$100 to the treasury, or be placed in the Gaol for three days. The player who is in Contempt is allowed to choose which of the two options he would like. If the player does not make a choice within three days of being held in Contempt it will be assumed that he has chosen the Gaol sentence.

A player shall cease to be held in Contempt once a choice as been made per above.

Rule 716/5
Patent Infringement
mr cwm (Eric Murray)

When a rule change occurs that causes a new named entity or named class of entities to exist, and a Player owns an entity with the same name as the new entity or class, and said entity was created after the rule change was publically declared(i.e. after a Proposal was distributed by the Promoter, a CSR was announced by the CSRR, a State of Crisis Resolution Document was issued by the President, etc.)but before the rule change took effect, that Player shall be Guilty of Patent Infringement.

When a Player becomes Guilty of Patent Infringement they shall also be held in Contempt.

Rule 721/6
Annoyances
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Being Annoying is a Crime. This rule defines the only ways to be Annoying:

I. Spam

Pursuing a game strategy which entails, as one of its effects, causing excessive amounts of messages to be sent to the public fora [in the judgement of a judge] is Annoying.

II. Malenkai's Loophole

Exploiting lexical equivalence to alter, or attempt to alter, the interpretation of a word or phrase in any Ackanomic document, [in the judgement of a judge], is Annoying.

III. New Player Embezzlement

Intentionally causing a newbie to lose currency, is Annoying. It is also Evil.

IV. Disrespecting the Harfers

Showing a lack of respect to the officers who harf the game when they are acting in their capacity as officers, or refusing to acknowledge the work done by such functional officers is Annoying. It is also very impolite.

V. Concealing Public Messages

Attempting through the format of a public message (e.g. excessive whitespace) to conceal a public action is Annoying.

Rule 750/1
Thrall: Definition
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

Each Player has a Thrall Attribute. At all times a Player's thrall attribute is either the name of a Player or the null string (i.e. ""). If a Player (A) changes their name, then any players whose thrall attribute was the old name of Player (A), then their thrall attribute becomes the new name of Player (A).

When a new player joins the game, their Thrall Attribute is set to "".

When a Player (B) leaves the game, any Player whose Thrall Attribute is the name of Player (B) has their Thrall Attribute set to "".

If Player (C) has Thrall Attribute which is the name of Player (D), then Player (D) may be referred to as Player (C)'s Overlord.

Rule 752/0
Thrall-Related Etymology
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

If a player (A) is to "gain a Random Thrall", then one player is chosen at random from those who do not have player (A) as their Overlord. The player chosen has their Thrall attribute set to the name of player (A).

If a player (B) is to "lose a Random Thrall", then one player is chosen at random from those who have player (B) as their Overlord. The player chosen has their Thrall attribute set to "". If such a choice is not possible, as player (B) is the overlord of no players, then player (B) is placed in Contempt.

Any random determinations required by this rule shall be performed by the Thrallmaster.

This rule takes precedence over any conflicting clauses of any other rule which specifies how random determinations take place.

Rule 755/1
Enthrallments
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

Players may indicate Potential Enthrallments by privately notifying the Thrallmaster. A Potential Enthrallment consists of a Player and a Proposal, provided that the author of the Proposal and of the Potential Enthrallment are the same, and the Proposal is in its voting period. Each Proposal may only appear in a single Potential Enthrallment; if a Proposal appears in multiple supposed Potential Enthrallments, only the first one which satisfies the above conditions shall be valid.

When a Proposal which is part of a Potential Enthrallment is accepted, the Player mentioned in the Potential Enthrallment has their Thrall Attribute set to the name of the author of that Proposal.

When a Proposal which is part of a Potential Enthrallment is rejected, the author of that Proposal has their Thrall Attribute set to the name of the Player mentioned in the Potential Enthrallment.

When a Proposal which is part of a Potential Enthrallment is retracted, that Potential Enthrallment is destroyed.

Rule 760/0
Purchasing Thralls
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

A player may, at most once in any calendar week, make a Thrall Purchase as a public action. To make such a purchase, a list of players must be specified. If the player has sufficient A$ for the action to succeed (as defined below), then the Thrall Attribute of each player in the list is set to the name of the player making the Thrall Purchase, and the specified amount of A$ is transferred to the Treasury. If the player purchasing does not have sufficient A$, the attempt fails, and that player may not make a Thrall Purchase in that calendar week.

The specified amount of A$ for a player who is Overlord of n Players to make a Thrall Purchase of a list of k People is equal to (n+1)*(k)*(k)*10 times the Standard Harfer Fee.

[Examples: Player who is overlord of no-one purchases 3 player's thrall: Cost is 1*3*3*10*SHF = 90*SHF (= $2250 at time of printing) Player who is overlord of 17 people purchases 1 player's thrall: Cost is (17+1)*1*1*10*SHF = 180*SHF (= $4500 at time of printing).]

Rule 765/0
Circularity in Enthrallment
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

If there is a set of n players, labelled P1, P2, ... Pn, with n > 2, such that Player Pi is the Overlord of Player Pi+1 for every i = 1, 2, ..., n-1, and Player Pn is the Overlord of Player P1, then those players are in a Thrall Cycle.

If any player in a Thrall Cycle publicly states that "The Vicious Circle Must be Abolished", then all people in that Thrall Cycle have their Thrall Attributes set to "".

Rule 801/0
Geography
Vynd (John McCoy)

The geography of Ackanomic is, for the most part, a mystery to its inhabitants. Few maps have survived from the time of the Ancients. Frequent earthquakes and the treacherous Wilds of Ackanomic make exploration and cartography difficult. What little is known is described in this and other Rules.

Ackanomic consists of many regions. A region is a collection of locations which are close to each other in Ackanomic. No single location can be found in more than one region. Locations are all assumed to be in the City, unless specified otherwise. If it is clear from context that a location is not in the City, but its exact region is unclear, then it is in The Outer Territories. Regions are not themselves locations, no region can be inside, or part of, another region.

The center of Ackanomic is The Lonely Mountain, which is a location that owns itself. The Lonely Mountain can be found on a Kaa of land in the City, which it also owns. No player may visit, own, or otherwise alter The Lonely Mountain and its Kaa unless explicitly permitted to by the Rules.

If a player or other entity enters, voluntarily or otherwise, a region, without having a location specified as their destination, then they go to the default location for that region, or one of them, chosen at random, if there is more than one. If the region has no default location, then that attempt to enter it fails.

The City is a region of Ackanomic located the area surrounding The Lonely Mountain. It is where all Kaas of Land and all Buildings are located, unless otherwise specified by the Rules. The default location for the City is the Library.

The Wilds of Ackanomic are a region which surrounds the City. Full of strange plants and animals, they can be quite dangerous to visit. The default location for The Wilds of Ackanomic is the wilds, which is a very large common location that consists of all the land in The Wilds of Ackanomic that is not specified to be a location of its own.

Beyond the Wilds of Ackanomic is the region known only as the Outer Territories.

Rule 810/7
Locations
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) A Rule that defines an entity or class of entity may specify that the entity is a Location. Unless otherwise specified, a Location may contain any number of players. Instances of Locations are entities, and are unique, unless otherwise specified. A Location may only have properties, or be given properties, as specified by the Rules.

2) A player must be in exactly one Location at any one time. A player may only leave, or be removed from, a Location as specified by the Rules. A player may only enter, or be placed in, a Location as specified by the Rules. Locations are unowned unless conditions for ownership, as specified by the Rules, have been met and are maintained.

3) If a Rule specifies that a player enters a Location, they leave their current Location, unless there is some other restriction which would prevent them from leaving the current Location [e.g. Gaol]. In this case they actually do not enter the destination Location; they remain where they are.

4) A Location may be specified as a Common Location. Players may leave and enter such Locations freely, provided they meet any specific conditions that may be defined for the Common Location.

5) If a player leaves or is removed from, any Location, and it is unspecified to which Location that they go, they go to their Home, if it exists.

6) If a player leaves a Location without specifying a destination, or their location is otherwise undefined, and they cannot go to their Home, then they go to The Wilds of Ackanomic.

7) Let the common location known as the Ackanomian River, referred to as the river, exist deep in the wilds. No player may enter the river, as it is a rapidly moving stream with many rocks. No player may cross the river or otherwise move from one side to the other except as specified in the rules. Players with flying may cross the river. [It is possible that with the proper equipment, one could white-water raft down the Ackanomian River.]

7a) On the other side of the river is as yet unexplored land. This land is currently unnamed and is not part of Ackanomia. This land is not Common. Although this land may be visited if a player can cross the stream, it may not be bought, built upon, or otherwise altered except by rules which specify that they apply to this land. [It is rumored that this foreign land is littered with machines of war left over from a battle between the ancients.]

7b) This section, including anything in this rule whose section number begins with 7, takes precedence over all rules regarding land, buildings or transportation except for rule 812, to which it defers.

8) Somewhere Else

8a) Somewhere Else is an unownable and unmappable Location. Entities may not be transferred to and/or from Somewhere Else except whereas such transfers are explicitly permitted by the Rules. No player may ever be Somewhere Else.

9) Any player rejoining the game goes to the Location they were in when they left the game, if it exists, otherwise they go to their Home, if that exists, otherwise they go to the Hall of Elders. Any player joining the game for the first time goes to their Home.

Rule 812/2
Down the river
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)

There exists a unique non-tradable entity known as the Great Raft of Ackanomic. Every other Saturday it is transferred to a random active player.

There exists a unique non-tradable entity known as the Great Oars of Ackanomic. Every other Saturday it is transferred to a random active player.

A white water rafting team (hereafter "team") must consist of exactly four players, all of whom must have expressed their consent to be a member of the team in a public forum.

If any valid white water rafting team expresses a wish to attempt to go white water rafting on the Ackanomian River (this is done by any member of the team expressing the wish) and both the Great Raft of Ackanomic and the Great Oars of Ackanomic are owned by members of the team then the attempt goes ahead. Otherwise the attempt fails.

If the attempt goes ahead then one of the following occurs at random:

1) The members of the team have polluted the river and are judged to have broken conservation laws. They are all placed in gaol for one day.

2) The team gets lost in the Wilds of Ackanomia. It takes them a week to find their way home during which time they may not enter any other locations or make another attempt at white water rafting down the Ackanomian River.

3) The team gets part way down the river and then capsizes. They all make it back to the shore but not without loss. Each member of the team loses a random gadget. If any member of the team owns no gadgets, e loses two random trinkets. If e owns no gadgets and fewer than two trinkets e loses all the trinkets e owns. For the purposes of this rule lost trinkets and gadgets are considered to have been destroyed.

4) The team gets part way down the river and then capsizes. All members of the team bang their heads on the bottom of the river, suffer a concussion and are unable to remember who they are for a week. During this week, or until one of em fails to do so, every member of the team must start every public message e writes with the word "Moo!" , end every public message e writes with the words "Quack, quack?" and include at least 5 exclamation marks (since it is well known that "Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind" [Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man]). If e fails to do so e is declared to have "Ignored the laws of nature". Ignoring the laws of nature is a crime.

5) The team successfully white water rafts down the Ackanomian River and enters a cave at the end. In this cave each member of the team receives one random Boon of the Ancients. All members of the team are given the title of "Daring Adventurer" and keep the title until another team succeeds in white water rafting down the Ackanomian River. All members of the team also gain 7 points.

Any player can make only one attempt per calendar week at white water rafting down the Ackanomian River.

Rule 820/2
Land
Vynd (John McCoy)

Kaas of Land are tradeable entities. A Kaa of Land is one Kaa in size. Kaas of Land are all separate Locations, located in the City. Kaas of Land are Common Locations unless specified otherwise. Unowned Kaas of Land are also known as common land. The exact number of Kaas in the City varies, as earthquakes and other developments can create and destroy them. The number of Kaas must always be the square of an odd integer greater than 12, however. Kaas are never in the Treasury, even if unowned.

Kaas of Land have positions relative to each other. They are square in shape, and arranged in a grid pattern, which is itself square. Thus every Kaa is bordered on all 4 sides by another Kaa of land, or by another Location specified by the Rules.

Since ancient times, the peoples of Acka have used The Lonely Mountain, at the center of Ackanomic, as their reference for describing the positions of Kaas. Each Kaa can be referred to through the use of a coordinate system with The Lonely Mountain at the center. The coordinates of a Kaa of land are how many kaas to the North, or South, the Kaa is from The Lonely Mountain, prefaced by an N if it is North or an S if it is South. This is followed by a second number, the number of kaas to the East or West the Kaa is from The Lonely Mountain, prefaced by an E for East or W for West. Thus a Kaa which is 4 kaas North and 3 kaas West of The Lonely Mountain has the coordinates of (N4 W3). If a kaa is directly East or West of The Lonely Mountain, then the first number of its coordinates is a zero, prefaced by an N. If a Kaa of Land is directly North or South of The Lonely Mountain, then the second number of its coordinates is zero, prefaced by a W. The Lonely Mountain's coordinates are always (N0 W0).

Rule 821/0
Real Estate
Vynd (John McCoy)

A player may purchase an empty, unowned Kaa of Land for A$50. He must specify the position of this Kaa, in terms of its coordinates.

A player may purchase an unowned Kaa of land with a building on it only if that building is not mentioned in the Rules. The cost of this land is A$50 plus half the cost of the building (including the cost of any towers) on that land. If purchasing a Kaa of land would cause the building on it to be destroyed, then the player must instead pay A$50 plus the cost of the destruction of the building to purchase the Kaa.

Players may sell Kaas that they own to the Treasury for A$25 each. They cannot sell a Kaa in this manner that has a building on it, unless they are selling all of the Kaas on which that building is located.

Rule 825/15
Buildings
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

I. Definition

i) Buildings are a class of named tradeable entity.

ii) Each type of building has the following land requirements and construction costs:

Size        Land Construction
Small          1         A$50
Cosy           2        A$200
Classy         4        A$450
Lavish         6        A$800
Sumptuous      8       A$1250
Extravagant   12       A$7200

iii) Buildings may have a description.

iv) A Building is either Attached, Tethered or Floating and may only change between these states as described in the rules. A building is in which ever state it was most recently placed in by the rules. If a building is reattached it becomes Attached.

v) Attached and Tethered buildings are said to occupy the number of kaa required for eir size (as stated above). Floating buildings occupy no land.

II. Construction

i) Provided that e owns enough unoccupied land to accommodate the new building, an entity may construct a building by paying the appropriate fee, as a public action, at which time an Attached building is created in eir possession.

ii) An entity may increase the size of a building e owns by paying the difference in the construction costs between its current size and its intended size, provided that e owns sufficient unoccupied land to accommodate the extra land the building will take up. Extravagant buildings cannot be upgraded

iii) The land occupied by an Attached building always forms a contiguous block unless the rule permit otherwise for a particular building.

III. Real Estate Act 1842

i) An action which would cause a building and the land to which that building is attached to belong to more than one entity is impossible. This section has precedence over any rule which would allow such a action.

ii) Buildings which are unowned are destroyed unless they are defined in the rules.

iii) A building which occupies a group of kaa which is not wholly owned by the owner of the building starts Floating.

iv) Only one Building (except for towers) may exist on any given kaa of land.

v) Regardless of ownership, land and the buildings that reside on it are not considered to be in the treasury.

IV. Description

i) The owner of a building may change its name or description as a public action provided e unambiguously identifies the affected building. Giving a description of the house which is not in accord with the rules is the Crime of Acting Like a Realtor.

ii) A player may designate a single building e owns as eir home. A building designated as a player's home is a Common Location that may only be entered with the permission of its owner.

iii) An organisation may designate a single building it owns as its Headquarters. A building designated as an organisation's Headquarters is a Common Location that may only be entered by member's of that organisation.

V. Destruction

i) The entity which owns a building may destroy it as a public action.

ii) When a building is destroyed any towers attached to it are also destroyed.

iii) If a building is destroyed its owner receives 10% of its construction costs and it no longer exists.

iv) An entity may reduce the size of a building e owns, however, e shall only receive 10% of the difference in the construction costs between its current size and its new size.

VI. Rule Defined

The following buildings are common locations and may never be smaller that as defined originally but can be greater:

i) The Senate Building is lavish.

ii) The FM building is a classy place.

iii) The Courthouse is a cosy building.

Rule 837/6
Nothing Important
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Ackanomic Afterlife is a Classy building and a common location near the Senate. It is also a palace.

This palace magically heals all burns of players here, and the ashes of players have been known to spontaneously "decombust" back into the player when put there.

A player may leave this palace whenever he or she wants.

Rule 840/5
Library
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

The Library is a classy building where a copy of all legal documents are kept. It is a Common Location. The Historian (or by default the Speaker) is in charge of the Library. It may not be destroyed or reduced in size to less than what it is originally (classy).

The Ackanomicon likes a quiet library. To that extent, the Library has a Maximum Occupancy of 15 players. If 15 or more players are ever in the Library at one time, then there shall be a deafening explosion, in which all players in the Library are returned to their homes. In addition, all players not in the Library at the time this occurs are awarded a random Boon of the Ancients each, for having the foresight to avoid such an explosion.

Rule 841/11
Towers
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) There are two types of towers: Ostentatious Towers and Public Towers. An Ostentatious Tower is a tower that a player adds to a building they own, or builds as a stand-alone tower not attached to any building (the term "Ostentatious Tower" is always with respect to a particular player). A Public Tower is a tower that a player adds to a public building, (that is, a building defined by the rules which is owned by no player), or to a kaa of public land.

2) A player is always said to be 'permitted' to build (or extend) an Ostentatious Tower associated with them. A player is said to be permitted to build (or extend) a Public Tower provided they submit a plan to the Senate, and the Senate votes approval of that plan. Such a plan must describe a tower that could legally be built (or a legal extension of an extant Public Tower). The Public Tower so built (or extension thereof) as a result of this permission must accord with the plan approved by the Senate.

3) There is no limit to the number of towers that may be added to a building, and there is no upper limit to their height, so long as they are constructed (or extended) via procedures defined in the rules. Towers that are added to buildings are considered to be attached to those buildings. A tower may only be attached to one building. Towers are always owned by the owner of the land on which they are built, or the owner of the building to which they are attached. Towers cannot be removed from buildings to which they are attached, or be attached to a building after they have been built as a stand-alone. Towers cannot be attached to other towers.

4) Constructing a tower is a public action. In order to fully specify this action, a player must announce to which building he is adding a tower (or on which kaa of land he is building it), a description of the tower, and the height of the tower (a positive, integral number). This action fails if the specified height is less than 35 meters or if the player is not permitted to build such a tower. The cost of constructing a tower as A$ 3 per meter; the construction action also fails if the player attempting it has fewer A$ than the construction cost. If the construction succeeds then the construction cost is transferred from the player constructing the tower to the Treasury.

5) Extending the height of a tower is a public action. In order to fully specify this action, a player must announce which tower he is extending, a description of the extension, and the amount he is extending the tower (a positive, integral number). This action fails if the player attempting it is not permitted to extend the specified tower. The cost of extending a tower is A$ 5 per meter; the extension also fails if the player attempting it has fewer A$ than the extension cost. If the extension succeeds then the extension cost is transferred from the player extending the tower to the Treasury.

6) A building's height is the height of its tallest tower. All buildings without a tower are less than 35 meters high, unless the rules specify otherwise. A stand-alone tower built on a kaa of land without an attached building is considered a building in its own right. A stand-alone tower's size is small if it is less than 70 meters in height, cosy if it is 140 to 559 meters in height, classy if it is 560 or more meters in height. Regardless of their size, stand-alone towers require only 1 Kaa of land. Towers attached to buildings do not effect the size of the building in any way.

