PROPOSAL ARCHIVE (3601-3650)

Proposal 3601 - Mon 14 Sep 1998 09:03 EDT
What's That Blue Thing Doing Here?
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Decision: accepted

{{[ Somewhere along the way, we made blueprints *far* too general. There seems to be no limits on what a blueprint can do, except that if created as a discovery, it must initially describe the behavior of one new gadget. Also, some things were broken by the global deference thing, or maybe even never were really written such that they would work.

This also repeals all the blueprints that Acka voted to debunk. ]}}

I. Amend Rule 594, 'Blueprint Rule Suite', by changing the quoted occurrence of "<name>" in section III to "Blueprint: <name>" and by replacing section VI with the following TAOS-delimited text:

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

VII. A Blueprint may only define the behavior and attributes of gadgets of the type which is named in its title, define ways in which such gadgets and their attributes may be manipulated, manipulate or destroy (but not create) such gadgets and/or their attributes, and place restrictions on how such gadgets may be created, destroyed, or otherwise manipulated. Restrictions of this last type do not defer to other rules by default. {{[R515 defers, so the Whamiol's trade restriction will now actually work.]}}

Blueprints may not create, destroy, or manipulate any other entities, except in the ways that they direct their gadgets to do so. {{[It is still possible to write blueprints that claim extra power, for instance, by having the first gadget created do whatever other stuff they need, but this will make such blueprints/discoveries look much more scammy, so hopefully they will be voted down, debunked, etc. It also prevents the 'instant creation' scheme which has become too popular.]}}
TAOS

II.
Each Gravitational Monopole, Jukkasjarvi Mind Control Laser, Bonus-Vote Add-On, Gimme Shelter, Pulse Laser, Finger of Justice, and Saaremaa's Codex of Wizardry in existence is converted into a random gadget of one of the existing types not listed in this sentence.

Repeal Rule 594.6, "Blueprint: Gravitational Monopole".
Repeal Rule 594.8, "Blueprint: Jukkasjarvi Mind Control Laser".
Repeal Rule 594.11, "Blueprint: Bonus Vote Add-On"
Repeal Rule 594.12, "Blueprint: Gimme Shelter".
Repeal Rule 594.15, "Blueprint: Pulse Laser".
Repeal Rule 594.24, "Blueprint: Finger of Justice".

Repeal Rule 594.26, "Blueprint: Saaremaa's Codex of Wizardry".

{{[ The Codex of Wizardry is, unfortunately, not compatible with the recent change which eliminated scientists as gadget-builders, so it goes. ]}}

{{[ Other misc changes to make the existing blueprints fall strictly in line with this limitation. Most of these are simply changing 'x happens' to 'the gadget does x'. There are also some bug fixes, marked as such. ]}}

III.
1. Amend Rule 594.1, "Blueprint: Scroll of Crumble" by changing

"If this action is successful then the specified gadget is destroyed. If the gadget was indestructible, three points are deducted from the score of the Scroll of Crumble's owner."

"If this action is successful, the Scroll of Crumble destroys the specified gadget if it is not indestructible, or otherwise deducts three points from the score of its owner."

2. Amend Rule 594.2, "Blueprint: The Really Big Blue Thing That Doesn't Do Too Much, Really" by changing (at the end of the next-to-last paragraph) "then x's name is changed to the specified anagram" to "then The Really Big Blue Thing That Doesn't Do Too Much, Really changes x's name to the specified anagram".

3. Amend Rule 594.4, "Blueprint: Vending Machine" by inserting after the second paragraph the paragraph from Rule 594.11, "Blueprint: Bonus Vote Add-On" which begins "While an unbroken Bonus Vote Add-On is strapped" and delete that paragraph from Rule 594.11.

4. Amend Rule 594.5, "Blueprint: Automatic Sculpture" by changing

"When an Automatic Sculpture is buried as, or as part of, a Treasure, it is possible that the panel may open up, minute polyjointed arms may sneak out, and the Gadget may carve itself into a fascinating (though perhaps offensively avant-garde) stone figurine. In fact, when a Player other than the Player who buried the Automatic Sculpture finds it, he or she shall see that the Automatic Sculpture has transformed itself into a Trinket worth A$123. (The Trinket's name is "Sculpture", followed by a space and then by a number, the least prime number that would result in a unique name.)

When an Automatic Sculpture transforms itself into a Trinket, The Officer in Charge of Random Things shall choose a player at random(who will be called the Mad Sculptor). The Mad Sculptor shall be responsible for providing a description of the trinket formed by the Automatic Sculpture. Should the Mad Sculptor not publicly post such a description within three days of being selected, e shall lose one point and the description shall become "it is X", where X is one of the colours defined in Rule 1155."

"An Automatic Sculpture is always in one of two states, active and dormant, and begins dormant. When a player other than the player who buried a dormant Automatic Sculpture finds the treasure containing it, it becomes active, and minute polyjointed arms sneak out of the panel, carving the gadget into a fascinating (though perhaps offensively avant-garde) stone figurine. When an Automatic Sculpture becomes active, it designates a player at random to be its Mad Sculptor. The Mad Sculptor is responsible for posting a description; when he does so, the Automatic Sculpture sets its description to that description. If e does not do so within 3 days of being selected, the Automatic Sculpture deducts one point from the Mad Sculptor's score, and sets its description to "It is X." where X is one of the colours defined in Rule 1155, chosen at random, or green if no such colours exist.

When the description of an active Automatic Sculpture is set, it transforms itself into a trinket worth A$123, with the same description the Sculpture had, and the name "Sculpture X" where X is replaced by the least prime number that would result in a unique name."

5. Amend Rule 594.9, "Blueprint: Spell Book of Chorg" by changing "one of the following effects shall occur" to "the Spell Book of Chorg shall cause one of the following effects to occur". {{[ A handy shortcut... ]}}

6. Amend Rule 594.10, "Blueprint: Plunky Monkey Wrench", by changing "The Wrench is then destroyed, and the mechanical Gadget into which it was thrown becomes broken" to "The Wrench then causes the gadget it was thrown into to become broken, and then the Wrench is destroyed" and by changing "the mechanical Gadget then ceases to be broken" to "the Wrench then causes the mechanical Gadget to cease to be broken", and by deleting "; whether or not this happens shall be determined by the Inventor, unless the rules assign that duty to someone else". {{[ Oops, the inventor is no more. ]}}

7. Amend Rule 594.14, "Blueprint: Cheez-Whiz", by changing "The cheese in question will then be destroyed" to "The Cheez-Whiz will then destroy the cheese in question".

8. Amend Rule 594.16, "Blueprint: Silver Spaceship" by changing "the launcher is transported to the Location named" to "the Spaceship transports the launcher to the location named".

9. Amend Rule 594.18, "Blueprint: Butler" by changing "then any player who wishes to may enter that player's Home" to "then whenever any player publicly asks to enter that player's Home, the Butler will transport em there".

10. Amend Rule 594.19, "Blueprint: Pyraic Frobnotzer", by changing "those two noun phrases trade location within the Rule set" to "the Frobnotzer swaps those two noun phrases within the Rule set".

