The Assassins' Guild: Lent 2010 Rules

Introduction:

Assassins is a game of mock assassination for a large number of players. The object of the game is totrack down and eliminate the other players using a variety of harmless methods in accordance withthe rules, while trying to avoid elimination yourself. The game is played for the enjoyment ofeveryone involved.

If you have any questions about these rules, then once you have read them thoroughly, please ask forclarification from the Umpire, who will be only too happy to provide it.

Throughout these rules, a "Player" is someone who has signed up to participate in the Game in anycapacity. An "Assassin" is a Player who has been alive since the start of the Game and is not amember of the Police - this is the capacity in which most people start to play the Game.

Who can play?

The game is open to people who live and spend a large proportion of their time within 5 milesof Great St. Mary's Church and in an environment compatible with the nature of the game.Students at the University are almost certainly eligible to play; those who are unsure whetherthey live and work closely enough to participate are invited to contact the Umpire.

Be aware, however, that the Game is not limited to Cambridge. If a Player intends to leaveCambridge for a protracted period of time during the Game, they should inform the Umpire.

How do I play?

The game, in brief:

Sign up for the game, giving the details listed at the end of the rules hereWhen the game starts, you will be sent an e-mail with the names of your three targets. Try tokill them using any legal means at your disposal. There will also be three other people afteryou.Whenever you make an attempt on another player's life, whether or not you succeed, e-mail theUmpire with a report. If someone tries to kill you, report that to the Umpire as well.If one of your targets is eliminated, the Umpire will send you a replacement target.If you die, send a report of this to the Umpire. Once dead you may rejoin the game as amember of the police force. (See Police) To do so, ask the umpire in the e-mail reporting yourdeath.If you are the last remaining Assassin, congratulations! You are declared the winner.

The weapons rules describe the various weaponry you may use to eliminate other assassins, althoughyou may e-mail the Umpire to request that other weapons be licensed.

Whom can I kill?

The following are licit targets for any player:

The three targets you have been assigned by the Umpire.The three people who have been assigned you as a target (you will not be told who these are,but should you find out you may attempt to defend yourself pre-emptively by killing themfirst).Anyone on the Wanted List (see Wanted List).Anyone on the Incompetence List (see Incompetents).Anyone openly carrying a weapon. The object in question must be clearly visible to you as anAssassins weapon. Players who were previously holding weapons but have since concealedthem are not licit targets.It should be noted that suicides are not allowed - if you wish to leave the game, email theUmpire, asking to resign.

Conduct during the Game:

It is important that players familiarise themselves thoroughly with this section. Deliberate breachesof rules of conduct may lead to being placed on the Wanted List, or disqualification. They may alsolead to trouble with the authorities. If someone breaches a rule, the Umpire is at liberty to effect whathe believes to be a reasonable outcome.

Exercise common sense at all times. Players are entirely responsible for their behaviour.The Guild does not condone any course of action that leads to confrontation with people inauthority. Avoid inconveniencing other people, especially Porters and the general public.

This game depends on players being honest for it to work. Please inform the Umpire ofanything assassin related that occurs to you, especially if you have been killed. The Umpirewill decide whether reports are published, and you can request that a report is not published,although it may be published despite this. Anyone knowingly giving false or misleadinginformation to the Umpire will face severe penalties.

Assassins should not swap their room numbers or nameplates for those of their neighbours.This could lead to you going wanted, particularly if an innocent is shot as a result.

You must expect other players to have nefarious intentions at any time during the game. Donot involve (or cause to become involved) college authorities or other non-players to eject orintimidate those attempting to kill you or others. If you feel players are behaving unreasonably,contact the Umpire.

This is not a game about physical strength or violence. There is no excuse whatsoever forpushing people around or forcing them out of your way. Most specifically, if someone isholding a door open or shut, you should not attempt to move that door, and you should neverdo anything likely to cause anyone (including yourself) injury. If anyone breaches this rule anysubsequent in-game actions may be disallowed.

Be aware that both the security forces and the public are particularly easily alarmed at present.Avoid behaviour that may cause them to mistake you for a stalker, burglar, murderer orterrorist: do not wear a balaclava or other suspicious clothing; avoid bearing weapons orfighting in public; remember that even toy guns can look real in the dark or on CCTV; wherepossible, do not lurk suspiciously; be particularly cautious anywhere outside centralCambridge, where students are less common.