7) It is said that a tower of sufficient height will reach close to the edge of the stainless steel hollow walls that surround the earth, and it is known that a Brass Monkey is taller than two average cat-heights.

8) Each building with an Ostentatious Tower also has a basement capable of holding one player for each 20 meters in the combined height of all towers on that building. If the total number of players not otherwise Sheltered in a building with a basement is less than or equal to the capacity of that basement, then all those players are Sheltered.

Rule 842/2
The Town Hall
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)

The Town Hall is a lavish building and a Common Location.

The building's exterior is clad in chartreuse marble.
From a flag pole fourteen cat heights high mounted on the highest point of the roof, flies the Ackanomic Flag. During a state funeral when an Elder is inducted it is flown at half mast.
Leading up to the building are a series of steps each, one cat height high and one cat height long. At any moment in time there is exactly one more step than there are players enshrined in the hall of Elders (material and labour required for construction is generously provided by the Ackanomic Construction Guild Inc.). Engraved on the riser of each step in gold lettering is the name of an Elder, starting with the most recently inducted on the top most step and proceeding in reverse order of induction down the steps. On the bottom most step in the language of the ancients is the phrase "Said the Tensor: Let Their Be Harf".

On the second Tuesday of each month a player may dance on the Town Hall Steps, provided that:
i) e pays $A2 to The First Citizen for a Exhibitionist's permit.
ii) During the previous three days e had a proposal accepted, was acquitted of a crime or had a CFJ submitted by em, ruled in eir favour (ie True).
iii) the dance is described in verse.

Failure to comply to these requirements constitutes the crime of Rampant Exhibitionism.
At all times it is illegal to dance naked on the Town Hall Steps. For the purposes of this rule a player is considered to be naked if e is not wearing a rule defined garment.

Rule 843/9
Hall of Elders
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) Let the Hall of Elders exist. It is a common location, and is housed in a classy marble building, at least 3 blocks from the Gaol.

2) Whenever a player leaves the game, their likeness (hereafter, where appropriate, referred to as if it were the actual player) is eligible to be enshrined in the Hall of Elders. They shall be a candidate for such an honor if someone nominates them (via a public message) for such within 3 days of them leaving the game. If multiple players nominate the same departing player, they are only considered nominated once.

3) If a departing player has been nominated, their confirmation period starts at the time of their nomination and ends 3 days after their nomination. During the confirmation period, players may send messages to the public forum supporting the nominee (maximum one such message per player). The nominee shall receive one confirmation point for each such message posted in accordance with the rules. They shall also receive one point for each cycle (or game) they won while a player, up to a maximum of 5 points from this source.

4) At the end of the confirmation period, the nominee is confirmed if and only if the number of confirmation points they received is in excess of the number of active players divided by 2. After it is decided whether or not the player has been confirmed, all of their confirmation points are destroyed.

5) If the departing player returns to the game either during the nomination period, or the confirmation period, they are no longer considered a nominee. This section takes precedence over all the preceding ones.

6) Once confirmed, the great honor of being enshrined in the Hall of Elders is bestowed upon the nominee. It is a duty of the Web-Harfer to place relevant information about the (including their portrait, if such exists), on a web page which represents the Hall. The Historian should provide a brief biography of the enshrinee, and a list of any offices they may have held while a player. This is considered "relevant information", as per above.

7) Whenever an enshrinee is enshrined in the Hall (either by this rule or another), An Day of Remembrance shall be placed on the calendar, named after the enshrinee (e.g. Elder X's Day). The date (excluding year) shall be chosen as follows:

1) It shall not be Jan 22nd.
2) It shall be the date the player in question originally joined the game, if that date can be determined with finality, and that date is not already an Day of Remembrance, otherwise,
3) It shall be the date the player in question most recently left the game, if that date is not already an Day of Remembrance, otherwise,
4) The Speaker shall choose a date that is not already an Day of Remembrance.

8) If the player in question returns to the game at least 30 days after being enshrined, they may use the title Elder, and shall have the powers and benefits explicitly specified by other rules for Elders.

9) The rules may explicitly delineate other procedures for an active player to be enshrined in the Hall, and this rule defers to such where there is a conflict.

Rule 844/1
Maps
Vynd (John McCoy)

Maps are a class of unownable named entities. Maps are depictions of the physical layout of places in the Game of Ackanomic. The rules may call for certain maps to be publicly displayed. If this is the case, then the officer responsible for that map must maintain a WWW page with an copy of said map. The recommended medium is HTML with clickable images/cgi, but any clear representation, including a text description, is acceptable so long as it is accurate. If applicable, the map should include links to other relevant material, such as its contents or other maps.

Rule 845/1
Here There Be Dragons
Vynd (John McCoy)

The Map of Ackanomic is a map of the earth as it is known [described in the rules]. It is maintained by the Map-Harfer, who is permitted to change it as necessary to reflect new discoveries. The Map of Ackanomic is not overly detailed, but at a minimum it must depict any regions found on the surface of the earth. The Map-Harfer is permitted to fill any blank areas of the Map of Ackanomic with wild speculations about the nature of said areas, but these speculations are almost certainly wrong.

Rule 846/7
Map of the City
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

The Map of the City is a map which represents the region of Ackanomic known as the City. It should display all locations found within the City (that are not themselves within another location). This includes, but is not limited to, Kaas of land, Buildings, and Towers. The Map of the City should also represent in some way whatever lies immediately outside the bounds of the City, if anything. The City itself is always square, and the Lonely Mountain is always as close to the center of the City as possible, given other limitations.

The Map-harfer is the officer in charge of the Map of the City, and is responsible for maintaining its accuracy. If a location is known to be in the City, but exactly where it is in the city is unknown, then it is the duty of the Map-harfer to specify a place on the map for that location.

Rule 847/0
Earthquakes
Vynd (John McCoy)

Ackanomic, especially in the region of the City, is distressingly prone to earthquakes. These earthquakes are constantly reshaping the land, requiring constant updating of maps. Whenever an earthquake occurs, all hell will break loose, fire shall rain from the sky, and the earth will be rent with gigantic chasms. All players shall scream in terror and run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Earthquakes can be triggered by any number of events. When an earthquake is triggered, it will occur when it is publicly announced that an earthquake has hit Ackanomic. Such announcements may only be made in accordance with the Rules. After an earthquake, it is the duty of the Map-harfer to formulate a new map of the City and place it on display as described in this rule. The new map must contain all the locations present on the old map, but their positions may be changed in any way the Map-harfer sees fit, so long as he obeys the following guidelines:

1) Buildings remain on the same Kaas on which they were built (although the position of the Kaas may be changed).
2) A set of Kaas with a Building on them must remain contiguous.
3) Locations whose positions are specified in the Rules must remain in those positions.


The Map-harfer has 7 days to prepare and publically display this new map. It is permissible for the new map to be identical with the old map. Once the map is on public display, the Map-harfer must announce that Business as Usual has resumed. Until he does so, no player may purchase or sell land or buildings.

There is a special type of earthquake which is called a Really Bad Earthquake. They are identical to regular earthquakes in most respects, but they are triggered by slightly different circumstances, and do have slightly different effects. Really Bad Earthquakes differ from regular earthquakes in the following ways: After Really Bad Earthquakes the Map-harfer has 10 days to prepare the new map rather than 7, but the new map must not be the same as the old map. Nor may the new map be such that another Really Bad Earthquake would immediately be triggered by this Rule. The Map-Harfer may author a CSR within three days of announcing that a Really Bad Earthquake has occurred, he should restrict this CSR to altering the Rules in regards to Locations. Really Bad Earthquakes have the ability to add or remove new unowned Kaas to the outside edge of the City, so long as the City remains square.

A Really Bad Earthquake is triggered by any of the following events, this list is not exclusive:

There are fewer then 10 unowned Kaas of land in the City.

There are fewer then 4 contiguous unowned Kaas of land in the City.

Less than half of the Kaas of land in the City are owned.

The Rules call for Kaas to be given to a player or other entity, but there are insufficient Kaas available on the Map [Such as a new player joining but there being no empty Kaas available]. If this triggers a Really Bad Earthquake, then the player or entity will not be given his Kaas until after Business as Usual has resumed.

The above provisions notwithstanding, a Really Bad Earthquake cannot remove Kaas of land which have owned buildings on them, or buildings mentioned in the Rules, or Kaas mentioned in the Rules. Nor may they remove so many Kaas of land that the City has fewer less than 144 Kaas of land within it. Really Bad Earthquakes cannot alter locations in the City other than Kaas (and the buildings found therein), except by changing their position on the Map of the City (in the same manner as a normal earthquake).

This Rule has precedence in matters concerning earthquakes, maps, and land, over all other rules.

Rule 850/18
Museum
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

I. Ackanomic Museum of Antiquities

The Ackanomic Museum of Antiquities (Museum) exists; it is a classy building near the Library. It is a Common Location. The Museum has 3 wings: the North Wing, the West Wing, and the McCumber Annex.

The West Wing is the most prestigious, but the McCumber Annex is sort of cramped and unused. The North Wing and West Wing each have a gold plaque at their entrances, engraved with the names of honored benefactors. A lighted sign also appears near the entrance of each of these wings.

II. Curator

The Financier is the curator of the Museum, and it is a duty of that office to maintain records of the Museum's inventory, and other relevant Museum details.

III. Donation

A player may donate any Gadget, Trinket, or Prosthetic Forehead he owns to the Museum. If the player attempting it is not at the Museum, e first moves to the Museum, and then the donation occurs. If e is unable to move to the Museum, then the attempt fails. All newly donated objects (along with the name of the associated benefactor) are placed on display in the North wing. The Museum has high standards, so it will not accept Prosthetic Forehead donations if it already has 15 such pieces on display (i.e. the donation fails). Items on display in the Museum are not considered in the Treasury.

IV. Donation Value

Objects on display are valued by the Museum as follows:

a) Prosthetic Foreheads: A$10.

b) Gadgets: The most recent price paid for that type of Gadget at an auction such that the proceeds of that auction went to the Treasury. If that value is undefined, its value is A$50.

c) Trinkets: The value the Trinket had when it was donated. If it was once part of a Buried Treasure for more than 60 continuous days, it is an Antiquity, and its value is increased by 30% (fractions truncated), upon donation, and it is no longer considered to have once been part of a Buried Treasure for for that length for the purposes of this sub-section, unless it again acquires that attribute.

V. Benefactor value and becoming a Member of the Museum

Each Museum benefactor has a benefactor value (BV), which is the sum of the value of all objects on display in the North Wing that that benefactor donated (the benefactor of record is considered to be the last player to donate a particular object). Upon a benefactor's BV exceeding A$1000, he gains the title 'Member of the Museum' and his name is added to the end of the list of names on the plaque in front of the North Wing, and the lighted sign in front of the North Wing stops displaying whatever it displayed before, and begins displays that benefactor's name.

VI. Bonus Vote

On the first day of each month, the Museum throws a party honoring its benefactors. This is a private gathering. There are door prizes, but as the Museum is always tight on funds, they are pretty lame. The only one of note is a Bonus Vote, which is awarded to a random benefactor as determined by the Financier. Each benefactor's probability of receiving this Vote is their BV divided by the total BV of all currently active players. If the total BV is zero, however, no award is bestowed.

VII. The Value of Winning

Upon a benefactor's BV exceeding A$5000, if e is a voting player, all objects donated by that benefactor are transferred to the West Wing, and a big ceremony, which is a public gathering, is held. If this appears to occur simultaneously with a player becoming a Member of the Museum, however, it will occur an infinitesimal time afterwards instead. Then that benefactor becomes a Life Member of the Museum, and his name is added to the end of the list of names on the plaque in front of the West Wing, and the lighted sign in front of the West Wing stops displaying whatever it was displaying and begins displaying that benefactor's name, and the lighted sign in front of the North Wing starts displaying 'North'. Then, if that is the first time that player has had a benefactor value exceeding A$5000, he achieves a Winning Condition.

VIII. Traveling Exhibitions

Players can make temporary donations to the Museum so that objects of great historical value that would otherwise not be seen by the public can be put on display. Any player can state that they wish to give to the Museum any trinket e owns that was created more than six months previously to add to the Private Collection Room. It is good form for the donor to give a brief description of the gifts. The Curator can accept or decline such gifts. Although the Museum is pleased to be able to display these artifacts, the donor's Benefactor Value is not changed. However, the player can get back any donation he made to the Private Collection Room by making a public request for it.

IX. Museum Security

Entities may not be removed or stolen from the Museum except as described by the rules. Any person caught stealing from the Museum, as described in the rules, shall go to Gaol with a sentence of 7 days per object pilfered, in addition to any other penalties described in the rules. If the Museum loses an entity displayed there, and the rules do not describe how that entity is manipulated thereby, that entity is transfered to the Treasury, and it ceases to be on display in the museum.

The security in the Private Collection Room is much greater than that in the rest of the museum so as to encourage players to allow their more valuable objects to be put on display. For this reason it is impossible to steal anything from the Private Collection Room and any attempt to use an Otzma Card of type Art Thief to steal an object there automatically fails. However, the card is still used and the player is deemed to have been caught stealing. This paragraph of this rule takes precedence over rule 1240.15

Rule 851/0
Gone But Not Forgotten
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

The Harfonian Institute is a small Building and a Common Location. It is a Duty of the Archivist to maintain a page detailing the exhibits of the Harfonian. The Web-Harfer is the Archivist unless there is a consenting player currently delegated to fulfill the role of Archivist. Only the Web-Harfer may make such a delegation. This delegation may be cancelled at any time, and Archivist is not an Office.

If a non-Trinket possession of a player or Organisation is suspected of having outlived its usefulness, and its name currently does not occur in the Ruleset, then the Archivist may issue a Preservation Declaration naming the possession publicly. If less than two players publicly object to the issuance of this Declaration within 3 days of said issuance then the following steps occur, in order:

(a) an Exhibit is created in the Harfonian detailing the history and background of that possession, including a picture of the possession if possible.

(b) the possession is destroyed.

Exhibits are not entities. "Possession" as used in this rule includes entities.

Rule 852/3
Portrait Gallery
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

The Portrait Gallery is a small building and a Common Location. It is a duty of the Web-Harfer to maintain a gallery of portraits.

This gallery shall be linked to the Official Ackanomic Web Page and must contain a portrait of every player who has submitted one. The Web-Harfer may resize portraits in order to keep them uniform. If a player has no portrait the Web-Harfer shall place an empty picture frame in the gallery containing the words "This space reserved for x" (where x is the name of the player without a portrait.)

If the Web-Harfer can think of a feasible way of doing so, he may charge admission to the gallery. However, the price of Admission must never exceed A$2. Charging admission is a privilege of the Web-Harfer.

The Web-Harfer may, but is not required to maintain a gallery containing images of deceased players.

Rule 854/10
Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

The Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication exists. It is housed in a cosy laboratory in the south part of Acka. It is a Common Location. When required by the rules, it will produce a replica of a player. Such a replica may only take actions explicitly allowed it by the rules, and is rather short-lived, being destroyed at the end of the occasion which warranted its creation. Unless specified otherwise, there is no charge for such replicas.

The Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication also provides customized mutations, at a small fee, to any interested player. If in a public message a player announces he is paying the specified fee for a mutation described in this rule, the cost is deducted from his account, and he receives that mutation and any special attributes associated with it described in this rule. If he later wishes to have the mutation removed, he must pay a fee equal to that for receiving the mutation, and he shall cease to have both the mutation and any special attributes associated with it.

Current available mutations:

Extra head: Cost -- 50 A$. Players with extra heads are encouraged to occasionally get into public arguments amongst their heads. [See also rule 931]

Pointy ears: Cost -- 4 A$ each, or 6 A$ for a pair. Pointy ears don't do much, but players who have them may threaten other players with a Vulcan Neck Pinch and be taken seriously. Players without pointy ears may also make this threat, but they are liable to be laughed at upon doing so. Players with only one pointy ear are liable to be laughed at regardless of their actions. A player may never have more than two pointy ears per head; if at any time a player has more pointy ears than this, the extra ears are removed(at no cost to the player).

Wings: Cost -- 100 A$. Winged players need not worry about dangling from the earth, as they can reattach the suction cups for any player that might lose them. Because of the size of buildings, it requires three winged players to reattach a dangling building's suction cups, and after doing so, they must rest for three days before reattaching anything else. Buildings that have also lost their emergency tether can still be reattached by three winged players, but the strenuous effort will cause the players to lose their wings as well. Since extra heads ruin a player's aerodynamics, a player may not have both wings and an extra head.

Forked Tongue: Cost A$250 - Players who have this mutation have a better ability to speak and pronounce the language of the ancients. Whenever a player with this mutation reads an ancient text [such as the Ackanomicon or a Spell Book of Chorg] and the result of that reading of the text specifies a random outcome, the player shall have a 25% chance of being able to pick the outcome deterministically. This paragraph takes precedence over any rules with which it conflicts.

Rule 855/2
Monolith
Fortunato (Aaron Keesler)

1) Let the Monolith exist. It is a common location, and is a sumptuous building.

2) The Monolith is initially a three level structure. Any player may add levels to the Monolith by publicly declaring that they are doing so. No more than two levels may be added per player, per week. The price of adding a level to the Monolith is A$50 * N, where N is (current number of levels / 3), rounded down.

3) Each level of the Monolith must have a name. The names of the first three levels of the Monolith are:

i) Level One: The Lobby
ii) Level Two: The Smoking Lounge
iii) Level Three: The Trophy Room

The name must be designated by the creator of the level at the point at which it is created. It is a Duty of the Web-Harfer to keep a list of the name of each level of the Monolith.

4) When a player has completed 7 levels of the Monolith, e receives a Boon of the Ancients, and is granted the title of Assistant Monolith Meister. This title gives no additional benefits. When a player has completed 10 levels of the Monolith, e receives a Bonus Vote, and is granted the title of Monolith Meister. This title gives no additional benefits.

5) All players who have added at least two levels to the Monolith are Sheltered whenever they are at the Monolith.

Rule 856/2
The Ackanomic Printing Guild
Vynd (John McCoy)

The Ackanomic Printing Guild exists. It is a Common Location. Fortunately, it is built on an area of land where the Ancient had experimented with their famous Space-Time Compressor, allowing an infinite volume to exist at that location. It is a Puny Building. It can be found next to the Library.

All printed materials in Ackanomic are made within the Ackanomic Printing Guild. This includes but is not limited to all copies of the Rules, CFJs, CSRs, newspapers, Documents, and comic books. Whenever such printed material is needed or desired, the Ackanomic Printing Guild shall supply it, with or without request, and collated to boot. These printed materials are produced by the Ackanomic Printing Guild's crack team of an infinite number of monkeys. The monkeys use their infinite number of typewriters to produce the printed materials, which are immediately and instantaneously delivered wherever they are needed. All thanks to the wonders of the Ancients!

This Rule yields precedence to all other Rules.

Rule 901/11
The Magic Potato
Sean Crystal

This rule creates a unique entity known as the Magic Potato. The Magic Potato will be given to a randomly chosen Active player each week. The responsibility of choosing the Player randomly will be left up to the Officer in charge of random things. There will exist only one Magic Potato at any one time. The Player that currently holds the Magic Potato will gain three extra points for each proposal of his that is accepted while he holds the Magic Potato.

There also exists the Great Tuba of Ackanomic, a unique entity. Whenever the Magic Potato is transferred from one player to another, the Great Tuba is given to the player who just lost the Magic Potato. The holder of the Great Tuba scores one extra point whenever one of his proposals passes.

Rule 903/5
Gumball
Simon Marty Harriman (Andy Swan)

There is a unique entity called the gumball which can be chewed only on alternate Wednesdays and Thursdays.

