Rule 23/0
The Benevolent Society rSiE (Gavin Logan)
Rule 101/10
The Game 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.
No rule may generate any effect that applies retroactively to a time before the generation of the effect, except when the illegality or impossibility of a publically knowable change to the game state goes unreported for at least 14 days, in which case 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.
This rule has precedence over all other rules.
Rule 102/8
Resolving Conflicts
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 104/9
Proposals
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 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 106/19
Voting on Proposals
The required number of YES votes for a proposal to be accepted is a majority 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 110/0
Infinite Schminfinite
ThinMan (John Bollinger)
Rule 205/11
When Score Changes Take Effect
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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.
2) Score Changes Triggered by Player Actions and Public Announcements
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.
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.
4) Scoring Changes Based on the Content of an Adopted Proposal
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.
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 207/30
Scoring When A Proposal's Voting Results are Reported
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, the player who proposed it loses 4 points. If a Grandiose proposal is rejected, the player who proposed it loses 12 points. If a proposal which is neither Modest nor Grandiose is rejected, 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. 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.
V. 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.
VI. 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 209/4
Modesty and Pride
Brinjal (Simon Clarke)
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 210/11
Literature
Vynd (John McCoy)
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. If the source material is not in English, then an English translation of the source shall be considered a valid equivalent. 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 is considered to have semantic value for the purposes of annotating the quotation; this takes precedence over Rule 340. 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 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
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 213/7
Delivering Judgement
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 214/3
Possible Judgements
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.
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
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 217/31
Overturning Judgements
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 under Section VI of this Rule 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.
VI. Declining Appeal Judgement
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 judgement on that CFJ, provided that the Cortex has not already returned a verdict. When a Justice or Acting Justice declines judgement on a CFJ, that CFJ is reassigned using the normal procedures for assigning a CFJ to a Cortex, except that it may not be assigned to any Cortex which is owned by a Justice or Acting Justice who has declined judgement on that CFJ. If this results in there being no Cortexes eligible to judge the appeal, then the CFJ will be considered by the entire Supreme Court.
Rule 217.1/0
Selecting a Cortex
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
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 230/5
Random Things
ThinMan (John Bollinger)
II. An event that depends on a random determination for its full specification shall not occur until the random determination is publicly knowable, unless it is a regular event whose time is specified by the Rules(i.e. the distribution of the Magic Potato).
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 250/18
Players and 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.]
Voting and Non-Voting Players are Intelligent, Trading Entities. Vacationing or On Ice players, or Non Players, are neither Intelligent or Trading.
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.
g) A Player who has changed eir state from On Ice less than 21 days ago having been On Ice continuously for at least 90 days prior to that, is also a newbie. At any time while e is still a newbie, e may request that the registrar select a mentor for em.
III. Changing State
A Player may change eir state as a public action by announcing the new player state, provided e has not changed eir state as a public action during the past 3 days, and provided e follows all other restrictions placed on eir ability to change states. When a player voluntarily ceases to be Vacationing if e did not specify a new player state, e enters the state e had before going on Vacation. A player may never voluntarily change eir state to Non-Player, but may have eir state changed to Non-Player through the action of the rues. 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 251/22
Player Names
Wayne Sheppard
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 Grey Councillor 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 Grey Councillor) 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 251.1/2
True Names
JT (JT Traub)
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 other 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)
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)
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)
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
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)
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
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 311/5
Rule Suites
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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 319.1/5
Ackanomic Unity
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)
1) The day of Ackanomic Unity shall be declared to be that day upon which the result in which this event occurs. Should the day of Ackanomic Unity already have a date then it is moved to this day.
2) The player who proposed the proposal shall gain a Blue Cross Bonus if they do not already have one.
The day of Ackanomic Unity is an Ackanomic Holiday.
Rule 320/8
Paradigms Rule Suite
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
All existing Paradigm Types are defined by rules within this rule suite, and then only by rules with a name "Paradigm Type: X" where X is replaced by a legal Ackanomic name. The name of the Paradigm Type as specified in that rule shall then be X (as used above). Such rules, and only such rules, are known as Paradigmal Rules.
Paradigmal 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 Paradigm 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 Paradigm type is Active. Such deviations apply only when the Paradigm Type described in the rule is The Current Paradigm of Ackanomia [examples would include things like "the Puzzler receives a salary as if it were a functional office", "rule 1029 does not apply", "Grey Councillors may not make proposals", etc.]
All players have a rebelliousness 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. For the purposes of this rule, "on" and "off" are numerically representable by 1 and 0 respectively
If ever (a) more than 50% of all voting players have a rebelliousness characteristic of "on", (b) no Revolution is in progress, and (c) at least one Paradigm Type other than the current one and Anarchy exists, and any player points this out publicly, then a Revolution shall begin. During a Revolution the following events will happen:
1. The Paradigm Type "Anarchy" shall become Active.
2. All players have their rebelliousness characteristic changed to "off".
3. The OiCoRT should pick a Random Paradigm Type other than Anarchy and the type of Paradigm imediately before the Revolution. If that Paradigm Type specifies any other random determinations are to be made at this point then e should do that too. This Paradigm Type then be known as the Proto-Paradigm.
4. Exactly three days after the Revolution started the Proto-Paradigm 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 paradigms]
Rule 320.1/1
Paradigm Type: Anarchy
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Rule 320.2/1
Paradigm Type: Democracy
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Rule 320.3/1
Paradigm Type: AntiVoting
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Anti-Voting is defined as voting NO on an accepted proposal or voting YES on a rejected proposal (determined at the end of the prescribed voting period).
II. Scoring for anti-voting.
Players who anti-vote on a proposal shall gain:
i) one point if it was Modest.
ii) three points if it was Non-Modest.
iii) five points if it was Grandiose.
Rule 320.4/1
Paradigm Type: Inflationary
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
The values generated in the pervious section superceed the relevent values specified elsewhere in the rules.
A player may not buy or sell more than 5 Kaa of land during any 7 day period.
Rule 320.5/1
Paradigm Type: Flow Voting
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Flow-Voting is defined as voting YES on an accepted proposal or voting NO on a rejected proposal (determined at the end of the prescribed voting period).
II. Scoring for flow-voting.
Players who flow-vote on a proposal shall gain:
i) one point if it was Modest.
ii) three points if it was Non-Modest.
iii) five points if it was Grandiose.
Rule 320.6/1
Paradigm Type: Puppet Dictatorship
The Green Ripper (Eric Plumb)
During eir reign, the Supreme Overlord must either Approve or Disapprove of each Proposal under voting consideration. If e Approves, the Proposal is accepted, and if e Disapproves, it is rejected. The above, of course, has no bearing whatsoever on the actual outcome of the Proposal, which is passed as is normal in any Democracy, but it helps the Supreme Overlord feel better about emself.
Additionally, while the Overlord rules Supreme, e is allowed to make any amendment e chooses to the Rules of Ackanomic. These changes have no actual effect, and all other players are free to laugh, scoff, sneer, or kindly indulge the Supreme Overlord's whimsies as they see fit.
The Supreme Overlord may renounce eir powerlessness at any time by stating publically, "OK, this is all very silly and we're going to stop this nonsense now." In this event, one of the following events will happen, with the probabilities given below:
1. With the sudden removal of their figurehead, the ruling cabal gives up
in frustration and the Government reverts to Democracy. (50% chance)
2. The powers that be simply replace their puppet with another randomly
chosen individual from among the voting players and go on with their
nefarious Puppet Dictatorship. (45% chance)
3. The entire conspiracy is exposed and all voting players except the
Supreme Overlord are guilty of the Crime of Making X a Laughingstock,
where X is replaced by the name of the Supreme Overlord. In the ensuing
chaos, the Government becomes an Anarchy. (5% chance)
This Rule defers to all other Rules.
Rule 320.7/2
Paradigm Type: Police State
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Rule 330/0
Retractions
Vynd (John McCoy)
A player may retract his own CFJ as a public action. This action will fail if a verdict other than Undecided has already been delivered on the CFJ. 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 340/15
Conventions
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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. 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.
VII. 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.
VIII. The following pairs of words are considered to be both semantically and lexically equivalent: "grey", "gray"; "honour", "honor"
IX. Whenever an average is refered to within Ackanomic then it shall be taken to mean the mean. [i.e., the sum of all the things to be averaged divided by the number of the things.]
Rule 342/16
Spelling Bee
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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)
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)
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 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 360/14
Hearings
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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 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 361/0
What's the Will of the People
JT (JT Traub)
A Will of the People Hearing is an Extremely Silly Affair. It is also a Serious Matter [just to prevent EBSs from skewing the results]. The valid responses to a Will of the People Hearing are "Hey Man, I'm an Induhvidual" and "I cannot wait to catch up to the Jones'". If the result is the former (Induhvidual), the matter about which the hearing is being called is considered to not be the will of the people. If the result is the latter (Jones'), then the will of the people has spoken.
This type of hearing should be used to gauge public opinion on a given topic.
Rule 362/12
Crisis Resolution
The Governor (Dan Marsh)
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 364.2/1
Dogver and Ratver
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Rule 370/7
No E-mail, No Game
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
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 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)
(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 373/3
Public Actions
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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 Intelligent or Trading Entity, 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
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)
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 399/1
Remembrance Day
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Rule 401/23
Offices, Commonalities
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)
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. When an office ceases to be defined as an office by any rule, the player who held the office is removed from the office and that office is destroyed; this removal and destruction takes precedence over any rule which conflicts with this sentance.
(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.
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 or Political. 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.
(x) Efficiency
Officers have 3 days to correctly 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 401.1/3
Acting Officers
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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 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)
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 403/16
Functional Offices, Commonalties
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)
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 Supreme Court (sans the player being impeached if e
is a Justice) concurs with the impeachment by publicly agreeing
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 404/14
Offices, Impeachment
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)
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 always rejected if less than 25% of all active players, excluding the Officer named in the IP, vote on that IP. An IP is also REJECTED unless it meets one or more 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.
(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)
(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
(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)
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)
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 408/28
Tabulator
Sean Crystal
(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.
The Tabulator need not perform these duties on any proposal which has been retracted, nullified, or deemed invalid in accordance with the Rules.
Rule 408.1/0
Count Tabula
Rambo R Minuteman (Tom Walmlsey)
Rule 409/10
Registrar
David Chapman
(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 410/6
Scorekeeper
David Chapman
(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.
(d) To perform any random determinations involved in a process solely
involving Points.
Rule 412/9
Financier and Free Market
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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.
e) To perform any random determinations involved in a process related solely to the transfer of tradable entities.
Rule 413/6
Clerk of the Court
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
(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)
(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)
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 416/14
Supreme Court
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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 Grey Council 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)
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 418/5
Justices Are Keeper Of The Sacred Laws
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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 419.1/9
Ambassador
pascal (Jason Reed)
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.
Rule 420/7
Historian
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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, Grey Councillors, 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)
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)
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 422/16
Postmaster
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
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 entity with which they are affiliated that has that sum transfers it to the treasury. If no such entity 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 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 424/6
Poet Laureate
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
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 be binding, a public post must be made giving the commissioning player and the fee (if any). Upon completion of the requested work, this fee is transferred from the commissioning player to the Poet Laureate. A player may at any time publicly recant eir commission at which point it is no longer binding.
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 427/2
Org-Harfer
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
(a) keeping track of all Institutions, 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 and Motions to Corporations succeed or fail, as per Rule 1006, and whether the Standard Harfer Fee was paid.
Rule 428/2
Trinket-Harfer
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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.
b) To keep an accurate record of all Magick names, original values, and descriptions, and to make that record available to any player on request.
Rule 429/0
Treasure-Harfer
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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)
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 431/0
Illuminatus
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)
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 has the Duty co announce a call for Agenda Condition submissions if, for any reason, there has not been such a call during the current cycle, and there is neither a call for Agenda Conditions nor a Nemesis Eggplant bidding period currently underway. 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 other than the Illuminatus 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)
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)
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 435/2
Herald
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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.
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 Institutions that possess them, or failing that, their blazons.
3. Announcing the beginnings and ends of Duels.
Rule 441/2
Dungeon Master
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
(i) to perform any random determinations that only effect Characteristics.
(ii) to track any Characteristics of players that are not explicitly tracked by any other officer.
(iii) to assign players to Castes and 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.
iii to receive a monthly salary of the Standard Harfer Fee.
Rule 451/0
Nocuous Stimuli
breadbox (Brian Raiter)
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 500/2
Entities
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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, although actions specified within the message may have a material effect. 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 500.1/8
Entity Names
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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:
! # $ % & * + - / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? @ \ ^ _ | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ~ . , '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.
The Rules may specify a way in which an entities name is changed. Regardless of such rules, this fails if the new name would be illegal. A name is illegal if it includes a non-name character, is more than 70 characters long, or is already the name of an Entity.
Rule 500.2/3
Entity Ownership
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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 500.3/3
Entity Uniqueness
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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.
Rule 501/6
ExtraNomic Entities
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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)
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 504/0
Intelligence and Operations
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Rule 505/30
The Treasury
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)
The Treasury is a Named, Unownable, Intelligent, Trading 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.
II. 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 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.
III. Donation:
The Treasury automatically accepts all one-sided trades offered to it (but not at large trades), and rejects all two-sided trades offered to it. If the Treasury ever owns a Trinket, it immediately performs a Dissolving Operation on it.
IV. Harfer Fee
The standard Harfer Fee is A$25. Whenever the rules direct a Harfer Fee to be paid, it is paid to the Treasury.
Rule 506/15
Ackadollars and Trinkets
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
AckaDollars may not be created nor destroyed except as the result of an Operation. Whenever the Rules specify that a Player should receive A$, 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).
The Total Wealth of a named Entity is defined as the sum of the total number of A$ it possesses plus the combined values of all trinkets in its possession.
Trinkets are giftable, Operable Entities. Trinkets always have a positive, integral value in A$; this takes precedence over all other rules. The value of a Trinket may only be changed as specified by the rules.
There is an Operation on one or more A$ known as Composing. This Operation requires the name and description of the resulting Trinket. The creation fails if the name specified for the Trinket is not a valid Ackanomic name, or is already the name of a named entity. If the Operation succeeds than the A$ are destroyed and a Trinket with the specified name and description and with a value equal to the number of A$ used in the Operation is created in the posession of the Operator.
There is an Operation on a Trinket known as Dissolving. When a Trinket is Dissolved it is destroyed and A$ equal to the value of the Trinket are created in the posession of the Operator.
Other rules may also create and bestow ownership of Trinkets, so long as the rule provides for naming, describing, and valuing the Trinket. In this case the Treasury Operates on a number of A$ equal to the value, using the specified name and description, and transfers it to the recipient. These Trinkets are known as Artificial Trinkets. All other Trinkets are Natural.
If a Natural Trinket contains the name of a current or former player and that name is not the name of a player who Operated to create the Trinket, and the player had that name before the Trinket was created, and the Trinket has not been owned at some time by each player whose name it contains, and a player points this fact out publicly, it 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)
Rule 510/7
Voluntary Debt Prohibited
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Rule 515/9
Trading and Gifts
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
A Trading Entity may offer a trade by sending a public message specifying the entities offered (if any) and the entities requested (if any). A trade in which no entities are requested is a one sided trade, all others are two sided. Note that a trade is still two sided if no entities are offered. All the entities must be Tradeable, and the offering entity must own the offered entities. Also the offering Entity must be allowed to own all request entities. The offer may also include one or more Trading Entities to which the offer is made, otherwise it is offered at large.
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 Trading Entity 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 it owns all of the entities requested, in at least the quantities requested, and may own the offered entities. It does this by sending a public message to that effect. A one sided trade in which all involved entities are giftable and a single recipient is specified is known as a gift or a payment, and is automatically accepted unless the entity it is offered to may not own one or more of the offered entities, in which case the trade is illegal.
When a Trading Entity accepts a standing trade, the entities offered are transferred from the Entity who offered the trade to the Entity who accepted it, and the entities requested in exchange are transferred from the Entity who accepted the trade to the Entity who offered it.
All trades made as described by this rule are said to occur on the Free Market. A trade must specify a positive, integral amount of entities to be traded.
Rule 516/18
Auction
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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)
Rule 540/0
Characteristics
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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)
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 540.2/4
Basic Player Characteristics
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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.)
If at any time a Player has two BPC scores of 5 or lower, then e may have these scores rerolled by asking the Dungeonmaster to do so; when the scores are rerolled the Player shall pay the Standard Harfer Fee.
Rule 540.3/1
The Elements
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Also, there exist five corresponding elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Order.
Fire represents heat, the sun, and flames. Fire is represented symbolically by the Icosahedron, the regular polyhedron with the most faces of all. Fire is opposed to Water, but joins with Earth in the form of wildfires, and with Air in the form of smoke. Whenever a player who is On Fire extinguishes eirself, eir Fire Skill increases one point.
Water represents the oceans, rivers, rain, and floods. Water is represented symbolically by the Dodecahedron. Water is opposed to Fire, but joins with Earth in the form of ice, and Air in the form of clouds. Whenever a player successfully acquires an entity as a result of eir use of an Otzma Card of type Arctic Explorer, eir Water Skill in increased by one. Whenever a player goes On Ice involuntarily, eir Water Skill decreases by one point if it is not already zero.
Earth represents stone, solidity, the land animals, and man. Earth is represented symbolically by the Cube. Earth is opposed to Air, but joins with Fire in the form of coal and with Water in the form of mud. Whenever a player becomes Stoned, eir Earth Skill increases by one. Whenever a player goes On Ice involuntarily, eir Earth Skill decreases by one point if it is not already zero.
Air represents the atmosphere, wind, lightning, and flying animals. Air is represented symbolically by the Octahedron. Air is opposed to Earth, but joins with Fire in the form of smoke and with Water in the form of clouds. Whenever a player successfully travels from any location within Acka to any Moon of Acka, his Air Skill increases by one. Whenever a player gains a Wings mutation by any means (including simply buying it), eir Air Skill increases by one. Whenever a player loses a Wings mutation, eir Air Skill decreases by one, unless it is already zero.
Order represents the eternal battle between Law and Chaos. Order is represented symbolically by the Tetrahedron, that polyhedron which is its own dual. Unlike the other elements, Order has two sides, and some may define a third side among those who refuse to choose a side. Players whose Alignment is -1, 0, or 1 are considered Neutral; those whose Alignment is less than -1 are considered Chaotic, and those whose Alignment is greater than 1 are considered Lawful. Whenever a harfy proposal is accepted, its submitter's Alignment decreases by one. Whenever a grandiose proposal is accepted, its submitter's Alignment increases by one. Whenever a TRUE verdict of a CFCJ becomes final, the Alignment of the player named in its statement is decreased by one. Whenever a player wins a cycle of Ackanomic, eir Alignment is increased by one.
Rule 541/1
Characteristic Tests
JT (JT Traub)
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 543/3
Ready, Aim...
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Players can be on fire
An Active, nonvacationing player who is on fire must post a public message within a week after the fire is lit with the text "I'm on fire" in it, or he is determined to have jumped into the frozen pond and is placed On Ice. In this case, the fire is extinguished
A player who is on fire may pay the standard harfer fee to extinguish the fire.
Fire may be put out as defined elsewhere in the rules
Rule 550/5
Honour System Rule Suite
JT (JT Traub)
Every player has an Honour Characteristic with a Default Value of 0 and a range of -100 to 100
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 550.1/4
Honourable Acts
JT (JT Traub)
Uniquely Honorable Acts give the Honour gain only once for each player that achieves the condition for earning that honour. Repeatably Honourable Acts gain the listed Honour each time the act occurs.
The following lists are the currently defined Unique and Repeatably Honourable Acts. Other rules in this suite may define other acts or conditions which are either Unique or Repeatable Honourable acts.
Uniquely Honourable Acts:
3 honour : Receiving a Bronze Torch.
2 honour : Receiving a Blue Cross Bonus.
1 honour : Joining the game.
2 honour : Becoming an Elder.
Repeatably Honourable Acts:
1 Honour : Winning a Duel
2 honour : Winning a Cycle
1 Honour : Being elected to a Political Office.
2 Honour : Being appointed to a Functional Office.
Rule 550.2/4
Dishonourable Acts
JT (JT Traub)
Uniquely Dishonorable Acts cause the Honour loss only once for each player that performs the action or reaches the condition which is considered dishonourable. Repeatably Dishonourable Acts lose the listed Honour each time the act occurs.
The following lists are the currently defined Uniquely and Repeatably Dishonourable Acts. Other rules in this suite may define other acts or conditions which are either Unique or Repeatable Dishonourable acts.
Uniquely Dishonourable Acts:
1 Honour: going to Gaol
2 Honour: gaining the Chartreuse Goose for a failed PWCFJ or CWCFJ.
Repeatably Dishonourable Acts:
1 Honour: Losing a Duel
1 Honour: Being Impeached from an Office
1 Honour: Being convicted of a crime
1 honour : Bribing players (not Tammany) on a proposal.
Rule 550.3/1
Honour among Thieves (Take 1)
A Mean Hat. (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
If there is one player who has a lower honour score than all other players, and that honour score is less than -20, then that player is Evil and all other players cease to be Evil.
Rule 550.10/0
Break On Through to the Other Side
Vynd (John McCoy)
Rule 560/2
Contracts
JT (JT Traub)
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. If a penalty clause is not specified explicitly, it is considered to specify the loss of 5 points.
A contract's penalty clause(s) may only specify the loss of a positive number of points, tradeable entities or some combination thereof. If a 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 as a public action.
Any player may sign a private Contract 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 600/8
Winning Conditions
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Winning Conditions are nontradeable entities. Winning Conditions may only be created, destroyed, or manipulated as described by the rules. Winning Conditions have a state attribute, which can be either Unclaimed, Claimed, or Finalized. Winning Conditions also have a creator attribute.
When a player achieves a Winning Condition, a Winning Condition is created in his possession in the Unclaimed state, with its creator attribute set to the rule number of the rule which caused the Winning Condition to be achieved. This is the only way Winning Conditions can be created; this sentence takes precedence over all other rules. For the purpose of setting creator attributes of Winning Conditions, this rule is never the rule which caused a Winning Condition to achieved; if this rule causes another rule's text to be interpreted as causing a player to achieve a Winning Condition, then that other rule is considered to be the rule which caused the Winning Condition to be achieved. No player may ever own more than one Winning Condition with the same creator attribute; if the creation of a Winning Condition would violate this, it fails to be created; if it is created anyway, then it is immediately destroyed.
If a player believes emself to have achieved a Winning Condition, then e should submit a Cycle-Win CFJ. A Cycle-Win CFJ is a CFJ whose statement alleges that the submitter has an Unclaimed Winning Condition, and which also specifies the creator attribute of this Winning Condition (specifying "XXX has an Unclaimed Winning Condition by Rule NNN", where XXX is replaced by the submitter's name, and NNN is replaced by a rule number, is sufficient to make a CFJ be a Cycle-Win CFJ). The reasoning of the CFJ should describe how the player thinks e has achieved a Winning Condition.
Immediately after a player submits a Cycle-Win CFJ, any Winning Condition e owns with the creator attribute specified in its statement changes to the Claimed state, and attaches itself to that Cycle-Win CFJ. When a TRUE verdict on a Cycle-Win CFJ becomes final, any Winning Condition the player who submitted it owns which is attached to that CFJ changes to the Finalized state. Whenever a Cycle-Win CFJ has any other final verdict, any Winning Condition attached to it is destroyed. Whenever a Cycle-Win CFJ is retracted, any Winning Condition attached to it changes to the Unclaimed state and detaches from the CFJ.
When a Winning Condition changes to the Finalized state, if its owner is a voting player at that time, e wins the cycle, and the Winning Condition is destroyed. The player may win the cycle even if e holds the Chartreuse Goose, as long as e did not do so when the Winning Condition was achieved.
A Cycle-Win CFJ shall be judged INVALID if it claims a Winning Condition established by Rule 603, and, at the time it was submitted, it was less than three days since the Scorekeeper announced the CFJ's author to have achieved a Winning Condition, and no player had objected to that announcement.
This rule takes precedence over all rules which mention winning a cycle or Winning Conditions, wherever there is a conflict.
Only Cycle-Win CFJs and Paradox Win CFJs are Winning Condition CFJs.
Rule 601/9
Winning By Paradox
Rule 603/23
Winning by 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)
(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 607/0
Winning by Agenda
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)
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.
At the end of a cycle won by this method, any player who had owned a Nemesis Eggplant that was destroyed as above when the Winning ondition that led to the win of that cycle was achieved has eir score set to -40. [See Rule 666]
At the end of a cycle won by this method, all Agenda Hats and Nemesis Eggplants are destroyed.
Rule 611/10
Le Grand Fromage
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
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. Whenever a voting player owns one of each type of cheese, and has not achieved a Winning Condition this way since the last time all cheeses were destroyed by this rule at the end of a cycle, e achieves 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 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).