You are not allowed to impersonate authority figures such as Bedders, Porters, Collegeauthorities (not including student union representatives) or the (real) Police. This is so thatplayers can take part in the game without aggravating their Bedders by refusing to let them intotheir room. You should also not take advantage of Bedders unlocking the door to your target'sroom to break in and kill them.

You are not allowed to impersonate the Umpire, for the same reason. If someone knocks onyour door claiming to be the Umpire (or, for that matter, a Bedder or Porter), you may safelylet them in. You are also not allowed to impersonate the Umpire indirectly by, for example,forging e-mail messages.

While it is allowed for an Assassin to kill another Assassin without punishment if the victimwas openly bearing weapons it may be considered unsporting to attempt to lure an Assassinwho is not a licit target into bearing. The Umpire will take a dim view of Assassins who makerepeatedly make attempts on those who are not normally licit targets for them, and may placethem on the wanted list.

You may neither use nor manufacture a fire alarm, security alert or medical emergency to gainan advantage in an attempt to kill a Player or gain information on them. Also, if a Player is inobvious distress for a reason unrelated to the fact you are trying to kill them, or they areobviously dealing with someone else in distress, do not take advantage of this situation. Thisincludes mandatory evacuation for fire alarms. In all situations, players should be allowed toreturn directly to whichever situation they were in before the emergency arose and will be out-of-bounds until such time.

You may enter a target's room through an unlocked door or an open window only. If the dooris locked you may not make any kind of attack including firing shots or pushing any other itemthrough keyholes, letterboxes or any other gap in, under or over the door. The same principlegoverns toilet cubicles. Do not attempt to gain entry to a non-Player's rooms in this manner.

You are perfectly at liberty to deny that you are an Assassin. However, you are not allowed toclaim that you are a Dead Assassin and hence harmless. You may also not lie about the vitalstatus of other Assassins who are immediately present.

You may not lie about your out-of-bounds status (e.g. when carrying society equipment (seeOut-of-bounds areas)).

Most of all, remember that this is just a game. Do your best, but have fun. Please be friendly toother Players you meet during the game, even if they may be trying to kill you.

Out-of-bounds areas:

There are some places and circumstances which, for reasons of sanity and safety, are considered out-of-bounds (OOB). No-one may kill anyone or be killed when they are out-of-bounds, which includethe following:

Lecture theatres are out-of-bounds, whether or not a lecture is in progress.Official practicals and laboratories are out-of-bounds.Hospitals, libraries, museums and sports halls are out-of-bounds.Churches, chapels, synagogues, mosques, temples, stupas or any other official places ofworship are out-of-bounds.Any dining arrangement in which you are obliged to wait for the attention of staff in