For the purposes of this rule, alternate Wednesdays and Thursdays are defined as the second and fourth Wednesdays and the first and third Thursdays of each calendar month.

Rule 905/9
The Blue Cross
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

1. Each player has a Blue Cross Rank; it is a non-negative integer. At all times, a player's Blue Cross Rank is equal to the number of non-Null proposals he submitted which have been accepted, plus an additional 10 if he has a Blue Cross Bonus. If a player has registered for the game and quit one or more times previous to his most recent registration, proposals he made under his previous registration(s) shall count towards his Blue Cross Rank if they were accepted, even if he wasn't a player when they were accepted.

2. Any time a player has more than one Blue Cross Bonus, all but one of his Blue Cross Bonuses are destroyed. Any time a rule requires that a player be given a Blue Cross Bonus, one is created with his name stamped in gold upon it, and it is given to that player. A Blue Cross Bonus is a nameless, nontradeable entity. Ruby Slippers, Gold Stripes, Silver Stripes, and Blue Crosses are nameless, nontradeable entities, and are medals.

3. When a President or Senator has ended a term in office by resigning, or due to his term of office expiring, and he has served at least 6 weeks in that office, then he is given a Blue Cross Bonus if he does not already have one, except in the case that the player resigned from the office of President or Senator while an Impeachment Paper was pending to remove him from that office.

4. a. A player with a Blue Cross Rank of 20 or more qualifies for a Blue Cross.
b. For each 160 points of Blue Cross Rank above 20 that a player has, he qualifies for a Ruby Slipper.
c. For each 40 points of Blue Cross Rank a player with a Blue Cross has above that required for his Blue Cross and all his Ruby Slippers, he qualifies for a Gold Stripe.
d. For each 10 points of Blue Cross Rank a player with a Blue Cross has beyond that required for his Blue Cross and all his Ruby Slippers and Gold Stripes, he qualifies for a silver stripe.

5. Any time a player has too many medals for his Blue Cross Rank, as defined by the previous section, then medals are taken from him and destroyed such that he no longer has too many. Any time a player has too few of any of these medals, the President, Proconsul, or Senator may award medals of the appropriate types to that player until he has enough of each type. The Frobozz Magic Medal Company, Ackanomic Division, performs the creation and destruction of these medals as medals are to be awarded or destroyed.

6. A player with at least one Gold Stripe or Ruby Slipper shall have the title "Officer of the Blue Cross." A player with one Ruby Slipper shall have the title "Commander of the Blue Cross".

A player with two Ruby Slippers may wear them on his feet; any two Ruby Slippers so worn are considered to be a spaceship. A player wearing a spaceship may click the two Ruby Slippers together to launch himself to Kansas, provided he obeys any other restrictions in the rules on spaceship launches.

Kansas is a moon of Acka; it is a location not in Acka, nor on either side of Acka. Ruby Slippers magically adjust to fit any feet as needed.

Rule 907/5
Bronze Torch
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

Bronze Torches are awarded as a recognition of merit to those players who have shown us the light through the stickiest of rule interpretation quagmires.

Bronze Torches are metallic entities. A Player may have at most one Bronze Torch.

Bronze Torches may be awarded by the President, the Proconsul, or a Justice. Each time one is to be awarded, it is created for the occasion by the Frobozz Magic Medal Company, Ackanomic Division. They may only be awarded to a player if that player is eligible to receive one.

Once a player has delivered a total of 15 verdicts on CFJs, CFCJs, or as part of (or all of) the Supreme Court or a Cortex thereof, they are eligible for a Bronze Torch. Verdicts which are still appealable, are currently under consideration by the Supreme Court or have been overturned do not count towards this total, nor do any verdicts other than True or False. A verdict which is upheld on an appeal counts for all Judges which have issued the same official verdict on that CFJ, including first round Judges and members of a Cortex which heard a first appeal when possible.

Rule 909/20
Steel Flea
Bascule (Matt Black)

Phoebe the Steel Flea lives in a matchbox. Phoebe the Steel Flea looks like a flea, feels like a flea and behaves like a flea most of the time. However Phoebe is a unique named entity that was created thousands of years ago by Acka-scientists who had access to advanced nano-technology that has since been lost in the mists of time. Likewise her matchbox is an ownable entity of indescribable mechanical complexity. Phoebe owns both herself and her matchbox.

Whenever Phoebe's matchbox is missing, the Officer in charge of random things randomly shall determine which lucky voting player has found the matchbox with Phoebe in it. It is a red and blue matchbox, very pretty, if a little battered. Phoebe's matchbox should be found within 3 days of it going missing.

The player who has found Phoebe's matchbox is very lucky, since she is very wise, having been built in an era of knowledge and wonder. In the week following eir marvellous discovery, e should open Phoebe's matchbox and listen to her make a statement of insight and wit. They should share this wisdom with the rest of the players of Ackanomic in a public message, and will gain 6 points for being so generous.

If any other voting player believes that this message is obviously fake and not clever or witty enough for the nanotech Phoebe, he or she may challenge the authenticity of the message. A Hearing is then called. The player who issued the challenge is the Hearing Harfer and is called the Nanotech Overseer while it is in session. Valid responses for the hearing are "Phoebe would not say anything so crass" and "Phoebe said much the same thing to me once". If the verdict is the former, then obviously the Player did not accurately report what Phoebe said, and e will lose the 6 points awarded previously, and will be fined another 6 points for selfishly keeping Phoebe's wisdom to emself. Such challenges must be made within 3 days of the wisdom being posted, and may only be made once per report.

If a message was posted within a week of the player finding Phoebe, that player is deemed to have carefully hidden her matchbox at the time of posting the message, and the matchbox is deemed to be missing.

If a message was not posted within a week of the player finding Phoebe, e is deemed to have lost the matchbox and is fined 3 points for being so careless. If this happens, the matchbox is deemed to be missing.

If Phoebe's matchbox is currently missing, and it is also the case that the most recent three (or more) players who found Phoebe's matchbox have all failed to post her wisdom, then Phoebe may decide not to be found by another player, and instead take a Leave Of Absence from the wisdom-dispensing business. The Officer in Charge of Random Things shall determine whether or not this happens, using whatever method e chooses. If e determines that Phoebe has decided to take a Leave Of Absence, then e must announce this fact publicly. (E is also encouraged, but not required, to post Phoebe's goodbye message at this time.) Upon doing so, Phoebe and Phoebe's matchbox shall immediately go Somewhere Else, and Phoebe's matchbox shall no longer be missing. Phoebe and her matchbox will remain Somewhere Else for a minimum of 30 days (and quite possibly much longer, perhaps even forever).

When Phoebe has been on a Leave of Absence for 30 days or more, then Phoebe may choose to end her Leave of Absence. The Officer in Charge of Random Things shall determine whether or not this happens; this determination shall occur not more than once per calendar week. If e determines that Phoebe has chosen to end her Leave of Absence, then e must announce this fact publicly. Upon doing so, Phoebe and Phoebe's matchbox will no longer be Somewhere Else, and Phoebe's matchbox shall immediately be missing. [And thus the Officer in Charge of Random Things should then determine which player finds Phoebe next....]

Phoebe's matchbox is a unique entity.

Rule 910/14
The Ackanomicon
Vynd (John McCoy)

This rule takes precedence over all other rules.

The Ackanomicon is a powerful book of magic, and the occult, aligned with Chaos. No man knows its age or author, although many speculate that it predates even the Codex of Kra. It is massive in size, fully 6 inches thick and a foot across, bound in leather and iron. It looks a lot like a Spell Book of Chorg, except meaner.

The Ackanomicon is kept in its own special room at the Library, called The Vault of the Book, or, sometimes, *that* room. It's not a very popular room, partly because it is well hidden, but largely because, well, people have a tendency to get hurt in *that* room. It is impossible to remove The Ackanomicon from this room, it likes it there.

Any Player may visit The Vault of the Book by going to the Library, and publicly announcing that he is entering The Vault of the Book, in search of forbidden knowledge. No player may visit The Vault of the Book more than once in a calendar month, or more than once in any given 14 day span. No player may visit the Vault of the Book if another player has visited the Vault of the book in the past 24 hours. Don't ask why, you don't want to know.

All players who visit the Vault of the Book will discover that they are irresistibly drawn to read The Ackanomicon, which is always open to a random page. No one ever gets past this first page that they read, but even one page of The Ackanomicon can provide one with great insight, or great pain.

Whenever a player visits The Vault of the Book, the Officer in Charge of Random Things will determine which page from the list below The Ackanomicon was open to, by selecting one page at random with (you guessed it) equal probability. Some pages are duplicates, however, or at least discuss the same material. Because of this, some results will be more common than others. Each entry on the list below specifies how many pages of its type are found in The Ackanomicon, if it does not, then there is assumed to be only one. The effects (if any) of reading a page of the Ackanomicon occur as soon as it is publicly knowable which page has been read.

Players who read The Ackanomicon are encouraged to post (vague, perhaps) descriptions of the knowledge gleaned from its text, as well as the effects it had on them.

[This slightly odd set-up is intended to allow keep the really good and really bad effects from being too common, but still allow the addition of new pages without completely rewriting some probability chart]

The Known Pages of The Ackanomicon:

Arcane Trivia (15 pages): These pages contain many tantalizing but ultimately uneducating bits of information on all manner of things ancient and occult. They have no effect on the reader.

Vile prophecies (5 pages): These are pages describing all manner of terrible events that are to befall the reader in the near future. The reader of one of these pages suffers a loss of 5 points.

Inner workings (5 pages): These pages give glimpses into some of the basic workings of the universe of mortal men, at a price. The reader gains A$50, but loses 5 points.

Arcane Lore (5 pages): These pages describe ceremonies and rites used in the far distant past to gain special powers. A new Otzma card is created in the possession of the reader. The type of card shall be determined by the Speaker using the Probabilistic Method. If the type selected is at or above its instance limit, the Speaker will select a new type using the Deterministic method.

Terrorizing pages (3 pages): These pages inspire indescribable terror in all who read them, causing a loss of 15 points and 3 Sanity Points.

Ancient artifact (1 page): A page describing the workings of a powerful ancient device. The reader loses A$50, and receives a newly created random Qualified Gadget, which, if it's a mechanical Gadget, breaks when the reader receives it. This page has no effect on a player without sufficient A$.

Mutation (2 pages): The contents of this page warps the reader's mind and body. He gains a new Extra head, surly and mean-spirited in temperament.

Dark Domain (2 pages): Reading these pages opens a portal to a terrible realm of darkness and nightmare. The reader is treated as if he was in Gaol for the next 48 hours, except that he may not be released in any fashion before this period is up. The reader has not, however, actually committed a Crime, nor is he actually in Gaol.

Long lost treasure (2 pages): These pages describe the locations of long lost treasure troves. The reader gains A$250 and an Otzma Card of Type Map Shard, provided no Otzma limits would be exceeded. This card will be destroyed within 3 days of receipt if not used.

Forbidden Fruit (1 page): Knowledge no man was meant to know. The reader loses 20 points, and becomes Enlightened.

Catastrophe (1 page): Reading this page unleashes a Tornado into Acka, as described by the Rule Tornado. The reader is considered to be sheltered.

Not so Forbidden Fruit (4 pages): The player has an out of body experience in which he is transported to an primordial jungle where he is worshiped as a god by the natives. Upon waking up, he will find that all he has left to remember it by is an Amber Banana.

Ancient One (1 page): The player warps time and space with a terrifying incantation of power, summoning the Ancient Powers into his presence. The Chartreuse Goose is immediately transfered into his possession, and it's not happy. If the reading player was already in possession of the Chartreuse Goose, then it goes Somewhere Else (and is REALLY not happy).

Judgement Day (2 pages): These pages relate the days following the end of the world and impart to the reader the ability to judge eir fellows. The Purple Robe of Justice is transferred to the reader.

Rule 911/8
The Great Trombone of Ackanomia
Brinjal (Simon Clarke)

The Great Trombone of Ackanomia is hereby created. It is unique, and will always either be in the possession of one player, or be Somewhere Else. Upon the adoption of this rule, the Great Trombone is Somewhere Else.

Whenever the Great Trombone is Somewhere Else, the first player to make a valid public claim will take possession of it. A claim is only valid if the player concerned has had a publically knowable score of exactly 76 points at any time within the past 3 days.

Whenever the score of the player who possesses the Great Trombone exceeds 152 points, they lose possession of the Great Trombone, and it returns to Somewhere Else.

If the player who possesses the Great Trombone is On Ice, they automatically relinquish possession of it, and the Great Trombone is once again said to be Somewhere Else.

The Great Trombone is a unique entity.

Rule 913/6
Parades
Brinjal (Simon Clarke)

When the Tabulator distributes the voting results for a proposal whose number ends with the digits "76", and the proposal was accepted, an Ackanomic Parade shall be held, with the player who made the proposal as the Guest of Honour.

The Guest of Honour has seven days from the distribution of the proposal's voting results to publish an interesting description of the parade. Failure to comply with this requirement, if and when proved, will result in ten points being deducted from the score of the Guest of Honour.

All players will take part in the Parade, and will receive one point for so doing.

The player in possession of the Great Trombone of Ackanomia, if such an entity exists, will lead the Parade and receive not one but ten points.

Any vacationing player will be represented by an identical replica of themselves, provided for the occasion by the Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication, if such exists. Otherwise they will be represented by a cardboard cutout on wheels, which will lower the whole tone of the occasion, so any points they would have received as a result of the Parade will be withheld.

Rule 915/9
Prosthetic Foreheads
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)

There is an endless supply and an endless variety of Prosthetic Foreheads. Prosthetic Foreheads are tradeable entities.

Prosthetic Foreheads are unique. No two Prosthetic Foreheads are identical, nor for that matter are any two Prosthetic Foreheads substantially similar. Whenever a player describes a Prosthetic Forehead as a condition of buying it from the Treasury, any player who feels the recently purchased Prosthetic Forehead bears too great a resemblance to a previously existing Prosthetic Forehead may summon a Forehead Tribunal within three days of the offending Prosthetic Forehead's purchase. A single Prosthetic Forehead may be subjected to only one Forehead Tribunal; only the first call for a Forehead Tribunal on any given Prosthetic Forehead shall be considered valid.

A Forehead Tribunal is a Hearing. The player who summoned the Forehead Tribunal is the Hearing Harfer and is called the Top Cop while it is in session. The valid responses are, "Yes, 'is toppy's a copy." and "No, 'is peak's unique." If the verdict is that "Yes, 'is toppy's a copy.", the offending Prosthetic Forehead is destroyed and the player who described it loses two points. Otherwise, the player who called the Forehead Tribunal forfeits 5 A$ to the Treasury.

Any player may buy a Prosthetic Forehead at any time by paying A$7 to the Treasury, and posting publicly that they are doing so, and declaring the type of Prosthetic Forehead he is buying in this public message. A player may own any number of Prosthetic Foreheads at any time. If a player has a Rock To Wind A String Around (if such an entity exists), she may give it to the treasury instead of paying the A$7 in the above procedure.

A Player who is not already wearing a Prosthetic Forehead may wear any one e owns by announcing publicly that e is doing so and what type of Prosthetic Forehead is involved. A Player who is wearing a Prosthetic Forehead may remove it by announcing the action publicly. After a player removes a Prosthetic Forehead, his real head is sore for 48 hours and she may not wear a Prosthetic Forehead during this time.

Rule 917/6
Rocks, Walls, Facial Hair, Root Vegetables and Flavoured Shampoo
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

The following types of entities exist:

i) A Rock To Wind A String Around.
ii) A Wall Of Trombones.
iii) Santa's Beard.
iv) A Magic Radish.
v) A Bottle of Bubble Gum Flavoured Shampoo.
vi) A Large Box of Chocolates.

All of the above entities are collectively known as Venerable Entities and may be manipulated by vending machines, should such things exist. All of the above entities are Tradable.

Due to the complex field interactions between Venerable Entities in the same location, a player who possesses a least one of each type of the Venerable Entities may request a Boon of the Ancients, with a 10% chance of it being granted. However, invoking the Officer in Charge of Random Things in this manner, causes all of the Venerable Entities in eir possession to disappear in a flash of coloured light. A player may make no more than one such request per calendar month.

Rule 919/6
Brass Monkey
Techno (Jerome Herrman)

The Brass Monkey is a very large, unique, unownable entity with a low, booming voice.

A Streak begins when a proposal is accepted and there is no Streak already underway. The Streak includes the proposal that started it and all the accepted proposals that follow, until the next time a proposal is rejected. The Streak is then broken.

The ordering of proposals, for the purpose of determining a Streak, shall depend only on the numerical ordering of the Proposals. A proposal is considered to immediately follow another proposal either if the first's number immediately follows the second, or the only proposals which were assigned numbers less than the first and greater than the second were retracted or otherwise removed from voting consideration.

If ten or more proposals are accepted during a single Streak, it is a Chrome Streak. Chrome Streaks are Strange. When a Chrome Streak is broken, the Brass Monkey shall climb to the top of the tallest building in Acka Land and proclaim:

"The makers of the Chrome Streak shall be awarded 5 bonus points!"

With that, each Player shall receive 5 points for each proposal he or she submitted that was accepted during the Streak (including those that were accepted before it was Chrome), up to a maximum of 15 points per Player.

Rule 920/0
Fur-lined Shovel
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)

A named tradable entity called the the Fur-lined Shovel exists. The name of the Fur-lined Shovel is "The Fur-lined Shovel". A player who owns the Fur-lined Shovel may change the map to a single treasure that e buried by digging with it as a public action. When a player does this e must choose a trinket worth at least A$48 which e owns. This trinket is transfered into the treasure. It is considered good form to give a clue to the treasure when one does this.

When the Fur-lined Shovel is used in this manner, it is transfered to the treasury.

Rule 921/7
Acid Rain Dance
Techno (Jerome Herrman)

The following players may perform the Acid Rain Dance:

i) The Player who submitted a proposal since the most recent Acid Rain Dance whose number, when having its digits added together, equals exactly 28.

ii) Any player who possesses at least three Amber Bananas. All amber bananas in eir possession are destroyed upon completion of the dance.

The player performing the Acid Rain Dance shall post a public description of the dance. Immediately after the public description of the Acid Rain Dance, the Acid Rain shall fall, destroying the Amber Banana Tree(so that it goes Somewhere Else), unless the Amber Banana Tree is protected by the Bronze Umbrella. If the Amber Banana Tree was destroyed, the player who performed the Acid Rain Dance receives the Amber Banana Tree Seed.

Only the Amber Banana Tree can be destroyed by Acid Rain unless permitted by other rules.

Rule 923/9
The Amber Banana
Techno (Jerome Herrman)

The Amber Banana Tree(which, in this rule, shall also be referred to as the Tree) is a unique, mimsy, nontradeable entity capable of casting one vote on each Proposal whose number, when having its digits added together, equals exactly 28, 21 or 17.. Whenever the player who last performed the Acid Rain Dance is active, the Amber Banana Tree shall be in their possession. It shall go Somewhere Else if that Player is On Ice.

The owner of the Tree may once per calendar month direct the Tree to vote on a proposal in the following manner:

The owner sends a message to the Tabulator that e wishes the Tree to Vote on a specific proposal that the tree is capable of voting on, and the legal type of Vote that it should cast.

The Tree shall then vote in the desired manner.

Any player who has a proposal in the queue whose number, when having its digits added together, equals exactly 21 [ex. prop 777], shall have the right to purchase one Amber Banana from the owner of the Tree, if it is not Somewhere Else. The price for one Amber Banana shall be A$10, payable to the owner of the Tree. Amber Bananas are tradeable entities.