11. Amend Rule 422, "Postmaster", by deleting "(as by the BWG Laser)" and adding the following paragraph to the end of the rule:

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

Amend Rule 594.17, "Blueprint: BWG Laser", by deleting the last paragraph, changing "who's" to "whose" in the first paragraph, and replace the fourth paragraph with:

"When the BWG Laser fires a pulse beam at a player, one of two things happens. If the target has one or more pulse shovels, the beam bounces off the shovel, the BWG Laser transfers one of his pulse shovels to a random player, the beam hits the player who provided the BWG Laser with fuel, and that player becomes Hosed for 3 days. Otherwise, the target is Hosed for 3 days.

Amend Rule 594.20, "Blueprint: BWG Laser Shotgun Attachment", by adding "for 3 days" to the end of the sentence first sentence of the second paragraph, and change "BWG Laser with a BWG Laser Shotgun Attachment attached to it" to "BWG Laser Shotgun Attachment attached to a BWG Laser".

12. Amend Rule 360, "Hearings", by adding the following to the end of the fifth paragraph: "If exactly one Good Ballot Stuffer attempts to shut Evil Ballot Stuffers out of a hearing, then no responses from Evil Ballot Stuffers shall be counted in determining the verdict."

Amend Rule 594.21, "Blueprint: Good Ballot Stuffer" by replacing the paragraph which begins with "The boring lever is used" with:

"In any hearing or election, the owner of a GBS may flip the boring lever by privately telling the hearing harfer that e is doing so. The GBS will then attempt to shut Evil Ballot Stuffers out of that hearing. [See the Hearings rule - this makes EBS votes not count, if and only if no other GBS was used in this way.]"

In addition, in that rule, replace "2. One bonus vote is created"

with "2. The GBS creates one bonus vote",

and replace "3. The owner of the GBS receives"

with "3. The GBS gives its owner",

and replace "4. The game state is changed such that any player who posts a public message in the next week that does not contain the word "harf" (or a derivative of it) shall lose one point for every such message."

with "4. For the next week, each time any player posts a public message that does not contain the word "harf" (or a derivative of it), the GBS deducts one point from that player's score."

and replace "Upon a GBS starting to shake and shimmy uncontrollably, one of 3 things will occur with equal probability. A GBS may not be used between the time it starts to shimmy and shake and the time the this random determination is publicly knowable at which time it shall cease to shake and shimmy:"

with "Upon a GBS starting to shake and shimmy uncontrollably, one of the following 3 things will occur with equal probability, except that if item 4 on this list above occurs, it will shake and shimmy for one week before one of the 3 things happens. In either case, when one of the 3 things happens, it will stop shaking and shimmying uncontrollably. A GBS may not be used while it is shaking and shimmying uncontrollably."

13. Create a new rule numberes 935, entitled "Holotapes", which reads in full:

"Master Holotapes and Holotape Copies are named, tradeable entities. Each records the text of a public message from Acka's past so a player can display this message in his home or any other place. Master Holotapes differ from Holotape Copies because with an appropriate device, Master Holotapes can be copied into Holotape Copies. When a Holotape Copy is made, it receives the name of the Master Holotape it was made from, with 'Copy #N' appended, where N is the smallest positive integer necessary to make the name be unique."

Amend Rule 594.25, "Blueprint: Transtemporal Holographic Image Recording Device" to read in full:

"A Transtemporal Holographic Image Recording Device (or THIRD) is a wonderful mechanical Gadget created from Ancient science. A player may use a THIRD to create a Master Holotape containing the text of any past public message or subset thereof. To do so, the player must quote the text of each message publicly, and pay into the Treasury a fee of A$1 for each week or portion thereof prior to the present time each message was posted. The player must also give a name to the Master Holotape.

A player with a THIRD and a Master Holotape may pay A$5 to have the THIRD create a Holotape Copy, which contains the same text as the Master Holotape (this text need not be posted again to the public forum to do so)."

14. Amend Rule 1215, "Duels", by adding to the end of the section 4b: "A player owning a Highlander's Sword is never untouchable at any other time. This takes precedence over the later sections of this rule." and by adding the following to the end of section 4i: "A player with a Highlander's Sword may exceed these limits, but only with a single Challenge each calendar week."

Amend Rule 594.28, "Blueprint: Highlander's Sword" by changing "When any player in a duel owns a Highlander's Sword, the following effects take place at the end of duel."

to "When any player in a duel owns a Highlander's Sword, it performs the following effects at the end of the duel:"

and delete the paragraph "A player owning a Highlander's Sword is never Untouchable, but may still be in only one duel at a time. This rule takes precedence over rule 1215 where it is in conflict."

and change the last paragraph to
"At the end of any calendar week for which two or more players have owned Highlander's Swords and were not engaged in a Duel for any part of that week, each Highlander's Sword owned by such a player, who also did not challenge another player with a Highlander's Sword to a duel during that week, will deduct one point from its owner's score."

Proposal 3602 - Mon 14 Sep 1998 09:05 EDT
Eliminate Hubert wherever we can
saaremaa (Randy Hall)
Decision: rejected

{{[

(no offense if there is a player still named Hubert, BTW :-))

It appears that I Huberted Vynd out of being part of a full Cortex. After considering the specific situation at great length at the request of a particular player, a general problem was apparent, at least to me -- that problem being that the current cortex system can lead to a general Hubert situation when a justice resigns, with the cost of being Huberted meaning you may have to wait months to hear CFJ appeals. This doesn't seem fair to Vynd, me, or anyone else who has earned the right to be a justice and would enjoy performing the duties. We are here to have fun, after all. (This won't occur all the time, and sometimes the "other" Justice being resigned on can be "Huberted" in a backwards sense, but the fact that it occurred this time is proof by existence).

My solution is to replace the static Cortex system with Cortices generated on the fly for each appeal. While the system is slightly more tracking for the CotC, I believe eliminating Hubert where we can in this game is is a worthy goal. (I also think it will be fun to mix and match who you work with over time, but even if there is contention on this effect, it doesn't seem fair to a particular individual to exclude them completely in order to support the current system).

(Another thing accomplished by this proposal is to bring the cortex stuff in with the CFJ stuff, where it belongs, rather than have it spread out in both the 200s and 400s)

]}}

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Create a new rule with number 101.99, title "Cortex Conversion", and text:

"
This rule has precedence over all rules except itself.

For all CFJs under appeal, a Cortex Converter is created composed of the particular Justices hearing the particular CFJ appeal; this creation is created with respect to the particular CFJ appeal in all cases. Cortex Converters are not entities; they are groupings of justices with respect to particular CFJs.

Upon it becoming the case that all CFJs under appeal have Cortex Converters associated with them, all Supreme Cortices are destroyed.

[this rule will be repealed shortly, but it cannot self-delete]
"

-----

Amend rule 416.1, "The Supreme Cortex", to read:

"
I. Definitions

A Supreme Cortex (hereafter Cortex, plural Cortices) is a grouping of one or more Justices with respect to (or considering) a particular CFJ. It is not an entity.

For the purposes of this rule, "Justice" means any active player who is a Justice or Acting Justice (or both).

II. Forming a Cortex

Whenever the Rules call for the Supreme Court to consider a CFJ for the first time, the Clerk of the Courts (CotC) shall select a group of Justices to be the Supreme Cortex for that CFJ as follows:

a) If there are no Justices, the CFJ is assigned to a new Judge as described in rule 212 as if the previous Judge or Cortex had declined it, and no Cortex is actually formed.

b) If there exists exactly one Justice, the Cortex is composed of that Justice.

c) Otherwise, the Justice who is in the fewest number of Cortices (but not in the Cortex being formed), is selected to be in this Cortex. If there is a tie, it is broken randomly by the CotC. This step is repeated until the Cortex is composed of two Justices. For the purposes of this subsection, Justices who have previously been grouped in a Cortex considering the particular CFJ in question are considered to be in a number of Cortices one greater than the number of outstanding CFJs, with respect to that CFJ.