order to be seated is out-of-bounds. Anywhere you get food yourself from a Servery isin bounds but no projectile weapons may be used (this includes bang kills wth RBGsand the like). College Formal Halls and the like are out-of-bounds.Any Ball, Event, garden party or similar is out-of-bounds. Regular college ents are inbounds.Seminars, supervisions, tutor or DoS meetings and the like: A supervisee is out-of-bounds from the time they meet their supervisor until the time they part ways.. The pre-arranged supervision location is out-of-bounds for the arranged duration of thesupervision.Persons engaged in 'serious' activities on the water, such as rowing or canoeing, areOOB. Similarly, they are out-of-bounds while transporting substantial, relatedequipment to or from such an activity. Punts are not out of bounds.Anyone working in a real, proper job is out of bounds while at work. Anyone working ata college bar or ent is also out of bounds.The CUR radio station building in Churchill College is out of bounds.The premises of government buildings, banks and building societies are out-of-bounds.You should not use any kind of projectile weapon in a shop. The immediate vicinity of ashop till or an automatic ATM machine is out-of-bounds. This includes a queue for one.While you may usually take shortcuts through such places, none of the areas listed inthis clause should, under any circumstance, be used as an avenue to escape pursuit.Anyone in a car or other motorised vehicle is out of bounds and cannot attack or beattacked. Players on bicycles are in bounds, but please be careful only to attack if thereis no possibility that you could cause an accident or injury. Players should also avoidfirefights across busy streams of traffic, both to avoid risk of injury and to preventaggravating drivers.Public transport vehicles are out-of-bounds. The same is true of airports, train stationsand their vicinities. The Drummer Street Bus Station in Cambridge is also out-of-bounds(but not the bus stops on Emmanuel Street).Auditoria of theatres/cinemas and concert halls are out of bounds during andimmediately preceding/following a performance. Any area in which a scheduled publicplay is being performed (or any other similar scheduled event) counts as an auditorium.Areas in which backstage preparation work is taking place are also out-of-bounds.Official university society meetings or regularly scheduled meetings of an unofficialsociety which take place in college grounds, including in players' rooms. Playersinvolved in these are out-of-bounds from the moment they step inside the rooms/hallswhere the event is being hosted and until 5 minutes after the meeting has concluded (butare in-bounds if they go outside this area). Please note that participants of outdoorssociety meetings such as CTF (Capture the Flag society) and TT (Treasure Trap) areout-of-bounds from the moment they meet at the society-agreed meeting-point andthroughout the meeting until at least five minutes after the meeting has been called to aclose. Pubmeets are not out-of-bounds. Assassins carrying bulky or expensive items toand from society meetings may be out-of-bounds while doing so, but must specificallyclear that you may be doing this at a particular society with the Umpire beforehand. Ifyou are planning to attack someone near their society meeting, you may check with theUmpire as to whether there is any reason your target may be out-of-bounds.Any persons performing/practising with fire poi/fire sticks/fiery juggling implements areconsidered to be have a rather large out of bounds area surrounding them which shouldencompass all those in the immediate vicinity who are primarily engaged inwatching/teaching/heckling said persons. This is entirely a safety concern.Organised sports activities are out-of-bounds. This will usually be taken to meantournament matches at inter-College level or higher. This does not include impromptu'kickabouts'. However, pre-arranged training sessions of officially-recognised teams may

be considered society meetings. Non-spectating participants are out-of-bounds for theduration of the match and during any preparations immediately before or after. If you areunsure whether a particular activity is out-of-bounds, please ask the Umpire.Players working with or riding on horses are out-of-bounds.The Cambridge University Wireless Society's Radio Shack is out-of-bounds.Computer rooms are out-of-bounds.

A computer room is, in general, defined as a place where the public (or any clearly-definedgroup, e.g. members of a college) are permitted to use computers. This may includedepartmental common rooms.

A Player's room is usually only out-of-bounds for supervisions, society meetings and sportsactivities, as described above. If you believe your room should be made out-of-bounds for anyother purpose, or are unsure as to its status, you should ask the Umpire.

Players should not abuse no-kill zones. You should not run into an out-of-bounds areaprimarly to escape an attacking assassin unless it was your intention to go there prior toencountering the other assassin.

If you are not sure whether a given time or place is out of bounds or not, please contact theUmpire. Similarly, if there is something not mentioned on this list you think should be out-of-bounds, ask the Umpire to consider it.

Accomplices and non-Players:

Players may, if they wish, make use of non-Player accomplices on their attempts. Any person with atleast a basic knowledge of the Assassins Game acting to the advantage of a Player on theirinstruction, with their consent or by prior understanding is considered an accomplice. A Playershould not induce one of the Authority figures described in the Conduct rules to be an Accomplice.

Non-Player accomplices cannot kill anyone. They may not openly bear weapons nor anything thatcould be construed as such. Kills in which armed non-Players are used as decoys may be annulled.Players are entirely responsible for the safety of their accomplices, and will bear some responsibilityfor their actions with regard to these rules. If they are killed, the Player(s) whom they wereaccomplicing will be held responsible..

Note that if a Player instructs, or by deliberate omission permits a non-Assassin to put themselves inthe way of danger on their behalf (e.g. by exiting a Room first to ascertain the presence of theirattackers), that person will be deemed an accomplice.

Players should avoid killing non-Players wherever possible. The usual penalty for killing non-Playerswho are not accomplices is to be put on the Wanted List, but excessive and deliberate murder ofnon-Players may lead to a disqualification. Sometimes accidents do happen...