A player receives a brie when they win a Duel. If a player owns a brie when they lose a Duel, that brie is destroyed.
Rule 613/3
Winning is pretty harfy (Winning by doing a lot of stuff)
A Mean Hat. (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
* Foolish or Silly
* Puzzler
* Weird or Really Weird
* A Crazy Scotsman or a Crazy French-Scotsman
* Lyncanthropic
* Hosed
* In Debt
* A Mentor
* An Officer
* An Overlord
* In Thrall
* Funky and Stylish or Harfmeister
* Owner of a Blue Cross Bonus
* Possessor of Phoebe's Matchbox
* First Citizen
* Stoned
* On Fire
* A Swinger
* Jazz JackRabbit
* Third Cat, Sage o'Doe Gas, Agent of KAOS, small lab mouse, or Passive Contemplator
* Wrangler
* All but one of the following: Supreme Inquisitor, Nanotech Overseer,
Gold Digger, Principal Authenticator, Comfortable Chair, Top Cop, and
Undergrad Med Student
And is not an Orange Penguin of Glory, then that player achieves a win condition and becomes an Orange Penguin of Glory.
If at any time any of the titles or situations on the above list is not rules-defined, it is removed from the list. If this would leave an empty list item, that item is removed.
Rule 620/21
Chartreuse Goose
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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 or UNDECIDED 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 unless the verdict was the result of an appeal of a CFJ by a player other than its submitter.
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$50) to the Treasury. The Egg owner will receive from the Treasury the same amount that the Goose owner payed in, as compensation.
7) Upon a player who possesses the Goose achieving any of the following titles, the Goose is transferred Somewhere Else: Commander of the Blue Cross, Officer of the Blue Cross, Sage o'Doe Gas, Agent of KAOS. If the event which granted one of these titles also would have established a winning condition had the player not had the Goose, this transfer is deemed to have occurred an infinitesimal amount of time after the winning condition would have been established.
Rule 666/39
End of Cycle
pTang1001001sos (Mark Nau)
a) Ackanomic play is suspended.
b) All Chartreuse Goose Eggs, Right-Handed Grapefruit and Agenda Hats that are not being worn are destroyed. All Nemesis Eggplants with the same condition as an Agenda Hat that was destroyed in this manner are destroyed.
c) The winner is given the title of winner of the cycle, and a Right-Handed Grapefruit and a Champion's Cloak are created in that player's possession. If this results in his having two Champion's Cloaks, one of them is instantly transformed into a Badge of Glory.
d) All players who have zero or fewer points are given a Chartreuse Goose Egg.
e) If the amount of A$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) 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 and all players with a Total Wealth of zero or less, shall be placed on The List in decreasing order of Total Wealth.
iii) A random entity appearing in the first half of The List, shall transfer 5% of eir total wealth to the active player lowest on The List and both entities shall be removed from The List.
iv) If there are at least two entities still on The List, one of which is a player and the other of which has postive wealth, the go to step iii.
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 667/9
Fat Lady
snowgod (Phil Ackley)
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 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)
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)
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 670/12
Commission d'Arts
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
The Commission d'Arts is a unique organization also referred to as The Commission. The only time The Commission has members (Commissioners) is while it is in session. When the rules call for a Commission d'Arts it shall begin session and the Historian, Poet Laureate and President and sufficient randomly selected players to give it 5 members automatically join, unless a call was made less than 60 days previously, in which case the call shall have no effect.
When a player leaves the Commission a random player who is not already a member and has not been a member since the commission came into session shall automatically join.
The Commission shall remain in session for 7 days after its newest member joined or until a report is produced which ever is sooner. When the commission ceases to be in session all players are removed from it.
2) The Commission shall publicly post a report listing 4 Silver Moon Nominees as an organizational action. 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 671/0
Nemesis Eggplants and Agenda Hats
two-star (Alexandre Muniz)
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.
No Entity other than Players or The Mad Hatters may own Agenda Hats. No Entity other than Players may own Nemesis Eggplants.
If player who is wearing a Silly Agenda Hat posts a public message that does not contain the words, "wearing a Silly Agenda Hat," or "wearing Silly Agenda Hats" 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 675/0
Mercury Poisoning
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
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.
The Mad Hatters are permitted to call a public auction on any of the Agenda Hats they own and will do so upon request. When the Mad Hatters call an auction, the illuminatus shall initiate it and the minimum shall be A$10.
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 701/6
Crime
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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.
The Crime of Time Surfing occurs when a player's (otherwise illegal) action (or inaction) leads to retroactively changing the game state as if the action (or inaction) occurred [via the pragmatism clause in rule 101].
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 709/19
Gaol
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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.
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 710/24
Criminal Justice
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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", where X is replaced with the name of a registered player and Y is replaced by the name of a Crime as defined in the current ruleset.
4) Its "reasoning" section shall show how Player X committed the Crime of Y. CFCJs shall only be judged TRUE if the Crime Y was committed by player X. CFCJs which do not detail exactly one Crime, in the judgement of the judge, shall be judged INVALID. CFCJ's in which player X has not commited crime Y for more that 30 days, 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, Otzma Cards, 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.
i) The CONFISCATION of one or more tradeable entities that player
owns to the Treasury.
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)
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 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 Player becomes Guilty of Patent Infringement they shall also be held in Contempt.
Rule 721/6
Annoyances
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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 801/0
Geography
Vynd (John McCoy)
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 810/8
Locations
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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
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 810.1/0
Bridge Building
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Two weeks after this proposal passes, there is a 10% chance each
day that the bidding process was closed at a randomly determined hour of
the previous day, and all bids after that time were invalid. At that time
the lowest bidders on each type of resources are selected in the following
manner:
1) The player who has the lowest bid remaining is selected
2) N resources of that type are transfered to the Treasury from
that player, where N is the largest number not greater than the number of
resources of that type the player has, not greater than the player offered
to sell at that price, and not large enough to give the Treasury more of
that resource than it needs.
3) The player is given a number of A$ equal to the bid times the
number of resources transfered in the last step.
4) The first three steps are repeated until the Treasury has all of
that type of resource it needs or there are no more bids.
All resources are then destroyed, section 7 of rule 810 is replaced
by the following NEWRULE-delimited text, and this rule is repealed. If
there were not enough bids to provide the Treasury with enough resources,
the above steps are still performed however no changes are made to rule 810.
NEWRULE
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. Players are able to cross
the river, since there is a bridge across it. [It is possible that with the
proper equipment, one could white-water raft down the Ackanomian River.]
NEWRULE
Rule 820/2
Land
Vynd (John McCoy)
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 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 825/16
Buildings
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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$7200iii) 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 FM building is a classy place.
ii) The Courthouse is a cosy building.
Rule 827/0
Cross-Temporal Hyper-Undulating Location Harfing Unstabilizers
else...if (Henry Towsner)
When a CTHULHU is ACTIVE, a dial appears on it which has all the numbers from 1 to the number of kaas the building it is linked to is on, however it may only be set to integers in that range. Only the owner of a CTHULHU may set its dial. When an earthquake occurs, a building which is linked to an ACTIVE CTHULHU should consist of a number of non-contiguous pieces equal to the number on the dial after the earthquake.
The owner of an ACTIVE CTHULHU may pay one SHF to the Treasury and one to the Map-Harfer to trigger an earthquake.
This rule takes priority over rules which would allow ACTIVE CTHULHUs to be traded or rules which give alternate instructions for what should be done with buildings during an earthquake.
Rule 837/7
Nothing Important
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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 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 841/12
Towers
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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.
5) 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.
6) 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.
7) 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 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 843/10
Hall of Elders
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
2) If a Player is On Ice, 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 provided they have not been On Ice for all of the last 14 days. A player may only be nominated once at any one time. 3) If a player has been nominated according to the previous section, 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 On Ice player becomes Active during either 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 becomes Active 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)
Rule 845/1
Here There Be Dragons
Vynd (John McCoy)
Rule 846/7
Map of the City
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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)
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 851/0
Gone But Not Forgotten
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
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 851.1/0
The Best and Most Logical
else...if (Henry Towsner)
When an excellent rule is repealed, its original text (that is its text at the time it was most recently created prior to its repeal) and its text at the time it was repealed are both stored in the Harfonian, along with the number of the proposal which created it and any other proposals the Archivist feels especially contributed to it.
Rule 852/3
Portrait Gallery
snowgod (Phil Ackley)
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$2. Charging admission is a privilege of the Web-Harfer.
The Web-Harfer may, but is not required to maintain a gallery containing images of deceased players.
Rule 854/11
Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
The Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication also provides customized mutations, at a small fee, to any interested player. If in a public message a player announces he is paying the specified fee for a mutation described in this rule, the cost is deducted from his account, and he receives that mutation and any special attributes associated with it described in this rule. If he later wishes to have the mutation removed, he must pay a fee equal to that for receiving the mutation, and he shall cease to have both the mutation and any special attributes associated with it.
Current available mutations:
Extra head: Cost -- 50 A$. Players with extra heads are encouraged to occasionally get into public arguments amongst their heads. A player with an extra head may wear one more piece of headwear than would otherwise be allowed. [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)
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)
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 860/0
Ackanomic Records
else...if (Henry Towsner)
If one player thinks another is abusing this, they may call a Hearing hearing against a song or multiple songs by that player. The accusing player becomes the Hearing Harfer. The valid responses are "It's a perfectly good, original song" and "How dare you place a copy in our totally original records." If the result is the former than the Hearing Harfer must pay the player who wrote the songs A$5 for every song the Hearing was called against. If the result is the latter then the accused songs are no longer to be published by the DJ and that songs' author is fined 5 points for each song so removed and transfers A$5 per song the the Hearing Harfer.
Rule 901/11
The Magic Potato
Sean Crystal
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 903/6
Gumball
Simon Marty Harriman (Andy Swan)
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, except in the case where the first day of the month is a Thursday(when otherwise this would mean that the Gumball was chewable on consecutive days); in such months alternate Wednesdays and Thursdays will be the first and third Wednesdays and Thursdays of the month, i.e. the 1st, 7th, 15th, and 21st of the month.
Rule 905/10
The Blue Cross
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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 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 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 or Speaker 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 907/6
Bronze Torch
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
Bronze Torches are metallic entities. A Player may have at most one Bronze Torch.
Bronze Torches may be awarded by the President, the Speaker, 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)
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 910/17
The Ackanomicon
Vynd (John McCoy)
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 (16 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 (6 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 (6 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.
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.
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 a pint of lager.
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).
Rule 913/7
Parades
Brinjal (Simon Clarke)
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.
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 915/10
Prosthetic Foreheads
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
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.
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 919/6
Brass Monkey
Techno (Jerome Herrman)
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)
When the Fur-lined Shovel is used in this manner, it is transfered to the treasury.
Rule 925/10
The Press
Bascule (Matt Black)
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 929/7
Baaa
this is not a name (Mike Epstein)
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)
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 935/0
Souvenirs
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Rule 943/1
Hula!
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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)
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 950.1/1
ASS Song: Chess Piece Face
Slagothor (Eric Plumb)
Artist: They Might Be Giants
Trigger: When a Swinger wins a Stabber's Knife in the game of Party Chess.
Duration: Three Acka days.
Cost: A$150
Effect: While this song is playing, the nose of the main head of each and every Acka player is replaced by a chess piece. Players are encouraged to describe the color, shape, board move, and game effects of their chess pieces while this song is playing, and a player shall gain 6 points the first time e publically describes all four of the above. Players are also encouraged to mock other players' choice of pieces, but are subject to Rule 374 (Politeness Moon) while doing so. Players may state that their chess piece has any game effect they like, but chess pieces, as defined by this Rule, have no game effect whatsoever.
Explanation: "What's gonna happen to Chess Piece Face?" ["Chess Piece Face," They Might Be Giants]
Rule 950.2/0
ASS song: No-one But You
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Artist: Queen
Trigger: Whenever a player is inducted into the hall of elders.
Duration: Three Acka days.
Effect: All players are so struck with sadness that they must remain in the same location, mourning, whilst the song is being played. This section of this rule defers to any rule that requires any player to change location as an involuntary action [e.g. Bracket Smiley Pedantry].
Explanation: "One by one, only the good die young." [No-one But You (Only the Good Die Young), Queen]. Further honouring of the elders.
Rule 950.3/2
ASS Song: Werewolves of London
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Artist: Warren Zevon
Trigger: It is publically knowable that one or more Ackanomic moons are full.
Duration: Until the moon or moons that triggered this song are no longer full, or six Acka days, whichever comes first.
Cost: A$199
Effect: When this song is triggered, the Werewolf of London (hereafter Werewolf) begins to roam the streets of Ackanomic. Each time, while this Song is playing on the ASS, that one or more of the following three conditions become true:
a) a player's Location changes, whether voluntarily or not, b) any two players post messages to public fora, each mentioning that a certain other player "got mutilated late last night," ["Werewolves of London," Warren Zevon]
the Werewolf will bite the player for whom that condition is true.
The Werewolf of London is a unique, unownable entity. If the Werewolf should bite a player, that player becomes Lycanthropic in the animal of eir choice if e is not Lycanthropic already. If e has not chosen an animal within three days, an animal shall be assigned to em by the Mad Scientist.
Players may only become Lycanthropic as defined by the Rules. The Web-Harfer is encouraged to provide an account of which players are Lycanthropic, and in which animal.
Explanation: "Ah-ooooo, the Werewolves of London." ["Werewolves of London," Warren Zevon]
Rule 950.4/0
ASS Song: Ode to Joy
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Artist: Music by Beethoven
Trigger: Whenever a proposal has been accepted which was authored by a player who had never had a proposal accepted before.
Effect:
i) Every player that voted yes on the proposal that triggered the song gains one point.
ii) Any player who's score is within 5% of the happy number may change eir score to the happy number as a public action.
iii) Whenever a player has a score which is exactly equal to the sad number e gains one point.
Duration: Three Acka days.
Explanation: "That way, everyone's happy." [Terry Pratchett, Small Gods]
Rule 975/7
Yes Virginia
Vynd (John McCoy)
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 pint of lager.
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 an APP of random Colour and Shape.
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.
VII. If a player is on a Moon eir Air Skill is increased by 5. If the Moon is full, however, all of eir elemental skills are incresed by 5.
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 999/0
Quests Rule Suite
JT (JT Traub)
Each rule in the Quest Rule Suite defines a specific quest which may be undertaken by the players of Ackanomic.
Each Quest must define a condition to be achieved in order to fulfill the quest, and a reward which is recieved for fulfilling the quest. A quest may also define a medal which will be recieved by each player to fulfill the quest.
If a quest does not define a medal, the medal for that quest will be a medal named 'The Gold Medallion for Achieving Quest XXX.X' where XXX.X is replaced by the rule number of the quest completed.
All medals for completed quests are made by the Frobozz Magic Medal Company, Ackanomic Division.
Each quest may also define additional effects which occur once at the time the quest is completed.
Each quest must be defined within a rule contained within this rule suite.
If a player already has the medal for completing a quest, that player may not complete that quest again. The previous sentence takes precedence over any rule with which it conflicts.
The player completing a quest must point out the fact of its completion publically before the reward or medal for that quest will be awarded.
If ever more than 60% of all active and vacationing players have completed a given quest and that fact is pointed out publically, then the rule defining that quest will be repealed as it has become too easy and is therefore no longer worth the recognition of achieving it.
Rule 999.2/0
Quest of the Royal Frink
JT (JT Traub)
Rule 1000/0
Institutions
else...if (Henry Towsner)
When an Institution disbands or is disbanded,
a) any rule-specified procedures for the disbandment of an Institution of
its type are carried out; then,
b) anything owned by the Institution is transferred to the Treasury; then,
c) the Institution ceases to exist.
Rule 1001/11. Fundamentals
Organizations
ThinMan (John Bollinger)
Organizations are Institutions. Although Organizations are not foundable, subtypes of Organizations may be. Players may be a member of Organizations, as specified elsewhere in the Rules. A Player who is a member of an organization is affiliated with that organization. If a particular Organization is defined by the rules then it is a Unique Organization, otherwise it is a Player-Sanctioned Organization.
2. Forming an Organization
When an Organization is created:
a) the players specified as the initial members become members of the
Organization at the time of the Organization's formation, and
b) the pseudo-Founder may specify the initial admissions policy at the
time that he forms the Organization; if he does not, then the admissions
policy is initially set to Standard.
This section of this rule defers to rules that specify a modified or alternative method for the formation of specific types of Organizations.
3. Organization Disbandment
A Player-Santioned Organization disbands if it ever has a nonpositive number of members. The rules may specify other conditions under which an Organization disbands or is disbanded.
When an Organization disbands or is disbanded, any members it has cease to be members of it.
4. Joining an Organization
Every Player-Sanctioned Organization has an admissions policy that describes how entities may become members of that Organization. Only admissions policies defined by the rules are valid; if a Player-Sanctioned Organization ever does not have a valid admissions policy then its admissions policy is set to Standard. Except as specified otherwise elsewhere in the rules, only players are elligible to be members of Organizations. The following are valid admissions policies:
a) Standard: the Organization may make an eligible entity become a member of it as an Organizational action, provided that the entity has requested within the past two weeks to become a member of that Organization.
b) Open: an elligible entity that can perform public actions may become a member as a public action.
c) Privileged Single Player: a particular single member may grant any request for membership in that Organization made by an elligible entity within the past two weeks, thereby causing the entity to become a member. The single member with this ability must be specified.
d) Quasi-open: Any elligible entity that requests membership in the Organization becomes a member three days thereafter unless any member refuses the entity admission during that time.
e) Communist Single Player: any member may grant any request for membership in that Organization made by an elligible entity within the past two weeks, thereby causing the entity to become a member.
In no case shall an entity which is not elligible to be a member of a particular Organization ever become a member of that Organization. If an Organization ever has a member that is inelligible to be a member of that Organization, then that member ceases to be a member of that Organization. Other rules may define other valid admissions policies for specific types of Organizations, or make any of the above policies invalid for for specific types of Organizations. Player-Sanctioned Organizations may change their admissions policies by Organizational Action unless forbidden by other rules.
5. Entity Liberty
An entity may leave any Organization of which it is a member as a public action.
6. Actions
Organizations may attempt actions as described in other rules. As an Organizational Action an Organization may Operate an entity it owns. As an Organizational Action an Organization may purchase an Institutional Power under the conditions specified by rule 1005. As an Organizational Action and Organization may perform any public action which the rules permit Organizations to perform (including supertypes of Organizations).
Rule 1003/8
Organizational Action
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
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.
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 1005/10
Institutional Powers
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
Where the rules say that an Institution may buy a Power of a certain type, what is meant is that the Institution may, through a process specified by that Institution's rules, contribute an amount of currency to the Treasury in exchange for a new Power of the type specified, which is then created in that Institution's possession, as long as that Institution is permitted to own that Power.
Rule 1009/1
Organization Miscellany
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Because Churches are religious, they eschew any pagan symbols. Therefore, if any Church owns an Otzma Card, that Otzma Card is destroyed.
Rule 1011/3
Excavation Permit
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
An Corporation 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 Corporation 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 Corporation may own, accept or bury as a treasure.
Rule 1021/20
Political Parties and Rewarding Party Unity
Mitchell Harding
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 Institutional 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.
An additional fee of A$300 is required for the formation of a Political Party.
Rule 1023/35
Corporations
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
Corporations are foundable Institutions. Corporations may own tradeable entities and Institutional Powers, but not any other type of entity.
2. Shares
Shares are nameless, tradeable, Operable entities. Each share is associated with a Corporation. Shares may be given to the Corporation with which they are associated without any confirmation or acceptance by that Corporation. If a Corporation ever owns shares associated with itself then those shares are destroyed. All entities that own shares associated with a particular Corporation are stockholders of that Corporation, except that the Treasury is never a stockholder of any Corporation. Stockholders of a Corporation are affiliated with that Corporation.
If an entity owns two-thirds or more of the unburied shares of a particular Corporation then that entity is Chairman of that Corporation; otherwise that Corporation has no Chairman. If a Corporation has a Chairman then all entities owned by that Corporation are treated as if they are owned by that Corporation's Chairman. This paragraph takes precedence over all other rules governing the ownership and transferrence of entities.
3. Corporate Formation
At the same time as the formation of a Corporation each initial member receives 40 newly-created shares associated with that Corporation.
4. Corporation Disbandment
A Corporation disbands if there are ever zero shares associated with it, or when a motion to disband succeeds. If there exists a group of Corporations such that no entity which is not one of those Corporations owns any shares associated with any of those Corporations then all those Corporations are destroyed. When a Corporation disbands, any shares associated with it are destroyed.
5. Corporate Actions
There is an Operation on a stock known as Making a Motion. An entity making a motion must specify the type of motion and any other information needed to fully specify the motion. The Corporation's stockholders have one week to vote on it. Voting is an Operation on a stock, and an entity which Votes as an Operation must specify the motion they are voting on and whether they are voting for or against; an Intelligent Entity which Votes as an Operation is assumed to vote on all eir shares unless e specifies otherwise. At the end of that week or when sufficient votes have been made such that no additional votes would change the outcome, whichever is sooner, the result of the vote is determined. When the result is determined, the motion passes if entities owning at least two-thirds of the relevant shares voted in favor of the motion, or if entities owning more than one-half of the relevant shares voted in favor and the motion was not privileged. A share is relevant if it is owned by a player or if its owner Voted as an Operation on it. When a valid motion passes the Corporation attempts the action specified by the motion. The entity which makes a motion automatically Operates on all eir shares to vote for it. Entities may change the vote e cast with a share at any time before the result of the vote is determined.
6. Motions
Motions are only valid if the Rules say they are. The following are valid,
non-privileged motions:
a) to accept a one sided trade
b) to change the Corporation's name to another legal name (if attempted this
costs the Corporation the standard harfer fee; it fails if the Corporation
cannot pay the SHF and succeeds otherwise)
c) to Operate on an owned entity
The following are valid, privileged motions:
a) to accept a two sided trade
b) to mint and distribute new shares associated with the Corporation (if
performed, this causes the specified number of shares associated with the
corporation to be created in the possession of the specified entity; this
fails if the specified entity may not own shares)
c) to buy a particular Institutional power
d) to use an Institutional Power in a specified way
e) to disband
f) anything else specified in the rules as a public action which a
Corporation could perform.
Notwithstanding any other consideration, if fewer than three stockholders,
other than the Treasury, own shares of a Corporation then the only valid
motions for that Corporation are privileged motions (b) and (e) above.
7. Corruption
A player may call a Corruption hearing against a Corporation claiming that the entity is abusing the rules. They then become the SEC Inspector (Hearing Harfer) for that hearing. The valid votes are "They're just honest business people, and besides, everyone does it" and "Split 'em up like Ma Bell!". If the result is the former the SEC Inspector must pay the SHF to each of the members or stock holders. If the result is the latter the entity is disbanded and the SEC Inspector receives a bribe, er, payment of twice the SHF from the Treasury.
8. The Principle of Otzma
Corporations have no real understanding of the power that lurks in cards. Therefore, if any Corporation owns an Otzma Card, that Otzma Card is destroyed.
Rule 1027/5
Trusts
else...if (Henry Towsner)
A Trust Fund offers and accepts trades, makes gifts, and disbands as specified by its charter. If ever it is otherwise impossible to determine what action (if any) a Trust Fund takes or whether it takes an action at all, then the Trust Fund disbands.
Trust Funds are notorious about losing paperwork. If a Trust Fund ever owns an Otzma card then that card is immediately destroyed. [Probably shredded along with a pile of incriminating government documents.]
Rule 1030/1
Castes
J. M. Bear (Frank Schmidt)
When a player either ceases to be a Newbie or ceases to be On-Ice, 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)
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)
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 1044/0
The Benefits of Swinging
JT (JT Traub)
2. a. Every two weeks on Monday the Chess-Umpire announces how many points each swinger is to recieve. Each Swinger receives a number of points equal to the number of Swingers (excluding Swingers on Vacation, but including Acting Swingers) with equal or lower Weights divided by two and rounded down.
b. If the application of Section 2a results in a non-zero amount points 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 points than any other Party Swinger (or the only Party Swinger who received a non-zero amount of points, if only one received any) each receive one point for eir support immediately after Swinger points are awarded.
Rule 1045/2
Alternative uses for points
JT (JT Traub)
Regardless of anything else, a player may not make a conversion in accordance with this rule which would result in eir having negative points after the conversion.
a. Otzma Card Conversion
(i) A Player may convert 10 points into an Otzma Card randomly selected from those types with an F-Designation of Common.
(ii) A Player may convert 15 points into an Otzma Card randomly selected from those types with an F-Designation of Normal or Common.