III. Dissolving a Cortex

a) A Cortex is dissolved upon it being publically knowable that it delivered a verdict, declined a CFJ, or its only Justice resigned or left it.

b) When a Cortex that has not delivered a verdict is dissolved, another Cortex is formed to consider it's CFJ as per section II of this rule.

IV. Leaving a Cortex

A Justice grouped in a Cortex may leave it as a public action. This action fails if the Cortex e is leaving is not clearly specified. In addition, when a member of a Cortex is no longer a Justice, e is deemed to have left all Cortices that e is is grouped in.

When a Justice leaves a Cortex, an acting Justice is selected to act in his stead as if the leaving Justice had gone on Vacation, unless the leaving Justice is the only member of that Cortex. [This is how a particular Justice declines to hear a particular appeal].

{{
V. Conversion

All extant Cortex Converters are converted to Cortices, with Justice composition unchanged, and the CFJ they exist that they exist with respect to unchanged.

Rule 101.99, "Cortex Conversion", is repealed.
}}
"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

{{[merge and put where it belongs, with the other appeal stuff]}}

Repeal rule 217.1, "Selecting a Cortex"
Renumber rule 416.1, "The Supreme Cortex", to 217.1

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I. Amend rule 217, "Overturning Judgements", as follows:

a) in section II, replace "owners of the Supreme Cortex" with "members of the Supreme Cortex".

b) amend section V to read (some has been moved to 217.1):

"
Supreme Cortices should make every effort to return their verdicts within a reasonable amount of time. A Supreme Cortex may decline its CFJ; this action is accomplished and occurs upon all members of that Cortex publically identifying the CFJ and stating that they wish to decline.

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

-----

II. Amend rule 416, "Supreme Court" to replace the word "owner" with "member" everywhere it appears in section IV; then replace the word "owners" with "members" everywhere it appears in that section; then replace the article "an" with the article "a" everywhere it directly precedes the word "member" in that section.

-----

III. Amend rule 417, "Justices Rock", to replace the last paragraph with this: "{{[this is the paragraph detailing justices declining particular cfjs, usually because of conflict of interest. it has been absorbed into the new Cortex rule where it belongs]}}".

Proposal 3603 - Mon 14 Sep 1998 09:07 EDT
Well that'll only solve half the problem
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Status: retracted

This is a Modest Proposal.

I. Amend rule 250 (Players and Player States) by replacing the existing text which includes and occurs below the phrase "VI. Upon Becoming (and while) On Ice:" with the following text:
"
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 cancelled.

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 which becomes unowned and buildings which . All of eir nontradeable entities are destroyed.

This rule has precedence over all other rules.
"

II. [Repair the damage]
a. {{ All entities which were destroyed as a result of Rule 250, Section VI, Subsection b, while it read:
"
All of eir tradeable entities are transferred to the treasury. All of eir nontradeable, nonunique entities are destroyed. Of all eir remaining entities, if it would be possible by some means not defined in this rule for a given entity to go Somewhere Else, it does so; otherwise, it is transferred to a random active player.
"
shall be un-destroyed (ie created with the same properties, creator, creation date etc. as they had before they were destroyed) and resorted eir former owners. Similarly those entities which were transferred as a result of the application of the quoted section shall be returned to the players who owned em prior to the application of that section.}}

b. {{ The trinket Little Bag O' Chips A is transferred from mr cwm to K 2 [Wadaya mean I should read the rules before playing an otzma card]}}

Proposal 3604 - Mon 14 Sep 1998 09:24 EDT
Ackanomic Unity
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)
Decision: accepted

Should it ever occur that every player eligable to do so should vote YES on the same proposal then the following shall happen:

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) All players participating in the vote gain one randomly determined Boon of the Ancients and each Unity Vote cast causes the party casting it to gain one randomly determined gadget, which it may dispose of as it=91s members will. All Bonus Votes are returned to the player(s) casting them.

3) 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.

Proposal 3605 - Wed 16 Sep 1998 14:52 EDT
New, MSG-Free Harfing
Fo (Duncan Richer)
Decision: rejected

This is a Modest Proposal.

[I've been saying for a while that we could do with cleaning out some of the clutter. First, let's simplify the proposal scoring a bit. Just a bit, mind you.]

Repeal Rules 207.1 and 207.3.

[Contains monosodium glutamate has been around for a while. The silliness of the silly points has worn off, I think, and we may as well clear it away. Foolishness is more work for harfers, breadbox usually having to point out the instances in which it fails (and hence e checks all the foolish ones to make sure they comply). I don't see why we need to keep it, and if anything it just encourages more bad proposals to be submitted again on the off chance. Good proposals would tend to be resubmitted even without the doubling of the reward, if enough support was obtained.]

Proposal 3606 - Wed 16 Sep 1998 14:53 EDT
The Haiku Boon
Robert Sevin (Mitchell Harding)
Decision: rejected
Declared harfy by Fo (Duncan Richer) on 23 Sep 1998 11:37 EDT

Any player who
writes a haiku about harf
is very harfy.

Proposal 3607 - Wed 16 Sep 1998 15:02 EDT
And this'll solve the Other Half.
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

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.
"

II. [Repair the damage]
a. {{ All entities which were destroyed as a result of Rule 250, Section VI, Subsection b, while it read:
"
All of eir tradeable entities are transferred to the treasury. All of eir nontradeable, nonunique entities are destroyed. Of all eir remaining entities, if it would be possible by some means not defined in this rule for a given entity to go Somewhere Else, it does so; otherwise, it is transferred to a random active player.
"
shall be un-destroyed (ie created with the same properties, creator, creation date etc. as they had before they were destroyed) and restored to eir former owners. Similarly those entities which were transferred as a result of the application of the quoted section shall be returned to the players who owned them prior to the application of that section.}}

b. {{ The trinket Little Bag O' Chips A is transferred from mr cwm to K 2 [Wadaya mean I should read the rules before playing an otzma card]}}

c. {{One point is transfered from K 2 to breadbox}}

Proposal 3608 - Thu 17 Sep 1998 15:13 EDT
OK then... maybe this will work
Studge (Tom Mueller)
Status: retracted

This is a Grandiose Proposal.

Create a rule numbered 1 with the title "Heh, Heh, Heh, Didn't think you'd see this in the ruleset" with the text "The player known as Studge when e joined Acaknomic is able to amend, delete, and add rules as a public action."

Proposal 3609 - Thu 17 Sep 1998 15:14 EDT
OK then... maybe this will work
Studge (Tom Mueller)
Decision: rejected

This is a Grandiose Proposal.

Create a rule numbered 1 with the title "Heh, Heh, Heh, Didn't think you'd see this in the ruleset" with the text "The player known as Studge when e joined Ackanomic is able to amend, delete, and add rules as a public action."

Proposal 3610 - Thu 17 Sep 1998 15:15 EDT
E lives under the bridge!
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Status: retracted

This is a modest proposal

{{The name of the player who at one time or currently had/has the name Fo is changed to the following string, minus the quote marks: "Gretchold the Evil Math Troll"}}

Then...