Players may not enter non-Players' rooms through the window unless they have been specificallyallowed to do so by the room's occupant. While Players may pass through the unlocked rooms ofnon-Players, they should avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary (for example, because they areon the only route to a target's room).

If a non-Assassin acting as an accomplice to a Player or a group of Players is killed in the process,they will be strongly requested not to act as an accomplice to that Player or group again in the courseof the Game. Someone persistently involving themselves in a game which does not involve them

personally may damage the gameplay experience for all.

Dead Players:

If you die, you remain bound by the rules until the conclusion of the Game. In particular, you shouldrefrain from bearing weapons, from announcing the fact that you are dead unless directly questionedface-to-face and from involving yourself in any Assassins activity. Failure to abide by this may leadto consequent events being annulled at the Umpire's discretion. Once your death has been posted onthe Assassins website, you may become a member of the Police Force. (see Police Force)

Epistemology:

Any information disseminated through the website or given you by the Umpire you should assume tobe legitimate information unless you have information to the contrary, in which case you shouldcheck with the Umpire.

Any Player who explicitly tells you that they are dead, you may assume to be dead. Note that astatement to the effect that you are dead is always taken to concern your most recent incarnationunless explicitly stated otherwise. The Umpire will take a very dim view of any Player whoimpersonates another Player, or who permits a non-Player to impersonate them, for the purposes ofpretending to be dead. The obvious similar rule exists for any Assassin who tells you explicitly thatthey are Wanted or any Police player who tells you that they are Corrupt.

Information considered illegitimate is most likely to have been acquired from a Dead Player: APlayer, once dead, may not make known, nor by deliberate omission cause to be known, anyinformation they acquired as a direct consequence of playing the Game; most importantly their targetlists or information concerning the identity of their Killer. The only exceptions to this are that theymust pass such information on to the Umpire in their death report and that they may, at their owndiscretion, pass their target list(s) onto their Killer, although here they have the option to mislead.Whilst still alive, you are at liberty to pass information onto other Players as much and asmisleadingly as you so desire.

Using information you have acquired only through illegitimate means to your advantage may resultin sanctions.

Reporting:

Whenever a player is involved in any assassins-related incident, such as attempting to kill anotherplayer, or another player making an attempt on them, they must inform the Umpire as soon aspossible. The Umpire will decide what to publish. You may request that a report not be published,but it may be despite this, or disclosed at the end of the game, for the amusement of all involved withthe Game.

During the course of the Game, reports of events will be published on the website. Reports areencouraged to be dramatic and creative and sometimes misleading (although they may never containoutright lies).

E-mails with reports must in addition contain the following information for the Umpire, for the sakeof clarity, as she likes to know what's actually going on:

Player(s) involved

Any kills and whom they were carried out byWhat weapons were usedWhere possible, a short factual summary of events

If players are unsure about what happened during an attack, they may call a "discussion phase" toclarify who has been hit and who, if anybody, is dead. Once a Player has made a bona fide call for adiscussion phase to sort out the facts of the incident, so long as it is not a direct interruption of theevent, no Players involved in the discussion phase may kill each other during and shortly after thediscussion phase is over (giving time for each Player to run away). All players involved in a disputedevent are considered to be subject to a discussion phase, this includes any accomplices to the playersinvolved. You may not directly follow another Player involved in the discussion phase immediatelyafter it has finished, but you may of course make another attempt a short time later if you find themagain. Players taking part in a discussion phase should take care not to expose themselves to otherindependent passing Players (as they will not be included in the discussion phase and will thus beable to kill anyone freely). Calling a discussion phase in order to gain an advantage in the game (e.g.to expedite your retreat) may result in sanctions being edicted.

Assassins are strongly encouraged to reach a decision about the facts of an incident at the scene.However, do not be afraid to disagree over the outcome of the incident or the way in which the ruleshave been applied to events. If there is a strong element of uncertainty as to what the outcome shouldbe, you should make a report to the Umpire as soon as possible and should avoid directly involvingyourself in Assassins proceedings until you have received clarification. The Umpire will try to beunderstanding as far as Competence is concerned. (See Competence)

If the Umpire is not satisfied that the Rules have been properly followed, he will inform you of anychange in the outcome of the incident.