A player who owns an Amber Banana may publicly announce that e is eating the Amber Banana as "cows eat grass". Upon eating the Amber Banana(which destroys it), said player may inform the owner of the Tree how e must vote on a single proposal, which must be in the current queue and whose digits must also sum to 21. (It may be the same proposal as allowed em to buy the Amber Banana in the first place, but it need not be.) This effect takes precedence over any other Rules which may specify how the Tree's owner shall vote on that proposal. If two or more players eat Amber Bananas in an attempt to affect the Tree's owner's vote on a single proposal, then only the first Banana eating has the desired effect, all other eatings being ineffective. A player may only eat one Amber Banana per week.

If the Amber Banana Tree is Somewhere Else, then a player who would otherwise be eligible to purchase an Amber Banana may instead purchase an Amber Banana Tree Seed(also referred to in this rule as the Seed)by paying A$50 to the Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication(which had the foresight to preserve one so that the species would not die out), unless such a seed already exists. The Amber Banana Tree Seed is a unique, tradeable entity. At any time, the owner of the Seed may publicly declare that e is planting it. At that point, the Seed is destroyed, and in two weeks time, the Amber Banana Tree will appear in eir possession.

Rule 925/10
The Press
Bascule (Matt Black)

Starting a Newspaper is a public action. In order to fully specify this action, the player attempting it must state the name of the new Newspaper. This action will fail if the player does not own at least the Standard Harfer Fee. If the action succeeds then the Standard Harfer Fee is transferred from the player to the Treasury to cover start-up costs.

A player who owns a newspaper is allowed to post messages to an official mailing list with an indication that the message is an article of that newspaper. Such an article is then said to have been published in that newspaper.

A posting that is not sent to one of the official mailing lists is never considered to be a newspaper publication. In addition, no player may publish an article in a newspaper she does not own without the express permission of the newspaper's owner.

A newspaper must publish at least one article during each calendar month, or it will cease to exist. When this happens, the newspaper is said to have gone belly-up.

Newspapers are named, tradeable entities. When a newspaper is created, it belongs to the player who started it. To own more than three newspapers at any one time is the Crime of Media Baroncy. The owner of a newspaper may close it down. If he does so then the Newspaper is said to have 'gone bust' and ceases to exist.

News articles may be published without reference to a specific newspaper. Such articles are said to be the work of the Underground Press, or Samizdat organisations.

Journalistic pseudonyms are permitted.

It is the Crime of Lying In Print for a Player to refuse to publish, in a newspaper he or she owns, a correction of a clearly false statement that previously appeared in that newspaper, after a public request for such a correction has been made. Simply neglecting to publish such a correction for a period of three days or more after the request shall be taken as refusal to do so.

Rule 927/4
The Chocolate Frog
else...if (Henry Towsner)

There is an named, unique, ownable entity known as the Chocolate Frog. It is a small, golden statue in the shape of a lawnmower. It is the most valued possession in all Acka. Whoever owns it is known as The First Citizen. On the eleventh of each month, the Officer in Charge of Random Things will select an active player at random to receive the Chocolate Frog, and it will be transferred to that player.

Any players who vote against a proposal made by the First Citizen will lose 1 point if the First Citizen loses any points as a result of the proposal being rejected. Any player who publicly insults the First Citizen will be guilty of the Crime of Disrespect.

Rule 929/7
Baaa
this is not a name (Mike Epstein)

The unique entity called the Little Lamb exists. The Little Lamb resides on the common lands of Ackanomia.

Taking possession of the Little Lamb is a public action. This action will fail if the Lamb is currently owned by a player who has owned it for less than one week.

Just as cows eat grass, the Little Lamb also eats grass. Therefore, any player who possesses the Little Lamb will be charged A$10 each time e takes possession of the Little Lamb. The fee will be paid to the Orkatass Lawn Care Company and Motor Inn for reseeding the common lands (which is then immediately transferred to the Treasury, as the OLCCaMI is a not-for-profit entity).

But while a player possesses the Little Lamb, e has three times the normal probability of receiving the Magic Potato, and e may purchase a Wool Sweater from the Treasury for A$10.

Any number of Wool Sweaters may exist at one time. They are created by the Orkatass Lamb Products Company when purchased. A player may put on a Wool Sweater if e possesses one. However, players wearing Prosthetic Foreheads may not put on a Wool Sweater, because Wool Sweaters will not fit over Prosthetic Foreheads. Wool sweaters are tradeable, mimsy garments.

Rule 931/4
Garments, Especially Hats
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

A class of entity known as a Garment exists. Garments are tradeable, unless the rules for a particular Garment specify otherwise. The owner, and only the owner, of a particular garment may don that garment if he is currently not wearing that garment, or remove it if he is currently wearing it. The location of a garment that is being worn is the same as that of its wearer These actions, when legal, are accomplished by publicly announcing them. The owner of a particular garment is said to be wearing it only from such time as he dons it until such time as he removes it or no longer owns it; no player is said to be wearing any garment he does not own. Garments may be worn and unworn, and these actions, with respect to a particular garment, may only be performed by the owner of the Garment. Only those entities explicitly designated by the rules as Garments are Garments.

Hats, which may also be referred to as headwear, are a class of garments. A player may wear at most one hat. This rule defers to any rule describing the the number and type of hats a player may wear.

Rule 933/3
Purple Robe of Justice
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

The Purple Robe of Justice (Robe) has [just] been discovered in the catacombs beneath the Courthouse. It is unique, and quite valuable, and the older it gets, the more valuable it becomes. The Robe is a mimsy, non-Tradeable, Garment.

Whoever is wearing the Purple Robe of Justice has their odds of being selected to judge a CFJ trebled. This clause takes precedence over R 212 inasmuch as the random process is affected in the way described above.

If the owner of the Robe is ever penalized some number of points for failing to deliver a verdict on a CFJ, failing to respond to a CFJ, or for having a CFJ overturned, they immediately lose the priceless Robe, and it goes Somewhere Else.

The value of the Robe is price that was last paid for it, plus A$15.

Any player (other than the Robe's owner), may buy the Robe, thus becoming the new owner, regardless of where it is, provided they pay its current value to the Treasury, and all of the following are true:

a) It is not currently being auctioned.
b) Its current owner, if a player, has had it at least 1 week.
c) Its current owner is not judging a CFJ.
d) Its current owner is not a judge-designate for a pending CFJ.

Other rules may designate other ways in which ownership of the Robe may be transferred. This rule defers precedence to those, including the fact that the above conditions need not necessarily be met, unless the other rule specifies such.

A player losing ownership of the Robe never receives monetary compensation for losing it.

When a player receives a Bronze Torch, if they possess the Purple Robe of Justice, it goes Somewhere Else

Rule 935/0
Souvenirs
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)

There exist nontradeable garments each known as an I Got Stoned For Your Sins And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt (hereafter T-Shirt). Any player wearing a T-Shirt can never have a Stoning called against em, and may ignore all effects of being Stoned if e so chooses. This paragraph of this Rule takes precedence over Rule 1145, "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35."

Rule 940/2
Quarantine
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)

Gingham is the national fabric of Ackanomic. A Gingham Dress is a type of nameless garments. Any player may purchase a Gingham Dress for A$20. However, if a player has suffered a concussion due to capsizing while white water rafting on the Ackanomic River then e will automatically receive a Gingham Dress, since it is appropriate to eir insane behaviour.

Rule 943/0
Hula!
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

Muumuus are Garments. Any player may create a Muumuu by going to the Wilds of Ackanomic and eating an Amber Banana.

A player wearing a Muumuu and no other Garments(except, possibly, Hats) may hula dance as a public action, even on the town hall steps; this takes precedence over any Rule which would prohibit such dancing.

Rule 950/7
Ackanomic Sound System Rule Suite
Slagothor (Eric Plumb)

I. Ackanomic Sound System & Songs

There exists a unique, unownable entity known as the Ackanomic Sound System (hereafter, for purposes of the Rules in this Rule Suite, known as the ASS.)

There exists a class of named unownable entities known as Ackanomic Sound System Songs (hereafter, for purposes of the Rules in this Rule Suite, known as Songs.) Songs may be either Mundane or Esoteric, but not both.

A Mundane Song is one that has no trigger or game effects defined in a Rule in this Rule Suite. An Esoteric Song is one that has a Trigger and Effect defined in a Rule in this Rule Suite.

II. Description and Usage

Nobody knows for certain the location of the ASS, for its music is audible at exactly the same unobtrusive volume throughout the whole of Ackanomic. It is said that those who wish not to hear the music of the ASS may place one or more of their heads inside it. Unfortunately, doing so will not exclude them from the music's effects.

The control panel for the ASS is located in the Ackanomic Library. Any entity which is in the Library may play a Mundane Song on the ASS as a public action simply by stating the name of the song and the artist or artists who perform the version of the song they wish to hear. If the ASS is not currently playing an Esoteric song, the requested Mundane song will begin playing after a pause of an infinitesimal amount of time to switch tracks.

Any entity which is in the Library may play any Esoteric Song as a public action. To do so, that entity must state the name of the Song it wishes to play and place either an amount of A$ equal to the Song's Cost or a single Token into the banna-shaped slot on the ASS's control panel. This action fails if the entity does not own sufficient A$, or has no Tokens. If the action was successful, the Esoteric Song requested immediately begins playing as described below, with full effects, unless there is already an Esoteric Song playing on the ASS. When this happens, any A$ placed into the slot is transferred to the Treasury, and any Tokens placed into the slot are destroyed.

III. Office of DeeJay.

The Office of DeeJay is an Optional, Political Office. If this Office is not filled, or if the player holding this Office is absent, no Esoteric Songs will be played on the ASS.

The Duties of the DeeJay are:

a) To monitor the game state and determine when Esoteric Songs begin and cease playing, and to post a public message naming the Song in question and its effects, if any, whenever either happens.

b) To maintain a record of whether an Esoteric Song is playing on the ASS, and if so, which Song and its effects. The preferred medium for this Duty is HTML.

c) To publically announce when a player has been awarded a Token as described below, in section IV.

The Privileges of the DeeJay are:

d) To declare a Moment of Silence lasting no more than one Acka week in which no Songs may be played on the ASS. This Privilege may not be exercised if it has been exercised within the past forty days, or if an Esoteric Song is currently playing on the ASS.

On the first day of any calendar month whose ordinal number is evenly divisible by three, the player holding the Office of DeeJay shall step down from said Office as described in Rule 401 section vii.

IV. Creating And Playing Esoteric Songs

Esoteric Songs are defined by sub-rules of this Rule Suite, and nowhere else. A Rule that is part of this Rule Suite may define more than one Esoteric Song. Any definition of an Esoteric Song must include at least the following four lettered attributes of the song:

Any player who submits a Proposal which successfully adds one or more Esoteric Songs to this Rule Suite shall gain one Token upon the acceptance of such a Proposal. This Token shall be created in eir possession upon the announcement of this fact by the DeeJay. Tokens are tradeable Entities. The act of placing a Token into the banna-shaped slot of the ASS' control panel destroys that Token.

a) Title: the title, or name, of the Song.

b) Artist: the artist or artists who wrote and/or performed the Song.

c) Trigger: a condition referring to the Ackanomic game state that can, at any time, be easily and unambiguously identified to be either true or false. [e.g. "Four or more players have a score of above 300."]

d) Effect: the effect, if any, that the playing of this Song has on the game and/or game state of Ackanomic.

The definition is encouraged, but not required, to include these three attributes also:

e) Cost: The amount of A$ which must be placed in the banna-shaped slot in the ASS' control panel to play this Song. If the Cost is not specified, it defaults to Infinite; i.e., the Song cannot be purchased with A$ as described above.

f) Duration: The length of time for which the Song will play if not interrupted. If this is not included, it defaults to three days.

g) Explanation: The player submitting an Esoteric Song is encouraged to explain why the game effects pertain to the title or lyrics of the song.

An Esoteric Song will begin playing immediately upon its Trigger becoming true as long as the Office of DeeJay is filled by an active player. In this case, the Esoteric Song will begin playing regardless of any other Song that may be playing on the ASS. The Song will continue playing until one or more of the following become true:

- its Duration is expired and its Trigger is not true, or
- another Esoteric Song's Trigger becomes true,

upon any of which it will stop playing. All game Effects described in the Song's definition will begin instantaneously when the Song starts to play, and cease immediately when the Song stops playing, unless specified otherwise in the Rule creating the Song.

If a rule defining an esoteric song is created and that song is currently being played as a mundane song then the song instantly ceases to be being played and instead the song Barbie Girl by Aqua is played [to encourage people to change it as quickly as possible].

V. Scope

Rules defining Esoteric Songs may also define entities other than those Songs. However, an entity defined in a Rule defining an Esoteric Song may never change the game state in any way unless that Song is currently playing on the ASS. The entity will go Somewhere Else as soon as the Song ceases playing, and any effects that its presence has on the game state will cease.

However, any permanent changes made to the game state by a Song or an entity defined in a Song will not be lost once the Song stops playing.

[For example, if the Magic Potato were defined in such a Rule, its owner would no longer get its bonuses once it left, but would keep any points e had gained from it while the Song ("Don't pick it up, pick it up, pick it up") was playing.]

VI. Precedence

This Rule takes precedence over any Rules which state or imply that the playing of a Song on the Ackanomic Sound System can have no effect on the game and/or game state of Ackanomic.

All Rules that are part of this Rule Suite defer precedence to any Rules with which they might conflict, except as stated explicitly in a Rule that is a member of this Rule Suite.

VII. Custodianship

The DeeJay is Custodian of the Ackanomic Sound System Rule Suite (the 950.Y rules).

[Ackanomic Sound System Rules.]

Rule 975/4
Yes Virginia
Vynd (John McCoy)

The Voting Gnome of Ackanomic (hereinafter referred to simply as the Voting Gnome) is a unique, non-tradeable entity. The Voting Gnome owns himself. He acts only as described in the Rules.

The Voting Gnome has a home. It is located on a plot of land at the extreme northern end of Ackanomic called the North Stick. The home itself is a cozy building, with a 40 meter tower that looks suspiciously like a chimney. It is named The Voting Gnome's Workshop. The North Stick and The Voting Gnome's Workshop are both Locations, but they are not common locations. They are both owned by the Voting Gnome. Whenever the Voting Gnome's location is not otherwise specified, he is in his home.

On every August 28th, at exactly noon, the Voting Gnome visits the rest of Acka, bearing harf and good cheer. He returns home at midnight. August 28th, known as Gnomesday, is a Holiday, and a time of great happiness and jocularity for Acka. No player may be challenged to a Duel on Gnomesday. The reason for all this goodwill is that the Voting Gnome gives gifts to the players of Acka on this day. Exactly what gift depends on certain conditions, described below. No player receives more than one gift, if he qualifies for several then he receives only the first gift listed that he qualifies for.

I. If the player is in Gaol, he receives a Lump of Coal. Lumps of Coal are non-tradeable entities, and they are depressing. So long as a player owns a Lump of Coal, he may not participate in parades, and is instead represented by a cardboard cutout, with all attendant penalties. He may not chew the gumball. Furthermore, the description of his home is immediately changed to the sentence: A one room apartment with no window, cinder block walls, a plain wooden bench, and a pile of rags in one corner for a bed. This description may not be altered so long as the player owns a Lump of Coal.

A Lump of Coal is destroyed if the player who owns it is Enlightened, at which point that player ceases to be Enlightened. If a player is burned as a Heretic, or shot with any kind of laser, any Lump of Coal in his possession is destroyed. If a player is in possession of a Lump of Coal for a full 12 months, it is destroyed, and that player gains A$2500 (in diamonds).

II. If a player is vacationing, he receives a Silly Vacation Hat. Silly Vacation Hats are non-tradeable entities. When that player becomes active, he has seven days to post a name and description for his hat. If he fails to do so, then at the end of the seven days the Hat in question is destroyed.

III. If a player is in the Wilds of Ackanomic, he receives a Rock to Wind a String Around.

IV. If a player is in his home, and his home has a tower, he receives a Bonus Vote. If this would give the player more Bonus Votes than he can legally own, he instead receives a Blue Cross Bonus. If the player already owns a Blue Cross Bonus, he instead receives the Purple Robes of Justice. If more than one player would qualify to receive the Purple Robes of Justice in this method, then one of them is randomly selected to receive it. The other players who qualified to receive the Purple Robes of Justice but did not receive them shall receive a Bronze Torch. If the player already owns a Bronze Torch, then he shall receive the Chartreuse Goose. If more than one player would qualify to receive the Chartreuse Goose in this manner, then one of them is randomly selected to receive it. Those players who qualified to receive the Chartreuse Goose but did not receive it shall receive a Chartreuse Goose Egg. If the player already owns a Chartreuse Goose Egg, then he shall instead receive the Huge Gaudily Wrapped Present. If more than one player qualifies to receive the Huge Gaudily Wrapped Present, none of them receive it, and they all receive A$1 instead.

The Huge Gaudily Wrapped Present is a unique tradeable entity, if at any time it is not owned by a player is is Somewhere Else. It is never in the Treasury. A player who owns the Huge Gaudily Wrapped Present may open it at any time as a public action. When he does so, one of two events occurs, exactly which one is determined randomly. He either: 1) Receives two pairs of dress pants; or, 2) Achieves a Winning Condition. In either case, the player ceases to own the Huge Gaudily Wrapped Present.

V. If a player is in his home, but his home does not have a tower attached to it, then he receives a Santa's Beard.

VI. If a player is at the Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication he receives a Boon of the Ancients, provided he has been there for at least three days.

If a player does not meet any of the above qualifications, he receives a pair of dress pants. Pairs of dress pants are Garments.

This Rule takes precedence over all Rules numbered 200 or lower.

Rule 1003/25
Organizations
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

1. Forming an Organization

An Organization is a named unownable entity. Any player may publically announce eir intent to form an Organization, unless e is a pseudo-Founder.

When a player has done so e becomes a pseudo-Founder for a period of 7-days.

If during those 7 days at least two additional players publically announce that they wish to join the Organization the pseudo-Founder intends to form, and the pseudo-Founder agrees, then the pseudo-Founder forms the Organization by announcing the Organization's name, its type,pays the standard Harfer's Fee, and announces the name of its members.

The name must be a legal name, if a type of Organization is not specified than the Organization is of type Society.

Any player may request membership in an Organization. The Organization may then grant the request for membership as a public Action. When a request for membership is granted, the player becomes a member of the Organization.

2. Organization Disbandment

The rules may call for the disbandment of an Organization.

Unless the rules for a specific type of organization specify another way for disbanding, then Disbanding an organization is allowed as a public action.

When an Organization is disbanded, everything owned by the Organization is transferred to the Treasury, all members of the Organization are no longer considered to be members of the Organization with any attendant effects [such as Swinger/Party Hall], and the Organization is then no more.

3. Very Small Organizations.

Organizations that have fewer than three members are known as Very Small Organizations - or VSO. a VSO can only perform the following Organizational Actions:

a. Accept new members
b. Change admissions policy
c. Change its name
d. Trade away entities it owns to its members.

A VSO may not receive gifts or accept trades. Any attempt on the part of a VSO to perform any other kind of Organizational Action fails.

4. Organization Size

The Size of an Organization is the number of members it has. Terms such as 'larger' and 'smaller', when applied to Organizations, refer to the Sizes of the Organizations being compared. [For example, to say that one organization is larger than another is to say that it has more members.]

The Active Size of an Organization is the number of Active Players who are members of that Organization.

5. Organization Similarity

For any two Organizations X and Y, orgsim(X, Y) is defined as the percentage of members of X who are also members of Y, except for the case where X and Y are the same, in which case it is defined to be 0.