(iii) A Player may convert 20 points into an Otzma Card of a randomly determined type.
(iv) This type of conversion may only be performed if a conversion of this type has not been performed by the player attempting it during the prior 14 days.
b. Bonus Vote Conversion
(i) A Player may convert 30 points into a Bonus vote.
(ii) This type of conversion may only be performed if a conversion of this type has not been performed by the player attempting it during the prior 14 days.
c. Chess Piece conversion
(i) A Player may conver N points 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 that no instance limits are violated by the conversion, and provided that the specified Swinger has owns at most 15 Party Chess Pieces after the conversion.
d. Benefyt conversion
(i) A Player may convert 10 points into a Benefyt. Benefyts are tradeable entities.
Rule 1112/7
Let there be Harf!
snowgod (Phil Ackley)
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)
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 1125/6
Committee for the Protection, Preservation, and Integrity of the Arts
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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) and forfeit the Standard Harfer Fee for some sorely needed art appreciation classes.
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)
Rule 1129/3
Crazy French-Scotsmen
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
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)
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 1142/0
Reincarnating Into The Third Cat
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
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)
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
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)
Rule 1155/1
Colours
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
alabaster; amber; aquamarine; azure; black; blue; brown; burgundy; carnelian; cerulean; chartreuse; crimson; cyan; emerald; fuchsia; gold; green; grey; harf; 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 1160/5
Heraldry
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
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 institution. 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)
Rule 1181/1
Silly Little Holiday
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Let one day be removed from all such thought
One day be set aside, a day of rest
October second all of us shall not
Submit proposals, duel, or start a quest.
Upon this day, the players just debate
Each year this custom is, and so remains
Proposals, duels, and questing have to wait
October Second, "Day to Rest our Brains"
[You think my sonnet cheesy? Wait a while;
I've reason for this fourteen-verse-long style.]
Rule 1182/1
Scam Day
Vynd (John McCoy)
On Scam Day, it is the duty of the Poet Laureate (or the Speaker, if there is no Poet) to recite the following poem (post it to the public forum):
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" [Artist: William Butler Yeats; The Second Coming]
Rule 1195/2
Honoring The Bard
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)
During the week preceeding April 23 the Speaker should post the entire text of this rule to a public forum.
Rule 1201/0
The Illustrious DoppelSlakko
JT (JT Traub)
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)
Rule 1209/19
The Machine That Goes *ping*
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
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 that was considered by the Scholar, and at least six times during the current Scholar's term, any active player other than the Scholar or the most recent player whose magic letter choice was considred may name a letter of the alphabet not already considered as the Magic Letter during the current scholar's term to be the Magic Letter by so posting to the public forum. Such post must include with it a sum of A$ that is at least as much as the Magic Letter Premium for the letter named, and no more than the posting player has. For all letters of the alphabet named (as described above) within the first 12 hours since the *ping* that initiated this round of letter naming, the Scholar shall consider the one guess with the most A$ associated with it. If two or more guesses hold this distinction, the Scholar shall decide which of those guesses to consider. If no letters are named within the first 12 hours as above, the Scholar shall consider the first letter named in this round of letter naming. The Scholar must respond within three days by naming the guess that 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 sum of A$ associated with eir post. The Magic Letter Premium is based on the following schedule: A$25 for Common vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o'), A$15 for Common consonants ('d', 'l', 'n', 'r', 's', 't'), and A$5 for all other letters.
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 1211/6
Boons of the Ancients
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
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 50 in this case]:
a) 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).
b) The gods smile upon the player. 1 Bonus Vote is bestowed (10).
c) 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).
d) Ancient wisdom. An Otzma Card is added to the Otzma Card Rule Suite, which the player Must Describe (5).
e) The gods are bored. The player is given pointy ears (2).
f) The gods are grouchy. The Chartreuse Goose is transferred to the player. (1).
Rule 1213/17
Grab-a-Donkey
Habeous Corpus (Ed Graham)
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) Distract another player on the GAL,
(d) Stand Around Admiring their Donkey,
(e) 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 B did not Cover their donkey or B Covered their donkey and was Distracted by at least one other player:
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 1215/14
Duels
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
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 whether e wants to pick Rows or Columns in the Games Grid. 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.
After the Challenged Player's Second has posted the acceptance of the Duel, the Duelists have three days to send their Games Grid Row or Column choices to the Herald, or to the Second of the Challenged if the Herald is a Duelist. If either fails to do so within the required time, e forfeits the duel. If both fail to do so within the required time, the duel ends without a winner. Once both have sent eir choices in, the game in the intersection of the Row choice and the Column choice becomes the Game chosen for the Duel. If there are multiple Games in the division of the Games Grid chosen, the Herald shall randomly determine which one shall be played in the duel.
After the game is determined, the Duel starts when the Herald announces it. If the Game or Contest chosen for the Duel requires a Referee 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.
The Games Grid is a 3x3 grid with the three columns Simultaneous, Turn-Based, and Harfy (1, 2, and 3) and the three rows Strategy, Art, and Word Games. (A, B, and C) The games are placed in it as follows:
Simultaneous Turn Based Harfy
1 2 3
A. Strategy Viruses Tromino Go Abstract Crescent
B. Art Bacon YORL Acka Role Playing
C. Word Games Double Crash Ghost Limericks
Triple Double Crash
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)
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 1217/20
Buried Treasure!
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
Burying Treasure is a public action performable by Trading Entities. In order to fully specify this action, the entity attempting it (the Burier_=) 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 Burier ceases to own the Treasure; it is considered "buried" or "hidden", and is owned by the Treasure. Buried Treasure is not considered part of the Treasury.
A Burier must write a Treasure Map that describes, at a minimum, the conditions which must be met for a player to "find" the Treasure. If the Burier is not a player, than the announcement which buried the Treasure must specify a player who will write the map and who must inform any other players affiliated with the Burier of the full content of the map. 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 Trading Entity (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 Entity who achieved the conditions receives the Treasure, and thus becomes the owner of its constituent entities (which are no longer considered "Treasure"), except for those which the finder may not legally own, which are transferred to the Treasury. In the case of multiple Entities 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 Trading Entities, the finder is determined at random by the Officer in charge of Random Things. All such Trading Entities 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.
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.
The author of any Treasure Map may, as a public action, declare one or more other players as Potential Map Custodians for that Treasure Map. If the player or players so named accept the Custodianship within three days, the author shall reveal the Treasure Map to the player or players privately, and then those Potential Map Custodians will become Map Custodians for that Treasure Map.
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", then all entities in The Motherload which can be destroyed are destroyed, all nondestroyed entities in The Motherload that can be owned by the Treasury become owned by the treasury, and all remaining entities in the Motherload become unowned. Additionally the map writer shall pay The Standard Harfer Fee to the Gold Digger.
Rule 1230/2
Party Chess Rule Suite
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
[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 1230.1/21
Swingers Play Around I - the board and the playing pieces
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. The Party Board
There exists a checkered board, divided into 20 by 20 squares, which resides in Party Hall. It is called the Party Board. The Party Board is an unownable entity used for the sole purpose of playing a game called Party Chess. Each column has a letter assigned to it, from a-t beginning with the leftmost column. Each row has an integer assigned to it, from 1-20. When viewed on a screen, the lowest row is 1, the highest is 20, and consecutive rows are marked with consecutive integers.
Each square on the Party Board has coordinates made up of a letter, which corresponds to the column the square is part of, and an integer, which corresponds to the row the square is part of. The letter precedes the integer.
Food or drink may not be placed on the Party Board.
2. Party Chess Pieces
A. Each Swinger controls a set of Party Chess Pieces. The pieces are owned by that Swinger's Swingership. Whenever the rules refer to pieces as being owned by, or property of, a Swinger, the implied meaning is that they are property of the corresponding Swingership. Playing PartyChess is the raison d'etre of a Swingership.
B. A Swinger may acquire a piece by capturing it from an opponent or creating a new piece, at a cost. Both these processes are described in greater detail below.
C. "On-board" pieces are pieces which are currently on the Party Board. "Off-board" pieces are pieces which are currently off the Party Board.
D. Each swinger may, once per calendar month, choose a piece for free subject to the following limitations. Pieces chosen this way are initially Off-Board.
The swinger may choose any piece which has a material value less than or equal to (120-MV)/10 where MV is the sum of the material values of all pieces owned by that swinger.
E. A player or Organization may create a new Party Chess Piece of any existing type for a Swinger. When this is done, the player or Organization pays the piece cost to the Treasury, and the new piece is created, off-board, in the possession of the specified Swinger. A new piece costs A$1, plus A$7 times the material value of the piece. A King may not be purchased in this way.
Party Chess Pieces may not be created in this manner if the Swinger who would gain possession of the new piece already owns 15 or more Party Chess Pieces.
F. A Swinger may destroy a Party Chess Piece in eir possession, receiving a number of A$ equal to the Material Value of the Piece as compensation.
G. In this Rule Suite, the word 'piece' means Party Chess Piece, unless otherwise specified.
3. PartyChessPieceDef rules
A. A rule is a PartyChessPieceDef rule if and only if it meets the following criteria:
(i) It defines exactly one type of piece that can be created and used in the game of Party Chess.
(ii) It is a member of the Party Chess Rule Suite.
(iii) It unambiguously defines the legal moves that the piece may make. That is, it defines to which empty squares on the board the piece may move.
(iv) It defines a material value for the piece.
(v) It defines a non-space ASCII character to represent the piece, and this character is different from those that represent all the other types of pieces. For the purpose of this rule, a lower case Latin letter is considered identical to its corresponding upper case Latin letter. If two or more different rules, each of which meets the other four criteria, all claim the same ASCII character, only the rule among them with the lowest number is a PartyChessPieceDef rule.
This rule takes precedence over all PartyChessPieceDef rules.
B. Unless otherwise stipulated by the relevant PartyChessPieceDef rule, the legal moves for each piece are defined relative to that piece's current position on the board, and may depend on the positions of other pieces on the board.
C. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define conditions under which a piece is promoted. If no such conditions are defined for a given piece, that piece does not promote. When a piece is promoted, it changes itself into a piece of a different type.
D. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define conditions under which a piece may skip over other pieces during its movement. If it does not, the piece cannot move in ways that would require it to skip over other pieces.
E. Should it ever be found that an on-board piece exists that is not defined by any PartyChessPieceDef rule, that piece is immediately moved off-board. It does not change ownership. [This can happen when a rule is repealed or amended in such a way that it becomes ambiguous.]
F. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define conditions under which the position on the Party Board of a piece it defines enhances or restricts the moves or captures available to other pieces. PartyChessPieceDef rules defer to such enhancements or restrictions.
G. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define an instance limit for that type of piece. If it does not, there is no instance limit for that piece. Instance limits are always enforced on a per Swinger basis. If such a limit is defined, a Swinger may not control more pieces than the limit; if it is ever found that e possesses pieces in excess of the specified limit, all excess pieces are destroyed until this situation is corrected, starting with off-board pieces. If random determination is required to perform this destruction, the Chess-Umpire shall handle it.
H. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define an event that happens upon the capture or removal of a piece of that type.
I. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define an event that occurs upon the placement of a piece of that type.
J. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may contain additional fees that must be paid, or procedures that must be undertaken before a Swinger may purchase a piece of that type.
K. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may contain a special move a piece may perform which may or may not have other special requirements
4. Capturing
This rule defers to PartyChessPieceDef rules on the matter of how pieces can capture opposing pieces. [Other rules may define other ways for pieces to capture, and may define that this variety of capture is not available to certain pieces.]
Party Chess Piece (1) can capture an opposing piece (2) if (2) occupies a square on the board to which (1) could otherwise legally move. When the Swinger that owns (1) performs a capture in this way, (1) is moved to the square occupied by (2), and (2) is removed from the board.
Whenever a Swinger uses one of his or her pieces to capture an opposing piece, the captured piece is added to the capturing Swinger's collection of off-board pieces.
It is forbidden for a piece to capture a friendly piece.
5. Piece movement
There are eight directions in which pieces may move.
A. Horizontal: A movement from one square to another one in the same row. There are two horizontal directions.
B. Vertical: A movement from one square to another in the same column. There are two vertical directions.
C. Diagonal: A movement from one square to another such that the number of rows moved is the same as the number of columns moved. There are four diagonal directions.
6. Definitions
A. In the context of a Party Chess piece, the capital letters R and C represent the row and column, respectively, of the square that that piece occupies.
B. The symbols DestR and DestC represent the the row and column of a destination square.
C. The symbol SQn, where n is a positive integer, specifies the square n squares distant from a piece's current square in a given direction. Which such symbols are meaningful depends on the piece's current position on the board.
D. The symbol dR represents the absolute value of DestR-R.
E. The symbol dC represents the absolute value of DestC-C, where the difference is computed as the difference of the ASCII codes corresponding to DestC and C.
F. The distance between two squares is defined as the distance between the two rows (abs(R2-R1)), or the distance between the two columns (abs(C2-C1)), whichever is greater.
G. The symbols /AND/, /OR/, /XOR/, and /NOT/, in this and all other rules governing Party Chess, represent the logical operators AND, OR, XOR, and NOT, respectively.
7. Party Chess Pieces are ownable entities.
8. Defensive Positions
An on-board piece is in a Defensive Position if the distance between that piece and a friendly King is equal to or smaller than 4.
Rule 1230.2/49
Swingers Like to Play Around II - Let's play
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
A. The optional functional office of Chess-Umpire exists. If, at any time, there is no player performing the duties of Chess-Umpire, the game of Party Chess is suspended (or not started), and all other players who would have duties with regard to Party Chess are absolved of those duties. This clause takes precedence over all rules dealing with Swingers and Party Chess.
B. Any active player is eligible for the office of Chess-Umpire.
C. The Chess-Umpire has the following Duties:
(i) Maintaining and updating the Party Board
(ii) Checking for the legality of the plays
(iii) To notify each Swinger by private e-mail whenever it becomes his turn to move.
(iv) To alert a Swinger by public e-mail whenever he is placed in check.
(v) Calculating and posting the Swingers' Weights after each play.
(vi) Maintaining a list of game history - all the plays made, Pieces purchased and owned
(vii) The Chess-Umpire will make this information publically available. If possible, the information will be maintained on a web-page as well.
(viii) Maintaining the Swinger Play List.
2. Managing the Game
A. At the beginning of the game of Party Chess there are no Party Chess Pieces on the Party Board.
B. Each Swingership receives one King, and five playing pieces. Each Swinger may choose any five pieces which are defined by a PartyChessPieceDef rule, as long as their total material value does not exceed 30. These pieces are created in the possession of the appropriate Swingers, free of charge. Initially all pieces are off-board.
C. When a new Swingership is created, it receives one King and five other PartyChessPieces, as described in 2.B.
3. Determining the Playing Order
A. The Chess-Umpire maintains a list called the Swinger Play List. Initially the NAP Swinger is at the top of the list. The names of the other Swingers (including non-active players) follow in a random order determined at the beginning of the PartyChess game by the Chess-Umpire.
B. The Swinger whose name is at the top of the list is the Swinger whose turn it is to play. When the turn is over, the top name is moved to the bottom of the list.
C. When a single Swinger is checked, eir name is immediately moved to the top of the list.
D. When two or more Swingers are checked simultaneously, their names are moved up in the list in such a way that each checked Swinger's name appears above all the non-checked Swingers' names, but the order of the checked Swingers' names relative to one another is unchanged. (That is, if Swinger A appears above Swinger B in the list, and then A and B are checked, then Swinger A and Swinger B will both move up toward the top of the list, but Swinger A will still appear above Swinger B.)
E. When a Swingership is destroyed, it, and the name of the last Swinger to occupy it, are removed from the Swinger Play List.
F. When an Swingership is created, it is placed at the bottom of the Swinger Play List.
4. Turns
A turn will last until a play is made, either by the Swinger announcing the play publicly, or by default when the time limit expires, or automatically. The time limit for a given turn expires three days after the Chess-Umpire announces the current state of the game, with the exceptions outlined below.
When the time limit expires on a Swinger's turn, that Swinger makes a default play. If it would have been legal for the Swinger to Pass, e Passes. Otherwise, e Surrenders.
A. The Chess-Umpire has the Privilege of being able to extend the time limit, up to a maximum of seven days after the announcement of the game state.
B. Warmth
(i) If a Swingership is Warm, and the Swinger is not checked, then:
(a) If the Swingership has no on-board pieces, or the previous move made by that office was not a Pass, then that Swingership automatically Passes when its turn begins, otherwise
(b) That Swingership automatically Surrenders when its turn begins.
(ii) If a Warm Swingership is checked, then that turn is not played automatically. If a Warm Party Swingership is checked, the Chess-Umpire has the Duty of notifying all player members of that Party of the check situation, including members who are vacationing.
(iii) When there are 7 or more Swingers with on-board pieces, the turn of any Swinger who has no on-board pieces is skipped entirely.
(iv) It is permissible for a Party or a Swinger with a Warm Swingership to notify the Chess-Umpire of a Surrender at any time by sending a public message to that effect. The Surrender takes effect immediately. This section of this rule takes precedence over all other sections of this rule.
If a Party Swinger's last three moves have all been default plays, then their Swingership goes Somewhere Else.
5. Definitions
A piece (1) is an opposing piece or opponent's piece with respect to piece (2) if it is controlled by a different Swinger than (2) is, regardless of any agreements, contracts, or treaties made between the various Swingers.
A piece (1) is friendly with respect to piece (2) if pieces (1) and (2) are controlled by the same Swinger.
A piece (1) is attacking opposing piece (2) if and only if they are located on the board such that if it were (1)'s Swinger's turn to move, he could capture piece (2) with piece (1).
A piece (1) is defending friendly piece (2) if and only if they are located on the board such that (1) would be attacking (2) if (2) were an opposing piece.
6. Playing the game
For the purposes of this section of this Rule, a piece is a Party Chess Piece whose material value is greater than or equal to two.
On eir turn a Swinger may make a play composed of one or more of the Atomic Plays defined in this section. All Atomic Plays that make up the same Play must be in the same message, in the order in which they are made. The Play is made as a Public Action.
A Swinger whose Weight equals 0 and has four or fewer on-board pieces may make a Play composed of one Move followed by one Placement, or any other single Atomic Play.
A Swinger whose Weight equals 0 and more than four on-board pieces may a Play composed of any single Atomic Play.
A Swinger whose Weight is non-zero and less than 50, and has four or fewer on-board pieces may make a Play composed of k Moves followed by a single Placement, or one Move followed by k Placements, or any other single Atomic Play, where k is equal to one or two.
A Swinger whose Weight is greater than 100, or has more than 9 on-board pieces, may make any single Atomic Play.
Any other Swinger may make a Play composed of one Move, followed by one Placement, or any other single Atomic Play. If a swinger attempts a play of one or more placements followed by one or more moves and the state of the board if such a play were legal would be exactly the same as if the swinger had attempted the same move(s) followed by the same placement(s) then the move attempted shall be considered to be the move(s) followed by the placement(s).
The following are the legal Atomic Plays:
A. Move - The Swinger moves an on-board piece e controls from the square it is on to either (a) an unoccupied square according to the applicable rules, or (b) an off-board position provided such a move is legal according to rule 1240.9
B. Capture - The Swinger uses one of his pieces to perform a capture according to the applicable rules.
C. Placement - The Swinger places one of eir off-board pieces on an unoccupied square on the board. The Swinger may not place the piece in such a position that it attacks one or more opposing pieces, unless either
(a) it is impossible to place the piece without it attacking at least one other piece, and the Swinger involved has fewer than five on-board pieces and a weight of 0;
or
(b) the placement is made in accordance with Rule 1240.10.
No matter what, no piece may be placed in such a way as to cause any swinger to be in check.
D. Special - The Swinger spends one Benefyt and performs the Special Move for one of eir on-board pieces as defined by the PartyChessPieceDef rule defining that piece. This Atomic Play cannot be used by a swinger who owns no Benefyts, nor can it be used to attack or capture a King.
E. Pass - The Swinger does nothing. [This is the default play in most cases; see above.]
F. Surrender - All of the Swinger's pieces are removed from the board, and become off-board pieces.
When a Swinger's turn consists of multiple Atomic Plays, and one of the Atomic plays places another Swinger in a state of check, then the turn ends immediately, and the Atomic plays that follow that Atomic Plays are not executed. When more there is more than one Swinger in a state of check, then Swingers are allowed to make only Atomic Plays, regardless of the criteria specified above, for as long as the state of multiple check exists. It is impermissible for a Swinger to Move the same piece more than once during a single turn.
7. Check and Checkmate
A Swinger is in Check when his King is attacked by one or more pieces owned by a Swinger whose King is on-board. No Swinger may make a play that would cause him or her to be in Check at the end of his or her turn. It is possible that the only move that will satisfy this condition is a Surrender. It is the responsibility of the Chess-Umpire to identify states of Check and alert the Swingers that such a state exists, and let the Swingers know whose King is being attacked.
8. King Capture
If a legitimate play by one Swinger (hereafter referred to as the "SneakThief" results in the capture of a King owned by another Swinger (referred to as the "Sucker"), then the following events shall happen at the end of the play.
(i) The Sucker transfers A$100 to the SneakThief. If the Sucker has insufficient cash, then all eir $A will be transferred to the SneakThief, and the Sucker is said to have Lost Eir Shirt. (ii) A new King is created in the possession of the Sucker, and held off-board.
If more than one King is captured during a single play, then each Swinger in the role of Sucker is dealt with separately. Delays in the performance of parts (i)-(iv) of the above list of events shall not prevent the continuation of the game of Party Chess.
A player whose king was captured is considered to have immediately surrendered, regardless of whose turn it is.
As "Only an enemy without honour refuses to show himself in battle" [Michael Dorn (Worf), Star Trek, The Next Generation: Evolution], a player may not capture another player's King unless the player performing the capture has their King on-board. The preceding sentence has precedence over all other parts of the Party Chess Suite which define how pieces may capture.
9. Free For All
A. The Chess Umpire has the Privilege of announcing a Free For All provided that:
(i) There has not been a Free For All for at least 6 weeks
(ii) No Swinger is currently checked.
B. A Free For All starts exactly three days after the Chess-Umpire publically announces it. The announcement must include the duration of the Free For All. The minimum duration is three days, the maximum is two weeks.
If one Swinger objects to the Free For All during the three days between the announcement and the beginning of the Free For All, then the maximum duration of the Free For All is set to one week. At any time between the objection is made public, and the beginning of the Free For All, the Chess-Umpire may announce a corrected duration between three and seven days. If e does not do so, then it is set to 7 days.
If at least two Swingers object to the Free For All, then the Free For All is cancelled, and normal play continues.
C. During a Free For All the following things happen:
(i) The Swinger Play List is ignored.
(ii) Swingers may post plays at any time during a Free For All, except
that for any given Swinger at least three days must pass between
plays, except for Swingers whose Weight is non-zero, have less than 5
on-board pieces and are not in a position whereby they can capture
another player's king, who need wait only two days between plays.
(iii) A play during a Free For All consists of a Single Atomic Play.
(iv) Plays are processed in chronological order.
(v) Illegal plays are ignored.
Capturing a King is an illegal Play.
A player who is checked needs to wait for only two days after eir most recent play in order to play again.
D.When A Free For All is over the following things happen:
(i) The Chess Umpire makes a public announcement to that effect.
(ii) The Chess Umpire rearranges the Swinger Play List randomly.
Rule 1230.3/6
Swingers Like to Play Around III - mostly odds
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
Mobility for a piece is defined as follow: If the minimum distance a piece can move is greater than one, and the difference between the minimum distance that piece can move and the maximum distance that piece can move is equal to or smaller than two, then that piece's Mobility is equal to half the number of legal moves currently available to it without making a capture.
For all other pieces Mobility is equal to the greatest distance a piece can move without making a Capture.
Each Swinger's Weight is calculated in the following manner:
For a Swinger whose King is on-board
Weight =
(Total material value of the on-board pieces) +
for each piece (Mobility of that piece)
for each piece (add 5 if the piece attacks at least one opponent
piece)
for each piece (add 4 if the piece defends at least one friendly
piece)
For a Swinger whose King is off-board
Weight=0
Rule 1230.4/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece King
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
B. The King may move exactly one square in any direction.
C. This definition is analogous to section B. : The king may move to a square (DestR,DestC) which belong to the set of all squares such that dC=1 /OR/ dR=1
D. The material value of the King is zero.
E. For the purpose of the game of Party Chess, 'King' is a genderless word.
F. The ASCII character representing the King is K
Rule 1230.5/5
PartyChessPiece Rook
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2.A rook can move either vertically, or horizontally, up to a maximum distance of 10, provided all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied.