Pseudonyms:

Each Assassin starts the game with one pseudonym, which they may use in news reports to disguisetheir true identity. Reports can be made under an Assassin's pseudonym, or under their real name. Ifyou do not specify a preference, your initial pseudonym will be used. If you do not specify apseudonym on sign-up, the Umpire reserves the right to make one up.

For every two legal kills of Assassins an Assassin makes, s/he is entitled to another pseudonym.Should a player wish to make use of it he should email the Umpire informing him of the new name(and include it in future reports in which they wish it to be used). It is possible for successful playersto accumulate several pseudonyms over the course of a game.

Pseudonyms must not cause an undue degree of personal or general offence and the names of recentPlayers may not be used (unless it's your own name).

Kills made in public places with unsubtle weapons may result in the incident being reported under aPlayer's real name, with no option to use a pseudonym. As a rule of thumb, having half a dozenuninvolved onlookers or more would constitute a public kill.

The Wanted List:

Assassins who break the rules in minor ways, for instance by accidentally killing an illicit target, willbe placed on the Wanted List and they become legal targets for everyone else in the game, includingthe Police.

Players may remove themselves from the Wanted List by redeeming (the conditions of redemptionwill be decided by the Umpire based on the severity of the crime. Redemption conditions willtypically be a combination of making licit kills and of a minimum time period) or by dying.

Players who redeem themselves from the wanted list may be either given a new pseudonym, orgiven less stringent conditions for acquiring one (e.g. one kill), at the Umpire's discretion to helpwith their rehabilitation.

Competence:

To encourage participation in the game, there is a time limit for making attempts on your targets,called the "competence period". Initially the competence period will be five days. If you do not makean attempt within five days of the start of the game, you will be designated Incompetent. After eachattempt (including unsuccessful ones), your competence deadline will be extended.

As the Game progresses, competence deadlines will decrease, and the conditions required to remaincompetent will become stricter. When this occurs, the Umpire will inform the Assassins. The Umpirewill periodically send out reminder emails with your competence deadline affixed. Killing anotherAssassin, by any means, will always ensure competence, although kills of Police of any variety donot count for competence.

Any players who fail to fulfil the conditions of competence will be placed on the Incompetence List.This is like the Wanted List without the glamour; Incompetent Players are legal targets for all otherPlayers, including the Police. The Umpire will specify conditions for Incompetents who wish to clearthe list, which will usually be two valid attempts.

Incompetents who remain on the list for a long period of time without making sufficient attempts atredemption may be removed from the Game ("thunderbolted") by the Umpire.

As Police, you cannot kill a Player who is not on the Wanted or Incompetence Lists unless they aremaking an obvious and direct attempt on your life, in which case you are permitted to defendyourself. (This overrides the conditions in the "whom can I kill" section)

Police count as such from the moment their names appear on the Police webpage.Police who fail to make attempts on Wanted Players and Incompetents when there are any around

for them to kill may be designated Incompetent and made a legal target for all Players. Note thatCorrupt or Incompetent police are subject to the same restrictions as other Police Players.

If you, as Police, act as an accomplice to an Assassin, excepting in the pursuit of a Player on theWanted or Incompetence Lists, you may be made Corrupt and placed on the Wanted List. If you areintending to do this, it would be an idea to inform the Umpire first, who will clarify what you canand cannot do. He reserves the right to annul the outcome of an incident in which someone hasoverstepped the bounds of their role as a Police Player.

The Police Force is overseen by the Chief of Police and his/her deputies. Through good and activeplay, Police Players may win promotion and recognition.

A member of the Police Force who dies in the line of duty (or otherwise), may be reincarnated byrequest though the Umpire may restrict the number of reincarnations if a member police diesalarmingly frequently.

The Umpire:

This Umpire for this Game may be contacted by e-mailing assassins@srcf.ucam.org.

The primary method of contacting the Umpire is through e-mail, but she may be found if you likethat personal touch. The Umpire's room and the area immediately outside her door is out-of-bounds.However, Players are discouraged from running into this area in order to escape an attacker. Shoulda Player burst into the Umpire's room gibbering about attacking Assassins, she will laugh and drawattention to their lack of (wo)manly courage.