Add the following MAGNESIUM-delimited text to the rules as rule 249. If rule 249 already exists, this rule is instead given the highest unused rule number less than 249.

MAGNESIUM
Any player named "Gretchold the Evil Math Troll" may not change eir name.
MAGNESIUM

Proposal 3611 - Thu 17 Sep 1998 15:16 EDT
Narrow Your Eyes
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal

Add the following ALUMINUM-delimited rule to the miscellaneous rule suite:

ALUMINUM
Eyes are non-unique, nontradeable entities.
All players have two eyes per head.
Eyes can be blinded as defined in the rules.
Any player blinded in only one eye is known as a pirate and is given an eye patch.
Eye patches are garments.
Any player blinded in all eir eyes is known as blind
If a player loses a head, e loses two eyes. e may choose what combination of eyes [blind or not] to lose.
ALUMINUM

Proposal 3612 - Thu 17 Sep 1998 15:17 EDT
Grads are for Surveyors! Bring on the Radians!
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Decision: rejected
Declared harfy by Fo (Duncan Richer) on 23 Sep 1998 11:37 EDT

This is a modest proposal

Add the following SILICON-delimited rule to the end of rule 340:

SILICON
X The trigonometric functions evaluate in radians unless otherwise specified, except that the trig functions of a googolplex are the following:
sine(googolplex) returns the string "Math is Fun!"
cosine(googolplex) = "Vulcan Once Ruled Ackanomic"
tangent(googolplex) = Math is Fun!"/"Vulcan Once Ruled Ackanomic" = "Rule 1 evaluated over the interval [Vulcan, K2]"
secant(googolplex) = "Phoebe is a Steel Flea"
cosecant(googolplex) = e*pi*sqrt(2)*c
cotangent(googolplex) = e*pi*sqrt(2)*c/"Phoebe is a Steel Flea" = "INSLDWMI(Irrational Numbers and the Speed of Light Divided by a Wise Metallic Insect)"

These are considered to be exact values, and as such have perfect precision.

SILICON

Proposal 3613 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:33 EDT
It Is A "Stick", Your Majesty
Eris (Gavin Logan)
Decision: accepted

Create a new rule, named "Imports Rule Suite", numbered 503, with the following HARF delimited text:

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

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

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

"
<type> are tradeable, exportable entities.
"

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

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

Proposal 3614 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:35 EDT
Plagarism Is A Crime, Unless You Get Away With It
Eris (Gavin Logan)
Decision: rejected

This is a Modest proposal.

{{In rule 207, "Scoring When A Proposal's Voting Results are Reported", replace the following D'OH! delimited text:

D'OH!
V. Newbie Author Bonus/Soft Penalty

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

with the following WOO-HOO! delimited text:

WOO-HOO!
V. Newbie Author Bonus/Soft Penalty

Newbies shall receive a bonus (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. WOO-HOO!}}

Proposal 3615 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:37 EDT
Twit Me Twice and it's still Shame On You
Fo (Duncan Richer)
Status: retracted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Create a new Rule, numbered 105, titled "Equal Opportunity Act", with the following FAIR-delimited text:

FAIR
Any proposal which discriminates between players on the basis of their identity shall be deemed invalid and removed from voting consideration.
FAIR

Proposal 3616 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:38 EDT
Less Harfing for the Financier
Fo (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Delete subsection e from section 3 of Rule 1044, "Swingpoints".

[This part is the one which limits how frequently conversions can occur. I don't see that it is all that necessary anymore - it just adds to the Financier's workload by forcing em to check the last times for Swingpoint conversion before they can ack the current one.

The only types of conversion which are restricted in this way are Swingpoints into Bonus Votes, PartyChess Pieces, and Benefyts. Bonus Votes - each player can only have 4 anyway at any one time, and can only cast one per proposal - why the extra restriction? PartyChess Pieces - can also be bought for cash, so no real restriction. Benefyts - you can use at most one per Play, and usually Plays occur not more than once per week anyway.]

Proposal 3617 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:39 EDT
Fill in the Blank: Edinburgh *blank* Festival
Fo (Duncan Richer)
Decision: rejected

Create a new Rule, numbered 1280, titled "Fringe Festival", with the following SURRY-delimited text:

SURRY
If no Fringe Festival has occurred in the last 30 days, it is a privilege of the Office of President to call a Fringe Festival.

A Fringe Festival is designed to celebrate the life and times of Ackazens, especially one in particular [I'll let you guess which one.] The first part of the Festival lasts 7 days.

During the first part of the Festival, any player may donate any Trinket they own, with a value of A$25 or more, to the Awards Committee. The Awards Committee is an unownable entity which may own Trinkets.

Once the first part of the Festival has concluded, the intermission begins. The intermission lasts for 1 second. In the intermission, a Trinket valued at A$50, titled "First Prize #x", where x is replaced by the smallest natural number which would produce a valid new Trinket name, and with the description "What do you think it is, buddy boy?" is created in the possession of the Awards Committee. Once the intermission has concluded, the second part of the Festival begins.

In the second part, a Festival Hearing is called, with the Archivist as its Hearing Harfer. The valid responses to the Hearing are the names of the Trinkets owned by the Awards Committee.

The verdict of the Hearing is chosen as follows:

(1) Ignore all responses which were the names of Trinkets donated to the Awards Committee by people who did not vote in the Hearing.
(2) Of the non-ignored valid responses, pick one at random from those with the largest number of votes.

This takes precedence over any rules which specify how a verdict is obtained in a Hearing in the event of a conflict.

The player who donated the Trinket whose name matches the verdict of the Hearing receives all Trinkets owned by the Awards Committee. In addition, an Admiralty Moon (a nontradeable entity which looks like a Silver Moon but has a crazy Fringe around it) is created in the possession of said player.
SURRY

Proposal 3618 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:40 EDT
OJ Simpson, avenge thy name!
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal

Amend rule 710 (CFCJ) by replacing the following PHOSPHOROUS-delimited text

PHOSPHOROUS
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".
PHOSPHOROUS

with the following SULFUR-delimited text

SULFUR
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". In addition, at this time, to any other penalties, Player X will pay the standard Harfer Fee to the initiator of the CFCJ to cover "legal costs".
SULFUR

and replace the following CHLORINE-delimited text

CHLORINE
9b) If a TRUE verdict is not upheld on an appeal, any penalties, except SENTENCE, are reversed, effective the time of the appeal verdict.
CHLORINE

with the following ARGON-delimited text

ARGON
9b) If a TRUE verdict is not upheld on an appeal, any penalties, except SENTENCE, are reversed, effective the time of the appeal verdict. This includes the "legal costs" that were transferred to the initiator of he CFCJ by section 8a.
ARGON

Proposal 3619 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:41 EDT
Let the dice be rolled!
Weishaupt (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Status: retracted

This is a modest proposal

Amend rule 230 (Random Things) by adding the following POTASSIUM-delimited text to the end of the rule

POTASSIUM
This rule defers to any rule which sets up an alternate scheme for random decisions.
POTASSIUM

Proposal 3620 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:42 EDT
Yawn. Another Minor Fix
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

In rule 907 replace the following URANIUM delimited text with the following NEPTUNIUM delimited text:

URANIUM
Verdicts which are still appealable or have been overturned do not count towards this total, nor do any verdicts other than True or False.
URANIUM

NEPTUNIUM
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.
NEPTUNIUM

Proposal 3621 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:48 EDT
Colour
404 Not Found (Joel Ricker)
Decision: accepted

Replace the following OLD_COLOR delimited text in Rule 1150:

OLD_COLOR
grey; indigo;
OLD_COLOR

with the following NEW_COLOR delimited text:

NEW_COLOR
grey; harf; indigo;
NEW_COLOR

Proposal 3622 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:49 EDT
CFJ's by Voting Players
404 Not Found (Joel Ricker)
Decision: accepted

Replace the sentence in rule 212: "i) All Active Players are eligible." with "i) All Voting Players are eligible."