3. A Rook's material value is 9
4. A Rook has a Special Move, which consists of moving one square in any diagonal direction, followed by up to five squares horizontally or vertically, provided that the orthogonal direction taken is only 45 degrees rotated from the diagonal direction taken (e.g. you can move up-left then left, but not up-left then right). All intervening squares, and the destination square, must be unoccupied. This move may not be used as a Capture.
[As this is a Special Move it requires a cost of one Benefyt. It is not a capture because that would make checking someone far too easy.]
Rule 1230.6/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Camel
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. A Camel may move either : (a)3 squares vertically and 1 square horizontally, or (b)3 squares horizontally, and 1 square vertically.
3. A Camel can skip over any pieces that occupy any squares between the current square and the destination square.
4. A Camel's material value is 5
Rule 1230.7/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Bishop
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. A Bishop can move in a diagonal direction in a single straight line, up to a maximum distance of 10 , provided all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied.
3. A Bishop's material value is 6
Rule 1230.8/9
PartyChessPiece Pawn
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. Any pawn can move exactly one square horizontally or vertically. A pawn that is currently defending a friendly piece can, alternatively, move two squares horizontally or vertically.
3. A pawn can capture only by moving diagonally a distance of one square, into a square occupied by an opponent's piece.
4. A pawn is a promotable piece. When a pawn reaches one the following squares: j10,j11,k10,k11, it is immediately promoted. It can be promoted to any legal PartyChessPiece the chosen by the Swinger.
5. A Pawn can only be Placed on one of the columns a,b,s,t, or on one of the rows 1,2,19,20.
6. A pawn's material value is 1.
7. A Pawn has a Special Move, which consists of moving as a Rook would normally move. It may not be used to take a piece, nor may it be used so that the destination square is a square mentioned in Section 4. [That is, no direct Benefyt movement to a promotion square.]
Rule 1230.9/5
Creation of a PartyChessPiece CopyCat
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. A CopyCat can move either 3 or 5 squares in any given direction, provided that all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied.
3. A CopyCat captures a piece only according to the rules by which the captured piece can capture.
A CopyCat can Capture another CopyCat only by using the move described in section 2 of this rule
for example - a CopyCat can capture a Rook using a Rook's move, it can capture a Knight using a Knight's move. etc.. et."
4. A CopyCat's material value is 7
Rule 1230.10/6
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Echo
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. The legal move for an Echo depends on the most recent Atomic Play made by the Swinger controlling the Echo.
a. If the Swinger's most recent Atomic Play was either Pass or Placement, then there is no legal move for an Echo.
b. If the Swinger's most recent Atomic Play was either Move or Capture, then the legal move of an Echo is identical to the legal move of the friendly piece that either Moved or Captured on that Atomic Play.
3. An Echo's material value is 7
Rule 1230.11/4
PartyChessPiece Jester
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. A Jester can move exactly two squares in any given direction. It may skip any piece that occupies the intervening square, between the Jester's current square and the Jester's destination square.
3. A Jester's material value is 3.
4. A Jester has a Special Move, which consists of moving to any square on the board, such that the Jester is not attacking any pieces after the Special Move has been made. [The mysterious Jester - where will it hop to next?]
Rule 1230.12/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece il-Nabi
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. il-Nabi may move in any of the following ways:
(a) 3 squares diagonally and one square either horizontally or vertically, provided all the squares it passes through are unoccupied. The move must be made in that order.
(b) If, in any given direction, SQ1 is occupied, then il-Nabi may skip over that piece to SQ2.
(c) if, in any given direction, SQ3 is occupied, and SQ2 is unoccupied, then il-Nabi may skip to SQ4. For this move to be legal, it does not matter whether or not SQ1 is occupied.
3. il-Nabi can legally capture according to 2.(a). It cannot capture using the moves in 2(b), 2(c)
4. il-Nabi's material value is 6
5. The proper pronunciation of il-Nabi, is with an emphasis of the 'Na', which is pronounced the same as in 'nun', minus the last '-n'.
6. il-Nabi is Arabic for 'the Prophet', and is named in honor of Mohammed, who made a large contribution to the game of Party Chess
Rule 1230.13/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Qball
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
2. A Qball's material value is 7.
3. A Qball's move consists of two parts.
a) The Qball moves in a diagonal direction in a single straight line until it reaches the edge of the board (any of the squares associated with either of the integers 1 or 20 or either of the letters a or t). If it rests on such a square before moving, it must legally move to another such square to make this part of its move. The Qball may not capture or jump over any piece in making this part of its move.
b) The Qball moves in a diagonal direction at a right angle to the path of its travel in part a) in a single straight line, for at least one but no more than 10 squares, provided all the squares between its current square and the destination square are unoccupied. It may capture a non-friendly piece on the destination square.
The Qball must be able to make both parts of its move in order to make any move at all, except as described by c, below:
c) If the Qball, after making the move described a, above, is on a corner square (any of the squares a1, t20, a20, and t1), it "scratches," and the Qball is removed the board and joins its owner's collection of off-board pieces. A scratch does not change the ownership of the Qball.
Rule 1230.14/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece HarfyBlob
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
2. A HarfyBlob can move either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, up to a maximum distance of Hn, where Hn is defined below, provided all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied. 3. A HarfyBlob's material value is 7.
Each extant HarfyBlob has its own value of Hn. It is a duty of the Chess-Umpire to track the value of Hn for each extant HarfyBlob.
When a HarfyBlob is first created, its Hn value is 1.
Each time a HarfyBlob captures an enemy piece, its Hn value is increased by 1, unless the captured piece is also a HarfyBlob, in which case its Hn is increased by the Hn of the captured HarfyBlob. If the captured piece was a Locust, the Hn of the HarfyBlob is increased by the number of Locust pieces remaining on-board after the Capture.
Should a HarfyBlob's Hn ever exceed the maximum number of squares on the Party Board in any direction, its Hn is reduced to that maximum less 1.
Rule 1230.15/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Archer
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. The Archers move is made up of two parts: In the first part the Archer moves either vertically or horizontally a distance of d1 squares, where d1 is either 1,2,3 or 4. In the second part the Archer moves a distance of 4-d1 in a direction perpendicular to the direction he moved in the first part (in the second part the distance can be 0).
3.
a. When an Archer is in a Defensive Position it can capture from a distance. An Archer can capture any opposing piece that occupies a square at a maximum distance of 4, either vertically or horizontally, or a at a maximum distance of 3 diagonally, provided that all the squares between the Archer and the captured piece are unoccupied.
The Archer does not replace the captured piece, but remains on the same square it occupied when the turn started. An Archer in a Defensive Position cannot capture using the move described in section 2 of this rule.
b. An Archer which is not in a defensive position can only Capture using the Move described in section 2 of this rule, provided all the squares it passes through are unoccupied.
4. An Archer has a material value of 7.
Rule 1230.16/1
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Kamikaze
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
2. Its material value is 6.
3. A Kamikaze's move consists of two parts: First, the Kamikaze moves from 1 to 6 squares in any horizontal or vertical direction. Second, it moves from 1 to 6 squares, at a right angle to its direction of motion in the first half of its move. It must make both halves of its move in order to move at all. It may not jump over any pieces in its path.
4. If a Kamikaze captures a piece, the capturing Kamikaze is destroyed immediately after it makes the capture.
Rule 1230.17/1
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Bouncy!Ball
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
2. A Bouncy!Ball may move any number of squares in any single direction, and it may and must jump over exactly one other piece in doing so. This piece must occupy SQn its direction of motion, where the destination square is SQ(2n) in its direction of motion.
3. A Bouncy!Ball's material value is 5.
4. The physical appearance of a Bouncy!Ball is that of a large rubber sphere, colored primarily in the color associated with its controlling Swinger, but featuring several swirls of bright fluorescent shades.
Rule 1230.18/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Demon
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. When the square the Demon currently occupies (R,C) is in the the range 5<R<16, e<C<p (that is between columns e and p, exclusive) it can move a distance of exactly 1 in any given direction, when the square the Demon is on is not included in the above range, the Demon can move a distance of exactly 2 squares in any given direction.
A Demon is promotable. A Demon can be promoted only if and only if there exist two friendly pieces of the same type (as each other, not necessarily the Demon), X and Y such that ABS(xR-R)=ABS(yR-R) /AND/ ABS(xC-C)=ABS(yC-C) /AND/ the distance between those two pieces is equal to or smaller than 8. A Demon can only be Promoted if the Swinger controlling the Demon has just Moved or Captured. It cannot be Promoted following a Placement or a Pass.
4. A Demon's material value is 2
Rule 1230.20/1
Party Chess Piece Cantor
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
A Cantor may move one or two squares in any diagonal direction. It may move over pieces in its path. A piece that has a distance of 1 from a friendly Cantor may move or capture by moving up to 4 squares in any diagonal direction, moving over pieces in its path.
Rule 1230.21/1
Party Chess Piece Zombie
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
A Zombie can move up to three spaces horizontally or vertically. At the end of a turn in which a Zombie Captures, it promotes to the type of the piece it captured, if the Swinger specifies this when announcing the Capture.
Rule 1230.22/1
Party Chess Piece Gess
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
It is represented by the character G.
A Gess moves as follows:
If there is an unoccupied square on the board a distance of 1 away from the Gess, then the Gess may move to it.
If a square on the board at a distance of 1 from the Gess is occupied, then the Gess may move any number of squares between 2 and 10 in the direction needed to reach that occupied square from the Gess piece's current position, moving over pieces in its path.
For example, if a Gess is at i9, and there is another piece at j10, the Gess could move to k11, l12, m13, n14, o15, p16, q17, r18 or s19 as a result of the piece at j10.
Rule 1230.23/0
Party Chess Piece Loyalist
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
A Loyalist may move one square in any direction.
If the shortest (Euclidean) path from a Loyalist to the owning Swinger's King consists entirely of motion in one of the eight directions in which pieces may move, and no friendly pieces occupy squares along that path, and the distance between the Loyalist and the owning swinger's King is less than or equal to 8, the Loyalist may move to any square along that path. [ That is, if the Loyalist and its King share a rank, column, or diagonal, with no friendly pieces intervening, the Loyalist may move to any square between it and the King ]
Rule 1230.24/1
PartyChessPiece Locust
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
a) 6, or
b) 1.5*N rounded down, where N is the number of on-board Locust
pieces.
A Locust is depicted by the ASCII character '&'.
A Locust may move up to N/2 squares, rounded up, in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction, and then up to N/2 squares, rounded down, in a direction perpendicular to that of the first move, where N is the number of on-board Locust pieces. A Locust may not skip over pieces in its path, and must make both halves of its move in order to move at all.
Rule 1230.25/1
Party Chess Piece Guard
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
It is represented by the character +.
A guard cannot be captured by an archer or a kamikaze [due to special training]. If there are no enemy pieces which are attacking it then it will also be able to protect any friendly pieces orthogonally adjacent to it, which means that any such pieces also may not be captured by an archer or a kamikaze.
A guard may move up to three squares in any orthogonal direction or up to two squares in any diagonal direction.
Rule 1230.30/1
Stabitooum
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Rule 1230.40/9
Winning a Hand
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
If, at any stage, the number of Stabber's Knives held by all active Swingers exceeds the number of Swingers [including vacationing ones], and there is a single Swinger with more Stabber's Knives than any other single Swinger, or a single Swinger holds a number of Stabber's Knives greater than the number of Swingers [including vacationing ones] divided by two, then that player will be declared the Winner of this Game of Party Chess. E will also receive the title "Winner of a game of Party Chess", a title of which multiple copies may be held simultaneously.
When a winner of a game of Party Chess is declared as in the above paragraph, the following events happen in the order specified:
a) The ChessChamp receives a ChessChamp's Cardigan, which may be worn, and which may be worn underneath a Champion's Cloak. If e already has a ChessChamp's Cardigan, then it instead instantly transforms into a Tarnished Badge of Gluery. The ChessChamp recieves 1 point for every Swinger in the game including themself
b) All Stabber's Knives held by all Players are destroyed.
c) All on-board pieces are placed off-board.
d) If a Swinger has N off board pieces, N > 15, then N-15 pieces, none of which is a King, will be chosen at random by the Chess-Umpire (using the Dice Server if possible) to be destroyed. Compensation of A$3*M will be paid for each piece so destroyed, where M is the material value of that piece.
e) If a Swingership has N off board pieces, N < 6, then the Swinger owning that Swingership may choose, prior to the first non-Pass move that e makes, 6-N pieces, subject to instance constraints, with a total material value no more than 30-(5*N) which will be created for free in the possession of that Swingership. If the Swingership changes hands before a non-Pass move is made, the new Swinger inherits the right to the free 6-N pieces.
Rule 1240/2
Otzma Cards Rule Suite
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
[Otzma Cards Rules.]
The RuneMaker is the Custodian of the Otzma Card Rule Suite (the 1240.Y rules).
Rule 1240.1/23
Definition of Otzma Cards
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. Otzma Cards are Nameless Gift Entities.
2. Otzma Cards can be created only according to the rules.
3. The optional office of RuneMaker exists.
II.
1. At any given time the number of Otzma Cards in Ackanomic may not exceed 100.
2. Any single player may not own more than six Otzma Cards simultaneously.
4. If a player already owns the maximum number of Otzma Cards and receives or acquires an additional Otzma Card, e must destroy, as soon as possible, either the new Otzma Card, or one of eir existing Otzma Cards.
5. If a player receives or acquires an Otzma Card, that cannot be owned by that player simultaneously with other cards owned by that player, then the player must destroy as soon as possible one or more Otzma Cards, until the Otzma Cards e owns meet all the restrictions placed on Otzma Cards.
6. In either of the cases described in the above subsection 4,5. The Player cannot use any Otzma Cards until the Otzma Cards e owns meet all the restrictions laid down by the rules.
7. No player may give an Otzma Card to another player such that the recipient would have more Otzma Cards than allowable, or would violate ownership restrictions of Otzma Cards in other ways(i.e. as described in subsection 5. above).
III.
1. The RuneMaker can only create Otzma Cards on Otzma-Days. Other methods for creating Otzma Cards may be defined by other rules, as long as the maximum number of Cards created in any period of 7 consecutive days is 14.
2. The following entities may declare an Otzma-Day: the President, the RuneMaker, or any Rule.
3. Otzma-Days must be declared at least three-days in advance, unless it has been declared by a rule. An Otzma-Day lasts for three days or until the RuneMaker has declared the end of the Otzma-Day, whichever comes first. Once an Otzma-Day is over, at least 10 days must pass before the next Otzma-Day can start; this sentence has precedence over section VI of this rule.
4. When an Otzma day starts, the RuneMaker determines the following value: a. LSAP - Longest String of Accepted Proposals, since the beginning of the previous Otzma-Day. On the first Otzma Day, the LSAP is calculated from the beginning of the game of Ackanomic. The ordering of proposals, for this purpose, is by numerical order of proposal number, as for a Chrome Streak.
5.
a. There are two methods the RuneMaker can use to create Otzma Cards. Probabilistic, and Deterministic. For each Otzma Card, the RuneMaker shall make a random determination that will determine the method used, with equal probabilities.
b. The Deterministic method - the RuneMaker selects an Otzma Card type among the legal Otzma Card types and creates it.
c. The Probabilistic method - the RuneMaker determines the type of the new Otzma Card by randomly selecting a type among the legal Otzma Card types. The probability of an Otzma Card type being selected depends upon its F-Designation. The default F-Designation is Normal. All Normal Card types have the same probability of being selected. Cards with an F-Designation of Rare have one third the probability as Normal Cards. Cards with the F-Designation of Common, have three times the probability of being selected.
d. Rules that define Otzma Cards may define an F-Designation for that type of Otzma Cards.
e. The maximum number of Otzma Cards that the RuneMaker may create on a single Otzma Day is equal to the LSAP. If the LSAP is equal to or greater than 10, and it is permissible to create Otzma Cards, then the RuneMaker must create at least 1 Otzma Card.
f. It is impermissible to create an Otzma Card if creating that Card will exceed any Instance limits specified for Otzma Cards by the rules.
g. At the end of the Otzma Day the RuneMaker publicly posts a list including both the cards in the treasury and those that he created, and initiates an Auction (public or private at eir discretion) for each set of Otzma Cards, where all Cards of a given type form one set. The cards within each set are not grouped for the purposes of R516.
h. During the Otzma day in which they are created and also during the Auction mentioned above in part g. each Otzma card is considered not to be in the Treasury for any purpose.
IV. Otzma Card Types.
1. Otzma Card types may be defined by other rules which explicitly claim that they are defining Otzma Card Types, and belong to the Otzma Card Rule Suite. This rule takes precedence over any rule which defines an Otzma Card type.
If ever the number of Otzma Cards of a given type exceeds a limit set by the rule which defines that type of Otzma Card, one randomly selected Otzma Card of that type shall be destroyed. This shall be repeated until the number of Otzma Cards of that type does not exceed the aforementioned limit.
V.
1. Otzma Cards may only be used according to the rules.
2. Each Otzma Card can only be used once. Once it has been used, it is destroyed.
3. A Player uses an Otzma Card by notifying the appropriate Officer that e is using an Otzma Card, and which Card e is using, depending on the type of Card. If the Otzma Card definition does not define a specific Officer, context, or forum in which the Card can be used, then its use must be announced in the public forum. In any case, the use of Otzma Cards must be reported to the Financier.
4. When a player uses an Otzma Card on a proposal, and the proposal is retracted, the Otzma Card is destroyed.
5. The results of using an Otzma Card are announced by the appropriate Officer, along with the name of the Player who used the Card, and the manner of its use.
6. A Player can only use an Otzma Card that e owns.
7. A player may use at most one Otzma Card per proposal.
8. When a player has used an Otzma Card in a public forum, e may not use another Otzma Card in a public forum for three days. This section has no effect on Otzma Cards used on proposals.
9. a. An Otzma Card which is used in the public forum takes effect immediately if and only if there a Counter-Action defined for a Card of that type. If a Card is Countered within three days of its having been played in the public forum, then the Counter-Action is performed.
b. An Otzma Card which is used in the public forum and has no Counter-Action defined for its type, takes effect three days after its use has been announced, unless it is Countered within those three days. In the latter case the Countered Card has no effect at all.
c. An Otzma Card can only be Countered by an entity which is explicitly allowed by the rules to Counter an Otzma Card of that type.
d. An Otzma Card can be Countered at most once.
Rule 1240.2/8
Otzma Card of Type Go Fish
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
2. An Otzma Card of type 'Go Fish' can be used in the following ways:
a. In a public forum it can be used to Counter any other Otzma Card, in accordance with the rules. The player who plays the Go Fish Card plays the Card by announcing that e is playing it, and which Card it is being used on. The announcement must non-ambiguous.
b. A Go Fish Card can be used over another Go Fish Card only if the Go Fish Card it is used on has not been used on a Go Fish Card.
3. Counter-Action:
a. If the Go Fish Card was used on a Card that has no Counter-Action defined for it, then the Counter-Action is identical to the effect of the Card it was used on.
b. If the Go Fish Card was used on a Card that has a Counter-Action defined for it, then the Counter-Action is as follows: A new Card is created that is identical to the type of Card the Go Fish Card had been used to Counter, and it is given to the player who played the Card that was Countered by the Go Fish Card.
4. This rule takes precedence over all other rules in the Otzma Card Rule Suite except rule 1240.50 to which it defers precedence.
5. There may be at most 14 Otzma Cards of type "Go Fish".
Rule 1240.3/2
Otzma Card of type Map Shard
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
A player who plays this Card shall announce the name of a Map Writer or Map Custodian, and name a Buried Treasure that has not yet been discovered, for which the named player is privy to its Map.
The named player shall, within 3 days of the Card taking effect, privately post any 10 consecutive words from the named Map to the player who played the Card. The passage chosen must contain at least one verb and one noun. If the Map contains no qualifying passage, however, the named player shall post this fact instead.
This rule has precedence over Rule 1217 where there is a conflict.
Its Counter-Action: The private post per above shall be posted publically as soon as humanly possible by either party who was privy to it. (Once posted by one player, the other player is not obligated to do so).
Rule 1240.6/4
Otzma Card of type Share my Expenses
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
For the purposes of this rule, all sums of A$ paid by players are Valid Sums except for amounts paid as the direct result of one or more Otzma Cards, and amounts paid as the result of voluntary actions of the player paying the amount, such as trades, gifts, trinket creations, land purchases, etc.
Counter-Action: If The Transfer for this card has occurred, the player who played the card pays the named player the sum of A$ e originally named plus 10 percent, rounded down to the nearest integer. If The Transfer for this card has not occurred, the player who played the card pays the named player 10 percent of the sum of A$ e named, rounded down to the nearest integer, and The Transfer for this card shall never occur.
At any given time there may at most 10 Cards of this type in existence. 'Share My Expenses' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.7/4
Otzma Card of type Share your income
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
For the purposes of this rule, all sums of A$ received by players are Valid Sums for three days after they have been received, except for amounts received as a direct result of the playing of one or more Otzma Cards, amounts received as the result of the destruction of one or more trinkets, and amounts which have previously had Otzma Cards of this type played on them.
Counter- Action: The player who played the card transfers the amount of A$ e named to the player e named, plus 10 percent, the sum of both being rounded down to the nearest integer.
At any given time there may at most 10 Cards of this type in existence. 'Share Your Income' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.8/2
Otzma Card of type Swinging Sale
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
At any given time there may exist at most one Card of this type. 'Swinging Sale' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.9/3
Otzma Card of Type Tactical Retreat
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
2. Once an Otzma card of type "Tactical Retreat" is played, Swingers have another type of Party Chess move available. They may, in their turn remove any single friendly Party Chess piece from the Party Board and add it to their collection of off-board pieces. A King may not be removed from the board in this way. This option will remain available until it is either exercised or the Tactical Retreat card which made it available is countered.
3. Counter-action: When a Tactical Retreat card is Countered, the Party Chess option made available by the Tactical Retreat Card is no longer available. If the option was not available when the Countering took place, the Counter-action has no further effect.
4. There may be at most 10 Otzma Cards of type "Tactical Retreat" 'Tactical Retreat' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.10/2
Otzma Card of Type Paratroop
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
2. An Otzma Card of type Paratroop may be played only by a Swinger, and only in their turn. If the Swinger uses an Otzma card of type Paratroop, and before the end of his turn, places an off-board piece on the board, he may place that piece where it attacks one or more enemy pieces. This takes precedence over the usual conflicting restriction on placement plays.
3. Counter-action: the piece placed under the influence of the Paratroop card is removed from the board and placed in its owner's collection of off-board pieces.
4. There may be no more Paratroop cards in existence than 1.5 times the number of Offices of Swinger. 'Paratroop' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.11/4
Otzma Card of Type Foul Fowl
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
A player who plays this Card shall announce the name of an active player. Upon doing so, the Chartreuse Goose is transferred to the player named.
Its Counter-Action: The Chartreuse Goose is transferred to the player who played this card.
There may be at most 5 Otzma Cards of type "Foul Fowl". 'Foul Fowl' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.12/4
Otzma Card of type TruthSeeker
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
The Scholar of *ping* shall, within 3 days of the Card taking effect, privately post T words from the Machine's truth, undisguised, to the player who played the Card. Such post shall also unambiguously specify where each word is located in the Truth.
This card has no effect if there is no Scholar of *ping*, if the current Scholar of *ping* has not revealed the Machine's Truth, or if T exceeds the number of words in the Machine's Truth.
Its Counter-Action: The private post per above shall be posted publically within 3 days, but before any other public messages are sent by the revealing player if possible by either party who was privy to it. (Once posted by one player, the other player is not obligated to do so).
Rule 1240.16/2
Otzma Card of type Skeleton Key
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
By playing this card, a Player may do one of the following things:
1. Gain entrance to any location e would otherwise not be able to gain entrance to, if and only if e has already declared eir intention to enter.
2. Free emself from a Gaol cell.
Counter-Action: The player is returned to the last location e was in before playing the Card, and cannot perform any action that would require leaving that location for the remainder of the day.
At any given time there may be at most 5 Cards of this type. 'Skeleton Key' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.17/4
Otzma Card of type Arctic Explorer
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
If the owner of this card, when it is played, does not possess a Ice Pick of some description (that is, an entity with the word "Ice Pick" in its name), then the card has no effect.
Otherwise, if e names any On Ice player (the target) in the same message, then the following will occur: If the target owns any tradeable entities besides A$, then one of those entities, selected at random, is transferred to the player of the card. Otherwise, 10 A$, or all the target's A$ if the target does not have enough A$, shall be transferred to the player of the card.
Counter-Action: The card-player's Ice Pick, any entities taken from the target by playing the Card, and one other entity chosen at random(or up to 10 A$, as in the last sentence of the previous paragraph, if no other entities are owned by the card-player), are transferred to the possession of the target.