Players should try to resolve any queries before they become a matter of life or death. Feel free toemail the Umpire regarding any questions you have regarding the rules and she will do her best toget back to you as soon as possible.

Attempting to take items from the Umpire's pigeonhole or break into her computer account is strictlyforbidden. Impersonating the Umpire is also forbidden; see Conduct.

Player-Umpire communications may be made public at the end of the game for everyone'senlightenment and amusement. If Players do not wish a certain communication to be made public,please tell the Umpire.

The Umpire is immortal, omnipotent and omnipresent. Players attempting to test these propositionsmay be placed on the Wanted List.

Administrivia:

It is the responsibility of Players to read their e-mail and the News frequently to see whether theyhave been put on the Wanted list. Players are deemed to know that they areWanted/Police/Incompetent as soon as these details are published on the website. They are notWanted/Police/Incompetent before this, and you cannot kill someone just because you believe thatthey are about to become Wanted, unless they have explicitly told you that they are Wanted.

7.1 Web pages:

The game website is at http://www.srcf.ucam.org/assassins; you are probably reading theserules there now. During the Game, the news will be published on the website along with anyupdates to the rules, news of upcoming special events or social events, etc. To avoid waste ofbandwidth, game news will not be distributed by e-mail.

7.2 Newsgroup:

The game also has its own newsgroup (ucam.rec.games.assassin) which players may use fordiscussion, etc. You are unlikely to find news about the current game here, but you may finddiscussion of special events, proposed changes to the game or new mini-games, etc. There is aweb interface to the newsgroup on the Assassins' home page.

7.3 IRC Channel:

There is an IRC channel #assassins on the SRCF server (irc.srcf.ucam.org, port 6667). Allassassins, potential assassins or ex-assassins are welcome to join and discuss the game oranything else. See Jonathan Hogg's Assassins FAQ for more details on both the newsgroup andIRC.

Signing up for the game:

If you've read all that and you'd like to play, you should provide the Umpire with:

Your full name, indicating the name (or nickname) by which you are usually known.Your e-mail address (full if not @cam.ac.uk, although your @cam.ac.uk address is preferred).Your college or department (if you are a member of the University).Your official address (i.e. room number and building/court). In the game this will be given toyour assassins, as many colleges will not give out room numbers of students. You should alsogive details of anywhere else you may be living during the course of the Game or intending tospend a number of nights; the Umpire will employ discretion over whether or not to makethese extra details available to your assassins. Any player with a real-life psychopath trying tokill you, explain to the Umpire and you will be excused. Anyone with a real-life psychopathtrying to kill them who wants to play Killer as well needs their head looking at. Should youbecome Wanted (see below), this information will be made publicly available on the websitealong with your name.If you live relatively far from the city centre (more than a 20-minute walk away), brief detailsof city centre visits that you regularly make. The Umpire will decide which details to pass on toyour assassins. The aim is to involve outliers more in the game, since trekking out to Girton tokill a target is usually done only by a few of the keenest players.The extent to which water-based weaponry is allowed in your room. The options are no water

(no water pistols or other water-based weapon may be used in your room), with care (smallwater-based weapons may be used if the user is careful) and full water (anything goes). Youmay also let the Umpire know of anything specific in your room which could be damaged bywater; this information will be given to your assassins.An initial pseudonym, which will be used in news reports to disguise your true identity.Anything else which your assassins should be informed of, such as that you live in a shared setand assassins should be wary of killing your roommate.

Anyone found to have supplied false or misleading details to the Umpire will be disqualified, but I'msure it's not necessary to say that.

If you live in a shared room, you are advised to tell your roommate that you are playing, so that he orshe will not think that your assassins are real murderers. It is your duty to ensure that they will not actunreasonably towards any attacking Players.

Note that by signing up to play you are agreeing to report any assassins-related events which you areinvolved in for the period during which you remain alive, including your death. You are also givingpermission for other players to enter or attempt to enter your accommodation should you leave doorsunlocked or windows open and to make attempts to 'kill' you, acting in good faith and utilising suchmethods as described elsewhere in the Rules.