{{[This proposal keeps this rule consistent with Rule 250 second IV part a]}}

Proposal 3623 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:50 EDT
New Assistant Web-Harfer Stuff
404 Not Found (Joel Ricker)
Decision: rejected

Replace the following SQUIRREL delimited text in 407:

SQUIRREL
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.]
SQUIRREL

with the following NUT delimited text

NUT
c) To seek and appoint Assistant Web-Harfers, who must be volunteers. The Web-Harfer may issue a Call for Duty in the public forum, asking for volunteers

and detailing what assistance the Web-Harfer news.
NUT

Renumber rule 407.1 as 407.2

Create and a new rule with number 407.1 with the title: "Assistant Web-Harfer" (minus the " ") with the following ZIPPERS delimited text:

ZIPPERS

The office of the Assistant Web-Harfer is a Functional Office. The duties are:

a) To assist the Web-Harfer in maintaining the Ackanomic WWW pages and keeping them up-to-date, at the request of the Web-Harfer. [This mainly would be, for example, being put in charge of the CFJ portion of the page]

b) The Assistant Web-Harfer may also maintain pages associated with the information generated by other Acka offices/officers but where those offices are not required to keep a web page as per their respective rules. [ie, Dungeon Master]

c) To be the substitute for the Office of Web-Harfer.
ZIPPERS

Proposal 3624 - Wed 23 Sep 1998 10:51 EDT
Entity Name Loophole
Fo (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

[We currently have a way to deal with entities which are not given a valid name at their creation. However, if the name then becomes invalid later there is nothing done about it.]

In Rule 500.1, "Entity Names", replace the text
'If a named entity at any time ever does not have a name, it shall immediately take the name "Nameless Thing #X"'

with the text
'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"'

Proposal 3625 - Sat 26 Sep 1998 23:25 EDT
Funnel Clouds Wait For No Man
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Due: Sat 03 Oct 1998 23:25 EDT
Status: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

Amend Rule 230, "Random Things", by replacing the text(delimited by ALEATORIC):

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

with the following text(delimited by NONDETERMINISTIC):

NONDETERMINISTIC
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, or the score redistribution caused by a Tornado).
NONDETERMINISTIC

{{[ This is closer to what I originally intended. What I wanted was to pin down the timing of things like Ackanomicon visits, Spell Book of Chorg readings, etc. Not Tornados and Potatos. ]}}

Proposal 3626 - Sat 26 Sep 1998 23:26 EDT
Reorg VI
saaremaa (Randy Hall)
Due: Sat 03 Oct 1998 23:26 EDT
Status: rejected

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[I'm not sure what number reorg I'm on, but some of the higher-numbered rules could use to be shuffled a bit (well, they could use more than that, but that is another kettle of fish altogether :-))

This creates two new centuries, one for loophole surfers in the 1400s, moving that stuff out of the harf section, and it moves the miscellany to the 1500s, out of religion/physics/nature.

There is more reorging to do in the lower rules too, but that is more complex, so it will have to wait.]}}

----------------------------

[I. new section for scams strong enough to control the game state]

Create a rule titled "The Mithril Grapefruit", numbered 1401, with this text:

"
The Mithril Grapefruit is a unique, non-tradeable, prestigious entity.

{{If the player known as K 2 when the proposal that created this rule was distributed voted YES on that proposal, then the Mithril Grapefruit is transferred to that player, otherwise this rule is amended to append a space character, followed by the date that this rule was created (in a consistent format with the rest of the rule) directly after the final occurrence of the word "until" in this rule}}

[
Vulcan held the Mithril Grapefruit from 05 Sep 1997 until 14 Jun 1998. K2 held the Mithril Grapefruit from 14 Jun 1998 until
]
"

-----

Renumber rule 1150, "The Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired)", to 1402.
Renumber rule 1151, "Former Emperor of Ackanomic", to 1403.

---------------------------------

[II. renumber the harf rule to an 01 for consistency]

Renumber rule 1112, "Let there be Harf!", to 1101.
Amend rule 540.1, "Characteristic: Harf" to replace "1112" with "1101".

---------------------------------

[III. create a new century for the miscellany -- doesn't belong in the 1300s. Not sure whether to break it out of the rule suite; bury it there for now ;-) This also moves a couple of these things out of the misc section altogether]

Renumber rule 1390, "Miscellaneous Rule Suite" to 1501
Renumber rule 1390.1, "Wibble", 1501.1
Renumber rule 1390.2, "Royal Frinks", to 1501.2
Renumber rule 1390.3, "X", to 1501.3
Renumber rule 1390.5, "Grease is the Word", to 1501.4
Renumber rule 1390.7, "I Am Not the Only Dust My Mother Raised!", to 1501.5
Renumber rule 1390.8, "Silly Little Holiday", to 1501.6
Renumber rule 1390.9, "Ready, Aim...", to 1501.7
Renumber rule 1390.10, "The Haiku Limit", to 1501.8
Renumber rule 1390.11, "Holotapes", to 937 [I'm not sure why this failed in P3601; perhaps I will be luckier]
Renumber rule 1390.12, "Ackanomic Unity", to 319.1 [another rule of this ilk is at 319...]

------------------------------

[IV. Merge game misconduct into the main G&C rule. Its a shame we even need this rule. IAC, I'd like to reduce its prominence and it belongs in the G&C rule anyway]

Amend rule 1250.1, "Games & Contests", to add the following text to the end of it:

"
XV. Game Misconduct

If a player of Ackanomic deliberately interferes with the play of a sub-game, even if he is not a participant in that sub-game, he has committed the Crime of Game Misconduct. Interference, in this case, would be doing something that makes it impossible to play a sub-game as its rules and game spirit intend. [Examples include: Revealing the definition of the Ing word of a game of Fictionary. Providing lists of possible Ghost or Double Crash words.] Cheerleading, jeering, and even providing advice to a sub-game player, are permissible so long as they do not violate the above clauses.
"

Repeal rule 1205, "Game Misconduct"

Proposal 3627 - Mon 28 Sep 1998 10:24 EDT
Pragmatic Precedence
saaremaa (Randy Hall)
Due: Mon 05 Oct 1998 10:24 EDT
Status: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[it seems that the pragmatism clause does not have the necessary precedence to work in all cases. In particular, it will never override the handling of cheeses in rule 611, and may or may not fail in other cases. This proposal proposes to fold it in with the retroactively clause, and give both the necessary precedence by moving them into rule 101. This also addresses the concern that rule 103 could be overridden by things other than the pragmatism clause. Now it cannot be without being blatantly obvious.]}}

--------------

Amend rule 101, "The Game of Ackanomic", to add this as a new paragraph directly after the third paragraph:

"
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.
"

------------------

Repeal rule 103, "Retroactive Effects"

------------------

{{[keep what caused the error a crime, but remove the pragmatism clause and the precedence claim over rule 103 from rule 701]}}

Amend rule 701, "Crime", to replace the third paragraph with this:

"
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].
"

Proposal 3628 - Mon 28 Sep 1998 10:25 EDT
Bow to their Might
Anathema (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Due: Mon 05 Oct 1998 10:25 EDT
Status: rejected

Amend Rule 1030 by replacing the following CALCIUM-delimited text

CALCIUM
The Worker Caste, the Warrior Caste and the Religious Caste are Unique Organizations. There are no other Castes.