At any given time there may be at most 5 Cards of this type. 'Arctic Explorer' Otzma Cards have an F-designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.19/1
Otzma Card of Type Founder's Boon
JT (JT Traub)
At any time, there may be at most 3 Cards of this type in existence.
An Otzma Card of type Founders Boon allows one of the following actions to be taken as a public action. a) To make the person playing this card the Founder of a Church or Cult to which that player belongs if and only if the original founder of that church or cult is no longer a member of the church or cult b) To take one single action in a Church or Cult to which they belong as if they were the Founder of that Church or Cult.
There is no Counter-Action defined for this Card type.
Rule 1240.20/2
Otzma Card of Type Roulette Wheel
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
If a Gadget is named, then that Gadget is converted to another Qualified Gadget of a randomly determined type. If the original Gadget is broken, then if possible, the new Gadget is also broken. If it would be illegal for that player to own the new Gadget for some reason, then the original gadget is destroyed instead.
If an Otzma Card is named, then that Otzma Card is converted to another Otzma Card of a type determined by the RuneMaker by the Probabalistic Method. If the instance limits for the new type of Otzma Card would be violated by its creation, or it would be illegal for that player to own the new Otzma Card for some reason, then the original Otzma Card is destroyed instead.
At any time, there may be at most 5 Cards of this type in existence. 'Roulette Wheel' type Otzma Cards have an F-Designation of Normal.
Rule 1240.21/2
Otzma Card of type Training Regime
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)
1) Name one of the following Characteristics: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. The value of the characteristic named may not be more that 16. The Dungeonmaster must then randomly determine a second Characteristic from the above list, except that the Characteristic named by the player, and any Characteristic with a value of 3, shall not be eligible for selection; if no Characteristic is eligible for selection, the card is destroyed and has no effect.
Upon the Dungeonmaster making a random determination as above, the value of the Characteristic named by the player is increased by 2, and the value of that determined randomly by the Dungeonmaster decreased by 1.
2) The Dungeon Master Randomly selects one of the following charateristics: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. the named may not be more than 17. If no characterist is eligible for selection, the card iis destroyed and has no effect.
Upon the Dungeonmaster making a random determination as above,the value of the named characteristic is increased by 1
Rule 1240.50/1
Otzma Card of Type Shield
JT (JT Traub)
Otzma Cards of type Shield have the same F-Designation as Otzma Cards of type Go Fish.
When an Otzma Card of type Shield is played, an Otzma Card of type Go Fish may not be played on the card the Shield card was played on.
If Otzma Cards of type Go Fish are ever renamed, then all occurrences of the string Go Fish in this rule are replaced with the new type of what used to be Go Fish.
If Otzma Cards of type Go Fish are ever repealed, this rule will repeal itself.
Counter-Action: A Go Fish card may once again be played on the card this was played on, and the deadline for playing a Go Fish card is extended by the length of time the Shield card was in effect.
At any time, there can be no more than 5 Otzma Cards of type Shield in existence.
Rule 1250/0
Games & Contests Rule Suite
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
[Rules for sub games and gaming equipment]
Rule 1250.1/22
Games & Contests
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
There exists a class of entities known as Games & Contests, hereafter, for the purposes of the rules in this Rule Suite, known as "Games" (Game).
II. General Equipment
a. The rules in this rule suite may define entities to be used as General Equipment in the games in this rule suite. Unless otherwise specified, these entities have no influence outside the instance of the Game in which they are being used. The term 'General Equipment', as used elsewhere in this rule suite, shall be construed to mean instances of any or all of these defined entities, as appropriate.
III. Game Descriptions
a. Unless otherwise specified, the name of a Game is the name of the rule that defines it. Any rule in this suite that defines more than one game is void. A rule in this rule suite defines a Game if and only if it specifies all the information as detailed below (b thru h) (even if the specification for a particular piece of information is the word 'none'). This rule does not define a Game:
b. General Equipment to be used in the Game.
c. Upper and lower limits on the number of participants in the specific Game. The minimum for the lower limit is 2. The lower limit may not be specified to exceed the upper limit. Either limit may be specified as an integer or or an expression such as "the number of active players when an instance of the game is instantiated", so long as the previous conditions of this sub-section are not violated. If a limit is specified as an expression, it shall be evaluated when the Game is instantiated, and shall not "float" while the Game is in progress, unless the Game's rules specify otherwise. If the expression cannot be evaluated unambiguously, an instance of the game cannot start.
d. The Rules for the Game.
e. The number of referees, and how those referees are to be chosen. This must be a non-negative integer. Referees may not play or win the instance of the Game they are refereeing, nor may they be penalized as a result of participation in an instance of the Game, unless the rules of the Game explicitly say the referee may participate as a player. They may receive no rewards other than A$, and such rewards may not exceed A$10 per Game instance.
f. Conditions for winning the Game.
g. Any additional information necessary to play that specific Game.
h. Any Trophies (or type of Trophy) to be awarded or transferred to the winner of the Game. If the Trophy is specified as "standard", a Jade Grapefruit is awarded. [Trophies are described in rule 1250.2.]
IV. Scope and Precedence
a. Games may not manipulate any Ackanomic entity outside this rule suite, except as defined in this Rule, and with the following specific exceptions:
b. Games may specify transfer of currency between participants in the specific Game, as entry fees, rewards or penalties, subject to restrictions elsewhere in this rule suite.
c. Games may specify a transfer of currency from the Treasury to the Game (or a participant or referee therein), with an upper of limit of A$50 per instance of a Game or a Contest. A player may receive no more than A$100 from the Treasury per calendar month as a result of participation in the same class of Game ("class" being defined as the definition of a particular Game). Any excess that would have been received is disregarded.
d. Games may add or subtract points from the score of a participating player. The maximum number of points added or subtracted in any specific instance of a Game is 8. A player may receive no more than 20 points per calendar month as a result of participation in the same class of game. Any excess that would have been received is disregarded.
e) Entity manipulations which are generated as a result of a particular instance of a game shall not occur until either the referee or one of the participants publicly enumerates the manipulations that the game requires.
f. All rules in this rule suite defer precedence to all those external to it, unless otherwise specified. This rule has precedence over all others in this rule suite.
V. Adding Games
a. Games and General Equipment may be added to this rule suite via the following procedure (in addition to any other procedures that are defined in the rules for creating rules). A non-accepted Game or General Equipment Submission has no authority to manipulate Acka entities in any way.
b. A description of the Game or General Equipment is posted as a public message, clearly labelled as such. This is called a Game or General Equipment Submission (Submission), as appropriate, and if it is a Game Submission, it must contain all sections as detailed in section III or it is void and rejected.
c. The Speaker or President may veto the Submission as a public action prior to its acceptance. Such action should be accompanied by a brief explanation as to why. This act ends the procedure, and the Submission is rejected.
d. If at least 4 Active Players other than the player who posted the Submission, or 10% of the Active Players, whichever is greater, publically endorse the Submission within 7 days of its posting, it is approved (as opposed to accepted), otherwise it is rejected at the expiration of the 7 day period.
e. An approved Submission is accepted at the time it is approved, or 3 days after the Submission was posted, whichever is later. Upon the acceptance of a Submission, the text of the Submission is added
(i) as a rule to this rule suite, in the case of a Game Submission, or (ii) as a new section, labelled with the lowest cardinal Roman numeral as yet not present in Rule 1250.3, appended to Rule 1250.3.
VI. Starting an Instance of a Game
a. An instance of a Game may only be started in accordance with its rules for doing so. If its rules are silent on the matter, however, (or refer to this section) it is started when one of its referees announces its start, the names of all its players and referees, and all other necessary particulars of the Game instance. If the Game has no referees, it starts when one of its players performs the above functions. Other rules [e.g. Duels], may define conditions under which an instance of a Game may start, and an alternate procedure for doing so. A Game may not start without the required number of players and referees.
b. A player may not join an instance of a Game in progress, except as specified in its rules. Games should be designed in such a way as to handle the contingency of any of its players or referees quitting it at any time.
c) Unless the Rules for a game specify otherwise, players going absent may name another player (of Ackanomic) to be their Substitute Player (in the subgame). The Substitute Player may not have been a player of the instance of the Game or Contest in which e is substituting at any time in the past, and e must agree to be a Substitute. All responsibilities and privileges of the departed player for the Game or Contest fall to the Substitute Player [if the Substitute Player wins the subgame, the Trophy goes to em]. If the original player returns, e resumes playing for emself. It is considered good form for em to give the Substitute Player some recompense for eir services. Participants in Duels may not have Substitute Players for the Duel.
d) If a game has a Referee, a player in a particular instance of that game may, if the Referee of that instance has not responded in more than a week, point out this fact in a public message. The Speaker shall then send email to the Referee in question asking em if e wishes to continue as Referee, or resign. If no response is received within three days, it shall be assumed that the Referee has resigned. When a referee resigns as per this section, the Speaker may appoint another interested player as Referee, and the game will be suspended until such an appointment is made.
e) If the game has a referee, the referee may appoint another willing player not already involved in the game to play in eir place for any time that e is absent. If the referee becomes absent without making such an appointment, the Speaker may appoint a referee, otherwise the game is suspended until the previous referee returns. This paragraph defers precedence to all other rules in this rule suite.
f) When a player leaves Ackanomic, they are deemed to have forfeited any games they playing in.
VII. Exhibitions
a. The Speaker or President may declare an instance of a game an "exhibition" as a public action, even while it is in progress. In this case, no points or currency shall be awarded or transferred to, or among, the participants (but Trophies shall be, as appropriate). This declaration is discouraged, and should do so only under conditions of abuse or other problems.
b. A Referee of any game may declare the game to be an Internomic Exhibition, provided e makes the declaration prior to the first move in that game, and at a stage when players can still join the game. When a game has been declared as an Internomic Exhibition, any person who is a player of a nomic which a member of Internomic may join as a player, provided e abides by the rules of the specific game. When a game is declared to be an Internomic Exhibition, no point,currency or trophies are transferred to, from or between players.
VIII. Random Determination
a. If the rules of a Game call for a random determination, either explicitly or implicitly, a referee of that game is responsible for making this determination unless the Game's rules specify otherwise.
IX. Freedom of Participation
a. Participation in Games is voluntary. No player may be forced to take part in a Game or a Contest, or be forced to be a referee in one. A player may leave a Game they are participating in at any time. This section has precedence over all other rules.
X. Disputes
If a dispute arises in a Game in which there is no referee, or the referee is unable to resolve the dispute for some reason, it shall be adjudicated by the Speaker, or someone appointed by the Speaker, who shall render judgement as objectively as possible. If a player is dissatisfied with the decision, a CFJ is their only recourse. Calling a CFJ is bad form, however, as it is only a game. Play is suspended for the duration of any adjudication.
XI. No Loophole Surfing
a. Games and Contests are meant to be fun and to enhance Acka. Using Games and Contests to loophole surf, scam, or otherwise abuse the spirit and intent of this structure is in bad taste, and players are permitted to sneer at this behaviour. Paradoxes arising wholly within rules in this rule suite do not qualify as paradoxes for the purposes of satisfying the winning condition described in rule 601; this clause has precedence over rule 601.
XII. Moribund Games
a. Either the Referee of a particular instance of a game or any player of that instance may declare that instance of a game to be moribund as a public action. That instance of a game will be terminated without a winner following such a declaration unless at least 33% of its players publically object before the 3 days elapse.
XIII. Additional Game Rewards
a. A Referee for a game may, at most once in any calendar week regardless of how many games they are currently refereeing, specify a player of a game which they are refereeing to receive a FairPlay Award. FairPlay Awards are nontradeable entities. Whenever a player is awarded a FairPlay Award, they also gain 1 point. Specifying a player to recieve a FairPlay Award is a public action.
XIV. Games on IRC
A particular IRC server is a valid forum for playing Games and Contests provided all of the following are true with respect to the server, the game, and its participants, as appropriate:
a. The game lists in its General Equipment section: 'Optionally, an Ackanomic IRC server', or words to that effect.
b. The following information is announced at least 24 hours prior to the start of the game in the main forum: The URL of the particular server that the game will be played on, and the start time of the game.
c. The specified server is defined as General Equipment [in rule 1250.3].
d. All players and referees (participants) consent to participate in the game on the specified server. The game or contest does not require, in general, non-participant Acka players to be played normally. [e.g. Limerick Contest].
e. At least one referee, (or one player in the absence of a referee), has client software capable of logging sessions on the specified server, and that person volunteers to log the particular game in its entirety.
The results of a game on IRC are considered publicly knowable when the volunteer per subsection e posts the entire log file via e-mail to the customary Games list, (or posts the URL of the log file via e-mail to the customary Games list, in the case of large log files).
Rule 1250.2/2
Trophies
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
Upon a single winner being declared in an instance of a Game that had 3 or more players when it started, the Trophy or type of Trophy specified for that game is awarded or transferred to the winner of the Game.
If the Trophy is defined in the rules to be a unique entity, it is transferred from where ever it is to the winner, otherwise a new instance of that type of Trophy is created and awarded to the winner.
The following (types) of Trophies exist:
A. The Jade Grapefruit is a nameless entity.
B. The Golden Knife is a unique Trophy. It has a hilt wrapped in leather, with ornate wrist guards. Its blade is gold plated, very sharp, and has a channel in the center to allow blood to run off.
It is the responsibility of the player who possesses The Golden Knife to wipe all blood off of it, that may have resulted from stabbing eir allies.
C. The Scientist's Handbook is a nameless entity.
Rule 1250.3/7
General Equipment
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
I. Ackanomic Magic Dice
The Ackanomic Magic Dice will roll 1 to 1000 multi-sided die up to 1000 rolls per request. Sides may be from 2-1000 sides.
[The AMD will display results automatically to the mail list, or to as many as ten private addresses. To use the AMD, a Player sends an e-mail message to "dice@pbm.com" omitting the quotation marks. In the body of the message, use the following format:
#P (up to 10 #P lines allowed)
#S (up to 1000 sides allowed)
#D (up to 1000 dice allowed)
#R (up to 1000 total rolls)
#L (up to 20 rolls per line)
#C (up to 100 #C lines allowed)
#T
Example:
#P acka-games@wilma.che.utexas.edu
#S 20
#D 1
#R 1
#L 1
#T Acka: Hit determination
#C I am using the dice server roll a d20 to see if I hit
Complete instructions and examples of use may be found at the Dice Server Web site: http://www.pbm.com/dice/]
II. Gamepoints
Gamepoints are chits used to keep score in Games and Contests. A player in a Game may possess a negative number of Gamepoints. Gamepoints are awarded and forfeited as described in the rules of the particular Game.
III. Word Validating Dictionaries
a) The Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary (OSPD), as defined by the URL: telnet://brauer.math.utoronto.ca:7777
b) Unabr.dict.Z (but used in uncompressed format), as defined by the URL: ftp://sable.ox.ac.uk/pub/wordlists/dictionaries/Unabr.dict.Z
c) The Official Dictionary as defined by the rules of Acka.
IV. Definition Lookup Dictionaries
a) URL: http://gs213.sp.cs.cmu.edu/prog/webster
b) URL: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html
c) URL: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm
V. Movie Database
a) URL: http://www.imdb.com/
VI. Ackanomic IRC servers:
a) wilma.che.utexas.edu, port 9942
b) herne.dragoncat.net, port 9942
VII. Music Database
a) http://www.allmusic.com
Rule 1250.4/6
Decks of Playing Cards
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Unless the rules state otherwise, each Card in a Deck has two attributes, which are normally called suit and rank, and a Deck consists of one card for each combination of suit and rank; these are called the Normal Cards.
The order that the ranks and suits are listed in the definition of a particular deck defines the order of those ranks and suits in any game that cares about the order, unless a different order is specified for that game.
Standard symbols or abbreviations for the suits and ranks can and should be defined in the definition of a deck, to make it easier to write the contents of a player's hand that might contain many cards.
The definition of a particular deck may specify none, some, but not all, of its cards as optional. Upon instantiation, the Acka Rule or Games and Contest rule which is creating the deck may specify the exclusion of any or all of the optional cards in a deck. If no such specification is made, the optional cards are said to be included in that instance of the deck.
Decks may be used to play card games defined in the Acka Rules, or rules for a Game or Contest, or other Ackanomic document which has the legal authority to instantiate a deck, as the relevant rules specify. Decks may not be instantiated by any document which has not been given explicit authority from the Rules to do so. Decks of Playing Cards are General Equipment.
Players may hold individual Cards while playing a card game but they do not own those cards while doing so. While a Deck is being used to play a card game, that deck may not be used in another card game.
A Deck is unownable, unless the instantiating document specifies an owner for it, in which case it is tradeable.
Any rule which defines a Deck of Playing Cards must have a title of the form: "Description of a <name> Deck", where name is replaced by a legal Ackanomic name.
Rule 1250.5/4
Description of a Standard Deck
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
There are also two Jokers in this Deck (?1, ?2). Jokers have no suit, rank or color. Jokers are optional.
Rule 1250.6/5
Description of an Eleusis Deck
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
Rule 1250.7/0
Game of Pure Skill
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
1) General Equipment:
The game uses one Standard Deck (deck) without the optional cards.
2) Number of Players:
The game has exactly 3 players and 1 referee.
3) Starting an instance of the game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
4) Rules of the game:
4a) The deck is divided into its 4 suits. The spades are given to the referee, and each player receives one of the other suits. Each of these is called a "pack".
4b) Each card has a value, independent of suit. The value of an Ace is 1, a King is 13, a Queen is 12, a Jack is 11, and all other cards' values are their numeric values.
4c) A game consists of 13 rounds. A round lasts for 3 days or until all players have submitted their moves to the referee, whichever comes first.
4d) A round starts by the referee choosing a random card from his pack of spades, and announcing the card chosen to each player. This card is called the "prize" for that round.
4e) Each player then submits a "bid" of one card from their pack, by announcing their choice privately to the referee. If a player fails to submit a bid by the end of the round, the referee chooses a card randomly from their pack as their bid. Players are discouraged from failing to bid. The value of a bid is the value of the card used to make the bid.
4f) The referee resolves the round as follows. If a single bid submitted is higher than the other bids, the player who submitted the bid receives the round's prize for his "take" pile. If no single bid is highest, the prize card is discarded and removed from play. Regardless of the outcome of the bidding, all cards used for bidding are discarded and removed from play.
4g) The referee announces the results of the round to all players, and announces all cards used as bids. This ends the current round. The next round can then start in accordance with 4d), unless the 13th round has ended, in which case the game ends.
4h) Upon the game ending, the value of the cards in each player's take pile is totaled. The single player with the highest total is the winner of the game. If there is no single player with a highest total, then the game has no winner. If a player has no cards in their take pile, their total value is zero.
5) Upon a winning condition being met and a winner being declared, the winner receives 8 points, and the referee receives A$8. The winner receives a standard Trophy.
6) The referee should, but is not required to, keep a web page of the state of the game, and the history of each move.
7) Players may not discuss or collude on strategy or bids.
8) If a player leaves this game, or the game of Ackanomic, while this game is in progress, they will be replaced by a bot who plays randomly, as managed by the referee. Any bots are not considered players for the purposes of clause 4h)
Rule 1250.8/0
Limerick Contest
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
Ackanomic Magic Dice
2) Number of Players:
Exactly 2, with Count Tabula as a referee. It is Permissible for Count Tabula to be both a player and referee at the same time.
3) Starting an instance of the contest
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
4) Rules of the contest:
Each of the players in the contest writes a limerick about the other player. The limerick may be silly, funny, and even ridicule the other participant in a good-humored manner, as long as it is not offensive. The limericks must be posted within 3 days of the start of the contest. If one of the participants fails to post a limerick, then the other wins by default. If neither post, the referee chooses a winner at random using the AMD.
Once both limericks have been posted, there is a 3 day voting period. During the voting period all Ackanomic players may send their vote to the referee, indicating which limerick is the better one,
with an extra caveat, quoth here. The Poet Laureate (if there is one) Shall, with his learned art gained quite so dear, Attempt to share and increase the fun When the Poet's vote is count'd at the end, His one vote shall instead be counted twice. The Poet may, if e does wish, then send A public message, hopefully quite nice To praise the Duelist which had won his vote Explaining why the Poet liked what e wrote.
The participant whose limerick got the most votes wins the contest. In case of a tie, the participant whose limerick was posted first wins the contest. In the case that that does not determine a winner, the referee determines a winner at random, using the AMD. If the winner is chosen at random, both players shall be eligible, even if one or both are non-active.
No Trophy is awarded to the winner of this contest.
Rule 1250.9/1
Ghost
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
2. Players: minimum -- 2; maximum -- the number of active players when an instance of Ghost is initiated less 1; Referees -- one
When the rules specify that a player is removed from the game, it means that he is no longer a player in that instance of Ghost. It is not necessarily a resignation, although a resignation does cause a player's removal from the game.
3. Beginning of game
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
4. Rules
The referee shall randomly assign each player a different integer ranging from 1 to N, where N is the number of players in the game. Player 1 shall play first, and after that, play shall proceed in order of increasing number. Player 1 plays again just after the turn of the player with the highest number. Each player's turn begins when the previous player's ends, unless that player's play was a protest, in which case it begins when the protest is resolved. Each player's turn shall last the lesser of three days or until that player plays.
At any time prior to the first turn of the player assigned the highest number, players may be added to the game. One wishing to be added to the game should inform the referee of their desire to do so; the referee shall then inform all current players of the addition. The new player will be assigned the number one greater than the highest number already assigned to a player in the game. Before the beginning of the new player's first turn, or three days after their addition, whichever comes first, the new player may be removed from the game if any player already in the game protests their addition. Players may not be added to instances of Ghost being played as a Duel.
Players in a game of Ghost are forbidden from using dictionaries or other reference books to aid their play. They may use these references for other purposes.
In his turn, each player shall do one of the following: (1) begin a new ghost word; (2) continue an existing ghost word; (3) protest the ghost word; (4) resign. Plays shall be made by sending a message describing the play to all players and the referee.
(1) A player may only begin a new ghost word when there is no existing ghost word. He shall do so by naming any letter of the alphabet.
(2) A player may continue an existing ghost word only when there is an existing ghost word. He shall do so by posting a string of letters identical to the existing ghost word except for the addition of one letter at either the beginning or the end of the ghost word. This string then becomes the new ghost word.
(3) A player who protests the ghost word shall do so by either by stating that the ghost word is a word of four or more letters in the official dictionary, or by stating that the ghost word cannot be found within any word in the official dictionary. ("uperso" can be found within "supersonic"; "spronc" cannot.) A protest is said to be made against the player whose turn caused the ghost word to be changed to its present form.
When a player protests the ghost word, play is suspended until the protest is resolved. If the protest was on the grounds that the ghost word is a word of four or more letters in the official dictionary, the referee shall attempt to locate it therein and report his findings. If the ghost word is a word of four or more letters in the official dictionary, the protest is valid; otherwise it is invalid. Either way, when the referee reports the validity or lack thereof of the protest, it is considered resolved; if the protest was valid, the ghost word is destroyed.
If the protest was on the grounds that the ghost word cannot be found within any word in the official dictionary, the player against whom the protest was made has three days to post a word containing the ghost word. If he does not, the protest is resolved as valid. If he does, the referee shall attempt to locate that word in the official dictionary, and shall report his findings. If the named word is a word in the official dictionary, the protest is invalid; otherwise, it is valid. Upon the referee reporting on the validity or lack thereof of the protest, it is considered resolved; at the resolution of any protest of this sort, the ghost word is destroyed.
A player who makes an invalid protest is removed from the game; a player who has a valid protest made against him is removed from the game.
(4) A player who resigns is removed from the game. A player who does not make a move within his turn is assumed to have resigned. When a player resigns, the ghost word is destroyed.
A player may remove themselves from an instance of the game at any time by posting a message to that effect. If it was their turn, they are assumed to have resigned. If they leave Ackanomic, they are assumed to have posted such a message.
5. Winning
If exactly one player remains in the game, that player wins. There are no other winning conditions. The winner receives a standard Trophy.
When a winner is found, the referee shall receive 8 A$. If this game took place as a Duel, the winner shall receive no additional compensation. If it was not a Duel and fewer than four players began the game, the winner receives four points. If from four to eight players began the game, the winner receives points equal to the number of players that began the game. If more than eight players began the game, the winner receives 8 points.
6. The Referee
Upon request, the referee must provide the following information: the players in the game and their order of play, whose turn it is, the current ghost word, and a history of the game in progress. He may, but is not required to, keep a web page with this information.
If the referee resigns his position, becomes absent, he is no longer the referee. In this event, any player of Ackanomic who is not a player of that instance of Ghost may become referee by publically expressing his desire to do so. While there is no referee, the game is suspended.
