105 - Fictionary

Gist:  A player chooses an obsure word from a dictionary that hopefully
no one knows the definition of.  All other players anonymously submit
bogus definitions of the word.  All submissions are mixed in with the
real definition, and players vote on which definition is correct.
Scoring is based on voting for the correct definition among all the
chaff, or inticing others vote for your bogus definition.



I.  Equipment: none

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:

The game is started upon a required number of players
nofitying the GamesMaster of their intent to start a Game
of Fictionary, and the GamesMaster publically announcing the start
of the game, or as directed by other rules.

In the announcement of the start of the game, the GamesMaster 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 with "Gamepoints", which have no scope
outside a particular instance of a game of Fictionary.

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 competion 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 (known as the "Ing Word" for
that round) from the Official Dictionary, whose definition is available
on-line in one of the extra-nomic dictionaries listed below
(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 defintions 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 defintion is removed from play.
The Brainiac publically announces that this has occurred, and play
proceeds without the submission as if case 3c) occurred, except that the
correct Bluffer does not participate.

3c) No Bluffer submitted a definition that is substantially similar to
an On-line 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) Default: The Brainiac loses 4 Gamepoints, no other scoring occurs
this round, and play proceeds to the next round.

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.

        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 recieve A$12.  There is no winner
declared, however.

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 GamesMaster or Acting GamesMaster 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.  Permissible On-line Extra-Nomic Dictionaries

http://gs213.sp.cs.cmu.edu/prog/webster
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html

VI.  Errata

1)  Players on vacation 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).  A player going on vacation may have a volunteer
play in their place if they can find such a person, however.

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 until its definition is disclosed, or until adjudication
of step 5 is required.

4) If any disputes arise, it shall be adjudicated by the GamesMaster,
who shall render judgement objectively.  If a player is dissatisified
with the GamesMaster's 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.

5) If any of the Dictionaries become inaccessable for an extended
period of time, the GamesMaster may declare the game unplayable, and
end it with no winner.