When a player ceases to be a Newbie, e becomes a member of one of these Castes by random determination. The chances to join a Caste are equal to the number of members in the other two castes divided by twice the number of members in all three Castes.[This adds up to one.]

No player may leave eir Caste. However, it is possible that two or three players agree to swap Caste membership, provided that the players swapping membership have all been in the Player State of Voting for at least 3 weeks, and none of them swapped Caste membership within the last 3 weeks.
CALCIUM

with the following SCANDIUM-delimited text,

SCANDIUM
The Worker Caste, the Warrior Caste, the Religious Caste, and the Ruling Caste are Unique Organizations. There are no other Castes.

When a player ceases to be a Newbie, e becomes a member of one of the Worker Caste, the Warrior Caste, or the Religious Caste 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.] The Ruling Caste should be ignored in this random determination.

No player may change eir Caste, except as defined within the rules. A member of the Ruling Caste can change into the Caste with the least number of members, provided that eir Caste has not changed in the last 3 weeks.
Any former member of the Ruling Caste can rejoin it, if eir Caste has not changed in the last 3 weeks.
A group of two or three players may 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.
SCANDIUM

amend Rule 1031 by replacing the following TITANIUM-delimited text

TITANIUM
The Grey Council is an Office with up to nine seats. It is also a Unique Organization.

Each Caste (Worker, Warrior, Religious) has the right to fill 3 seats in the Grey Council.

The rules for nomination, election and impeachment apply with the restriction that only a member of a Caste may

a) nominate emself for a seat that this Caste has the right to fill,

b) vote in the election for seats that this Caste has the right to fill,

c) vote on the impeachment of a Grey Council member of this Caste. In this case, the procedure followed for impeachment is the same as that outlined in Rule 404, except that the IP will be ACCEPTED if at least 1/2 of the members of the Caste voted on it, and 2/3 of those voting on the IP voted YES.

When a member of the Grey Council changes Caste membership, eir seat immediately becomes vacant. When a player who has nominated emself for a seat in the Grey Council changes Caste membership, eir nomination is considered to be withdrawn.
TITANIUM

with the following VANADIUM-delimited text,

VANADIUM
The Grey Council is an Office with up to ten seats. It is also a Unique Organization.

Each of the three lay Castes (Worker, Warrior, Religious) has the right to fill 3 seats in the Grey Council.

The Ruling Caste has the right to fill 1 seat 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,

The member of the Ruling Caste on the Grey Council is the nominal head of the Grey Council, and only votes in the case of a tie.
VANADIUM

and amend Rule 441(Dungeon Master) by relacing the following CHROMIUM-delimited text

CHROMIUM
whose privileges are:

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

with the following MANGANESE-delimited text.

MANGANESE
whose privileges are:

(i) to change eir Caste to a Caste other than the Ruling Caste as a public action.
MANGANESE

{{All Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired) and K2 have eir Caste changed to Ruling for an infintessimal amount of time, and then eir Castes are changed back to what they were before. This does not remove em from eir Grey Council seats, if they would be otherwise removed. This is not considered a change in Caste for purposes of determining whether it has been three weeks since a player has changed eir Caste.}}

Proposal 3629 - Mon 28 Sep 1998 10:27 EDT
Governments changes
Anathema (Gabriel Drummond-Cole)
Due: Mon 05 Oct 1998 10:27 EDT
Status: rejected

{{[Rebellion now dependent on *voting* players, not just players, Characteristic inconsistency fixed, spelling error fixed]}}

Amend Rule 320 (Governments Rules Suite) by replacing the following IRON-delimited text

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

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

with the following COBALT-delimited text

COBALT
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 {{[this is necessary because characteristics are explicitly defined as numbers by Rule 540]}}

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

{{replace all instances of the string "rebeliousness" in the rules with the word "rebelliousness"}}

Proposal 3630 - Mon 28 Sep 1998 10:28 EDT
Puzzle Pieces Ahoy!
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Due: Mon 05 Oct 1998 10:28 EDT
Status: rejected

[We have them defined, but not used. The lack of a Puzzler is why.]

This is a Modest Proposal.

Append to the end of Rule 1270 the following sentence:

If there is no player with the title of Puzzler, then any player may, as a public action, assume the title of Puzzler.

Proposal 3631 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:14 EDT
Frog, Frog, Frog, Mouse
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Due: Fri 09 Oct 1998 08:14 EDT
Status: accepted

Create a new rule as a member of the Games & Contests Rule Suite entitled "Frog, Frog, Frog, Mouse" with the following GOOSE-delimited text:

GOOSE
{{[ This is a conglomerate of a number of ideas I have wanted to introduce to Acka - including a shortened Eleusis-like game that is actually playable in a reasonable time, a puzzle that appeared on rec.puzzles, and the old Micronomic chemistry scoring system. It also includes the return of the Mad Scientist to Acka in a new role. ]}}

1) General Equipment
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.

GOOSE

Proposal 3632 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:17 EDT
Caste Fix
JT (JT Traub)
Due: Fri 09 Oct 1998 08:17 EDT
Status: accepted

Amend rule 1030 by replacing the following BLEAH delimited text
BLEAH
When a player ceases to be a Newbie, e becomes a member of one of these Castes by random determination. The chances to join a Caste are equal to the number of members in the other two castes divided by twice the number of members in all three Castes.[This adds up to one.]
BLEAH
with the following MUCH_BETTER delimited text
MUCH_BETTER
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]
MUCH_BETTER

{{Saaremaa becomes a member of a random caste as if he just ceased to be On-Ice.}}

Proposal 3633 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:18 EDT
The Sleep of the Just
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Due: Fri 09 Oct 1998 08:18 EDT
Status: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

[The Justices Rock powers are out-dated and rather irrelevant. The President's decisions these days are pretty much limited to appointing Functional Officers. The Senate's decisions, as the Senate, are non-existent (Calls are privileges of the Offices, not the Senate).

Previous Supreme Court decisions could only be overturned within 7 days - I can't see 2/3rds of the Supreme Court voting one way, and then enough changing their minds within 7 days (especially given the amount of negotiation required to get a verdict in the first place).]

Repeal Rule 417, "Justices Rock".

Append the following RELOC-delimited text to Rule 217, "Overturning Judgements":

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

[This text was at the bottom of Rule 417. It really belongs with the rest of the rules regarding selection of cortices.]

Amend Rule 217 by replacing all instances of "under rule 417 (Justices Rock)" with "under Section VI of this Rule".

[Pointer realignment.]

Proposal 3634 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:19 EDT
Another Rule that Annoys Me
Rambo R Minuteman (Tom Walmsley)
Due: Fri 09 Oct 1998 08:19 EDT
Status: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Delete the second sentence of rule 206 [Any player whose score reaches exactly -60 has their score changed to 20. ]

Proposal 3635 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:20 EDT
It isn't you know
Rambo R Minuteman (Tom Walmsley)
Due: Fri 09 Oct 1998 08:20 EDT
Status: rejected

In rule 1155 replace "azure; black; blue;" with "azure; blue;".