Rule 1250.10/6
Fictionary
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
I. General Equipment:
Gamepoints as needed
Official Dictionary
All English Definition Lookup dictionaries defined as General
Equipment
II. Number of Players:
minimum: 5; maximum: the number of active players when an instance of Fictionary is initiated. Referees: none.
III. Starting an instance of the Game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI. Additionally, the player announcing the start of the Game shall randomly assign each player a different integer ranging from 1 to N, where N is the number of players in the game. All players shall be randomly assigned numbers in this way, including non-active ones.
IV. Rules of the game:
The game is composed of rounds; each round shall have one "Brainiac". All players who are not the Brainiac shall be known as "Bluffers". The game shall be scored in Gamepoints.
Player 1 shall be the Brainiac of the first round, and after that, Brainiac duty shall be assigned in order of increasing player number at the completion of each round. Player 1 again assumes the duty just after the completion of the round where the player with the highest number was Brainiac.
A round is composed of the following steps, in order. All steps shall be completed within 3 days of the completion of the previous step (or the start of the round in the case of the first step). If a player(s) fails to perform the designated action by the end of this time limit, the listed default action is deemed to have been performed, and they lose 1 Gamepoint.
Steps (1 thru 5) of a Round:
1) The Brainiac shall choose a word whose definition is available in one of the Definition Lookup Dictionaries (Dictionaries), and publically post the word. The Ing Word should be as obscure as possible. Words with Harfy definitions are encouraged.
The Brainiac shall also privately note the definition of the Ing Word. This definition shall be a verbatim transcription of any of the definitions provided by any of the Dictionaries. (Part of speech and similar details should not be transcribed). This shall be known as the "Actual Definition".
This step ends when the Ing Word has been publically posted.
Default Ing Word: "ing"; Actual Definition: "A pasture or meadow; generally one lying low, near a river."
2) All Bluffers shall submit a definition for the Ing Word to the Brainiac via private e-mail. Default: "" is submitted.
3) The Brainiac shall compare the submitted definitions with the Actual Definition and any other definitions in the Dictionaries (On-line Definitions), and report how play proceeds based on the following cases:
3a) 2 or more Bluffers submitted a definition that is substantially similar to an On-line Definition. In this case, each such Bluffer receives 3 Gamepoints, the Brainiac is sneered at for picking an easy word, and the round ends.
3b) Exactly one Bluffer submitted a definition that is substantially similar to an On-line Definition. In this case, that Bluffer receives 4 Gamepoints, and their submitted definition is removed from play. The Brainiac publically announces that this has occurred, and play proceeds without the submission as if case 3c) or case 3d), as appropriate, occurred, except that the correct Bluffer does not participate.
3c) No Bluffer submitted a definition that is substantially similar to an On-line Definition, and every Bluffer submitted a unique definition. In this case, the Brainiac randomly sorts the submitted definitions and the Actual Definition into a numbered list (without the names of the associated Bluffers), and publically posts the list for Bluffer voting. This posting ends this step.
3d) No Bluffer submitted a definition that is substantially similar to an On-line Definition, and two or more Bluffers submitted substantially similar definitions. In this case, The Brainiac randomly selects one of the definitions that are substantially similar and removes it from consideration. The other substantially similar definition or definitions are discarded, the Brainiac randomly sorts the remaining definitions and the Actual Definition into a numbered list (without the names of the associated Bluffers), and publically posts the list for Bluffer voting. He also must publicly announce that there were duplicate submissions. This posting ends this step.
3e) Default: The Brainiac loses 4 Gamepoints, no other scoring occurs this round, and play proceeds to the next round. This default section is applied even if a list of definitions as described in sections 3c or 3d is posted, if the list does not include a legitimate Actual Definition, or modifies any of the submitted definitions in a manner not explicitly allowed above.
4) All Bluffers shall vote for one of the definitions on the list, and publically post their vote. Voting for the Bluffer's own definition is permissible (and is called "sheeping"). It is good form to quote the definition being voted for in this post. This step ends when all bluffers have voted. Default: A Bluffer who did not vote is deemed to have sheeped.
5a) The Brainiac shall score the voting and post this information, the cumulative scoring for the game, and the actual definition. Scoring is as follows (in addition to any from section 3):
i) Each Bluffer receives 1 Gamepoint for every player other than himself who voted for his definition. If a Bluffer's definition was removed for being the same as another submitted definition, all Bluffers who submitted that definition receive Gamepoints for other players voting for that definition. However, they do not get points for the other Bluffer or Bluffers sheeping this definition.
ii) A Bluffer receives 2 Gamepoints if he voted for the Actual Definition.
iii) If no one voted for the Actual Definition, the Brainiac receives 2 Gamepoints.
5b) The game shall end when all players have been Brainiac the same number of times, and one or more players has 25 or more Gamepoints. The single player with the most Gamepoints wins, and receives 1 A$ for each Gamepoint they have. If there is no such player, all players who are tied with the most Gamepoints receive A$12. There is no winner declared, however. The winner also receives a standard Trophy.
5c) If the game does not end at this step, play continues to the next round with a new Brainiac at step 1.
5d) Default: The Scorekeeper or Acting Scorekeeper becomes acting Brainiac to adjudicate step 5. If there is no such officer, the game ends with no winner and no payoff.
5e) Players are permitted to ridicule any definition that is not the same part of speech as the Ing Word.
V. Errata
1) Vacationing players are replaced by bots who perform the default actions in their stead (but the players receive all scoring as a result of the bot's play).
2) Players may resign at any time, although this is considered bad form. Any player who resigns or leaves Acka is replaced by a bot until the end of the round in which they resigned (unless they resigned after the completion of step 5, and before the completion of step 1 in the next round). After that, their "spot" is removed from the game.
3) Players may not look up the Ing Word (or any of the definitions) in any dictionary, nor by any other means, except gameplay, attempt to find such a thing [e.g. by asking other people], until its definition is disclosed, or until adjudication of step 5 is required.
Rule 1250.11/1
Tromino Go
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
General Equipment: Gamepoints as needed
Players: exactly two players and one referee are required, no more, no less.
Definitions:
A tromino, or "piece", is an L-shaped group of three like letters, such as any of these examples:
AA b C A bb CCA unit of edge is a length equal to the height or width of one letter on any edge of a tromino. Each tromino has four 1-unit edges and two 2-unit edges.
Adjacent (or "touching"), in this game, means bordering on one or more units of edge. Trominoes which touch only diagonally are not considered adjacent.
A group of trominoes is any single tromino not adjacent to another tromino belonging to the same player, or any set of two or more trominoes which belong to the same player such that a path can be made from any one to any other tromino in the set by moving only between adjacent trominoes, but no tromino in the set is adjacent to a tromino belonging to that player but not in the set.
A No Man's Land is any area of empty space completely surrounded by trominoes.
Outside edge is any edge or portion of an edge of a tromino which does not have another tromino or a No Man's Land adjacent to it.
A group of trominoes is surrounded if no tromino in the group has any outside edge.
Beginning the game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI. Additionally, the referee shall randomly select one of the players to go first in the first round; this begins the first round.
Rules:
1. General play rules
The player who loses each round starts the next round, if there is one; if a round ends in a tie then the player who played second plays first in the next round. The player who plays first in a round always plays using capital letters, and the other player uses lower case. The plays in each round always cycle through the letters A, B, and C, and the players always alternate making plays, so the first six plays in a round will always be A, b, C, a, B, and c, and then the sequence repeats.
2. The first four plays in a round
The first player begins by placing an A tromino in an otherwise empty grid. (Note that there is no limit to the grid; plays may always expand in any direction, within the other restrictions of the rules.)
The second player then plays a b tromino so that it touches at least two units of edge (which may be part of the same edge or different edges) of the first tromino. Some possible configurations after the second play are:
AAb AA bbAA AA
Abb Abb bA bA
b bb
The first player then plays a C tromino so that it touches the b
tromino along at least two units of edge, but it does not touch the A
tromino.
Then the second player plays an a tromino so that it touches at least two units of edge of the C tromino, but does not touch the b tromino.
3. Plays Five to Thirty
After the first four plays in a round, until 30 trominoes have been played, each player in turn plays a tromino of the next letter in the sequence in accordance with these three rules:
i. It may not touch any other tromino of the same letter, regardless who played it (so an A tromino may not touch any other A or a trominoes, for instance).
ii. It must touch at least one tromino played by the opponent along at least one unit of edge.
iii. It must touch at least two units of edge of any trominoes already played (including the one unit required by rule ii).
4. Moving Trominoes
If 30 trominoes have been played without ending the round, then instead of adding additional trominoes, each player moves one of his trominoes of the appropriate letter to a new location. Only trominoes with some outside edge may be moved; a tromino which will split the grid into two pieces if removed may not be moved. The tromino's new position must follow the rules in section 3 for playing new trominoes. When a round which has progressed to this phase ends, the player who wins scores double the Gamepoints he would normally score.
5. Handling a Stalemate
In any of the phases of play (rules 2 through 4 above), if a player cannot make any other legal play, he may pass, leaving the grid unchanged but advancing to the next letter in sequence and to the other player's turn. [This isn't commented on in the original rules, and I don't even know if it's possible, but just in case, I've put this here.]
6. Winning a Round
A round ends when one or more groups of trominoes are surrounded. At the end of a round, the player with the fewer surrounded trominoes wins the round, and scores Gamepoints equal to the number of his opponent's surrounded trominoes minus the number of his own surrounded trominoes. If the two players have the same number of surrounded trominoes then the round is a tie and nobody scores.
A player may cause his own trominoes to be surrounded by forming a No Man's Land. (A player may wish to do this intentionally to prevent his opponent from surrounding a larger group of trominoes, or because it simultaneously surrounds a group of his opponent's trominoes.)
7. Concessions
At any time either player may post a public message conceding the current round of Tromino Go, along with a number of Gamepoints they are conceding. This does not end the round, and is not a play; the round continues as usual until it ends normally, or a concession is accepted.
A player may accept any concession made by their opponent during the current round of Tromino Go by stating so in a public message; if e does so, the current round ends and e scores the indicated number of Gamepoints.
8. Winning the Game
When a player has scored 7 or more Gamepoints in a game of Tromino Go, e wins that game. A player may also win the game if his opponent fails to make a play within the 3 day time limit. These are the only ways to win the game.
When a player wins an instance of Tromino Go which was not played for a Duel, an amount of A$ is transferred to that player from the treasury as follows: If e won by scoring 7 or more Gamepoints, then e gets 2 times the difference between his score in Gamepoints and his opponent's score in Gamepoints. Otherwise, e gets 14 minus twice eir opponent's score in Gamepoints. In addition, at the end of any instance of Tromino Go, the referee gets A$1 from the treasury for each round completed, to a maximum of A$10. No Trophies are awarded for winning this game.
9. How Plays are Made
Players should play by reposting the previous grid, with their new play added/moved as appropriate, in a public message. Players need not wait for the referee to comment on a play before making the next play; the referee should watch for illegal plays, but need not make any comment unless an illegal play is discovered, or a play has been questioned, or a round has ended.
Each player has 3 days from the time of the previous play (or from the beginning of the round, for the case of the first play) to make a play when it is his turn, or else e loses the game.
10. Handling Illegal Plays and the End of a Round
If a player believes an illegal play has been made, he may post so publicly, and the referee should post publicly either that all plays are legal, or indicate the first illegal play which has been made. - If all plays are legal, then play continues where it left off; no time between the the public request to verify the plays and the referee's response counts toward the 3 days a player has to make a play.
- If the referee determines that an illegal play has been made, then that play and all plays since that are ignored, and play continues with the player who made the illegal play making a new play. No time between the initial post of the illegal play and the referee's post indicating the illegal play shall count against the 3 days the player has to make a play. If the referee finds that an illegal play has been made, he may post so publicly without any request to do so, and the same corrections as in the preceding section shall be applied.
If the referee posts that a round has ended, e should include with this message the winner of the round, the Gamepoints scored, and the total Gamepoints each player has. If this does not end the game, the next round begins at the time of this post. If it does end the game, the referee should post the final score, who won, and the A$ transfers resulting from it.
Rule 1250.12/2
Double Crash
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
Official Dictionary
II. Players
minimum: 2; maximum 2
III. Starting an instance of Double Crash
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
IV. Rules of the Games
Throughout these rules, an N-round Salvo is a public post taking the form of a numbered list of N five-letter words from the Official Dictionary. The numbering convention and format should be:
1) [five-letter word]
2) [another one]
... and so on, up to ...
N) [the last one]
A Reply to a Salvo is a reposting of the Salvo being replied to, with the addition of a number from 1-5 to the right of each five-letter word. This number is the number of "crashes" as defined below, of that word with the Replying player's Target Word. The format should be
1) [five-letter word] 2 [actual number will vary]
2) [another one] 3
... and so on, up to ...
N) [the last one] 1
Two words crash once for each letter that occupies the same position in each word. (ie, if they have the same first letter, they crash once; if they have the same third letter, they crash again. HEART crashes once with SPADE (for the A). STAFF crashes three times with CHAFF. SWORD does not crash with WORDY. A five-letter word crashes five times with itself.)
The game consists of several rounds, each of which lasts three days or until all actions required of players in that round, whichever comes first. If ever a player fails to complete all required actions before the end of a round, his opponent wins. If both players so fail, and the game is being held as a Duel, the challenged player wins. If both players so fail, and the game is not being played as a Duel, neither player wins, and the game is over. Each round begins immediately upon the end of the previous one.
Round 1) Each player selects a five-letter word from the Official
Dictionary. This is his Target Word, and should be kept secret. Also,
each player posts a 6-round Salvo.
Round 2) Each player Replies to the other's 6-round Salvo.
Round 3) Each player posts a 5-round Salvo.
Round 4) Each player Replies to the other's 5-round Salvo.
Round 5) Each player posts a 4-round Salvo.
Round 6) Each player Replies to the other's 4-round Salvo.
Round 7) Each player posts a 3-round Salvo.
Round 8) Each player Replies to the other's 3-round Salvo.
Hereafter, each odd-numbered round consists of each player posting a 3-round Salvo; each even-numbered round consists of each player Replying to the Salvo the other posted the previous round.
If a player improperly reports the number of crashes any word in any Salvo has with his Target Word, or if a player selects as his Target Word a word other than a five-letter word from the Official Dictionary, his opponent wins as soon as the error is discovered.
The rounds continue until upon the end of a round of Replies, one or both Replies indicates that some word in the previous Salvo crashed five times with the Replying players Target Word. If only one-player posted a Salvo which included a five-crash word, that player is the tentative winner. If both players posted such a Salvo, the player who posted a five-crash word higher in the Salvo's list is the tentative winner, if such a player can be uniquely defined. (ie, a five-crash word at the #1 slot in a Salvo beats one at #2.) If the two five-crash words occupy the same position in their respective Salvos, the player who posted their Salvo first is the tentative winner.
Once a tentative winner is found, the two players shall reveal their respective Target Words. The players then have three days during which they may examine each other's plays for errors. If during those three days, both players publically post their agrement that no errors occured, or if no actual errors are found, then the tentative winner wins the game.
Upon a player winning the game, it ends. If the game was not being played as a Duel, the winner receives A$25 from the Treasury. No Trophy is awarded to the winner of the game.
Rule 1250.13/2
Single Capture Go
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
II. Participants:
minimum players: 3; maximum players: 12; one referee
III. Starting an instance of the game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
Additionally, at the beginning of the game, the referee assigns each player a different capital Letter of the alphabet.
IV. Rules of play
The game is played on an N by N grid, where N is the smallest integer such that N^2 is equal to or greater than 12*(the number of players who begin the game.
The grid is labeled according the following convention:
a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 ...
b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 ...
c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 ...
d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 ...
e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 ...
...
Each square in the grid may be occupied by exactly one Letter or by the @ character.
A round begins when the referee announces the beginning of a round. For all rounds but the first, he should include in this announcement a depiction of the grid, showing all Letters upon it, as well as a summary of the any moves made or attempted in the last round and the players remaining in the game. A round lasts three days after this announcement or until all players have submitted a move, whichever is sooner.
During the course of a round, each player may privately mail the referee their play, which shall consist of naming exactly one square on the grid not occupied by a Letter at the beginning of the round. (ie, e7, assuming e7 was unoccupied at the beginning of the present round.) If a player sends the referee two valid moves, only the latter one shall count.
At the end of a round, the referee shall determine its results as follows. 1) If exactly one player legally played a given grid square that round, the referee shall place the Letter assigned to that player on that grid square.
2) If more than one player legally played a given grid square that round, the referee shall place a @ character on that grid square. The players who played that square are still counted as having moved that round.
3) A Group is a set of identical Letters occupying squares on the grid, such that each member of the Group occupies a square orthogonally adjacent to one occupied by at least one other member of the Group. The exception to this definition is that a single Letter, not so adjacent to any identical Letters, is considered a Group of one member.
A Group has Liberty as long as at least one of its members is orthogonally adjacent to an unoccupied grid square.
At this point, if any Group does not have Liberty, the player corresponding to that Group's Letter is doomed. Any player who did not play in the most recent round is also doomed.
4) Any Letters on the grid corresponding to a doomed player are transformed into @ characters.
5) If exactly one non-doomed player remains in the game, that player wins. If no non-doomed players remain, the player who had the most corresponding Letters on the grid prior to the most recent transformation into @ characters wins. There are no other winning conditions. The winner receives a standard Trophy.
6) All doomed players are removed from the game. If more than one player remains, the referee announces the start of a new round, as described above. Otherwise, the game ends.
Rule 1250.14/1
Diplomacy
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
II. Number of Players:
Minimum 2, maximum: Number of Ackanomic players less 1. Referees: 1
III. Starting an instance of the game:
The game is started upon the completion of the following ordered list of steps:
A. A player announces their intent to be a referee for a game of Diplomacy. For the purposes of this section, they will be referred to as the "Referee", although they do not become so until the game actually starts. They may abort this procedure at any time before step F occurs, by publically announcing this action, in which case no instance of a game occurs.
B. The Referee announces the following information:
1) The minimum and maximum number of players in the game.
2) Any variations to the Rules of Standard Diplomacy. Such variations may not scope beyond the game of Diplomacy. For the purposes of this game, "Rules of Standard Diplomacy" means the document entitled "Rules for Diplomacy", copyright 1976, as published by The Avalon Hill Game Co. The variant must at least be recognizable as form of the game of Diplomacy.
3) If the variant uses countries, the method in which countries shall be assigned.
4) If the variant uses orders or moves, and turns, the time limit by which orders or moves must be submitted from the announced start of a turn. If multiple types of turns exist [eg, "move" and "build"], different time limits may be specified for each type. For the purposes of these rules, "moves" should be construed as any possible game action that requires notifying the referee.
5) The method of adjudication. The valid methods are "manual" and "automated". If manual adjudication is specified, the form of all valid moves in the game and the manner of communication with the referee must be specified. If automated adjudication is specified, the referee must specify instructions on how to use the "judge", or provide a pointer to a suitable set of instructions. In either case, it should be such that a player may play the game with e-mail only access to the Internet.
6) The default action for all late, ambiguous, or otherwise invalid orders or moves, and some sort of discussion of what constitutes a late, ambiguous, or invalid move.
7) The conditions, if any, under which the game will be terminated prematurely [e.g., after the Autumn 1930 move], and the method for determining a winner or winners in such a case. It is not required that a winner be determined in this case.
8) The actions of any bots playing in the game, as per section V. Bots can replace players who are absent. [e.g, bots always submit unambiguous hold orders for all their units, and never submit build orders.]
C. The referee announces open enrollment in the game, and the deadline by which open enrollment shall end.
D. Ackanomic players other than the referee who wish to play shall e-mail the referee stating this intention. This step shall end upon the occurrence of either of the following 2 events: The open enrollment deadline occurs, or, the maximum number of players for this instance of the game have signed up.
E. Upon the former event occurring, the game cannot start unless at least the minimum number of players enrolled, and, in this case, this procedure is aborted with no game instance occurring.
F. The referee announces the start of the game, the names and e-mail addresses of all the players, and any necessary initial data [e.g. country assignments].
IV. Rules of the Game:
Standard Diplomacy shall be played, except as modified by the details announced per section III, and except that no physical board and pieces shall be used (although it is permissible, but not required, for a web page to be maintained that simulates such), and except that a referee shall adjudicate all game moves and maintain the game state. The decisions of the referee are final.
Winning the game: Unless specified otherwise in the details announced per section III, the first single player to achieve the winning conditions of Standard Diplomacy shall win the game. Also, unless countermanded as per section III, 2 or more players may claim a win by, as a group, controlling enough of the game space such that if said control were achieved by a single player, that player would win, provided all players involved acknowledge this claim separately to the referee. [e.g, if 2 or more players control 18 sc's between themselves, they can announce a co-win].
Upon a winning condition being achieved, the game ends. All winners split 8 points evenly. If the number of winners does not divide evenly into 8, however, the number of points split is the greatest positive multiple of the number of winners that is less than 8. If no such number exists, no points are awarded. The Golden Knife is awarded as a Trophy.
If the game ends without a winner or winners being declared, however, no points are awarded.
Upon the end of a game, the referee receives A$10.
V. Errata
Upon a player or referee of Diplomacy becoming no longer an active Ackanomic player, the game is paused until a replacement is found, and such replacement is acknowledged by the referee, or the Speaker in the cases where there is no referee, or the player in question is replacing the referee. The game becomes unpaused upon all non-active players being replaced, or upon being in a paused state for 3 consecutive days, whichever occurs first. The replacement shall play in the former players stead until that player once again achieves active status in Ackanomic.
A player may resign from Diplomacy, in which case they are treated as a non-active player as above, except they may never participate in that instance of Diplomacy again.
No game play shall occur while the game is in a state of pause, and no time in a state of pause shall count towards any durations in the game, except for counting towards the pause duration, of course.
If no replacement player is found by the time the game becomes unpaused, a bot shall play in their stead, as specified in section III. If the individual in question is the referee, however, the game ends without a winner upon it becoming un-paused, if no replacement referee has been found.
An active Ackanomic player may always replace a bot with the approval of the referee, provided that player has not previously participated in that instance of Diplomacy.
Rule 1250.15/6
Spades
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
1 standard deck without the optional cards
Gamepoints as needed
Optionally, an Ackanomic IRC Server
Number of Players:
exactly 4 players and 1 referee are needed.
Beginning the game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
Additionally, the referee begins the game by randomly assigning the players into a playing order (ensuring that members of the same team do not occupy adjacent positions if teams are already chosen), and publicly posting this playing order and announcing that the spades game is beginning. Players 1 and 3 shall be team 1; players 2 and 4 shall be team 2. Throughout the game, play will rotate through this order, returning to player 1 after player 4.
Add to the end of Rule 5, "Winning the Game", the following:
When either side wins by any of these methods, the referee shall publicly post the results of the game, including the final scores.
Rules:
1. Dealing
At the beginning of each round, the referee collects and shuffles into a random order all of the cards in the deck (except the Jokers, which are not used), and deals 13 cards to each player, sending each player eir cards by a private message, except that those players eligible to bid Blind Nil shall not be sent their cards until they ask for them or the bidding is completed..
2. Bidding
In the first round, player 1 has the first bid; in each later round, the next player in the sequence has the first bid. After the deal, the first bidder (and each other bidder after him) makes a bid. The valid bids are 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Players on a team which is behind by 200 or more points at the start of the round are also eligible to bid Blind Nil. Such a player will not initially be sent eir cards, and when it is eir turn to bid, e may either bid Blind Nil or ask to be shown eir cards. If e chooses to be shown eir cards, the referee shall send em eir cards and then e shall make one of the other allowed bids besides Blind Nil. After the bidding completes, if one player bid Blind Nil, the referee shall send em eir cards and e must then choose one card in eir hand to give to eir teammate, and send this card privately to the referee and eir teammate. The teammate then similarly chooses a card in eir hand to be given to the Blind Nil bidder. [This ensures that one out of 4 Blind Nils don't automatically fail by having the ace of spades.] If both players on a team are daring enough to bid Blind Nil, no such exchange occurs. Once this has completed the referee should announce that it is completed and the first trick begins, though if the opening lead belongs to a member of the Blind Nil team, e need not wait for this signal to begin play.
3. Trick Play
The main part of a round consists of 13 tricks. In each trick each player shall play one card from his hand; these cards are then removed from play for the rest of that round. The player who made the highest bid (the first player who made it, in case of a tie) leads to the first trick; for later tricks, the player who won the previous trick leads. The player who leads a trick begins it by playing any card from eir hand (called the card led). However, e may not lead a spade unless a spade has been played to an earlier trick that round, or all the cards in eir hand are spades. The other players follow in order; each player must play a card from eir hand of the same suit as the card led, if e has one; if not, e may play any card from eir hand. The player who played the highest Spade played to a trick wins the trick, if any Spade was played; otherwise the player who played the highest card of the suit led wins the trick.