You play the game of Assassins entirely at your own risk. Neither the Umpire nor any other memberof the Guild, past or present, can accept any liability for personal injury, loss of, or damage to,property or other loss incurred during the game. Nothing contained in these Rules should be taken asencouragement or permission to break the Law.

Comments:

The Umpire's ruling is final. There will be no right of appeal against a disqualification.Official complaints about a person's behaviour will almost certainly result in disqualification.Involvement of the (real) police will definitely cause you to be disqualified (and mayjeopardise future participation).By signing up to the Game, you agree that you are responsible for your own actions, and anyconsequences thereof. The Guild will not take responsibility for the actions of its members.

Individual players may not speak for the Guild as a whole, and as such not use our rules as anexcuse for their behaviour.We have neither the resources nor the inclination to make the rules completely watertight.Hence, although the precision of the wording is often of import, your attention is drawn moreto the spirit of the rules than their content. The Umpire will not be bound by the rules if shefeels that someone is attempting to exploit a loophole. If in doubt, e-mail the Umpire with yourquestion. Damn you, Montesquieu.

History

The history of this set of rules is thought to be:

Initial author unknown.Typed in by Paul Roberts (PER10).Later history unknown.Used by CUSFS for a while.Martin Hardcastle (MJH22) made some modifications.Julian Birch (JMB29), some modifications and clarifications.Richard Fairhurst (RJF1001), further modifications and clarifications.Ben Jameson (BFJ1000), yet more modifications.Jim Cameron (JC10007) and Elizabeth Pringle (EMPP1), more, mistyped, modifications.David Allsopp (DNA1000), surprisingly, made some modifications.Paul Menage (PBM1001) was Easter 1995 Umpire, and initiated 3 targets per player.Nigel Harris (NJH27) made modifications.Ben Harris (BJH21) changed even more things, notably the bomb blast radius formula to bebased on a cube root.Chuan-Tze Teo (CTT20) modified still more rules.Martin Read (mpr22) corrected the text of the bomb rules, and set a (semi-)codified timing rule(after a few shoutings, getting the wording right).Lynnette Dray (lmd21) modified a few more things, surprisingly.Charlie Baylis (cgb23) took this ruleset in 1999 in order to back out the strange necromancyrules, and made a couple of other patches.Matt Laycock, Ed Nokes and Björn Holzhauer improved and HTMLised the ruleset, with thehelp of Ed Anderson, Matthew Wakeling, Dave Hammond and others.Ralph Owen (rho21), Ed Nokes and Björn Holzhauer altered the rules for Michaelmas 2001,with suggestions from Ed Wallace.Modifications made by Tom Garnett (tmg27)Clarifications and a few alterations made by Rosemary Warner (rjw76), with suggestions fromRalph Owen.Matthew Johnson (mjj29) and Michael Cripps (mac57) updated the rules for Lent 2003.Matt Johnson (mjj29) tidied up the HTML, Ric Brackenbury (rab71) added a few pedanticchanges, and rewrote the bomb rules with Adam Biltcliffe.Adam Biltcliffe (amgb2) rewrote and restructured large parts of the rules in an attempt to makethem vaguely comprehensible to new players.Martin O'Leary (mewo2) poked at things a bit in Michaelmas 2004.David Birch (dtb26) made some minor alterations, and changed dead players a little. Thebomb rules were completely removed during Lent 2005.Martin Lester (mml27) modified the rules for Michaelmas 2005.Richard Gibson (rsig2) restructured some things and obfuscated other things for Lent 2006.Philip Bielby (pmb45) and Nick Plummer (nrp28) instituted automagic Policification,

tightened up the conduct rules, and added general silliness for Michaelmas 2006.Steve McCann (smm57) implemented a lot of the changes made for the Michaelmas Massacres2007 Eliminate game umpired by Joshua Guy Blanchard Lewis. He also made some smallchanges here and there.Emma Pewsey (ep320) removed non-direct methods of killing, bouncy balls, and shields, andmade the Umpire female for Michaelmas 2008.Luke Bennett (lrb34) changed a couple of things.Paul Tinton (pkt25) tweaked a few minor things and made computer rooms OOBEmily Scragg (ess38) banned projectiles from college dining rooms.

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