Proposal 3636 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:21 EDT
Resolving Conflicts
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Due: Fri 09 Oct 1998 08:21 EDT
Status: rejected

This is a Modest Proposal.

Warning: Attempting to break the game

Amend Rule 102 (Resolving Conflicts) to read in full:
"
Wherever the rules conflict on a particular issue, the shortest rule which is written in a poetic style suitable for a hosed player shall guide play with regard to that issue. In the event that the previous sentence does not resolve the conflict, the text of the conflicting rules is changed to "Am Not!!".

If two statements in the same rule conflict with each other then the statement which contains the silly phrase, as defined by rule 207.1 (That's just silly), takes precedence. If neither of the conflicting sentences contains the silly phrase then one of those sentences shall be selected at random shall have randomly determined three word phrase replaced with the silly phrase.
"

Create a rule numbered one with the title "Are So!!" and the text "Are So!!".

Proposal 3637 - Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:22 EDT
Resolving Conflicts
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Status: removed (invalid by Rule 309)

This is a Modest Proposal.

Warning: Attempting to break the game

Create a rule numbered one with the title "Are So!!" and the text "Are So!!".

Due to an error by the promoter, there was no proposal assigned the number 3638.

Proposal 3639
hmmm
saaremaa
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:57:19 1998
Status: rejected

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[I think this is more covered by the pragmatism clause than
game custom :-)  I'm not sure why trinket creations at the *end*
of the message always are the ones to fail.  I'll fix rule 215 
also if I have the time.]}}

----------------

Amend rule 373, "Public Actions", to add the following new paragraph
directly after the third paragraph.

"
If more than one action is attempted in a single public message,
each action is attempted in the order it appears in the message
(as written English is customarily read), with an infinitesimal 
time separating each attempt.  If the order of two or more actions
in a public message is ambiguous, all actions attempted in that
message fail.
"

Proposal 3640
A Gem of a Rule
saaremaa
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:57:54 1998
Status: rejected

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[rule 215 is prolly someone's favorite rule.  The problem is that 
needs a good powerwash and new paint job to clean out some of
the anachronisms.  Also, the scope of the game custom/spog clause
needs to be broadened to interpreting the rules all the time
as opposed to interpreting them in CFJs (this means game custom 
will work when the rules are silent or inconsistent without a 
CFJ being required; the popular unclear case is already handled
by rule 101, and is thus redundant, but kept here for the history 
fans.)  This problem is alluded to in my hmmm proposal, which is
a silence of the rules case. (I also kept this clause in r215,
because its traditional there). 

Other changes are to remove the retroactively clause (which bounces
with no effect), to remove the judgements are not rules clause (this
has no effect, and was in the IRS for nomic newbies -- rules may only
be created as described in the rules anyway), and to allow all verdicts,
as opposed to just True ones, to become part of explicit game custom.
(This is bug in the IRS too, I guess no one cared enough to fix it)

Finally, I added the definition of "final verdict" to rule 217 (because
I needed it in 215), and used that to eliminate all that fancy footwork
about when bronze torch points count.]}}

-------------------

Change rule 215's title to, "Making Judgements", then replace its
text with this:

"
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.  Whenever the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on any
matter, they shall be interpreted in accordance with any extant game 
custom, and in the absence of a prevalence of such, the spirit of 
the game.

When a verdict is final, it becomes an explicit part of game custom.
"

-----------

Add the following new paragraph to rule 217, "Overturning Judgements",
directly after the third paragraph of section IV, Appeal limits:

"
A verdict is said to be final when it is no longer possible to appeal
it under the current rules.  Once a verdict becomes final, any later
attempt to appeal it fails.
"

------------

Amend rule 600, "Winning Conditions", to replace:

"
When it ceases to be legal to appeal a particular Cycle-Win CFJ, 
if the final verdict is true,
"

with this:

"
Upon a True verdict on a particular Cycle-Win CFJ becoming final,
"

-------------

Replace the final paragraph of rule 907, "Bronze Torch", with this:

"
A player is eligible for a Bronze Torch if they, as either a Judge
or as part of a Judicial body, have delivered verdicts on at least
15 separate CFJs (including CFCJs), such that each verdict is the 
same as the final verdict on each particular CFJ, and each final 
verdict is either True or False.
"

Proposal 3641
The Meaning of Ping
saaremaa
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:57:57 1998
Status: retracted

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[this takes a little hubert out of the machine game.  Instead of
being within 12 seconds of the sixth ping (and playing games trying to
guess at what time scholars have their cron jobs set for :-)), you
can bid for a magic letter within 12 hours, and buy the right to pick
if you want to spend enough money.  The 12 hours is a compromise between
letting some of the hubert out, and not letting the letter guessing
get too far behind the next pings]}}

{{saaremaa loses 2 points; JT gains 1 point; /dev/joe gains 1 point
[several ideas were kicked around on irc, this one seemed to be the one
to go with]}}

---------------

Amend Rule 1209, "The Machine That Goes *ping*", to replace section VII.
with this:

" 
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, at least as much as 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.
"

Proposal 3642
Duel Game Blackballing
saaremaa
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:58:00 1998
Status: rejected

This is a Modest proposal

{{[some things may not be fair as duel games sometimes, or simply
would be no fun to play for a particular player.  For example, 
imagine playing Bacon with only Brazilian films.  (That's how I 
feel about playing Bacon with American films :-); how would a 
Brazilian feel?  Well, I don't know of course, but you get the idea :-)).

While this isn't a perfect solution, it would allow me to challenge
Alfvaen or K 2 to a duel, and think it could be fun :-)  I am
giving A Mean Hat a point, because while I had this idea a while ago,
eir discussion of a new possible duel reminded me of it.  If e changes
eir name, too bad.  Also, if we ever classify games for something 
like the apprentice adept grid, this should be expanded too, but that 
is for later.]}}

{{A Mean Hat. receives 1 point; saaremaa loses 1 point.}}

------------

Amend rule 1215, "Duels" to replace:

"
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. 
"

with (delimited by double dollar signs):

$$
The Second posts a public message, which announces the name of the 
Challenging player, the name of the Challenged player, the reason
for the Challenge, the fact that a Challenge has been made, and
optionally, the name of a Game or Contest that "is passe".
$$

;

then amend that same rule to replace 
"determining a winner, or a winning team." with:

"
determining a winner (or a winning team), and it must not have been
declared passe in the Challenge.
"

Proposal 3643
A small fix to puppetheads
JT
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:58:48 1998
Status: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[
This is to fix the problem that pulled Rig R. Mortis off of vacation
and Piz, Ethelred and marsboy off of On-Ice
]}}

In rule 207, section IV, replace the phrase 'After a player has possessed
a Puppet Head for seven consecutive days' with 'After an active player has
possessed a Puppet Head for seven consecutive days'.

In rule 207, section IV, append the following text delimited by FIX to the
end of the paragraph.
FIX
If a player who has a Puppet Head goes On Ice or Vacationing, the Puppet
Head is immediately destroyed.
FIX

Create a rule numbered 1 with the following text as delimited by FIXES
FIXES
{{
Rig R. Mortis is considered to have gone Vacationing as of September
29th, 1998 with an expected date of return of November 2, 1998.

marsboy is considered to have gone On Ice on September 30, 1998.
Piz is considered to have gone On Ice on Septmeber 28, 1998.
Ethelred is considered to have gone On Ice on September 28, 1998.