Whenever there is no doubt who will win each of the remaining tricks, the referee may interrupt play, announcing this fact as well as the remaining plays which would have otherwise occurred, in order to speed the game along a little faster. [Certainly, he can at least do so for the last trick in each hand, and sometimes more, such as if one player has the top three spades remaining with three tricks left to play.] Those tricks are treated as if they were played as indicated by the referee.
4. Scoring
Each team has a Spadescore in Gamepoints, to which Gamepoints are added to and subtracted as appropriate; all scoring is in Gamepoints.
After the 13th trick in a round is completed, each team scores as follows:
The bids the two players won are added together, as are the number of tricks taken by the two players. If they took fewer tricks than their bid, they score -10 times the bid (-20 times the bid if the bid was 10 or more); otherwise they score 10 times the bid (20 times the bid if it was 10 or more), and in addition, they score 1 and get one sandbag for each trick in excess of their bid.
For each player on the team who bid 0, the team scores 100 if e took no tricks, or -100 if e took at least one trick. For each player on the team who bid Blind Nil, the team scores 200 if e took no tricks, or -200 if e took at least one trick.
When a team receives their 10th, 20th, 30th, etc. sandbag, they score -100.
5. Winning the Game
After the scoring for a round, if at least one team has a Spadescore of greater than or equal to 500, and the teams aren't tied, or one team has a Spadescore 500 points more than the other team, the team with the greater score wins; otherwise, the referee shall begin another round. If both players on a team post a concession publicly, the other team wins the game. If either team forfeits their opponents win. There are no other ways to win the game. No Trophies are awarded for winning.
6. Miscellaneous
Bids and plays of cards may be made either by posting them in a public message or sending them in a message to the referee and all other players.
Nobody is allowed to reveal to anybody what cards any player has except as explicitly stated in these rules.
If a player misplays (plays a card not matching the suit of the card led when e has a card in eir hand matching the suit of the card led, or attempts to play a card not in eir hand), the referee should intervene as quickly as possible, voiding all plays since (and including) the misplay, and the misplaying player's team scores -100. If players on one team misplay twice in one hand or three times in a game, that team forfeits. Any misplays voided due to an earlier misplay do not count and are not penalized.
7. Time Limit
Whenever action is expected of any player and they fail to act for 3 days, the referee shall intervene by choosing a valid action for that player, as follows:
If it occurs when a player is deciding whether or not to bid Blind Nil, e is considered to have chosen to look at eir hand.
If it occurs during the bidding, a bid of 2 is made.
If it occurs during the trick play, the referee chooses a card at random from among the cards the player could legally play, and it is played.
If one player misses the time limit on 3 consecutive actions [such as his play to three consecutive tricks, or his play to the last trick fully played in one hand and his bid and first play to the next hand] eir team forfeits. If the players on one team miss the time limit 7 times over the course of a match, eir team forfeits.
Rule 1250.16/4
Viruses
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
General Equipment: Gamepoints as needed
Players: minimum 2, maximum 20
Referees: 1, a volunteer who may not also be a player in the game. The referee receives A$10 at the conclusion of the game for his services.
Starting the game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
Winning the game: To win, accumulate 10 Gamepoints, or be the only player left in the game. See rule 8, below.
The Rules of Viruses:
1. Getting Started
After agreeing on a set of players, the Referee chooses 20 different squares at random on a grid of 10 by 10 squares (exception: if there are more than 10 players, then the initial grid is made the smallest square region such that the number of squares is at least 10 times the number of players, and the number of randomly chosen squares is 2 times the number of players) and assigns each player an ASCII character besides '.' and '@' to be used to mark cells infected with his virus. The randomly chosen squares are initially filled by clean cells (not infected by a virus), marked by '@'except that for each of the starting players, one such cell, selected at random, is infected with eir virus. All other squares are empty, marked by '.'. The referee also chooses a numbering system for the rows and the columns, and should post this numbering system in some reasonable format whenever he posts the grid. After the adjustment described in rule 2, this grid becomes the turn 0 state, and the referee shall post this grid publicly to begin the first turn.
2. Active Area
Just after the initial random cells are placed on the grid, and after each generation, the active area of the grid is reset to be the smallest rectangle such that all the cells are contained in it and none of them lie in the outermost two rings of squares. (So, if there was a 2x2 block of cells and no other cells, the active area would be a 6x6 area with the 2x2 block at the center.) If there are no cells when the active area is to be determined, a 2x2 block of clean cells is created and the active area is a 6x6 block with those cells at the center. [Preserve a minimal interesting framework to play from if all the cells die out.]
3. Adjacency
Adjacent squares, for all the rules of this game, are any of the 8 squares which touch a square either along an edge or a corner. An adjacent cell is an adjacent square containing a cell.
4. Turns
Each turn lasts 3 days from the time the referee posted the state of the grid before that turn, unless at some earlier time all players have submitted the maximum number of valid moves they are allowed for that turn, in which case the turn ends immediately.
Each turn except the first turn, each player may make one move from the allowable types. The first turn, each player may make three "Place" or "Infect" moves. All moves are made by private messages to the referee. The referee shall not reveal any move to any player other than the one who made it until the end of that turn.
5. Allowable Moves
The following types of moves are allowed:
a. Place - a player may place one new cell infected with his virus in
any empty square.
b. Infect - a player may infect any clean cell with his virus.
c. Step - a player may move a cell infected with his virus cells to
any adjacent empty square.
d. Destroy - a player may destroy a cell infected with his virus.
e. Uninfect - a player may uninfect a cell infected with his virus
(turning it into a clean cell).
In each case, the square(s) associated with a move must be given in order to fully specify the move; these should be specified by column and row according to the numbering system imposed by the referee. Any move which does not specify square(s) in the active area meeting the descriptions above or which is not of one of these types of moves is invalid. Two moves conflict if they attempt to step and/or place cells into the same square or try to infect the same clean cell.
6. Resolving Moves
At the end of a turn, the referee examines all the submitted moves. First, the referee removes from consideration all invalid moves. Then, if any player(s) submitted too many moves, only the first one(s) (up to the allowed limit) for each such player are kept. Then, the referee removes from consideration all moves which conflict with one or more other remaining moves. Finally, all the moves still under consideration are applied to the current grid. [This allows players to "change" their move only if they previously submitted one which is invalid.]
7. Generations
After applying a set of moves, a generation occurs. The grid is altered according to these rules (both rules are applied simultaneously to all appropriate squares in the grid):
a. All cells which have 0, 1, or 4 or more adjacent cells are
destroyed.
b. A new cell is created in each empty square which has exactly 3
adjacent cells. If the adjacent cells are all clean, or there are
adjacent cells infected by two or more different viruses, the new cell
is clean. Otherwise, it is infected with the one virus which infects
one or more of the adjacent cells.
8. Gamepoints; Winning the Game of Viruses
After each generation, the player whose virus then infects the most cells scores one Gamepoint, but if there is a tie for most cells, no Gamepoint is scored. When a player has 10 Gamepoints he wins the game. If only one player remains in the game, that player wins the game. If there is ever a time when no player is left in the game, then one of the players who was in the game the last time there were any players in the game is chosen at random to be the winner of the game. A standard Trophy is awarded to the winner.
9. End-of-turn Information
After applying a set of moves and a generation to the grid, as well as the size adjustment in rule 2, the referee shall post the current state of the grid publicly, as well as the list of all valid moves submitted by players for that turn (except those ignored because a player submitted too many moves), indicating which ones were conflicting, and also the adjustment in the size/position of the active area of the grid caused by rule 2, and the scoring for the round and the total scores.
10. Joining or Leaving a Game in Progress
During the first ten turns, new players may join the game by publicly announcing their intent, if they have not played in this instance of Viruses before; each new player gets three Place or Infect moves in his first turn instead of the usual one move. If a player retires from the game or leaves Ackanomic, while there still exist cells infected with that player's virus, a new player may join and take that player's virus as his own instead of the usual method of starting (but any new player doing so gets only one move of any allowed type in his first turn). Despite all the above, if a game of Viruses has the maximum number of players or is being played as a Duel then no additional players may join.
If a player retires from the game or leaves Ackanomic and nobody takes over his virus by the end of the turn after the one during which he retired, all cells infected by his virus are uninfected just before the moves are evaluated.
If the referee retires for any reason, the game is put on hold until a new referee is chosen. The new referee must not be a current player of the Viruses game, but may be a former player; any Ackanomic player who meets this guideline may volunteer by announcing so publically. When a new referee is publicly knowable, the current turn restarts with a full 3-day limit; all moves for this turn sent to the former referee are ignored. The current referee may not be a player in the Viruses game, nor may any player who has been referee within the last two turns.
11. Genocide
When the grid is posted at the end of turn 11 or a later turn, any player whose virus infects no cells is eliminated from the game, unless this would eliminate all the players.
Rule 1250.17/2
Mediocrity
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
General equipment: Gamepoints as needed.
Players: minimum 3, maximum: the number of players in the game of Ackanomic at the inception of a game of Mediocrity, less one
Referees: one
The Rules of Mediocrity:
Starting an instance of the game: Via the method described in rule 1250.1, section VI a).
Mediocrity: For a given set of numbers, the most Mediocre one is determined as follows:
1) The numbers are listed in increasing order: the first member is the smallest number in the set, each succeeding member is equal to or greater than the previous one.
2) If the set has an odd number N of members, the (N+1)/2 member is near-Mediocre; if the set has an even number of members, the N/2 member is near-Mediocre.
3) If the value of the near-Mediocre member is unique in that set, it is the most Mediocre number in the set.
4) If the value of the near-Mediocre member is not unique in the set, all instances of the near-Mediocre number are removed from the set, and steps 1-3 are applied to the remaining members.
5) If no member of the set can be found to be the most Mediocre member, then the set has no most Mediocre member.
Play: Play consists of rounds. A round begins when the Referee announces the beginning of that round; it ends when the Referee announces the result of that round, or after six days. A round must last at least three days, or at least until all players other than the Referee have submitted a legitimate number to the Referee, whichever comes first..
During a round, each player other than the Referee sends the Referee a positive integer in the range of 1 to 2n, where n is the number of players other than the Referee in the game. If any player(s) fail to do so, the Referee shall randomly determine which integer in this range each of these players chose.
To end a round by announcing its results, the Referee posts the following: the number selected by each player, the player (if any) who selected the most Mediocre number of those selected, and the current score of the game. (Each player's score is the number of Gamepoints e currently has for that instance of Mediocrity. All players begin the game with zero Gamepoints; a player gains one Gamepoint whenever e selects the most Mediocre number in a round.)
A player may also be removed from the player list by announcing eir resignation from either the game of Mediocrity or the game of Ackanomic, or by being removed involuntarily from the game of Ackanomic.
Winning the Game: If at the end of a round, the sum of the scores of all players is greater than or equal to twice the number of players, and there exists a most Mediocre score from the set of player scores, the player with the most Mediocre score wins, and the game ends.
Trophy: the winner of the game shall receive a standard Trophy, and a rather Mediocre example of one at that. The winner is encouraged to complain (albeit in a rather nonplussed manner) about the Mediocre nature of the Trophy.
Rule 1250.18/12
Ye Olde Rusty Lantern
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
[Synopsis: the players (called Bards) are dealt a hand of cards. Each card bears a word or phrase describing a possible story element. The Bards take turns telling parts of a tale, playing cards by bringing the corresponding story elements into the yarn. When a Bard finishes the story by tying off all the loose ends and playing eir last card, e wins.]
Equipment:
some cards (to be provided by the Barkeep)
Ale (generated as needed)
a solid wooden table and benches
a brass pot
The Barkeep
The Barkeep is the person who started the game. When e goes on Vacation, the tale is suspended until e returns. If e should quit Ackanomic, the tale unceremoniously ends.
At the beginning of the tale, the Barkeep shall announce the number of benches and the names of the Bards who will start the tale. If the game is being played as a Duel, there may be only two benches.
(The Barkeep is considered the referee of the game.)
Bards
The Barkeep may not be a Bard. Anyone else may join (becoming a Bard) at any time, unless there are already as many players as benches. Any Bard may leave at any time. If it is a Bard's turn when e leaves, e is considered to have passed. The Bards are all imagined to sit around a table in the Barkeep's tavern, so whenever someone joins, the Barkeep shall choose a place around the table for em to sit.
There must be at least two Bards for a tale to proceed, and no more Bards than benches; any time this is not the case for a particular instance of Ye Olde Rusty Lantern, that tale is suspended until the requirements are both met. (In the meantime, Bards are free to join or leave, but no cards may be played.) If the game is being played as a Duel, however, then if at any time there is only one Bard, that player is the winner.
If, in starting the game, the Barkeep announced that the game would be played for ante, and announced the entities required as ante, then a Bard joining the game must pay an entry fee including a set of entities that meets the Barkeep's requirements. All these entities are placed in the brass pot for the duration of the tale.
Cards
The Barkeep shall privately make (or obtain) a long list of story elements before starting the game. Each story element is represented by one card. During the game, each card is either in the deck, held by one of the Bards, on the table, or burned. They all start out in the deck. The Barkeep keeps track of the cards. Each time the Barkeep posts a public update of the game, he should post the number of cards held by each Bard (but not which cards are held by whom), list the cards lying on the table, and tell whose turn it is. Each Bard receives seven cards upon joining. When a Bard leaves, eir cards return to the deck.
When a Bard receives cards, the Barkeep chooses them randomly from the deck and sends them to that Bard via private mail. If there are not enough cards in the deck, the Barkeep shall either end the tale (lamely) or add story elements to his list of cards. A card is added to the deck for each new story element. The cards are then handed out as needed, and the tale goes on.
Gameplay
As soon as the Barkeep is ready to begin, e chooses a Bard to go first and names em publicly. It is that Bard's turn.
On eir turn, a Bard either tries to make a play, or passes. If e successfully makes a play, it is still eir turn. When a play is denied (which happens, alas, to the best Bards from time to time) or the Bard passes, play goes to the next Bard, clockwise around the table.
Passing
A Bard may pass explicitly. Also, when the Barkeep notices that a Bard is asleep (i.e. it has been eir turn continuously for three days or more, and e has not tried a play in all that time) and posts a message to that effect, that Bard is considered to have passed. When a Bard passes, e receives a card. If it is ever a Bard's turn while that Bard is vacationing with an expected return 3 or more days away, or while he is On Ice, the Barkeep may declare that player Asleep and consider him to have Passed without waiting 3 days.
If a Bard is asleep(i.e. passes by default)for three of eir turns in a row(or more), then the Barkeep may announce, at the same time as announcing that e is asleep, that that Bard has gone Under The Table. At this point the Bard is removed from the game, and eir bench is considered empty. The next time that Bard rejoins that game, e need not pay ante to do so.
When a Bard passes explicitly, e may announce that e is discarding one of the cards from eir hand, naming the card. That card is burned.
Plays
A Bard attempts a play by sending a public message with the word "Lantern" (or "YORL") in the subject header. The text of the message should be a reasonable amount of suitable prose to add to (or start) the tale (150 to 300 words, or the length of previous segments, are good guidelines). If the Bard has any cards, the last line of the message should specify one of them.
The Barkeep shall then reply, either verifying that the play was successful, or denying it. E may, in addition to verifying the play, announce that the card thus played is a new Loose End. This is done when, in the Barkeep's opinion, an interesting element is added to the game and isn't resolved right away: a villain is introduced; a map is found; a prophecy is made. When a card becomes a Loose End, it goes on the table, face up. When a card is successfully played, but doesn't become a Loose End, it is burned. [The tale isn't complete until all the Loose Ends have been tied off.] When a Bard attempts to play a card but is denied, the card is burned, and the Bard receives two cards to replace it.
The Barkeep may deny a play for any of the following reasons: it is incomprehensible; it is a non sequitur from the previous bit of the story; it is not in the spirit of the game [e.g. the Bard is blatantly and rudely playing to get rid of cards rather than for the fun of the story]; it is too long or too short; the Bard has cards, but none of them is specified; no card was specified, and no Loose Ends were tied off; the play was attempted more than three days after the beginning of the Bard's turn; or a card was specified, but the text didn't bring it into the tale.
That last reason begs some explanation. The text of a play is required to bring into the story the ideas specified on the card. [e.g. If a card bears the word "disguise", the Bard may play it only if he works a disguise into the story.] It's a matter of taste how central an idea must be in order to qualify. Generally, it is insufficient simply to discuss an item (it must be present), to mention the possibility of an event (it must take place), or to have a character talk about another character in dialogue (he must actually be introduced.) In any case, the Barkeep's reply is final.
The Barkeep may, in addition to verifying the play, announce that one or more of the Loose Ends on the table have been resolved. This means that the most recent play has tied off those parts of the story. A Bard receives one Ale for each Loose End tied off by eir play. Upon being awarded an Ale, a player also receives a FairPlay Award.
Interruptions
A Bard may try to interrupt any play attempted by another Bard, either before or after the Barkeep replies to it, by announcing the interruption, along with the play being interrupted and the name of a card the interrupting Bard holds. [The idea is that the story element on this card is, by coincidence, a part of the story that the current Bard is telling; the interrupting Bard now takes over the tale.]
An interruption never causes any of the tale to be discarded. Neither does it have any effect on the success or denial of any play currently being attempted. When a play and an interruption are both being attempted, the Barkeep must reply to the play first (regardless of which message e received first).
The Barkeep shall reply to each interruption, either verifying that it was successful, or denying it. If the interruption is successful, then it is immediately the interrupting Bard's turn, and the Bard who was interrupted receives a card.
The Barkeep shall deny an interruption if the card specified is not one the interrupting Bard has. In this case, one card is dealt to the interrupting Bard, as a penalty.
The Barkeep shall deny an interruption if the story element on the specified card was not sufficiently mentioned in the interrupted play. In this case, the card is burned, and the interrupting Bard receives two cards to replace it, as a penalty. Again, what qualifies as a sufficient mention is up to the Barkeep, but in this case e is encouraged to be lenient.
If an interruption is not denied for either of the above reasons, the Barkeep shall deny it if it comes too late-- that is, either the interrupted play was attempted more than three days ago, or it has already been successfully interrupted with a different card. In this case, the card is burned, and the Bard who attempted the interrupt is dealt one card to replace it.
Winning
A Bard wins when all of the following are true: e has no cards, e was the last to make a successful play, there are no Loose Ends, and there are no unprocessed Interrupts. If the story isn't quite "done" yet, the winning Bard may finish it however e pleases. Once that's done, the tale ends.
If the game was played for ante, the winner gets all the entities in the pot, and no trophy is made. Otherwise, a standard Trophy is awarded to the winner.
Rule 1250.19/5
Word un-association
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Gamepoints as necessary.
II. Number of players:
minimum: 2; maximum: the number of active players when an instance of Word Un-Association is initiated minus one. Referees: one.
III. Starting an instance of the Game:
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI. Additionally, the player announcing the start of the Game shall randomly assign each player a different integer ranging from 1 to N, where N is the number of players in the game. All players shall be randomly assigned numbers in this way, including non-active ones.
IV. Rules of the game:
The game is composed of rounds; each round shall have one "Linker". All players who are not the Linker shall be known as "Confused". The game shall be scored in Gamepoints.
Player 1 shall be the Linker of the first round, and after that, Linker duty shall be assigned in order of increasing player number at the completion of each round. Player 1 again assumes the duty just after the completion of the round where the player with the highest number was Linker.
The referee picks a word from the official dictionary [it is encouraged to be fairly common, but not too simple (i.e. not "the" or "at", etc.)]. The Linker then publicly posts a word. This word, called the "uh? word", must have a common "link word" with the original word, but must not be itself linked to the original word [i.e. blue --> wine is allowed (via bottle), as is school --> eye (via pupil) but school --> teacher is not (even though pupil would be a valid link word it is not allowed since school and teacher are themselves connected]. If e fails to do so within three days of the start of the round (that is, when the referee announces the results of the previous round) then e loses three gamepoints and the round ends immediately.
All Confused must then try to find a word to link the original word and the announced word and post it to the referee. Any Confused that manages it gains one game point. If no other Confused has the same link word e gains one additional game point (unless the game has only two players). If no-one finds a link word then the Linker gains N-1 gamepoints, provided e can announce a word to link the two words e was thinking of. Any Confused who do not post any proposed link word within three days of the Linker publicly posting the uh? word is deemed to have failed to come up with a link word. If no Confused player submitted an acceptable link, and the Linker does not come up with a word to link the two words e was thinking of (acceptable to the referee) within 6 days of submitting the word, then the Linker shall lose 3 points.
This word announced by the Confused does not have to be the same as the one the Linker was thinking of to gain Gamepoints. If ever there is a disagreement about whether two words are linked then the referee's decision is final. Play then continues with the player who was assigned the next integer publicly announcing a word which shares a common link word with the uh? word announced by the first player. Play continues in this way until at least one player has 5N, or 30, gamepoints, whichever is lower, and all players have been the Linker the same number of times. At this point, if one player has more gamepoints than anyone else, then e wins. Otherwise, play continues, in the same way as before.
If a Vacationing player fails to post an uh? word then e does not lose the points as specified above.
V. Trophy:
A standard trophy is awarded.
Rule 1250.20/0
Triple Double Crash
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Official Dictionary; gamepoints as necessary; optionally, an Ackanomic IRC server.
II. Participants
Exactly 2 players, 1 referee.
III. Starting an instance of Triple Double Crash
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
IV. Rules of the Games
Throughout these rules, an N-word Salvo is a public post taking the form of a list of N five-letter words from the Official Dictionary.
A Reply to a Salvo is a reposting of the Salvo being replied to, with the addition of three numbers from 1-5 to the right of each five-letter word. These numbers are the number of "crashes" as defined below, of that word with each of the Replying player's Target Words. These numbers may be arranged in any order for a given Salvo word.
(For example:
salvo 2,1,0
queen 0,1,0
space 0,0,0
crash 0,0,1
may be a reply to the salvo
salvo
queen
space
crash)
Two words crash once for each letter that occupies the same position in each word. (ie, if they have the same first letter, they crash once; if they have the same third letter, they crash again. HEART crashes once with SPADE (for the A). STAFF crashes three times with CHAFF. SWORD does not crash with WORDY. A five-letter word crashes five times with itself.)
At the commencement of a game of Double Crash, each player shall choose three distinct five-letter words from the Official Dictionary and send these to the Referee. After the Referee has publicly acknowledged the receipt of both sets of words, each Round shall consist of the following actions:
1) Each players posts a Salvo. In the first round, this shall be a 6-word Salvo; in subsequent rounds, the base number of words for a Salvo is 5 for the second round, 4 for the third round, and 3 thereafter; however, for each error noted by the Referee in the other player's reply for the previous round, e may add another word to eir salvo.
2) Each player posts a Reply to the other player's Salvo.
3) The Referee verifies that these Replies are correct, or, if a Reply is not correct, posts the correct Reply and announces how many errors that Reply contained. (The number of errors in a Reply is how many numbers must be changed in the salvo for it to be correct. If the correct Reply for a word is "5,1,0", then "2,1,0" would contain 1 error, "2,2,2" 3 errors, "3,2,1" 2 errors, etc.)
It is permissible for rounds to overlap; for instance, if one player has already received a Reply to eir salvo for one round(verified by the Referee), but has not yet replied to the other player's salvo, e may post a salvo for the next round if e wishes, without, for instance, waiting for the Referee's verification of eir Reply. Each round begins once the Referee has verified both player's Replies for that round, and shall last no longer than three days.
If the time runs out for a round, then: Any player who has not posted a salvo has forfeitied eir Salvo for that round. If any player has not posted a Reply to a Salvo, then the Referee shall post a Reply, and the number of errors in the Reply is considered to be the number of words in the Reply. (That is, if one player posts a 4-word Salvo and the other player does not reply, then e gets 4 extra words in eir next Salvo.) A player may not post a Salvo until after the Referee has verified their opponent's Reply for the previous round.
Each time a verified Reply to a player's Salvo indicates that some word has crashed 5 times with the opponent's target word, and this word has never been part of a previous salvo, then that player receives a Gamepoint. If, at the end of a round of Replies, one or both Replies indicate that a player has received eir third Gamepoint, then the game has been won. If only one player has three Gamepoints at the end of that round, then that player has won the game. If both players have three Gamepoints at the end of that round, and one player's third Gamepoint was awarded for a word higher up in eir Salvo than the other player's third Gamepoint word, then the former player wins. If both players' third Gamepoints were awarded for words in the same position in the Salvos, then eir second Gamepoint words are compared similarly, and then eir first Gamepoint words. If these fail to determine a winner, then the player who was first to post eir last Salvo wins.
The Referee shall then announce the winner and reveal the Target Words for both players.
Upon a player winning the game, it ends. If the game was not being played as a Duel, the winner receives A$25 from the Treasury. No Trophy is awarded to the winner of the game.