The H Similarity between two Organizations, A and B, is the greater of orgsim(A, B) and orgsim(B, A).

The L Similarity between two Organizations, A and B, is the lesser of orgsim(A, B) and orgsim(B, A).

The M Similarity between two Organizations, A and B, is the average (mean) of orgsim(A, B) and orgsim(B, A).

6. Player Liberty Clause

No player may become a member of an Organization without first expressing their consent to joining it. A player may leave an Organization of which he or she is a member at any time.

7. Organizational Voting

When an Organization is called on to vote, it has 7 days to conduct and publically report the results of the vote, and how each member voted, unless the rules call for a different amount of time. If everyone who is eligible to cast a vote in a given has done so, the results may be announced before the voting period ends. For the purposes of this rule, the composition of an Organization is taken to be its composition at the end of any voting or decision period.

Acting members are considered to be members in place of the members they are acting for.

8. Unique Organizations

This section takes precedence over all rules concerning Unique Organizations, and all rules concerning Organizational Powers. It is impermissible for Unique Organizations to use Organizational Powers. If a Unique Organization comes to own an Organizational Power, by any means, then that Organizational Power has no effect on that Organization. Unique Organization membership is defined by the rules defining the Unique Organizations in question. If membership is not defined for a specific Unique Organization, then it has no members.

9. Types of Organizations

Other rules may define types of Organizations. A rule defining an Organization may define other membership requirements and restrictions. It is permissible for a rule defining an Organization to add conditions under which an Organization may become a VSO, however, it not permissible for any other rule to allow an Organization with fewer than three members to exist and not be a VSO. Rules may define Unique Organizations. Such rules also implicitly define the type of Organization.

The rules may define ways for Organizations to transform from one type to another.

When an Organization transforms from one type to another, then all the procedures that occur as a result of the disbandment of an Organization of the type it transforms from, and which do not occur as a result of disbandment of an Organization of the type it transforms to, are executed. Unless specifically restricted by other rules, an Organization of any type may transform its type as an Organization Action by announcing that it transforming, the type it is transforming to, and paying standard Harfer's Fee. Other rules may specify higher fees for specific transformations.

Rule 1004/2
Societies
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

A Society is a type of Organization.

Society's may own A$, and Organizational Powers. Societies may not own any other type of entity. Society's may receive A$ as a gift. If a Society receives a Trinket as a gift, then the trinket is deemed to have been destroyed for A$ just prior to the transfer. A Society may only transfer A$ to the Treasury. [ this enables a Society to purchase powers, or transform itself into another type of Organization]

Rule 1005/6
Organizational Action
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

This Rule defers to all other rules. [Not all Organizations necessarily work this way. Churches in particular have their own unique internal structures. The Rules may also define other ways Organizations can act, and may define that certain Organizations are unable to use this process under certain circumstances.]

An Organization can attempt actions. However, the process for an Organization to attempt an action is somewhat more complex than the same process for players. First, some member of the Organization sends a public message suggesting an action for the Organization to take. The suggestion must include the name of the Organization for which it is being suggested. The other members of the Organization may then approve of the suggestion or denounce it. If any member denounces the suggestion, it is voided.

If, after a suggestion is made, all active, non-gaoled members of the Organization approve it within seven days, and no member denounces it, then the Organization attempts the action as suggested. The time of this attempt is the time of the last approval. Submission of a suggestion is considered to constitute approval of that suggestion.

If seven days pass after a suggestion is made, then the Organization shall make the attempt, as suggested, if and only if no member of that Organization denounced the suggestion, and at least two thirds of the Organization's members approved it within the seven-day period.

A member of an Organization may proxy their approval to that Organization, or renounce it as a public action. At the time a member proxies their approval, they shall automatically approve of all organizational actions under consideration for that organisation. Whenever an Organizational Action is suggested by a member of that Organization, all members of that Organization whose approval is proxied automatically approve of the action at the time it is suggested.

Rule 1006/2
When You Don't Get a Say
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

A player may not denounce an Organizational action which:

1) consists entirely of eir removal from that Organization unless there are only two members of the organisation.
2) was suggested prior to eir most recent acquisition of membership in that Organization.

Rule 1007/0
Organizational Name Change
ThinMan (John Bollinger)

Any player-sanctioned organization is permitted to change its name as an organizational action. The desired new name of the organization is necessary to fully specify this action. An attempt to perform this action fails if, at the time of the attempt, (1) the organization does not own at least the standard Harfer Fee, or (2) it is not legal for the organization to have the specified new name. If the attempt succeeds then the Organization shall pay the standard Harfer Fee.

Rule 1007.1/1
Admissions Policies
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)

As an organizational action any organization may change its admissions policy. The following are valid types of admissions policies:

1. Standard: the organisation may accept new members as an organizational action.

2. Open: any player may join the organization as a public action.

3. Privileged Single Player: a single member may grant any request for membership in that Organization, without waiting around for the consent of the rest of the members. A single player with this ability must be specified.

4. Quasi-open: Any player may request membership into the organisation and will become a member three days later unless any member of the organization refuse the player admission.

5. Communist Single Player: a single member may grant any request for membership in that Organization, without waiting around for the consent of the rest of the members. Any member of the organisation may grant membership in this way.

Rule 1008/7
Organizational Powers
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

This rule defers to all other rules.

Organizational Powers ("Powers" for short) are entities. All Organizations can own Powers.

Where the rules say that an Organization may buy a Power of a certain type, what is meant is that the Organization may, as an action, contribute an amount of currency to the Treasury in exchange for a new Power of the type specified, which is then created in that Organization's possession.

Rule 1009/14
Political Parties and Rewarding Party Unity
Mitchell Harding

A Political Party is a type of Organization. Being a member of more than one Political Party simultaneously is the Crime of Branch-Stacking. At the end of a proposal's voting period, but before votes on that proposal are counted, if every active player member of a given Political Party voted YES on that proposal, and no member of the Party is also a member of some other Party, then the Political Party itself shall cast an additional YES vote on that proposal for every three active player members it has.

Party membership and how players voted are determined based on the facts in force at the end of the voting period for each proposal.

A Political Party may own and Trade A$, Trinkets, Land, Buildings, and Organizational Powers. A Political Party may not offer or accept trades in which it would receive any other kind of entity, but may trade away anything it owns.

The fee for transforming from a Society to a Party is A$300.

Rule 1011/0
Excavation Permit
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)

An Excavation Permit is an Organizational Power, it is also Red Tape. An Organization may buy an Excavation Permit for the princely sum of the Standard Harfer Fee.

An Organization that is not a VSO and owns an Excavation Permit may:
i) Accept tradable entities for the purposes of burying em as a treasure. If the Organization would otherwise be unable to own a type of entity it will be transferred to the treasury after a period of 1 week if it has not been buried as a treasure.
ii) May, as an action, bury any tradable entities that it owns as a treasure as described in rule 1217.
iii) May legally own any entity that has been part of a buried treasure during the previous two weeks.

This rule has precedence over any rule with which it conflicts regarding what a particular Organization may own, accept or bury as a treasure.

Rule 1013/8
Secret Laboratories
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)

A Secret Laboratory is an Organizational Power. An Organization may buy a Secret Laboratory for A$ 1000. An Organization may own at most one Secret Laboratory.

An Organization may, as an action, use any Secret Laboratory it owns to build a Gadget from any existing Blueprint. A member of the Organization must be specified as the recipient of this gadget at the time the action is declared. Three days after the action is announced, the Gadget is created in the specified player's possession. Each Secret Laboratory may be used to build a Gadget at most once each calendar month.

Rule 1015/1
More Than Human
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

A More Than Human is an Organizational Power. An Organization may buy a More Than Human for A$200.

An Organization that has a More Than Human is allowed to have non-player Entities as members, provided that said Entities are capable of expressing eir consent in the public forum, or that the rules allow for some method by which said Entities can become members of Organizations. An Organization with a More Than Human is allowed to enable non-player Entities to become members, by expressing its consent to the joining of the non-player Entity (or by having an open admissions policy), and by the non-player Entity expressing eir consent to join the Organization in the public forum.

Rule 1017/1
Trusts
else...if (Henry Towsner)

A Trust Fund is a type of organization. Trust Funds act like Societies in terms of ownership except that it may transfer A$ to anyone. In order to be a Trust Fund, the organization's founder must specify that they desire it to be a Trust Fund when it is created. When a player who announces eir intent to form a Trust Fund and the player may legally announce eir intent to form an organization the Trust Fund immediately comes into existence; it need not wait for other players to join. When the Trust Fund comes into existence and the founder pays the SHF only its founder is a member, and it acts like a VSO with two exception: no one may join it, and it may perform the additional organizational action of accepting a charter.

When a Trust Fund accepts a charter its founder is ejected and the Trust Fund may act like a full Trust Fund. It continues to exist as long as it possesses at least one A$ or until its charter specifies that it disbands.

A Trust Fund's charter should specify what it should do with its A$. It may only transfer A$ as specified by its charter and when it is pointed out by a player that the A$ should be transferred.

This rule takes precedence over rule 1003.

Rule 1020/2
Dispensations
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

The Org-Harfer (or, if that seat is vacant, the Web-Harfer) shall maintain a list of Dispensations which is an unownable entity. This list is an official Document, but is not a Rule, and shall only have effects as defined by the Rules. An entry on the Dispensations List shall consist of the name of a Society, a colon, and an action or a description of a number of actions (so that it is possible to distinguish between actions described by that description and actions not described in a non-paradoxical way).

If an entry on the Dispensations List contains the name of a Society and an action, then the Society may perform that action as an Organisational Action.

A member of a Society may submit an Indulgence by sending it to the Org-Harfer privately. It is a Duty of the Org-Harfer to publish Indulgences. An Indulgence must be an entry of the form included in the Dispensations List. Any player may object to a published Indulgence within 3 days of it being published.

If, 3 days after an Indulgence is published, fewer than 2 players have objected to the Indulgence, then the Indulgence will be added to the Dispensations List as a new entry.

The Dispensation list may only be manipulated as specified by the rules.

Rule 1030/0
Castes
J. M. Bear (Frank Schmidt)

The Worker Caste, the Warrior Caste and the Religious Caste are Unique Organizations. There are no other Castes.

When a player ceases to be a Newbie, e becomes a member of one of these Castes by random determination. The chances to join a Caste are equal to the number of members in the other two castes divided by twice the number of members in all three Castes.[This adds up to one.]

No player may leave eir Caste. However, it is possible that two or three players agree to swap Caste membership, provided that the players swapping membership have all been in the Player State of Voting for at least 3 weeks, and none of them swapped Caste membership within the last 3 weeks.

Rule 1031/2
Grey Council
J. M. Bear (Frank Schmidt)

The Grey Council is an Office with up to nine seats. It is also a Unique Organization.

Each Caste (Worker, Warrior, Religious) has the right to fill 3 seats in the Grey Council.

The rules for nomination, election and impeachment apply with the restriction that only a member of a Caste may

a) nominate emself for a seat that this Caste has the right to fill,

b) vote in the election for seats that this Caste has the right to fill,

c) vote on the impeachment of a Grey Council member of this Caste. In this case, the procedure followed for impeachment is the same as that outlined in Rule 404, except that the IP will be ACCEPTED if at least 1/2 of the members of the Caste voted on it, and 2/3 of those voting on the IP voted YES.

When a member of the Grey Council changes Caste membership, eir seat immediately becomes vacant. When a player who has nominated emself for a seat in the Grey Council changes Caste membership, eir nomination is considered to be withdrawn.

Rule 1040/31
Party Hall
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

I. Swingerships and Provisional Swingerships are tradeable entities. The owner of a Swingership is known as a Swinger.

II. Each Swingership has associated with it a Party attribute. This attribute is either the name of a Political Party, or the null string [""]. A Swingership with Party attribute "" may be referred to as a Free Swingership. All other Swingerships may be referred to as Party Swingerships, and their owners may be referred to as Party Swingers. A Party whose name matches the Party attribute for a given Swingership is the Appropriate Party for that Swingership.

III. When a Political Party is created, a Swingership with Party attribute the name of that Political Party is created, and is Somewhere Else. When a Political Party is destroyed, any Swingership with Party attribute the name of that Political Party becomes a Provisional Swingership.

IV. The owner of a Provisional Swingership may convert it into a Free Swingership by paying 15 times the Standard Harfer Fee to the Treasury. If a Provisional Swingership has existed as such for 7 days or longer, then it is destroyed when any player points out this fact.

V. If less than seven Swingerships exist, a player may create a new Free Swingership by paying 10 times the Standard Harfer Fee to the Treasury, and specifying a legal Ackanomic name which can be used to refer to the new Swingership.

VI. If a Party Swingership is Somewhere Else, any member of the Appropriate Party may, as a public action, take possession of that Swingership. The ownership of a Party Swingership may be changed as an Organisational Action of the Appropriate Party. If ever a Party Swingership is held by a player not of the Appropriate Party, then it goes Somewhere Else.

VII. Any player may cause a Swingership they own to go Somewhere Else as a public action. Free Swingerships which go Somewhere Else are destroyed. When the owner of a Party Swingership goes on Vacation, that Swingership goes Somewhere Else.

VIII. Whenever a Swingership or Provisional Swingership is destroyed, all Party Chess Pieces associated with it are destroyed.

IX. A Swingership that has been Somewhere Else for the last 7 days is called a Warm Swingership.

X. Any player may change the name of a free swingership they own by announcing the name change and paying the standard harfer fee.

Rule 1044/21
Swingpoints
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

Swingpoints are tradeable entities. Swingpoints may only be created as described by the Rules. Whenever the Rules call for someone or something to receive Swingpoints, and does not specify where those Swingpoints are to come from, then new Swingpoints equal to the number owed that recipient are created in its possession, and it is considered to have received its Swingpoints.

1. Let NoS be the the number of Swingers, excluding vacationing Swingers, including Acting Swingers.

2. a. Every two weeks on Monday the Chess-Umpire awards Swingpoints to Swingers who have positive Weights. Each such Swinger receives a number of Swingpoints equal to the number of Swingers (excluding Swingers on Vacation, but including Acting Swingers) with equal or lower Weights.

b. If the application of Section 2a results in Swingpoints being awarded to at least one Party Swinger on a particular Monday, then all other members of the Party of the Party Swinger who received more Swingpoints than any other Party Swinger (or the only Party Swinger who received Swingpoints, if only one received any) each receive one Swingpoint for eir support immediately after Swinger Swingpoints are awarded.

3. Swingpoint Conversions

a. Otzma Card Conversions

(i) A Player may convert 10 Swingpoints into any Otzma Card with an F-Designation of Common.

(ii) A Player may convert 15 Swingpoints into any Otzma Card with an F-Designation of Normal.

(iii) A Player may convert 20 Swingpoints into any Otzma Card with an F-Designation of Rare.

The above three conversions may only occur if no Otzma Card instance limits are violated by the conversion.

b. A Player may, as a public action, convert four of his own Swingpoints into one Bonus Vote.

c. A player may convert N Swingpoints into a Party Chess Piece in the possession of a specified Swinger, provided that the material value of that Party Chess Piece is no more than (5*N)/7, provided no instance limits are violated by the conversion, and the specified Swinger owns at most 15 Party Chess Pieces.

d. A Player may, as a public action, convert ten of eir own Swingpoints into a Benefyt. Benefyts are tradeable entities.

Rule 1060/2
Transnomicial Trade Pacts Rule Suite.
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)

Trade Pacts may be set up between Ackanomic and other nomics.

A Trade Pact is set up with an other nomic if and only if the following five conditions are satisfied:

1) The other nomic's ruleset allows Trade pacts, and doesn't contradict the Ackanomic ruleset on how they should work.

2) There are at least two players of Ackanomic who are also players of the other nomic.

3) An organisation, defined by rule, exists in Ackanomic for the purpose of conducting trade with the other nomic. (This shall be known as "A" below.)

4) An organisation or similar entity (as defined by the rules of Ackanomic) exists within the other nomic for the purpose of conducting trade with Ackanomic. (This shall be known as "B" below.)

5) The intersection of (the set of members of A) and (the set of members of B) has at least two members each of which is a player of Ackanomic.

If a Trade Pact exists between Ackanomic and another nomic then A may import items from the other nomic that are transfered them from B and A may export items to the other nomic by transferring them to B. Items may only be transfered by A if they would be allowed to be given to a player or organisation by A.

If A is transfered an item from B and it is specified that this item is to be given to a player or organisation C then A must give this item to C.

If A is given an item from a player or organisation D and it is specified that this item is to be transfered to B then A must transfer this item to B. If further it is specified that B must give this item to an entity E within the other nomic then A must specify this to B during the transfer.

If either of the last two paragraphs are contravened then all the members of organisation A are guilty of the Crime of Trading Under False Pretenses.

[This rule is the head of a rule suite defining such organisations]

6) Custodianship

The Ambassador is Custodian of the Transnomicial Trade Pacts Rule Suite (the 1060.Y rules).

Rule 1112/7
Let there be Harf!
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

At any given time, there will be, at most, a single player with the title of Harfmeister. The title of Harfmeister cannot be transferred or awarded except as described in the rules. If, at any time, no one has the title of Harfmeister, or the player with the title is On Ice, the title is given (or transferred) to the Speaker.

The Harfmeister may designate a proposal currently under voting consideration as Harfy. This action fails if there are already three proposals designated Harfy or if the proposal specified is attributed to the Harfmeister. A proposal designated Harfy remains so designated as long as it is under voting consideration; it ceases to be designated Harfy as soon as it ceases to be under voting consideration.

If a Harfy proposal passes, its author gains 5 points (a score change based on proposal content) and the title of Harfmeister passes from the current Harfmeister to the author of the Harfy proposal. If two or more Harfy proposals are accepted simultaneously, the title of Harfmeister shall go to the author of the highest numbered one.

The Harfmeister should also be on the lookout for particularly harfy courses of action, things which might later be considered for a Silver Moon, or at least are worth a good laugh at the time. The Harfmeister has the privilege of designating a player other than emself to be "Funky and Stylish".

At most one player is "Funky and Stylish" at any one time; a designation of a player as "Funky and Stylish" removes the designation of "Funky and Stylish" from any other player possessing it. When a player is designated "Funky and Stylish", they gain 5 points. Only one player may be designated "Funky and Stylish" per calendar week.

This privilege of the Harfmeister should be used regularly, when it is justified. Failure to do so on a regular basis, without justification, may lead to accusations that the Harfmeister is hogging the harf, as described below.

The Harfmeister may use his or her discretion in determining what is to be considered Harfy for the purposes of this rule, but it is considered bad form to designate a proposal as Harfy that is not really Harfy, and other players are permitted to sneer.

If any voting player feels the Harfmeister is hogging the Harf [that is, sitting on the title of Harfmeister with no intent to designate any proposals as Harfy], they may start an Inquisition. An Inquisition is a Hearing. It is also Strange. The player who started the Inquisition is the Hearing Harfer and is called the Supreme Inquisitor while it is in session. The valid responses to an Inquisition are 'No! He's going to share the Harf!', or 'Yes! He is Hogging the Harf!' If the verdict is the latter, the Harfmeister is guilty of hogging the Harf and must immediately go to his or her home if he or she may legally do so. The person who called for the Inquisition then becomes the Harfmeister.

Rule 1123/2
snowgod's Disease
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

A horrible epidemic is sweeping across Acka!

This epidemic is named "snowgod's Disease." Its sufferers are highly prone to send private messages to the public forum, particularly if those private messages are to one's co-conspirators in a scam, coup attempt, or other loophole surfing activity. To preserve the public health of Acka, some action must be taken!

