Rule 1209/14
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, in the Year of Our Lord YYYY, 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, Month, and YYYY 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) announcments 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 1211/3
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. 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 Blueprint is created in the Blueprint Archive (not owned by the player, but said to be created by the player), as 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 1213/9
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, those on Vacation, 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 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 playerThe 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.
One lariat per player (used to Grab other donkeys)
One (1) blanket (used to Cover the player's own donkey)If it has been at least 60 days since the most recent game of Grab-a-Donkey ended, and there is no game of Grab-a-Donkey in progress, any player may claim the title of Wrangler and Belt-Holder, by publically announcing they are doing so. The titles are then transferred to the claimant. It is considered good form for the claimant to start a game of Grab-a-Donkey shortly after doing this.
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 those who publically decline participation, will be placed on the Grab-a-Donkey Active List ("GAL" hereafter).
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, then B will lose their donkey and be removed from the GAL at the start of the following Round, unless player B is in possesion of the Little Lamb, in which case A willbecome confused and grab the lamb by mistake and B will remain in possesion of his donkey. (In this situation, possesion of the Little Lamb will transfer to player A.) Otherwise, "A" is said to have successfully grabbed "B"'s donkey. If more than one player attempted to grab "B"'s donkey, none of those attempts is successful.
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 maintenence 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 1215/6
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 he is considered to have forfeited 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.
The duel starts upon the Challenged Player's Second posting the acceptance of the Duel. [The President, or any other Political Officer, may announce the start of the duel, if they wish.]
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. Whenever a duel is forfeited, the Challenged player loses 6 points, and the Challenging player 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.
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 on Vacation or in Gaol are Untouchable.
e. A Player who announces that he will be going on Vacation on a specific future date is Untouchable until they return from that vacation, or for three days if they do not go on that vacation within 3 days.
f. If a player who is currently engaged in Duel procedures goes on Vacation or to Gaol he forfeits the duel.
g. A Player running for Office may not Challenge another Player running for the same Office to a duel.
h. 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.
i. If both the Challenger and the Challenged go on Vacation simultaneously, then the Duel is cancelled.
j. No player may make more than 3 challenges per calendar month. No more than 6 duels may be called per calendar month.
Rule 1217/7
Buried Treasure!
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
A player may bury Treasure by publically announcing that they are doing so, and by stating what the Treasure consists of. The Treasure must consist of one or more tradeable entities owned by that player. 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.
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.
If a Treasure ever contains 0 or less buried entities, the Map for that Treasure is destroyed.
Rule 1230/1
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]
Rule 1240/0
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.]
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 equipmentthat can be used in subgames. Some of them are maintaiined on a seperate web page, others are in the rule suite]