Rule 1250.21/4
Abstract Crescent
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
The aim of the game is to win rounds by picking the smallest number. But the score you get in each round depends upon what numbers other players picked - the ideal situation is when a player wins when someone else is just about to win (i.e. you pick 7 and they pick 8).]
a. Instances of the game are started as described in 1250.1, section VI.
b. General Equipment: Gamepoints as needed.
c. Minimum Players, 2: Maximum Players, 100. One referee is also required. The referee is the player who started the instance of the game, and shall receive A$5 reward at the conclusion of the game, provided 5 or more players are involved at some stage during the game
d. Once the Game has commenced, the referee shall randomly assign each player a number between 0 and n-1, where n players are starting the game. E shall then announce the start of the first round. All players start with a score of 0 Gamepoints.
A round proceeds as follows:
1. Each player has 3 days to send the referee their play for the given round. A player's play is a positive integer congruent to their current player number modulo n (where n is the current number of players). For example, in an 8 player game, player 6 can make plays of 6,14,22,30,etc. When Abstract Crescent is played in a duel, numbers larger than 20 cannot be chosen.
2. The playing section of the Round is complete after either three days have passed since the Round was announced, or sufficient players have emailed their plays to the Referee to determine the result of the Round, whichever comes first. After the playing section is complete, the Referee shall post the results of the Round, including scoring as described below.
3. When a player leaves an instance of Abstract Crescent, the Referee removes them from the list at the end of the round. The numbering is then modified so that all players who had a number higher than that of the leaving player have their number reduced by one. The referee may also add players after this has occurred, each new player receiving the smallest positive integer currently not in use by another player (including any other new players who were dealt with first).
Each player's number is then increased by one (modulo n), and the next Round is announced by the Referee, unless at least one player's score exceeds 5n Gamepoints, where n is the current number of players. If the latter is the case, then all players whose score exceeds 5n and who have no-one exceeding their score are declared Winners. Each Winner receives a Standard Trophy.
4. Scoring
The winner of a Round is the player who played the lowest number. They receive (2n+k-l) Gamepoints, where n is the current number of players, k is the number they played, and l is the smallest number played by any other player that Round. If only one player should submit a number in any given round, then that player shall win the Round and gain 2*n Gamepoints, where n is the current number of players.
5. Leaving and Re-joining
When a player leaves a game of Abstract Crescent, any positive Gamepoints they had earned in that game are lost. Should they rejoin that game at a later date, their score upon rejoining will be the lower of the score they had when they last left the game and 0.
If a player fails to submit a number in 3 consecutive rounds, then the Referee may declare them to have left at the end of the third such round. Such a declaration is equivalent to the player consenting to leave the game.
Rule 1250.22/4
Bacon
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
General Equipment: Movie Database, Gamepoints as needed
Number of Participants: 2; Referees: 1
Rules:
The game consists of a series of rounds. At the start of each round, each player must email the referee the name of an actor or actress (hereafter referred to as an actron), who has appeared in at least one movie as specified in the Movie Database. This naming period is over when both players have named an actron, or three days have passed since the referee announced the start of the round, whichever comes first; in the latter case, if one player named an actron and the other did not, then the first player wins the round, and if neither named an actron then the round is a draw.
The referee then posts the names of both actrons. The players have three days to either object to each others' selection, or to state that they are satisfied with it. If the three days pass with no objections, or both players state that they are satisfied, then the actrons are deemed to be accepted. If one or both players object, then the referee must rule on each actron thus objected to. If the referee rules that the actron is too obscure, then the player who objected gains one Gamepoint. If the referee rules that the actron is not too obscure, then the player who selected the actron gains one Gamepoint. If one or both actrons is ruled to be too obscure, the round ends.
After the actrons are accepted, each player must attempt to construct a "Bacon chain" between the two of them. A Bacon chain consists of a series of links; each link must consist of the name of a movie and the names of two actrons who were in the movie. For a chain to be valid, adjacent links must have at least one actron in common. [Thus, the link "Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton" followed by the link "Twins: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny De Vito" would be a valid chain; the first link above followed by the link "Wayne's World: Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere" would not.] (If there is ambiguity between two movies or actrons with identical names, it is up to the referee to determine which is meant in each case, and to make this information available to both players.)
Each player has three days from the time the actrons are accepted to send such a chain to the referee. After this period ends or Bacon chains are received from each player, the referee shall post both chains.
If one player thinks that the other player's chain is invalid, then e may challenge it up to three days after the chains are posted. The referee will check each link in the Movie Database, and determine whether the chain is valid. Otherwise, a chain will be assumed to valid if it is accepted publically by the opposing player or if it goes unchallenged for the three days. (If a player did not submit a Bacon chain for that round, then eir chain is considered invalid.)
If a player challenges and the challenged chain is valid, the challenger's chain is deemed invalid.
If one player's chain is valid and the other's is invalid, then the first player wins the round. If both chains are valid and one player's chain is shorter than the other(contains fewer links), then e wins the round. If neither chain is valid, or both chains are valid and of equal length, then neither player wins the round.
The winner of a round receives 2 Gamepoints.
Winning: The winner of the game shall be the first player to obtain 7 Gamepoints. The winner shall receive a standard Trophy. The referee shall receive A$8 from the Treasury upon conclusion of the game. If one player leaves the game, then the remaining player will win the game immediately by forfeit.
Cheating: Players may not consult the Movie Database themselves during the course of a round.
Rule 1250.23/10
Eleusis
JT (JT Traub)
http://www.netaxs.com/people/nerp/eleusis0.html
The rules below are an adaptation to work within the framework of Ackanomic and email.]
1) General Equipment
a) This game uses either one Eleusis Deck with the optional Wild cards or two Standard decks combined into one larger deck, again with optional Wild cards. If the deck runs out of cards during a round, then the Referee(or Deus if there is none)may add another shuffled deck of the same kind.
b) Gamepoints as needed.
c) Optionally, an Ackanomic IRC Server
2) Number of players.
a) This game is played by 4-8 players and one optional Referee.
b) This game can have an optional Referee as defined in section 10.
c) New players may *not* join during the run of an existing game except as defined under section 8.
3) How to start an instance of the game
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.
4) General Rules of the game
a) If there is a Referee, the Referee assigns a cardinal number from 1 to N, where N is the number of players, to each player. If there is no Referee, then the player calling the game shall be cardinal number 1 and all other players shall be assigned a number from 2 to N where N is the total number of players including the player who called the game.
b) Player number 1 shall be named the Deus for the first round.
c) All player other than Deus are considered to be Scientists for that round.
d) The round is played as specified in section 5.
e) At the end of the round, the Deus from the previous round will announce the rule from that round, and all other players have a 3 day period to announce an error in the game play. Play on the next round can proceed during this error determination since the results of one round do not affect the next round. If at least one player declared there to be an error, handle it as in Section 11.
f) At the end of a round, the next higher numbered player is named the new Deus and a new round begins.
g) The game ends when each player has been Deus exactly once, and the game is scored as described in section 7.
5) The play of a round
a) Deus creates a private rule which specifies how a valid play is to be determined. This rule may only depend upon cards which have already been correctly played, not upon incorrectly played cards, or the contents of any players hand.
b) Deus announces publicly which of the two decks is being used for that round, whether the Wild cards are included in the deck. The ranking of the cards [IE, the order of importance of the cards within the suits], the value of any cards which are different than their standard face value [IE all face cards are 10 or J=11, Q=12, K=13], the ranking and value of suits if that is pertinent, and the ranking/value of wild cards if they are in use.
c) Deus (or the Referee) privately communicates to each player their hand of 14 starting cards.
d) Deus (or the Referee) publicly communicates the face-up starter card.
e) The round is now open for play and play proceeds in numerical order starting with the player in numerical order after the Deus for the current round
f) The current player chooses a series of between 1 and 4 cards from their hand and announces them in the order they wish to play them. The player may also choose a call of 'No Play' if they believe no card in their current hand is a valid card to play in the current sequence. A sequence of cards is only correct if every card in the sequence in order is correct. If a player doesn't publically submit a play within 3 days of it becoming their turn, the Deus (or Referee) will choose a card from their hand at random and play it for the delinquent player.
g) Upon calling 'No Play' the player must reveal at that time all the cards held in their hand.
h) If there is currently no prophet, and the current player has not already been prophet this round and there are more than two remaining Scientists the player may declare themselves prophet regardless of whether their play was correct or incorrect. To save time, the player should include this declaration with their play. The card played when a prophet is declared is marked with a '!'.
i) If there is a prophet:
1) The prophet publicly decrees whether the play is correct or not. If the prophet fails to make a call within 3 days, the prophet shall be deemed to have judged the play as correct.
2) The Deus publicly declares whether they approve of the prophets call or not.
3) If the Deus doesn't approve of the prophets call then the Scientist who played the card(s) is not penalized, the prophet is dealt 5 penalty cards by the Deus or the Referee, and resumes play as a Scientist.
4) If the Deus approves of the prophets call and the player played an incorrect sequence, then the Deus (or Referee) deals the player 2 cards for each card in the sequence or five cards if the incorrect call was 'No Play'. In the case of 'No Play' the prophet must choose a card from the current players hand before the penalty cards are dealt that would have been a correct play and play it. If the prophet chooses a card that isn't correct at this point then the card is returned to the players hand, and the player receives no penalty cards, instead causing the prophet to be overturned as in part 3 above. If the round is in 'sudden death' then the current player is expelled from the round after the dealing of the penalty cards.
5) If the play of 'No Play' was deemed correct then the player will be privately dealt a new hand of cards with four fewer cards than in their previous hand. Since there was no correct play, the number of cards played in the round or during the current prophets tenure remains unchanged.
j) If there is no prophet, Deus judges the play as correct or not with the penalties to the player being the same as in step 'i' part 4 above. In the case of 'No Play' Deus must choose a correct card from the calling players hand and play it. If the Deus judges a 'No Play' call to be correct, then the effect of step 'i' part 5 above occurs.
k) If there is no prophet, mark every 10th card played with a '*'. After forty cards, (4 '*') the round enters 'sudden death'. This count is suspended while there is a Prophet.
l) If there is a prophet, mark every 10th card since they became the prophet with a '!'. After 30 cards (3 '!') the round enters sudden death. This count is reset whenever a new Scientist becomes Prophet.
m) If the current player has 0 cards or there are no Scientists left, then the round is over and is scored as in section 6.
n) The player next in numerical order becomes the current player. The player after the highest numbered player is player 1.
o) If the current player is either the prophet or Deus, go to step 'n'.
p) go to step 'f'
6) Scoring a round
a) A player is considered the 'True Prophet' if they were the prophet when the round ended.
b) The high-count is the largest number of cards in any players hand (prophet included). Call this number H.
c) Every player except Deus gets Gamepoints equal to H - the number of cards in their hand.
d) Any player with 0 cards gets 4 Gamepoints as a bonus.
e) The 'True Prophet' gains 1 Gamepoint for each correct play and 2 Gamepoints for each incorrect play after they became prophet.
f) Deus gains Gamepoints equal to the smaller of
1) the highest players score
2) twice the total number of cards played since the true prophet became prophet.
7) Scoring the game
After all rounds are completed, the winner is the player with the most Gamepoints. All other players are ranked in descending order by Gamepoints.
Let N be the number of players in the game.
The highest ranked player gains a trophy, "The Scientist's Handbook" and 2(N-1) points. Each player in decreasing order gets two less points than the preceding player. If two players have the same number of game points but the next lower player with a different number of game points receives points as if they weren't tied. Last place will score 0 points. [Frex. in a game of 5 players with final game points of 20, 14 8, 8 and 4, the players would receive in order 8, 6, 4, 4 and 0 points]
8) Joining and Leaving the game.
When a player goes on vacation or leaves the game, they may appoint another player as their substitute in the game with the substitute's consent. If a player goes on vacation or leaves the game without appointing a substitute then they will make be replaced by a bot [provided by the Ackanomic Institute of Genetic Replication] which will make the default moves as defined above [playing a random card and in the case of the prophet calling a play correct]. If the player is the Deus and they didn't appoint a substitue and there is a Referree then the Referree shall be the substitute for the player. If the player going on vacation is the Deus, they must notify their substitute of the secret rule before they go on vacation. If the Deus fails to notify their substitute of the rule or if there is no substitute then the round ends and players will be scored as if the round had ended by normal means.
When a player is being played by a bot, any other active player of Ackanomic may take their place within the Eleusis game provided that the new player is not already a player in that Eleusis game.
9) Duties of Deus and the Prophet
The Deus and Prophet are necessary for the game to proceed smoothly and so are encouraged to respond to plays as quickly as possible. It is unfortunately not possible to impose a 3 day timeout on Deus, however if the Prophet fails to respond to a move within 3 days then that player is removed as a prophet as if they had made an incorrect call on a play. If there is no Referee, the Deus for each round assumes the responsibilities of the Referee.
The Deus may award a FairPlay point to a player if there is no Referee. For purposes of this paragraph, the Deus is treated as if they were the Referee of the game and thus are restricted as per rule 1250.1 Section XIII on the number of FairPlay Awards they may award. This paragraph takes precedence over rule 1250.1 if there is a conflict.
The Deus may during the round give up to three hints to the Scientists. These hints may be given at any time during the round, but no more than three may be given. If a Deus gives more than 3 hints in a round, he is penalized 2 Gamepoints for each hint above 3.
10) Duties of the Referee
The Referee (or Deus for each round if there is no Referee) must track the game state including which player has which cards, must simulate shuffling the cards at the start of a round and dealing cards as demanded by the round. They must also post the current game state including all played cards with a reasonable amount of frequency (at least once every other day would be recommended, and after each players play would be best). If there is an actual Referee, that player is paid $A10 when the game is concluded for providing their services.
11) Handling of errors.
a) If a player believes there to have been an error, then if there is a Referee, the Referee decides if the error in fact occurred. Otherwise a vote among the current players occurs. The voting period lasts 3 days and a player who doesn't respond is considered to have voted 'No' meaning that there was no error. If all votes are in before the 3 day period, then the voting period ends immediately.
b) If there was a vote, and a majority of the players voted that 'Yes' there was an error, then there was an error.
c) If there was an error, Deus for the round which contained the error loses 20 Gamepoints.
d) If there is more than one error in a round, the Deus is only penalized once.
Rule 1250.24/1
Acka Role Playing
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
1) General Equipment
Optionally, an Ackanomic IRC server.
No standard equipment is required, but any other standard equipment appropriate for a specific game may be used. The Ackanomic Magic Dice may be used as a randomizing mechanism, but GMs may find it more convenient to roll their own dice.
2) Number of Players
At least 2 players are required. The maximum number of players is the number of players in Ackanomic.
3) Number of referees
At least one referee (also called the Game Master or GM) is required. Normally, there will be just the one referee, but additional players of Ackanomic may become referees with the GM's consent. If there are additional referees, at all times there shall be one head referee (who shall be referred to as the Game Master or GM); with mutual consent, this role may change during a game, but such change should be posted publicly. The maximum number of referees is the number of players in Ackanomic. Normally, referees should not also be players, but with the GM's consent, referees may play at any time they are not acting in the GM role.
4) Starting the game
The game begins when the GM posts publicly that it is beginning, and who the initial players are. No other public posts are typically necessary until a game ends, but see the 'Number of Referees' and 'Ending the Game' sections for exceptions.
5) Joining and Leaving a Game in Progress
Players may join games in progress at the GM's discretion. When a player leaves the game, the GM should make an effort to work his departure into the story line of the game (which may or may not involve killing the character). Players who have previously played and left may rejoin at the GM's discretion, and it is also at the GM's discretion whether the player returns in state he left the game, as a new character, or otherwise.
6) Rules
The rules of the game are left up to the discretion of the GM, and he is free to tell players as much or little of the rules as he wishes. The GM may draw from established gaming systems, combine systems, and/or make stuff up as he goes along, though having some reasonable amount of pre-established structure is recommended. The GM is encouraged to use a player's Ackan statistics at least in part in generating new characters, and to incorporate changes in a player's Ackan stats into his character's stats. The GM is, however, free to ignore the Ackan stats for any reason (including, but not limited to the Ackan stats not fitting the gaming system chosen). Any changes in a characters stats during a game do not cause changes in the player's Ackan stats. A GM may allow a player to begin with a character partially or completely in the state he concluded a previous game, but otherwise should attempt to give players a reasonably equal starting ground.
7) Other information needed to play
The GM is free to tell players as much or little about the particular game as he likes, but there is no hard-set framework the game must adhere to. The GM should, however, tell the players enough to make the game fun and interesting.
8) Conditions for winning the game
Normally, the game ends with no winner. In a duel, or if appropriate in non-duel play, the GM can post that a player has won when he posts that the game has ended.
9) Trophies
If there is a winner, he receives a standard trophy.
10) Ending the game
It is recommended that the GM post a summary of extended FRP games periodically; after each gaming session if possible. The game ends when the GM posts that it has ended; he may name a winner at this time, but typically the game will end without a winner. If at any time the game has been in progress for 30 days or more, and the GM has not publicly posted an update on the status of the game in the last 30 days, the game is considered to have ended without a winner, and all the characters are assumed to have disappeared, never to be heard from again. Updates may simply consist of a URL of a game log from an IRC server, if this is available.
Rule 1250.25/0
Frog, Frog, Frog, Mouse
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Optionally, an Ackanomic IRC server.
Gamepoints as required.
2) Number of Players
At least 3 players are required. The maximum number of players is the number of players in Ackanomic.
3) Number of referees
This game uses no referees.
4) Starting the game
The game begins when one of the players posts a randomly-arranged list of the players in the game. This list serves as the order in which players become the Mad Scientist. When the list is posted, the first player on the list becomes Mad Scientist. In each successive round, the Mad Scientist is the next player on the list (or his replacement) after the previous round's Mad Scientist.
5) Joining and Leaving a Game in Progress
Players may not join games in progress except to fill in as replacements for players who have left the game. If a player leaves, his seat remains vacant until somebody fills it. Vacant seats automatically pass any time they have a move left to make, but if a vacant seat is filled before the round ends, its new occupant may override that pass with any legal play. If it becomes a vacant seat's turn to be Mad Scientist, it is immediately treated as if the Mad Scientist was delinquent. If the Mad Scientist leaves the game, e is considered delinquent and the current round immediately ends.
6) Rules
I. Starting a Round
The game consists of a series of rounds. Each round begins when the Mad Scientist chooses rules for the two transformation machines, a target zoo (a collection of at least one and no more than 9 animals), and a zoo of 5 randomly chosen animals for each player, and publicly announces the target zoo and each player's zoo; e keeps the rules for the machines secret. However, if the zoo chosen for any player matched the target zoo, then before the information is posted, that zoo is replaced with a new zoo created in the same manner. This process is repeated until no player's zoo matches the target zoo exactly.
II. Starting a Turn
Each round consists of at most 10 turns. The first turn begins when the Mad Scientist has posted the necessary information to begin the round. On each turn, each player privately submits a move to the Mad Scientist. Invalid moves are ignored, but the once a player has made a valid move in a turn he may not change it, except for overriding a default pass made by a vacant seat. When a turn has been going for 3 days, all players who have not yet submitted a valid move pass and the round ends. A round ends earlier than that if all players have submitted a valid move.
III. Ending a Turn and Ending a Round
When a turn ends, the Mad Scientist posts the moves each player made, the results of those moves, and the current zoos for each player. At this time, the round ends if it was the 10th turn, or if any player's zoo matched the target zoo; otherwise, a new round begins immediately. When the round ends, the Mad Scientist posts the scoring for the round and the cumulative scores; when e does so, the next player in the list becomes the Mad Scientist, or the game ends if this was the last round.
IV. Scoring a Round
At the end of a round, each player's zoo is divided into two parts, a bag and an excess. For each species, if the player has more animals than there are of that species in the target zoo, then as many as are in the target zoo are placed in the bag and any leftover animals are placed in the excess; otherwise, all the player's animals of that species are placed in the bag.
Then, the player scores a number of gamepoints equal to (10*N/T) - (2*K), rounded down to an integer, where N is the total number of animals in the bag, T is the total number of animals in the target zoo, and K is the total umber of animals in the excess. [In other words, he scores a fraction out of 10 points for the animals he has that match the target zoo, and loses 2 points for each extra animal.] However, if this number is negative, the player instead scores zero gamepoints that round. In addition to this, each player whose zoo matched the target zoo exactly receives 5 gamepoints.
The Mad Scientist does not have a zoo and does not score this way; instead, he receives a number of gamepoints equal to the difference between the smallest and largest scores the other players received for the round.
V. Delinquent Mad Scientist
If at any time the Mad Scientist fails to post the info for the start of the round within 3 days of gaining the title, or fails the results of a turn within 6 days of the turn beginning (3 days to wait for submissions and 3 days to post the results), and any player points this out publicly, then that Mad Scientist is deemed Delinquent. If the Mad Scientist posts the info late, but before any player points it out publicly, he is not Delinquent and the round goes on.
When the Mad Scientist is deemed Delinquent, the round ends immediately and the Mad Scientist loses 5 points. If the Mad Scientist ever posted the target zoo and info on the zoos players had, then the other players also receive score as they usually would at the end of the round, based on the last posted zoos. When any player posts the scoring for that round and the cumulative scores, the next player on the list becomes Mad Scientist (or the game ends, if e was the last player on the list).
7) Other information needed to play
The animals used in the game are the following: cat, dog, frog, mouse. The first letters of these animals' names may be used as shorthand in describing moves, results of moves, and zoos.
I. Transformation Rules
The rule for each transformation machine consists of one or more transformations. Each transformation consists of a pattern to match and the replacement for that pattern. The patterns may only depend on the number, species, and arrangement of animals being fed into the machine for a single move. The replacement may be absolute, or depend partly or completely on the animals matched by the pattern. It is permissible for a transformation to change the number of animals, and it is recommended for some of them to do so, so that a target zoo with a number of animals other than 5 can be reached. All transformations must be deterministic, i.e., if the machine turns dfmc into dfdd once, it should always do so for the rest of the round whenever dfmc is fed into the machine.
II. Example Transformations
["The last animal is transformed into a dog" converts dfmc -> dfmd "The last two animals are transformed into duplicates of the first animal" converts dfmc -> dfdd "Whenever a cat is immediately followed by a mouse, those two animals are replaced by a frog" converts dfcmmcm -> dffmf "Every dog is replaced by a cat followed by two frogs and then a mouse" converts cdmdfc -> ccffmmcffmfc]
III. Applying Transformation Rules
When a transformation rule is applied, each transformation in the rule is applied, in order, to the current list of animals in the machine. The animals in the machine are changed before the next transformation is applied, so the rule consisting of the three transformations "All dogs become cats. All cats become frogs. All frogs become mice." would turn all animals entering the machine into mice.
IV. Moves
Each turn, each player submits one of the following moves:
A. Pass. No change occurs in the player's zoo.
B. Restart. The player's entire zoo is replaced by a new collection of 5 randomly-chosen animals, again with the provision that if the chosen zoo matches the target zoo exactly, it is replaced with another newly chosen zoo, repeatedly, until it does not match the target zoo.
C. Transformation. Along with this move, the player submits an ordered list of animals to be fed into one of the transformation machines, and specifies which machine (A or B) they are fed into. The list of animals must only contain animals from that player's zoo, and no more animals of any one species than are in his zoo. Those animals are removed from his zoo, fed into the machine indicated in the order specified, that machine's transformation rule is applied to those animals, and the resulting animals are returned to his zoo. This is the usual move, and may be specified by just stating the machine and list of animals.
8) Conditions for winning the game
When the game ends, whoever has the highest score wins. If there is a tie for highest score, all tied players win.
9) Trophies
The winner receives a standard trophy.
10) Ending the game
When the last Mad Scientist posts the results and final scores, the game ends. If the last Mad Scientist becomes Delinquent, the game ends when any player posts the scoring for the truncated round and the final scores.
Rule 1270/3
Puzzle Pieces
Fo (Duncan Richer)
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.
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, all of their existing Puzzle Pieces are destroyed, and the Title of Puzzler is transferred to them, upon a player pointing this fact out publically.
Rule 1301/28
Church
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
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 Institutional 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)
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)
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 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 1350/5
La Luna
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
(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)
Rule 1390/1
Miscellaneous Rule Suite
breadbox (Brian Raiter)
[Miscellanous rules.]
Rule 1390.2/4
Royal Frinks
JT (JT Traub)
Any frink not otherwise defined as Royal shall become Knurd if frunk from a hydria. Knurd is a Royal Frink.
Hydriae are tradeable entities, which may only be created as described in the Rules.
Rule 1390.3/0
X
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Rule 1390.10/0
The Haiku Limit
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
Rule 1390.15/0
I'm a Teapot
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)