DEATHPOOL 2010

Rules of the Death Pool:

Each player selects 50 names. The pool of all names selected by all the participating players is called the Master List. (Living people only; no animals, cartoons, comic strip characters, etc.)

The deadline for entries for the 2010 Death Pool is midnight (PST), Monday, December 31th, 2009. Each player's list must be submitted to Marlan Harris before the deadline to be considered eligible for play. $10 must accompany your entry. Payment in cash or by personal check is acceptable. Payment by Paypal is also acceptable -- e-mail Mar for details. (And if you pay by Paypal, see if you can throw in an extra buck, since I have to pay a fee whenever someone sends money that way.)

An indecipherable or confusing name will be considered to be the closest and most logical name available (for example, "P. Diddy" would be considered to be Sean "Puffy"/"Diddy" Combs). A proper, legal name is not necessary as long as that is the way the person is popularly known (for example, Eazy E).

Submission of the list can be done in person or sent by e-mail. A typed, numbered, and alphabetized list is preferable but a handwritten list is also acceptable as long as it is legible. Submission of your list to the Death Pool head is considered final and you will be unable to change your list after you submit it. In the event of doubling of names in the same list, the extra name will be discarded and a replacement will not be requested or accepted once the list is submitted. In the event of a list submitted with more than 50 names, the last names on the list after the first 50 will be discarded and replacements will not be requested or accepted once the list is submitted. In the event of a person on the submitted list already being dead, the name will be discarded and a replacement will not be requested or accepted once the list is submitted. In the event of the death of a person on the submitted list occuring between when the list is submitted and the contest officially begins, a replacement name will be accepted.

The duration of the Death Pool is from January 1 through December 31 of the year 2010.

When a death is mentioned in Time, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, and/or People publications, the name of the deceased is checked against the Master List. If there is a "Hit" in the Master List, each player who picked the "Hit" is awarded points. More than one player is allowed to select the same "Hit" and each will receive the full amount of points regardless of how many players picked the same name. Deaths are also checked against the Dead People Server, which will be at http://www.dpsinfo.com/dps/2010.html#top. Also, eligible deaths can be reported on www.cnn.com or the websites of any of the publications above.

Points are calculated as follows: 100 minus the "Hit's" age. For example: When Ronald Regan died, he was 93 years old; he was worth 7 points. When Ol' Dirty Bastard died, he was 35 years old; he was worth 65 points. If the "Hit" is 100 years old or older, zero points are awarded.

A death must be featured in Time, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, and/or People magazines or appear on the Dead People Server for points to be awarded. The date of death must occur within the duration of play (regardless of when the death is announced). Time of death will be determined by the time zone of the location of death (for deaths occurring on December 31st). Deaths must be published in Time, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, and/or People magazines or appear on the Dead People Server or the websites of any of the publications above, as well as cnn.com, on or before January 15th the following year in order to score points.

The player with the most points at the end of the duration of the Death Pool is the winner. In the event of a tie, the tie breaker will be the player that has the youngest "Hit". If all of the tied players have the youngest "Hit", the next youngest "Hit" in succession will be the tie breaker, and so on. If the players each had the exact same "Hits," then the players will share the winnings, divided equally among them.

The winner, decided by a panel of judges at the end of the duration of the Death Pool, wins the total amount of money contributed by all players. The exact amount depends on the number of players.

There will be a web page which will list the current point standings of players and Master List and the address of that page will be provided to all players once play begins. The page will be updated with near-disconcerting frequency.

Please feel free to distribute this to more people and invite as many other players as you can, as long as they get their list and $10 to Marlan before the appointed deadline and abide by these rules.

Failure or refusal to abide by the rules above will be grounds for ejection of the player from the game. All disputes will be settled by the person(s) running the Death Pool and decisions will be deemed final.

To participants of the previous year(s): please submit a new list just like you were a new player coming into the contest. You may use some, all, or none of the names you have already used in previous lists. If you participated in last year's bout, you can also request that your list from last year be rolled over without submitting a full list but only if no changes are made.

50 names. 10 bucks. By December 31. That's it. That's all you have to do.

If you have any questions, contact Marlan at MAR93@aol.com.

(Note: your overly conservative/dull girlfriend/wife doesn't have to know you're involved in this. You can play under a different name. You can even pick the fake name. And you can still enjoy all the money you've won at the end of the competition all the same and she won't ever have to know.)