Whenever a player believes another player is infected with snowgod's Disease, he may call a Public Health Emergency by posting in a public message that he is doing so, and naming which player he believes is infected. A Public Health Emergency is a type of Hearing. The player who made the call is the Hearing Harfer and is called the Undergraduate Med Student while it is in session. The valid responses are, "Yes, why just yesterday e posted a letter to eir aunt!" and, "No, e, uh, meant to do that." If the verdict is "Yes, why just yesterday e posted a letter to eir aunt!" the named player is determined to be infected with snowgod's Disease until the end of the calendar month, and the player who called the Hearing, known for this purpose as the Medical Examiner, shall within the next seven days, publically post what treatment he feels the infected player should be subjected to. This "prescription" is not a legally binding document. No player may have a Public Health Emergency called against him more than one per calendar month, as this would be just plain too silly.

Rule 1125/5
Committee for the Protection, Preservation, and Integrity of the Arts
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

If a player feels another player has created a lame, inane, or otherwise useless Trinket of negligible artistic merit within the past 3 days, they may make public complaint to that effect by naming the offending player and offensive Trinket (or Trinkets), provided no such complaint has been previously lodged naming the allegedly offensive Trinket(s).

A Hearing is then called on the matter of whether the allegedly offensive Trinket(s) are in fact lame, inane, or otherwise useless or of negligible artistic merit. The player who made the complaint is the Hearing Harfer and is called the Comfortable Chair while it is in session. This committee is called the Committee for the Protection, Preservation, and Integrity of the Arts (CPPIA).

The valid responses in a CPPIA Hearing are: "this the most inane thing since the 'whatever it is we're auctioning today'", and "this is the hottest thing since the 'Hubert Feathers'". [Voters should consider the artistic merit and usefulness of the Trinket when making their responses.]

If the verdict is the latter ('hottest') decision, the player who originally made the complaint shall post a limerick praising/ admiring the vindicated Trinket(s) (within 3 days of the decision), forfeit the Standard Harfer Fee for some sorely needed art appreciation classes, and be immediately transported to the Museum for an education.

If the verdict is the former ('inane') decision, the player who created the Trinkets forfeits the Standard Harfer Fee for the cost of new murals to decorate the walls of the Gaol (which they should describe), and, if the total value of the Trinkets in question is the Standard Harfer Fee or less, the Trinket(s), if they still exist, are forgeries.

Rule 1127/1
Sanctity of Harf
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)

No player may have the character string (delimited by the quotation marks) "harf", nor any variation wherein the only difference is capitalization, contained within their Ackanomic name.

Rule 1129/3
Crazy French-Scotsmen
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)

Any Newbie may publicly complain when they lose any points or currency. When they exercise this option, the penalty will immediately be counteracted. In order for this complaint to have the effects described in this rule, it must express the sentiment "I didn't understand the rules! You keep changing the rules! You never told me about that rule!". It need not (and in fact is encouraged not to) use those exact phrases, but it must adequately express those sentiments.

If the penalty involved a loss of points, the penalized player's score (after having the penalty revoked) will be raised to the first prime number higher than their current score. If the penalty involved a loss of currency, the player with the most currency (in case of a tie, the player with the most currency whose Ackanomic name occurs first alphabetically) must give the new player currency, the amount of which must be positive and non-zero. The player cannot be selected to give themselves currency. In this case, whichever player (other than the penalized player) with the most vowels in their name will give the penalized player a positive non-zero amount of currency.

This public complaining may only be exercised 3 times by any player. If a player manages to legitimately exercise this ability 3 times within a 48 hour period, they will be dubbed a Crazy Scotsman. If the player manages to legitimately exercise this ability 3 times within a 24 hour period, they will instead by dubbed a Crazy French-Scotsman.

Rule 1131/3
Happiness
Attila the Pun (Micah Smulker)

At any time, one number and only one number is known as the Happy Number. The Happy Number is at all times an integer between -60 and the Magic Number.

If any time it is publically knowable that a player has a score exactly equal to the Happy Number, that player may point this fact out by publically stating: "Happy! Happy! Happy!". E then gains a probabilistic Boon of the Ancients and the Happy Number becomes a random integer between -60 and the Magic Number.

The number equal to (The Magic Number)-(The Happy Number) is known as the Sad Number. If any player has a score equal to the Sad Number, other players are encouraged to give that player gifts, to console em.

If at any time the Happy Number is greater than the Magic Number, the Happy Number becomes 42.

Rule 1136/0
Harf the Mail!
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)

The President will keep the List-of-Harf. At any time within the first week of a President's term, all players, excluding the President, may send a private message to the President with two things: the name of a player, who is neither emself nor the President, called their target, and a word with at least 7 letters, called the target word. No player may send more than one such message to any President during a single term of office of that President. This target and associated target word will be recorded under that player's entry in a new List-of-Harf by the President.

After having sent their entry to the President, if a player sees a message from their target that contains the associated target word and was posted more than one week after the most recent assumption of office by the President, then they can send a public message claiming this to be the case. They must state the message's title and when that message was posted, and say "The Harf is back and I want a winter cap."

The President must then check that the player's claim is correct. There are 3 possible replies. If the claim is true and that target word was listed only once in the List-of-Harf, the President must say "Indeed the Harf is back, here is your cap!" If it is true but the target word appears on the List-of-Harf more than once, e must say: "It was Blue, take a straw hat!" If it is false, e must reply: "Orange devil, wear sandals!"

In all cases, the player's entry is then removed from the current List-of-Harf. If the President replied "Indeed the Harf is back, here is your cap!" then that player will gain one-tenth of the points (rounded down) of their target's score, when that target said the claimed target word.

Just before the President's term of office ends, the current List-of-Harf is destroyed.

If a player becomes Active while a player is President but it is illegal to submit an entry to the List-of-Harf, that player has 3 days from the time at which e becomes active to submit such an entry. No such player may make a claim as above unless the message on which e makes the claim was posted after this three-day period has expired.

Rule 1142/0
Reincarnating Into The Third Cat
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

When a player starts playing for the first time, they are said to have never been reincarnated. For every two chronologically consecutive proposals made by certain player which have a difference of more than 200 in their number, then that player is said to have reincarnated once.

The active player with the greatest difference in the number of two of their chronologically consecutive proposals is said the be the Passive Contemplator. The active player who has been reincarnated the most times is said to be the Third Cat.

Rule 1145/0
Rainy Day Women #12 & #35
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)

A player shall become Stoned if e states publicly, "Man, I'm stoned." Other rules may define other ways in which players become Stoned.

While a player is Stoned, all public messages posted by them, except posts made as a Duty of an Office, must contain at least one line, sentence, paragraph or phrase of 7 words or more, cited as described in Rule 210 [Literature] that fulfils one or more of the following three conditions:

a) It contains one or more instances of some form of the word "stone."
b) It is from a work whose title contains one or more instances of some form of the word "stone."
c) The artist cited is the Rolling Stones.

If a player, while Stoned, posts a message which fails to fulfil these conditions, any other player may call a Stoning on em. A Stoning is a Hearing. It is also an Extremely Silly Matter. The valid responses to a Stoning are "No, I live in a glass house. Plus I'm not without sin." and "Hey man, look at all the pretty colors!!".

If the verdict is "No, I live in a glass house. Plus I'm not without sin." the player upon whom the Stoning was called is no longer Stoned. In this case, the player who called the Stoning must publically post an apology of at least 15 lines to the player against whom the Stoning was called, and thereafter becomes Square.

If the verdict is "Hey man, look at all the pretty colors!!" the player on whom the Stoning was called becomes Martyred. A new I Got Stoned For Your Sins And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt is created in eir possession, and e must, within 3 days, post to a public forum a rhyming poem of at least 20 lines in which e describes eir Stoning.

A Stoned player is also encouraged, but not required, to misspell words, slur eir speech, publicly request food (which should be referred to as "munchies"), and digress onto many irrelevant tangents dealing with inconsequential trivialities [e.g. "Do you realize that this post -- THIS POST -- consists of BILLIONS and BILLIONS of electrons?!??!! Hey, neat, I sound like Carl Sagan. Except he's dead..." etc.] in all public postings.

A Stoned player shall no longer be Stoned if any one of the following three conditions becomes true:

d) Exactly one Acka week has passed since e first became Stoned.
e) E publicly posts a message in which four consecutive paragraphs, of two or more sentences each, begin respectively with the words 'Everybody', 'Must', 'Get', and 'Stoned', exclusive of all quotation marks.
f) E frinks Goldenseal, should such a beverage exist.

Other rules may define other ways in which players may cease being Stoned.

Rule 1150/4
The Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired)
Vulcan

Vulcan once ruled Ackanomic.

Those players who were members of Vulcan on August 28, 1997 [/dev/joe, Malenkai, ThinMan, and Vynd] are Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired). No other players and no non-players are Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired).

Gold Pocketwatches are unnamed, non-tradable, non-mimsy entities. As the name suggests, they are ornate, pocket-sized timepieces made of pure gold. Despite utilizing analog mechanical displays, Gold Pocketwatches are, in fact, miniature atomic clocks, and they would be exceedingly valuable if they were actually tradable. Gold Pocketwatches may only be created, destroyed, or transferred as specified by this rule. Gold Pocketwatches have no attributes, powers, or effects other than those described by this rule.

Vulcan may disband itself as an organizational action, but will not be disbanded if it has zero (or fewer) members. If ever none of the Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired) is a member of Vulcan, then any of the Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired) may join Vulcan as a public action with no Vulcan approval required; this right may not be restricted in any way. If Vulcan ever disbands itself then this paragraph and the next two paragraphs of this rule are thereupon deleted from this rule. If Vulcan's name is ever legally changed, all unquoted instances of the word "Vulcan" in this rule not followed by the word "Headquarters" shall still refer to the organization that was named "Vulcan" on August 28, 1997, and no other entity but that one may be named "Vulcan". This takes precedence over all other rules that allow anything to get a name in any manner.

Vulcan owns twelve adjacent kaas of land near the edge of Ackanomic. Upon those twelve kaas of land is Vulcan Headquarters, which is an Extravagant building. Vulcan Headquarters is even bigger on the inside than on the outside -- indeed, some say that the interior is infinitely large. Vulcan Headquarters also has a disturbing tendency of changing its appearance and floor plan from time to time, therefore Vulcan may change the description of Vulcan Headquarters at any time. Vulcan may not trade, sell, or otherwise cease to be in possession of Vulcan Headquarters or the land on which it resides. Vulcan, members of Vulcan, and the Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired) shall be immune from any requirements associated with owning the land or building granted Vulcan by this rule, except those requirements specified by this rule. Vulcan Headquarters is a Common Location.

Members of Vulcan and Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired) are always permitted to enter Vulcan Headquarters; other players may ring the door chime, but are only permitted to enter if a Vulcan member grants permission. Any player who is not a member of Vulcan may be forcefully ejected from Vulcan Headquarters (via catapult) by Vulcan. Any member of Vulcan who is not an Evil Overlord of Ackanomic (retired) may be similarly ejected from Vulcan Headquarters by any Evil Overlord of Ackanomic (retired) who is a member of Vulcan. Any Evil Overlord of Ackanomic (retired) may eject himself from Vulcan Headquarters. Vulcan artillerists are unerringly accurate, and any player ejected from Vulcan Headquarters, as allowed by this rule, goes to his own home, if he has one, or to the Wilds of Ackanomia if he doesn't. Vulcan artillerists do, however, require ammunition, so, notwithstanding the permissions granted above, only players who are in Vulcan Headquarters may be ejected from Vulcan Headquarters as described above. Vulcan Headquarters has six 3500-meter tall ostentatious towers attached to it which are not associated with any player.

Rule 1151/0
Former Emperor of Ackanomic
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)

K 2 once ruled Ackanomic. The player who is legally able to assume the name "K 2" is a Former Emperor of Ackanomic.

Rule 1155/0
Colours
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

The following colours are defined by the Rules:

alabaster; amber; aquamarine; azure; black; blue; brown; burgundy; carnelian; cerulean; chartreuse; crimson; cyan; emerald; fuchsia; gold; green; grey; indigo; lavender; magenta; maroon; mauve; murrey; ochre; orange; peach; pink; puce; purple; red; scarlet; sienna; silver; teal; turquoise; ultramarine; umber; vermilion; viridian; white; yellow;

Rule 1160/4
Heraldry
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)

Any player or Organization may have a Coat of Arms. Coats of Arms are nontradeable entities.

Any entity eligible to have a Coat of Arms may submit a proposed design to the Herald. E may refuse the design at eir discretion, and must do so if it is the same as the Coat of Arms of any other player or organization. If e approves of the design, then the entity requesting the Coat of Arms shall pay the Standard Harfer Fee, and the Herald shall announce the Coat of Arms publicly by posting its blazon. (A blazon is a textual description of the Coat of Arms in standard heraldic language.)

If the bearer of a Coat of Arms should ever be found guilty of a Crime (i.e. a CFCJ's final verdict is that they committed a Crime), then the Herald, may alter eir Coat of Arms by means of an abatement. E may also set conditions to the Arms-bearer for the removal of the abatement.

Coats of Arms are not Garments, but for A$10 a player with a Coat of Arms may purchase a Surcoat bearing their Coat of Arms. Surcoats are Garments.

The Ackanomic Coat of Arms is: Per pale sable and barry wavy tenne and purpure, a scale of justice between a frog and a life-glider, all or.

Rule 1177/0
What Is a Dorum?
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

A dorum is a small felt hat, which is of variegated colours, but always includes at least red, blue, gold and harf. Being a hat, it is a type of Garment, but it is a wierd hat in that it tries to come off whenever you put it on your head. The only way to wear a dorum is while standing on your head. Whenever a player who has not previously been Harfmeister becomes Harfmeister, they receive a dorum.

Rule 1195/1
Honoring The Bard
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)

If any public message posted on April 23 is not solely in the form of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), the poster of that message shall be fined A$3. On April 19 of each year, the Speaker shall post the entire text of this Rule as a public action.

Rule 1201/0
The Illustrious DoppelSlakko
JT (JT Traub)

There exists the office of DoppelSlakko with one seat.

The player who holds this seat is known as the DoppelSlakko.

The office of DoppelSlakko has no priveledges.

The office of DoppelSlakko has the following duties:

a) once per calendar month, the DoppelSlakko must submit a proposal which attempts to break the game in some fashion. This proposal must contain the furniture 'Warning: Attempting to break the game'. When the proposal mentioned previously has it's voting period expire all players will automatically vote NO on this proposal an infinitesimal amount of time before its voting period ends. An infinitesimal amount of time before that, Tammany will vote YES on it. This takes precedence over any other rules regarding voting. If the DoppelSlakko fails to submit such a proposal, they lose 25 points.

Any player may claim the office of DoppelSlakko by posting a proposal with the furniture 'Warning: Attempting to break the game'. If that proposal is rejected, the former DoppelSlakko immediately steps down and then the player who submitted the proposal fills the office. This is the only way this office may be filled, and this takes precedence over any rule other than this one regarding offices and who may fill them.

Rule 1205/0
Game Misconduct
Vynd (John McCoy)

If a player of Ackanomic deliberately interferes with the play of a sub-game, even if he is not a participant in that sub-game, he has committed the Crime of Game Misconduct. Interference, in this case, would be doing something that makes it impossible to play a sub-game as its rules and game spirit intend. [Examples include: Revealing the definition of the Ing word of a game of Fictionary. Providing lists of possible Ghost or Double Crash words.] Cheerleading, jeering, and even providing advice to a sub-game player, are permissible so long as they do not violate the above clauses.

Rule 1209/18
The Machine That Goes *ping*
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)

I. There exists the unique entity called The Machine That Goes *ping*, henceforth known as the Machine.

The Machine is a product of advanced technology, covered in buttons, lights, and switches. It may be from the same culture that produced Phoebe, and so it is of great importance that The Machine That Goes *ping* be studied by all of Acka.

II. The Machine That Goes *ping* may exist in the Home of any active player, but nowhere else. Its location may change only as specified in this rule.

The player in whose home the Machine resides has the duty of assisting Acka in its study of the Machine and is given the title "Scholar of *ping*" (hereafter, Scholar) for as long as the Machine shares his abode. For the purposes of this rule, "the current Scholar's term" refers to the period of time since the Machine last changed locations. It specifically does not refer to any periods of time before the Machine's most recent change in location during which the current Scholar was also Scholar.

III. Within seven days of a player receiving this title, the Machine shall manifest in the Scholar's dreams and utter one truth. This truth shall take the form, "IF AND ONLY IF today {if clause}, THEN the Machine That Goes *ping* shall go *ping*." It must be a truth the Machine has never uttered before.

In the Machine's truth, {if clause} will be replaced by no more than twelve words. Each of these words must be in the official dictionary or exist in the Rules. {if clause} shall not contain anything that is not a word, except punctuation properly used by the rules of standard English. The truth must be such that the Machine shall not fail to go *ping* for any seven consecutive calendar days, nor shall it go *ping* without fail for any fourteen consecutive calendar days during the current Scholar's term.

Upon waking from this dream, the Scholar must announce the Machine's truth in a public message to all Acka, but disguise each letter of each word in the {if clause}, but not space characters, with *'s in order to preserve the sacred truth from the eyes of heretics. E.g., the truth "IF AND ONLY IF today is Wednesday or Thursday, THEN the Machine That Goes *ping* shall go *ping*," must be announced, "IF AND ONLY IF today ** ********* ** ********, THEN the Machine That Goes *ping* shall go *ping*." Punctuation shall be placed in its proper place in an undisguised fashion. If the Scholar does not announce the Machine's truth in this fashion within seven days of receiving his title, he is deemed to be a quack and the Machine randomly teleports itself to another active player's Home.

IV. Beginning on the calendar day after the Scholar announces the Machine's truth, the Machine shall go *ping* exactly once on any calendar day the statement described by "today {if clause}" is at any time true. The Machine shall not otherwise go *ping*. It is the duty of the Scholar to inform the rest of Acka of this occurrence. He must do so by posting a public message with the form, "Today is Someday, the xth day of Month, and the Machine That Goes *ping* Has Gone *ping* today. Since I have been scholar, the Machine has gone *ping* n times." In the actual message, Someday, xth, and Month shall be replaced by the appropriate elements of the date of the *ping* which is being announced, and n shall be replaced by the number of times that the Machine has gone *ping* during the current Scholar's term.

V. The Scholar must announce each *ping* as described above either in the day in which it occurred or during the next two days. It is expected, however, that each *ping* be announced during the day in which occurs -- tardy (although legal) announcements are subject to reprisals as described below. Announcements of *ping*'s not made on the day in which the *ping* occurred must be prefaced by an apology from the Scholar for his tardiness. "Days" and "dates" as used in this rule are said to begin and end when the Acka Day begins and ends.

The Scholar must make exactly one announcement as described above each time the Machine goes *ping*. He may not announce that the Machine went *ping* for occasions on which it did not actually go *ping*. Although he is permitted to announce a *ping* on a day after the *ping* occurred, he is not permitted to indicate by any means, that the Machine shall go *ping* or not go *ping* on any future date, nor may he use any means whatsoever not described in the rules to communicate any information regarding the Truth to any player, so long as the undisguised Truth is not publically knowable.

VI.Unless otherwise forbidden, each player other than the Scholar is permitted to publicly post a guess at the undisguised form of the Machine's truth. The player during each Scholar's term who legally so posts the correct guess first received by the Scholar shall receive the following rewards: he shall be congratulated by the Scholar; he shall receive one random Boon of the Ancients, created at that time by the Machine; and the Machine shall transport itself to his home.