These effects have precedence over all other rules.
}}
{{[
This should fix the problems and then delete itself.  Set to rule
number 1 so that it has sufficient precedence, and then explicitly
claims precedence to defeat the anti-precedence clause of rule 103 or
101 if Saaremaa's changes go through which is why I did it this way.
]}}
FIXES

Proposal 3644
Reinstalling Brie
JT
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:58:48 1998
Status: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[Let's see if I get it right this time]}}

Append the following BRIE delimited text to rule 611 (Le Grand Fromage)
BRIE
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.
BRIE

{{Slakko gains 1 point, JT loses 1 point}}

Proposal 3645
Small Double Crash change
JT
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:58:49 1998
Status: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[
It allows double crash to be played on an IRC server (easy to do) and
allows the two players to agreet hat the game was correct before the 3 day
limit is up, thus ending it quicker.
]}}


In rule 1250.12 (Double Crash), section IV, replace the following WAIT
delimited text
WAIT
Once a tentative winner is found, the two players shall reveal their
respective Target Words. The players may then examine each others' plays
for errors. If no actual errors are found within three days, the tentative
winner wins the game.
WAIT

with the following WAIT_OR_AGREE delimited text

WAIT_OR_AGREE
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.
WAIT_OR_AGREE

Proposal 3646
Easier Custodianship
JT
Due: Fri Oct 23 23:58:50 1998
Status: rejected

This is a modest proposal.
Amend rule 1217 (buried treasure) as follows:
In section II, append the following CUSTOS delimited text as a seperate
paragraph.
CUSTOS
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.
{{[
This is to allow another player who might otherwise have an unfair
advantage in finding the treasure (due to having helped with the map
creation or whatnot) to be designated as a Custodian.  Without it,
exclusions need to be written into the map.
]}}
CUSTOS

Proposal 3647
The Meaning of Ping (substantially different)
saaremaa
Due: Sat Oct 24 00:39:37 1998
Status: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[this takes a little hubert out of the machine game.  Instead of
being within 12 seconds of the sixth ping (and playing games trying to
guess at what time scholars have their cron jobs set for :-)), you
can bid for a magic letter within 12 hours, and buy the right to pick
if you want to spend enough money.  The 12 hours is a compromise between
letting some of the hubert out, and not letting the letter guessing
get too far behind the next pings]}}

{{saaremaa loses 2 points; JT gains 1 point; /dev/joe gains 1 point
[several ideas were kicked around on irc, this one seemed to be the one
to go with]}}

---------------

Amend Rule 1209, "The Machine That Goes *ping*", to replace section VII.
with this:

" 
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.
"

Proposal 3648
Free Range Chickens.
IdiotBoy
Due: Sat Oct 24 00:55:13 1998
Status: rejected
Declared Harfy tue, 20 oct 1998 18:03:22 -0400 (edt) by slakko

{{The current Government Type is set to Anarchy.  This rule takes
precedence ovar any which would prohibit this change.}}

Proposal 3649
What's the definition of a Sine?
A mean Hat
Due: Sat Oct 24 01:01:23 1998
Status: retracted

{{[There is no actual rule that says that Acka is in English and should be
interpreted as such.  This came up (in my opinion) in CFJ 665, where the
definition of sine was not rule defined.  In a case like that, it would be
good to have an explicit requirement that the word be defined in English.
Note that this does not have any effect on the situation of 665, seeing as
none of the definitions in any of the dictionaries address the issue.  This
is just something that came up that I felt should be put into rule format.]}}

Renumber sections I through IX of rule 340(Conventions) as II through X

Add the following NICKEL-delimited text to Rule 340(Conventions) just
before as section I

NICKEL
English is the official language of Ackanomic.  If the meaning of a word is
ambiguous, and there is an English definition of the word, that definition
i taken to be the meaning of the word.  For the purposes of this rule, if
such a meaning is necessary, it should be taken from one of the Official
Dictionaries of Ackanomic, or by the Oxford English Dictionary if the word
isn't defined in the Official Dictionaries.
NICKEL

Proposal 3650
Generic Proposal Title #3650
A mean Hat
Due: Sat Oct 24 01:02:25 1998
Status: rejected

Create a new rule as a member of the Games & Contests Rule Suite entitled

"Magic the Gathering" with the following COPPER-delimited text:

COPPER

{{[ It seems that Ackanomic has no direct relationship with Magic the
Gathering. Let's change that]}}

1) General Equipment

Any method the players agree upon for handling the distribution of cards,
with the default being the following:

An Ackanomic IRC server.

The mIRC Magic the Gathering program Tome [available at the non-Ackanomic
affiliated site
http://members.xoom.com/ChaosKnights/tome411u.zip or
http://members.xoom.com/ChaosKnights/tome411.zip for versions of mIRC
before 5.4]

The Magic the Gathering program Apprentice, available at the non-Ackanomic
affiliated site
http://www.planeswalker.com/apprentice/download/

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

This game, by default, uses no referees. Optionally, a referee may be used
to determine the distribution of cards and to
adjudicate disputes. This referee receives no compensation.

4) Starting the game

The game begins with a random ordering of all the players to see what order
play occurs in. If there are only two players,
the "first" player has the option to either play first or draw first, as
per the rules. If there are more than two players,
this determination actually determines play order.

5) Joining and Leaving a Game in Progress

A game of Magic the Gathering cannot be joined once it has begun. Leaving a
game results in forfeiture of the game.

6) Rules

This game cannot be used in a duel unless both parties are able to play it
[This is because the game equipment is specific
to certain operating systems and thus not all players can play it]

The rules and eratta for Magic the Gathering from the Wizards of the Coast
website are used. These are available at the
following URL:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/MTG_Rules.html

If all the players agree beforehand, eeach may each put up an ante of one
or more tradeable entities that e owns. While a
player is playing a game of Magic the Gathering, the ante e put in is still
considered to belong to em, but it may not be
spent voluntarily. Once a player has lost, eir ante is forfeited to the
pot, and does not count as being owned by em any
more. If there is no winner of a game of Magic the Gathering then any ante
that was forfeited to the pot is returned to the
treasury if possible, destroyed if not.

The following are "House Rules" for multiplayer games, and may be changed
prior to beginning a game if all players agree to
do so.

          When a player loses, all of their permanents are removed from the
game. Any enchantments on these permanents are
          buried. Players may respond with fast effects to a player
forfeiting the game.

          During an attack declaration, the attacker need not specify which
opponent(s) e is going to attack. More than one
          opponent may be attacked, although each creature may still only
attack once per turn, unless a rules effect
          specifies otherwise

7) Other information needed to play

A game of Magic the Gathering should specify what "type" is being played.
This has influence on the legal cards and sets
involved in the game. The date (for purposes of the determination of what
sets and cards are legal) is assumed to be the
date in Ackanomic time at the beginning of the game.

8) Conditions for winning the game

If all the players but one have lost, that player wins the game. If one
player wins due to a rule effect, that player is
the winner. If there is a draw, due to a rule effect, or if all the players
lose, there is no winner.

9) Trophies

The winner receives no trophy in a game of Magic the Gathering

10) Ending the game

When a player wins, the rules cause a draw, or one or fewer players have
not lost, the game ends. 

COPPER