Each player who posts an incorrect guess shall suffer the following consequences: he shall be publicly ridiculed by the Scholar, who shall be immune from the politeness moon in so doing (this takes precedence over Rule 374), and he shall pay a fine of A$ 10 for mocking the sacred truth. The Scholar must respond to each guess with either congratulations or ridicule, as appropriate, within three days of the time of the guess.

Players are forbidden from posting more than one guess during any given term of any particular Scholar.

VII. If the Machine has gone *ping* at least six times since a Magic Letter was named, and at least six times during the current Scholar's term, any active player other than the Scholar or the most recent player to ever name a Magic Letter may name any letter of the alphabet not already named as the Magic Letter during the current scholar's term to be the Magic Letter by so posting to the public forum. Each time a Magic Letter may be named, the Scholar shall consider for that purpose only the first post he receives naming a Magic Letter. The Scholar must respond within three days by naming the player whose post was considered, and by publically reposting the Machine's truth in its disguised form, except that any * representing the Magic Letter or any letter previously named the Magic Letter during the current Scholar's term shall be replaced with the actual letter or letters represented. The player whose post was considered then forfeits the Magic Letter Premium to the Treasury. The Magic Letter Premium is based on the type of letter chosen, from the following schedule: Common vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o') cost A$25, Common consonants ('d', 'l', 'n', 'r', 's', 't') cost A$15, all other letters cost A$5.

VIII. If the Machine has gone *ping* thirty times during the current Scholar's term, the Scholar must, within three days of the 30th *ping*, publically post the Machine's truth in its undisguised form.

When the Scholar posts the undisguised truth as directed by this section, the Machine randomly teleports itself to another active player's Home.

IX. If the Scholar is placed in Gaol or goes on Vacation, the Machine randomly teleports itself to another active player's home. If, before the Scholar announces the Truth, he claims in a public message: "I have weighter matters to research, such as the shape of the Earth", the Machine teleports itself to another active player's home.

Should it ever be publically knowable that the current Scholar has violated any part of this rule during the current Scholar's term, or if the Scholar announces a *ping* after the day in which it occurred, any player who feels the Scholar's error or tardiness has compromised the game may post a public message calling for the Scholar's removal. Upon the posting of such a message, the Machine immediately teleports itself to the home of the Player calling for the Scholar's removal.

If the Scholar loses his title for any reason other than going on Vacation, he must post the truth most recently revealed to him in its undisguised form within three days of the loss of his title, unless he has already done so. If he loses his title by going on Vacation, he must post the undisguised form of the truth most recently revealed to him within three days of returning from Vacation.

Whenever the Machine changes locations, it shall cease to go *ping*, and it shall not resume this function until a new truth is announced. Guesses at the truth and attempts to name a magic letter are wholly ignored for the purposes of all other provisions of this rule if they occur before the current scholar has announced the disguised form of the truth, or if they are received by the Scholar after a correct guess has already been received during his current term.

Whenever the Machine randomly teleports itself, it is the duty of the Officer in charge of random things to determine and report its new location.

Rule 1211/5
Boons of the Ancients
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

1) Whenever the rules specify a Boon of the Ancients is bestowed upon a particular player, the Boon is chosen from the list below, created if necessary (or as described following), and transferred to the particular player (or elsewhere, as described following).

2) Boons may either be bestowed randomly or deterministically. If the rule bestowing the Boon does not specify a method, the random method is used.

3) Under the deterministic method, the player designated to receive the Boon ("player" for the purposes of this rule) has 3 days to choose a Boon for himself to receive. No Boon is bestowed if three days pass and the player has made no selection.

4) Under the random method, the numbers in parentheses following each choice are summed, and the probability of receiving a particular Boon on the list is the number in parentheses after that Boon divided by the sum. The Officer in Charge of Random Things then randomly chooses a Boon for the player to receive based on these probabilities.

5) If the Boon is not of type "Must Describe", it is immediately created if necessary, and transferred to the player after it has been chosen.

6) If the Boon is of type Must Describe, the player has 3 days to post a description of the Boon as specified in the list. If no description is posted in that time, no Boon is bestowed. A Boon is of type Must Describe if the words "Must Describe" appear in its description in the list below.

7) Boons of type Must Describe are created 7 days after their description is posted, or when the results of a Bogusity Hearing on that particular Boon's description are publically knowable, whichever is later, unless the Boon is found to be Bogus, in which case the player receives no Boon, and/or no Boon is created.

8) Any player may call a Bogusity Hearing within three days of a description of a Must Describe Boon being posted. The player who made the call is the Hearing Harfer and is called the Principal Authenticator while it is in session. Only one such Hearing may be called per Boon. The player who described the Boon may not vote in the hearing. This takes precedence over R 360. The valid responses to the Bogusity Hearing are "This loophole surfer is totally Bogus", and "Thats a pretty cool idea". If the result is the former, the Boon is found to be Bogus and the player who described it loses 11 points.

9) Boon list [weights sum to 100 in this case]:

a) The player has found an ancient artifact. A random Qualified Gadget, such that no instance limits are exceeded for any particular Gadgets, is bestowed (45).

b) The player has found an ancient scroll. A random Otzma Card, all cards having the same probability, such that no instance limits are exceeded for any particular Otzma Card, is bestowed (25).

c) The gods smile upon the player. 1 Bonus Vote is bestowed (10).

d) An ancient relic. A Trinket of value A$75 which the player Must Describe. In this case, A$75 in the Treasury is transmuted into the Trinket when it is bestowed as above (7).

e) Ancient knowledge. A Discovery is created (not owned by the player, but said to be created by the player), as named and described by the player (Must Describe) (5).

f) Ancient wisdom. An Otzma Card is added to the Otzma Card Rule Suite, which the player Must Describe (5).

g) The gods are bored. The player is given pointy ears (2).

h) The gods are grouchy. The Chartreuse Goose is transferred to the player. (1).

Rule 1213/16
Grab-a-Donkey
Habeous Corpus (Ed Graham)

Create a game known as Grab-a-Donkey. The game consists of a moderator, known as the Wrangler and players, who initially comprise all current active Players of Ackanomic, not including the Player designated as the Wrangler, in Gaol, or otherwise prohibited from performing Ackanomic actions. Each player in Grab-a-Donkey starts off with one (1) donkey. A non-voting player may be the Wrangler. The Wrangler is permitted to distribute fairplay awards during a game of Grab-a-Donkey, as described in Rule 1250.1 section XIII

The following special equipment is required to play Grab-a-Donkey. The equipment will be issued from the Game Box at the start of play, and all equipment will automatically be returned to the Game Box at the end of the game.

One (1) donkey per player
One lariat per player (used to Grab other donkeys)
One (1) blanket (used to Cover the player's own donkey)

The Wrangler may call for a Grab-a-Donkey game at any time, as long as no Grab-a-Donkey game is currently being played. If no Wrangler exists, the first player to claim to be Wrangler may call for a game of Grab-a-Donkey in accordance with the previous sentence. A game of Grab-a-Donkey may only be called once per calendar month, however.

Any player may claim the title of Wrangler and Belt-Holder as a public action. This fails if there is currently a game of Grab-a-Donkey in progress or if the most recent game of Grab-a-Donkey ended fewer than 60 days ago. The titles are immediately transferred to any successful claimant. It is considered good form for a successful claimant to start a game of Grab-a-Donkey within a short time.

The rules of Grab-a-Donkey are as follows:

A. When a new game of Grab-a-Donkey starts, all Players of Ackanomic, excluding the Wrangler, those exempted as noted above, or who have publicly declined to participate during the past three days, will be placed on the Grab-a-Donkey Active List ("GAL" hereafter). Initially each player has a herd size of one.

B. Each Round, a player on the GAL will either

(a) Cover their donkey,
(b) Grab another player's donkey on the GAL,
(c) Stand Around Admiring their Donkey,
(d) Resign (this action is only permissible in the first round).

Unless a player specifies a different choice to the Wrangler in a private message by the end of the Round, the player will Stand Around Admiring their Donkey. Rounds will last no less than one full day and no more than 3 full days from the start of the round. Players may change their action at any time before the end of the Round.

Upon a player resigning, or leaving the game of Ackanomic, their stated actions that round are disregarded, and they are removed from the GAL at the start of the next round. They are considered to have Covered their Donkey for determining the outcome of the current round.

C. If exactly one player ("A") chose to Grab another player's donkey ("B"), and if B did not Cover their donkey:

i. A successfully grabs one of B's donkeys and A's herd is increased by one at the end of the round.

ii. If B had a herd of two or more donkeys at the start of the round, during the noise and confusion of the grab one of B's donkeys will become terrified and flee into the Wilds of Ackanomic (where it will graze peacefully, returning to the Game Box at the conclusion of Grab-a-Donkey). B's herd is reduced by two at the end of the round.

iii. If B only had a herd of one donkey then the size of her herd is reduced by 1 [i.e. she is removed from the game].

If more than one player attempted to grab B's donkey, none of those attempts are successful.

If a player's herd is reduced to less than 1 donkey at the end of a round, e is removed from the GAL.

D. If only one player on the GAL did not choose to Cover their donkey, then all other players will be removed from the GAL at the start of the following Round.

E. At the end of the Round, the Wrangler will publicly report what each player on the GAL did, and determine the results.

F. If and when there are exactly zero players left on the GAL, that game of Grab-a-Donkey shall end. The current Wrangler shall lose their title at that time.

G. If and when there are exactly two players left on the GAL, the permissible moves become (a) rock, (b) scissors, (c) paper. Any player not making such a move in this case is removed from the GAL at the end of the round. If at the end of a round, any of the following are true:

Player A chose rock while Player B chose scissors
Player A chose scissors while Player B chose paper
Player A chose paper while Player B chose rock

Player A is said to have successfully grabbed Player B's donkey, and Player B loses his donkey and is removed from the GAL.

H. If and when there is exactly one player left on the GAL, that game of Grab-a-Donkey shall end. That player shall be considered to be the Belt Holder of that game of Grab-a-Donkey (and shall also have the title of Wrangler). The Belt Holder shall be awarded 3 Points plus the number of donkeys he successfully grabbed that game.

He shall also have the right to Propose exactly one (1) amendment to this rule that changes the way the game of Grab-a-Donkey is played. No player other than the Belt Holder should submit such proposals, and other players are permitted to sneer at such attempts (and vote them down). An exception to this is maintenance proposals, or proposals to fix bugs or paradoxes, are permitted by anyone.

I. During the course of a game of Grab-a-Donkey, the Wrangler may voluntarily give the transfer the title of Wrangler to any willing player not on the GAL. The transfer must occur between two rounds, immediately after the old wrangler releases the results for a round. If the Wrangler goes on Vacation or quits the game of Ackanomic, the first player not on the GAL to name himself Wrangler shall become the Wrangler, and the game of Grab-a-Donkey shall continue from its last publically knowable state. If no player not on the GAL does so within three days, and the old Wrangler has not yet returned from Vacation or rejoined the game, then the current game of Grab-a-Donkey will end, and there shall be no Wrangler.

Rule 1215/12
Duels
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

1. Any player who feels offended by another player, or is engaged in a heated discussion with another player, may challenge that player to a duel, subject to the limitations described below.

2. The procedure for challenging and conducting a duel is as follows:

The Challenging player finds another player who agrees to be their Second. The Challenger gives their Second the name of the player he wishes to Challenge, and the reason for the Challenge.

The Second posts a public message, which announces the name of the Challenging player, the name of the Challenged player, the reason for the Challenge, and the fact that a Challenge has been made.

The Challenged player has 3 days to find another player who agrees to be their Second and have the Second respond to the message publically. The message must contain the following information: The Challenge it is a reply to, and a Game or Contest chosen by the Challenged player for the Duel, or an explicit waiver of the privilege of choosing the Game or Contest. If there is no response to the Challenge within the 3 days, or the Challenged player declines the Challenge, or the response does not conform to the rules preceding, then the Challenged player forfeits the Duel.

The Game or Contest (hereafter called Contest) chosen for the Duel must be one in the Games and Contests Rule Suite. Moreover, it must be playable by exactly two players, or two teams of two players each and have definitive rules for determining a winner, or a winning team. If the chosen contest is for two teams, then each of the participants of the Duel teams up with eir respective Second. If the Challenging player, the Challenged player, and the two Seconds are not four different players, then the team option is not available and the contest chosen must be playable by exactly two players.

If the Challenged player waived the privilege of choosing a Contest, the Challenging player may choose a Contest.

After the Challenged Player's Second has posted the acceptance of the Duel, the Duel starts when the Herald announces it. If the Game or Contest chosen for the Duel requires a Referee, it does not require two teams of two players, and no player volunteers to referee the Game within one week of the Duel's beginning, then the Herald shall referee the Duel, unless the Herald is either the Challenged or Challenging Player, in which case the Challenged Player's Second shall referee the Duel.

When the Duel is over, the winner of the Duel receives 6 points in addition to any rewards or penalties he may have received as part of the Contest itself. The loser of the Duel loses 6 points in addition to any rewards or penalties he may have received as part of the Contest itself. The winner's Second receives 3 points, the loser's Second loses 3 points.

The results of the Duel have no other direct influence over Ackanomic. However if either the Challenger or the Challenged have committed themselves in a public message to a certain action depending on the results of the Duel, then they must perform that action if the rules permit performance of the action. Should they fail to perform that action, they are breaking the rules.

3. When a duel is forfeited, the player who forfeited loses 6 points, and his opponent in the duel gains 6 points. The seconds scores are not changed in this case.

4. Conditions under which a duel may not be called, or unusual forfeit and cancellation conditions:

a. It is impermissible to Challenge an Untouchable Player to a Duel.

b. A Player who Challenged another Player to a Duel or a Player who has been Challenged by another Player to a Duel is Untouchable until the Duel procedures are resolved. A player owning a Highlander's Sword is never untouchable at any other time. This takes precedence over the later sections of this rule.

c. A Player who was a Challengee in a Duel, that is, was Challenged to a Duel and accepted, continues to be Untouchable until the end of the Calendar month in which the duel ended.

d. Players unable to play subgames are Untouchable.

e. If a player who is currently engaged in Duel procedures becomes unable to play subgames, then eir Second shall take eir place in the subgame, unless eir Second is already playing or refereeing the game, in which case the player forfeits the Duel.

f. A Player running for Office may not Challenge another Player running for the same Office to a duel.

g. A player who has declined a Duel, or failed to respond to a Challenge, is Untouchable until 3 days after the date he has declined, or until 3 days after he is considered to have forfeited the duel.

h. If both the Challenger and the Challenged become unable to play subgames simultaneously, then the Duel is cancelled.

i. No player may make more than 3 challenges per calendar month. No more than 6 duels may be called per calendar month. A player with a Highlander's Sword may exceed these limits, but only with a single Challenge each calendar week.

j. If either the Challenger or the Challenged player leaves the game before the original Challenge is answered, the Duel is cancelled.

k. If both the Challenger and the Challenged players publically agree that the Game or Contest being used for a Duel has been fatally compromised [for instance by a third party revealing the Fictionary definition or an error in the Game's rules], a new Game or Contest may be selected, and the Duel is restarted.

Rule 1216/3
Feuds
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

1. An Organization may declare a Feud on another Organization as an Organizational Action provided that:

a. The H Similarity between the Organizations is less than 50.
b. Neither Organization is currently engaged in 3 or more Feuds.
c. The Organizations are not already Feuding each other.

2. Once such a Declaration has been made the two Organizations are said to be engaged in a Feud with each other, or just Feuding each other.

3. A state of Feud is over when one of the following conditions have been met:

a. Every player member of the two Organizations engaged in a Feud with each other, fought a Duel with at least one member of the Organization it is Feuding with, since the Feud begun.

b. For a period of two months no Duel was fought between a member of one Organization and a member of the Organization it is Feuding with. In this case the Organizations are said to have forgotten the cause of the Feud.

c. Either Organization has suggested a 'Sulkha' as an Organizational Action, and the Organization it is Feuding with has accepted the 'Sulkha' as an Organizational Action. In such a case it customary for members of both Organizations to have a big celebration together, to which they are free to invite other players as well. [Organizations should be wary, that many a Feud have started over which organization shall have the honor of hosting such celebrations]

4. If a Feud is over as described in 3a. and members of one Organization have won more Duels than members of the other Organization it Feuding with. Than each member of the former Organization receives 6 points, and each member of the latter organization loses 6 points.

5. When Organization A is Feuding with Organization B, and a player from Organization A is dueling with a player from Organization B, it is considered good form for the each player's Second to be a member of the same organization that player is a member of. It is permissible for the Second to be a member of neither Organization. It is impermissible for the player to have a Second who is a member of the other Organizations. However, if a player is a member of both Organizations A and B, then it is permissible for him to have a Second from Organization A when he is Dueling a player from Organization B, and vice versa.

6. Any single Duel may count towards more than Feud. No Duel may count towards a Feud that started after the Duel ended.

7. If a player is a member of two Feuding Organizations A and B, then any victory in a duel against a player from Organization A will count as a victory by a member of Organization B, and any victory in a duel against a player from organization B will count as a victory by a member of Organization A.

If two Dueling players are both members of Organization A and B while Organizations A and B are Feuding, then that specific Duel does not count as part of that Feud.

Rule 1217/17
Buried Treasure!
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

I.

Burying Treasure is a public action. In order to fully specify this action, the player attempting it must state which one or more of his tradeable entities collectively constitute the Treasure. Hereafter, the term "Treasure" means the collection of these specified constituent entities.

Immediately after this announcement, the player ceases to own the Treasure; it is considered "buried" or "hidden", and is unowned. Buried Treasure is not considered part of the Treasury.

A player who buries Treasure must write a Treasure Map that describes, at a minimum, the conditions which must be met for a player to "find" the Treasure. These conditions may be as simple or as difficult to achieve as desired by the map writer. In fact, they may be impossible to achieve under the current ruleset. For the purposes of this rule, "conditions" means 1 or more conditions.

The map writer is free to disclose all, part, or none of the map publically or privately at any time, or drop hints, clues, obscure riddles, etc in any manner they choose, even if such is not obvious, is subtle, or is encrypted [for example, the text of a proposal could be part of a Treasure Map, or a riddle, in disguise]. The map writer should consider the fun and spirit of the game when making such decisions [they could always just give the entities away].

Upon a player (who is not a map custodian with respect to the map in question) achieving the conditions for finding buried Treasure as specified by a Treasure Map, it is a duty of the map writer or a map custodian (if any exist) to make this fact, and the map, public (once they become aware of the condition being achieved, and final act that lead to the condition being achieved is publically knowable). This action destroys the map, and the player who achieved the conditions receives the Treasure, and thus becomes the owner of its constituent entities (which are no longer considered "Treasure"). In the case of multiple players achieving the conditions before the map is destroyed, the first to achieve it finds the Treasure. If the condition is achieved simultaneously by 2 or more players, the finder is determined at random by the Officer in charge of Random Things. All such players shall be eligible for the random selection, even non-active ones.

The map writer is free to achieve the conditions. This is considered bad form, and the Chartreuse Goose is permitted to sneer. Furthermore, when this happens, the Chartreuse Goose is transferred to the map writer from wherever it is.

An Organization which is able to transfer Entities (e.g. a Church, or an Organization with an Excavation Permit) may bury Treasure as a public action. Each member at the time the Treasure is buried is considered a Map Custodian for that Treasure, and therefore must have a copy of the Map. [The Map itself may be created in any way the members of the Organization wish among themselves.] Otherwise, the procedure is exactly the same as for a player.

It is possible for an Organization to achieve the conditions for a Treasure Map [though of course only if the Map includes this possibility]. If so, then the procedure is identical to that when a Player finds a Treasure. The Organization must also be able to transfer entities(as above)to do this.

II.

The rules may specify conditions under which a player becomes a map custodian for a particular Treasure Map. Once a player becomes a map custodian for a particular map, they are not permitted to disclose anything about the map, or find the Treasure associated with that map, even if they achieve the conditions, as long as that map is in existence. A player will never "un become" a map custodian for a particular map once they have been one. Any player responsible for announcing that another player has achieved the conditions will not do so in the case of a map custodian (with respect to that map) achieving them.

Whenever a map writer goes on Vacation, or leaves the game, they should give the map to the Treasure-Harfer (or acting Treasure-Harfer), who becomes the map custodian (although for short vacations, they may not wish to do this). Upon the Treasure-Harfer going on Vacation, they should give the map to the acting Treasure-Harfer, etc. It is possible, and acceptable, for a map to be permanently or temporarily lost because of players leaving the game. Such is the nature of buried treasure. Players should avoid giving the map to a map custodian, unless it is in the best interest of the fun of the treasure hunt (i.e., they are going on a long vacation or leaving).

The map writer is not a map custodian, unless he happens to become one as specified in the above paragraph.

III.

If a Treasure ever contains 0 or less buried entities, the Map for that Treasure is destroyed.

The word "map" as used in this rule, refers only to Treasure Maps.

IV.

If a player believes that a particular treasure map, for a treasure which was discovered within the previous three days, is not in keeping with the spirit of treasure hunting e may call for a Hostile Takeover.

A Hostile Takeover is a Hearing for which the valid responses are: "Right up there with the Jukkasjarvi Treasure" and "the accumulation of money is a great evil and a burden to the soul" [Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad]. The player who called it is the Hearing Harfer for it and is called the Gold Digger while it is in session. For the purposes of this section those entities which were buried in the treasure and any entities created from them since the discovery of the treasure are referred to as The Motherload.

In the event that the verdict of the Hostile Takeover is "Right up there with the Jukkasjarvi Treasure", the Gold Digger shall transfer The Standard Harfer Fee to the map writer.

In the event that the verdict is "the accumulation of money is a great evil and a burden to the soul" [Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad], then all entities in The Motherload, which the museum would accept if donated normally, are transferred to the North Wing of the Museum with the map writer as beneficiary. Any entities in the Motherload which were not transferred to the Museum's North wing by the previous sentence are transferred to the Treasury. Additionally the map writer shall pay The Standard Harfer Fee to the Gold Digger.

Rule 1230/2
Party Chess Rule Suite
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

[This is the head of the Party Chess Rule Suite. Party Chess is a multi-player chess variant played on a 20x20 board with drop-style setup, which is open to arbitrary piece creation.]

[The rules for Party Chess, and the definition of the pieces, can be found by following this link]

The ChessUmpire is the Custodian of the Party Chess Rule Suite (the 1230.Y rules).

Rule 1240/2
Otzma Cards Rule Suite
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

[Otzma Cards are a set of entities that can be used to carry out game actions. They can be used only once. They can be perceived as Magic style cards for Ackanomic, or as Gadgets that can only be used once.]

[Otzma Cards Rules.]

The RuneMaker is the Custodian of the Otzma Card Rule Suite (the 1240.Y rules).

Rule 1250/0
Games & Contests Rule Suite
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

[This is the head of the Games & Contests Rule Suite. Games & Contests include sub games and gaming equipment that can be used in subgames. Some of them are maintained on a separate web page, others are in the rule suite]

[Rules for sub games and gaming equipment]

Rule 1270/0
Puzzle Pieces
Fo (Duncan Richer)

Ackanomic Puzzle Pieces (APPs) are entities. An APP is approximately one-quarter of a cat-height in size, made of tough, durable plastic.

Each APP has two Attributes: its Colour and its Shape. The Colour must be one of blue, green, harf, red and yellow. The Shape must be one of circle, square, triangle and lozenge.

The Title of Puzzler exists, and is a unique entity. Puzzler is not an Office. Whenever someone becomes Puzzler (i.e. owns the title of Puzzler) any Puzzle Pieces they have are converted into A$25 each.

Any player (A) other than the Puzzler may create an Ackanomic Puzzle Piece through use of indentured labour. This involves specifying a player (B) who has player (A) as their Overlord, and the Attributes of the Puzzle Piece to be created. When the Puzzle Piece is created, player (B) has their Thrall Attribute set to "". A player may not create a Puzzle Piece which is part of a Winnable Bag by the above procedure.

If the current Puzzler has not already done so since last becoming Puzzler, e shall determine according to eir own whim a collection of 4 distinct APPs, none of which appears in a Winnable Bag. Such a collection is called a Grab Bag, and the nature of the Grab Bag must be disclosed publicly. If a Puzzler does not do this within 7 days of becoming Puzzler, then the Title of Puzzler is transferred to the first player to point that fact out publicly.

If more than 3 Grab Bags have been disclosed, the most recent three are Winnable Bags. If 3 or fewer Grab Bags have been disclosed, all Grab Bags are Winnable Bags.

Any player may manipulate APPs they own according to the following rules (wherein piece means Ackanomic Puzzle Piece only)

(a) A player may convert two pieces of the same colour, but different shapes, into a single piece of that colour and of yet another shape.

(b) A player may convert two pieces of different colour but the same shape into a single piece of a third colour, with that shape.

(c) A player may convert five pieces, one of each colour, into any single piece.

(d) A player may convert four pieces, one of each shape, into any single piece.

No player may acquire more than 10 APP. Any action which would result in the acquisition of more than 10 APP fails.

If a player owns all the pieces in a Winnable Bag, they receive a Bonus Vote, A$250 and an Automatic Sculpture, and the Title of Puzzler is transferred to them.

Rule 1301/27
Church
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)

1. Church is a type of Organization.

2. Any may Player may declare eir intent to found a Church. A Church officially exists when the player has three Followers in addition to eirself, and publically announces all of the following details of the Church:

a) the name of the Church
b) the name of the Founder (who must be a church member)
c) the names of all the members
d) a document called Church Dogma. Church Dogma includes any information concerning the Church that the Church wishes to make public.

A player may found at most one Church per calendar month.

3. a. Each Church may have a Church Policy.

b.Church Policy is an internal Church document.

c. A Player who disobeys the Church Policy of a Church of which he or she is a member is guilty of Iconoclasm, which is a Crime. It is impermissible for a Player to take a game action which constitutes Iconoclasm if he or she has any legal alternative which would not constitute Iconoclasm. [That is, Iconoclasm normally doesn't happen unless there is no alternative. It is possible for a player to commit Iconoclasm by inaction, though.]

d. The initial Church Policy will be set by the Founder. Church Policy may only change according to Church Policy.

e. A Church is not obliged to divulge Church Policy, in whole or in part, in a public forum.

f. Church Policy has no effect over the power to ordain Priests. It cannot take this power away from the Founder, neither can it give this power to anyone else.

g. Church Policy cannot prevent a Church member from leaving a Church.

4. a. The Church Founder has the power to ordain Priests, and to strip Priests of their Priestly status(which is called defrocking). The Church Founder also has the power to expel Players from eir Church; this is called Excommunication.

b. A Founder may ordain a Player as a Priest, defrock a Player who is a Priest, or Excommunicate a Player, if and only if that Player is a member of eir Church.

c. The Founder may delegate any of his duties or authorities to the Priesthood, except for the power to ordain Priests, to defrock Priests and to Excommunicate.

d.In the absence of the Founder, the most senior Priest will perform the duties, and have the authority of the Founder, except for the power to ordain Priests. If seniority is not defined in Church Policy, then the most senior Priest, will the one who has been Priest for the longest duration of time.

e. If a decision is to be made by the Priesthood, and no method for making such decisions is defined in Church Policy, then the decision will be made by a simple majority rule. In case of a tie, then seniority is taken into account. If seniority is not defined in Church Policy, then the seniority of a Priest will be defined as the length of time that has passed since that Player has been ordained as a Priest in that Church. If there is still a tie after this, then the Founder will break the tie.

5. a. A Church may define its own alternative terminology for the Church specific terms defined in this rule.

b. Any terms that the Church intends to use in a public forum, must be defined in Church Dogma.

c. If undefined terminology is used by Church members in a public forum, any player may publically request the Church to provide an explanation of that term. Members of the Church may respond to this however they like, and any such response has the official Ackanomic Seal of Politeness, regardless of how brain-stoppingly offensive it is.

d. A Church mailing list is not considered a public forum.

6. A player may not be a member of more than three Churches at the same time.

7. a. Any player may petition the Founder of a Church for membership in that Church.

b. If Church Policy has nothing to say on accepting new members, then Church membership will be up to the Founder. However, a Player cannot become a member of a Church until the Founder of the Church sends a public announcement to that effect.

c. A player may leave a Church at any time as a Public Action.

8. a. If a Church ever has no Priest, or (Heaven Forbid!) fewer than zero Priests, or fewer than four members, it is transformed into a Cult.

b. The Cult has the same name as the Church and retains ownership of all the assets and entities of the Church; however, it is impermissible for the Cult to trade or to use any Organizational Powers. This takes precedence over R1003.

c. For purposes of membership, the Church Founder is considered a Priest.

d. Any function that can be performed by a Priest, can also be performed by the Church Founder.

e. Any Priest who leaves the a Church cease to a Priest of that Church. A Priest who is no longer a Priest of any Church ceases to be a Priest.

f. A player who joins a Cult and was previously a Priest or a Founder of the Church that was transformed into that Cult, becomes a Priest of that Cult.

g. If a Cult has at least four members, at least one of which is a Priest of that Cult, it can transform itself into a Church, as an Organizational Action.

h. A Cult is an Organization.

i. If the Founder of a Church ever leaves the Church by declaring it publicly or by leaving the game, the Church shall be considered "orphan" until it achieves the following conditions:

(1) it has 5 or more members whose game status is Active

(2) it has 3 or more Priests

(3) at least one of its Priests has already read, while being a Priest, one of the Ackanomicon pages that refer to any of the following:

(a) the Arcane Lore
(b) Ancient Artefact
(c) Long Lost Treasure

When it happens all Founder's duties or authorities will be automatically transferred to the most Senior Priest, who shall make it public by posting a message with the words "Follow me all you members of <name>! Follow me and you will never get lost in the darkness!", where <name> is the name of the Church.

If the Priest who first read the Ackanomicon pages listed above is not the Senior Priest, the Senior Priest the Senior Priest is encouraged to give this Priest a gift of eir (the Senior Priest's) choice, like a Trinket, for example.

If a Transfigured player is not considered a priest in any of the Church or Cults of which he is a member, then its Founder must make them a Priest within 7 days.

9. Church, Church membership, Foundership, Priesthood, and Church Dogma may only be manipulated asspecified by the rules.

10. A Church may own and trade currency and Entities. If Church policy is silent about the managing the Church's Currency and Entities, then the Church Founder manages the Church's Currency and Entities.

11. Priesthood is relative to a particular Church; in other words, a player may not be simply a Priest, but must be a Priest of a particular Church. (It is possible for a player who is a member of two Churches to be a Priest in one Church but not in another.) A Player may only be a Priest of a Church if e has been Ordained a Priest of that Church since the last time e joined that Church.

If Church Policy is silent about methods for suggesting and approving Organizational Actions, then the Founder has the authority to suggest and approve Organizational Actions of behalf of the Church. An announcement by the Founder that the Church takes a certain Organizational Action, that announcement is taken to implicitly include both the suggestion and the approval.

If a given Church has no Founder, and Church Policy is silent about method for suggesting and approving Organizational Actions, then the following procedure is followed:

a. Any member of the Church may publically suggest that the Church take a certain Organizational Action.

b. If within three days at least 2/3 of the members of the Church who are also Active players publically approve, and not a single Priest debunks it, the Organizational Action is attempted. If all the Priests who are also Active players publically approve before three days have elapsed, then Organizational Action is attempted when the public message of the last Priest to approve is posted.

If Church Policy defines another method for suggestion and approval of Organizational Actions, then that method must be made known to the org-Harfer.

Rule 1304/2
Prophets and Prophecies
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)

On Solstice day, all members of Churches or Cults may each make one public list of predictions about all the proposals which will have their voting period end on the next day, predicting which will pass and which will not. No player may make the same list of predictions as one that has already been made on that Solstice day.

If exactly one player's predictions are all correct, then it is said that the Great Power of the Universe is now inhabiting him and he is Transfigured. That player also becomes the new True Prophet. There can only be one True Prophet. The True Prophet gets an Indiana Jones Staff if he does not already have one. The Indiana Jones Staff is yea high. A Player may have at most one Indiana Jones Staff. It may not be traded, exchanged or otherwise manipulated except by this rule.

If multiple players' predictions are all correct, all such players are referred to as Proto-prophets, and a Great Schism begins and shall last for three days. During the Great Schism, players may sacrifice any Trinket they own on behalf of any Proto-prophet. This is accomplished as a public action by specifying which Trinket they are sacrificing and which Proto-prophet they are sacrificing it on behalf of. Any Sacrificed Trinket is destroyed -- its value in A$ in created in the Treasury, not in the sacrificing player's possession. At the end of the Great Schism, the Proto-prophet on whose behalf the Trinkets with the greatest combined value were sacrificed becomes True Prophet as per the preceding paragraph. If a tie remains, the True Prophet shall be determined by random selection, and the loser(s) may claim the title False Prophet. Whenever the True Prophet makes a prediction, all False Prophets should attempt to make a prediction that is even gloomier than the True Prophet's.

If no proposals' voting periods expire on the day after Solstice Day, or if no player correctly predicts the acceptance or rejection of all such proposals, all Prophets, True and False, are stripped of their titles and any accoutrements of Prophecy (such as Indiana Jones Staves) are destroyed. It is rumored that at such a time, all the gloomy prophecies shall come to pass.

The True Prophet has the task of providing Ackanomic with Prophecies of things to come. It is good form for these to be gloomy and for other players to laugh at them. It is also good form for the Prophet to spend time in the Wilds of Ackanomic. It is rumored that the True Prophet can cure, heal, anoint and otherwise comfort Enlightened players by simple touch.

Rule 1309/9
We don't need Gravity
snowgod (Phil Ackley)

Ackanomic exists on the face of the Earth which includes Ackanomia, which is, of course, cubical. Ackanomic, and everything it contains, is held onto the earth with Suction Cups so that it doesn't fall off.

Communications with entities residing on the other faces of the earth are made possible through a series of incredibly complex devices that even the inventor cannot begin to understand. These devices too, are attached to the earth with suction cups.

In the event that any item loses its suction cups, which may only happen in accordance with the rules, it shall fall off of the earth and dangle from its surface by the attached emergency tether, in the case of a building it shall become Tethered.

If a building is dangling by its emergency tether, players may still enter and leave the building, by climbing up and down the tether. If a building has its emergency tether break and floats free, no one may enter or leave that building unless they have wings, or are given a ride by a winged player. Objects that reside in a floating building cannot be accessed or used by anyone who is not also inside that building.

Rule 1311/1
If we don't need Gravity, we'd better have Pressure
mr cwm (Eric Murray)

[The empirical observations outlined in "We don't need Gravity" reveal a great deal about the nature of the Earth and the Universe. This cosmology, while including some speculation, is consistent with and explains those observations.]

The Universe consists of a semi-infinite block of 2024 aluminium alloy joined to a semi-infinite block of Type 304 stainless steel. The sole defect in these semi-infinite blocks is a spherical hollow centered at the interface with a diameter two average cat-heights greater than the greatest distance defined or implied in any other Rule. The Earth lies centered within this hollow, oriented parallel to the interface between the blocks with Ackanomia facing the stainless steel side. The spherical hollow is pressurized to 1 atmosphere with life-sustaining gas.

Note that the asymmetry of the Universe will cause anything that becomes detached from the underside of the Earth to fall to the the stainless steel surface of the hollow.

This Rule takes precedence over any Rule that would define or imply any distance greater than the greatest distance defined or implied by this Rule.

Rule 1313/12
Tornado
Malenkai (Randy Hall)

A Tornado shall sweep though Acka at the time of the Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice, Vernal Equinox, and Autumnal Equinox. Tornadoes are dangerous entities.

Whenever a Tornado sweeps through Acka, all active and vacationing players who are non-Sheltered are affected. The scores of all affected players shall be randomly reassigned among the affected players. In other words, the score of each affected player is placed in a pool, all affected players' scores are set to 0, a random score is chosen from the above pool, without replacement, and added to the score of a randomly chosen (without replacement) affected player, until the pool is exhausted. ("without replacement" means the randomly chosen entity may not be re-chosen for the duration of a single instance of this process, once it has been randomly chosen). If there are no affected players, the Tornado has no effect on players' scores as detailed previously in this paragraph. Sheltered players are always unaffected, in any case.

The Scorekeeper is responsible for carrying out this procedure, when the Rules call for it to occur.

Players in the Ackanomic Afterlife and Gaol are Sheltered. A True Prophet and his Location are Sheltered.

A Bomb Shelter may only be created by methods specified in the Rules. Players may only become Sheltered by methods specified in the Rules.

The Rules may specify other ways or times that a Tornado sweeps through Acka.

Whenever a Tornado sweeps through Acka, each player's or haunted house that is Tethered stands a separate 50% chance of losing its tether and being swept off the face of Acka, were upon it becomes Floating. The player or undead shall retain possession or haunt of the land the building was sitting on. A player so bereaved of shelter may rebuild his house for A$100, and he must name it upon its reconstruction. Until such time, he shall be issued a small tent for use as his Home.

If the house belonged to a player who was Vacationing, that player shall be assumed to be vacationing in a far-off land with a two-letter name. Upon his return, he may submit a report containing the name of this far-off land and a summary of his journeys there. If he does so within seven days of his return, he shall receive five points.

Rule 1350/5
La Luna
Slakko (Duncan Richer)

Kansas, and indeed, all moons of Acka, are not part of Acka. However, as all spaceships come equipped with communications equipment, any player whose current location is a moon of Acka may perform any public action that e would otherwise be able to perform, with the exception of the following:

(1) e may neither give items to nor receive items from any entity which is not in the same location.

(2) e may not move to a different location, except for the Wilds of Ackanomia.

A player who moves from a moon to the Wilds of Ackanomia is deemed to have returned in eir spaceship. The spaceship used to reach the moon from which the player has returned, if such exists, becomes Decommissioned. A Decommissioned spaceship does not count as a spaceship for the purpose of any other rule.

A moon is considered to be "full" if a number of members from any Political Party equal to that Party's Active Size are on that Moon and all of those players are active. When a moon is full, no other players may move to that moon; this takes precedence over any rule which may state otherwise.

Kansas is a land without hues - with the exception of sepia. A player in Kansas gains 5 points the first time (on any given trip to Kansas) that they send a message, describing the moon Kansas and all its strangeness, containing at least 250 words, none of which are a colour, except for white, sepia, and black, should black ever be a colour.

Players on any Moon other than Kansas are Sheltered.

Rule 1351/1
Mooning
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)

Ganymede and Titan are both moons of Ackanomic. If any player has been to both Ganymede and Titan and e posts a message containing the phrase: "To Ganymede and Titan, yes sir I've been around" [Lister, The End, Red Dwarf] then e will receive a random boon of the ancients. After e has received this boon, e may not receive another by means of this room until after he has visited Ganymede and Titan again.

Rule 1390/1
Miscellaneous Rule Suite
breadbox (Brian Raiter)

All rules in the Miscellaneous Rule Suite defer precedence to rules outside of this Rule Suite.

[Miscellanous rules.]

Timestamp: Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:17 EDT


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