Regular Rules of aPTomic

 

1. Rules.

There are two types of rules: regular rules and fantasy rules. Fantasy rules have no effect on play except as provided for in the regular rules.

 

2. Membership.

Any person may become a member of this committee by posting in the committee thread a statement of intent to join. A member may resign from the committee at any time.

 

3. Starting aPTomic.

A game of aPTomic is started when someone posts the regular rules of aPTomic in a thread, and states that a game of aPTomic is starting. A new round begins 24 hours thereafter, with a randomly selected member serving as Judge for the first round.

 

4. Starting Rounds and Posting Rules 

After a round ends, a new round begins when a member posts a Fantasy Rule that they state is intended for the new round. For the first seven days of a round, all members, except the Judge, are eligible. Any member may post a Fantasy Rule, unless they were the last member to post a valid Fantasy Rule during the current round, or they've posted a Fantasy Rule during the current round that has not yet received judgment.

 

5. Eligibility to win.

Each valid fantasy rule extends its author's eligibility, only if they are already eligible. This eligibility period lasts for seven days from the time of the rule's posting minus one day for each invalid fantasy rule posted by the same person after the valid fantasy rule.

 

6. End of Game.

If at any time after the seventh day of a round, there is only one person eligible to play, then

 

(a) all current fantasy rules are repealed

 

(b) the round ends

 

(c) the sole remaining player is declared winner of the just ended round and becomes Judge.

 

If at any time after the seventh day of a round, there are no players eligible to play, (a) and (b) take place, while (c) is replaced by

 

(d) the just ended round is declared a tie between the players who became ineligible last, and one of these players is chosen at random to become Judge.

 

7a. Judge.

The Judge is responsible for interpreting the rules and determining the validity of fantasy rules. If the Judge does not declare judgment of a fantasy rule within three days after its posting, they are considered then to have decided and declared that rule valid. The validity (or otherwise) of a fantasy rule takes effect from the moment it was posted, being decided (or altered) retrospectively.

If a fantasy rule was posted by the Judge, the Judge randomly selects another member to act as Judge for that rule.

 

7b. Validity

A fantasy rule should be declared

• Contradictory - if it is inconsistent with itself, or asserts the impossible;
• Inconsistent - if it is inconsistent with earlier-posted valid fantasy rules;
• Illegal - if it is inconsistent with the regular rules;
• Unreasonable - if it (1) would otherwise be the last valid FR of the round; and (2) makes an assertion about later FRs;
• Irrelevant - if it was posted for a round that is over;
• or, if it is none of the above, Valid.

 

8. Restrictions on Judge's Power.

The decision of the Judge may be changed if a proposal is made to do so and that proposal receives a two-thirds affirmative vote of the members voting on that proposal within three days after the posting of that proposal.

 

9. Amendment.

The regular rules may be amended if a proposal is posted to do so and said proposal receives a two-thirds affirmative vote of the members voting on that proposal within seven days after the posting of that proposal.

 

10. Where to Do Things.

All actions under these rules must be accomplished by a public posting in the official committee thread. The location of the committee thread is defined as the thread in which the game of aPTomic is being played.

 

11. Scrabble

Every time a player has an FR passed as valid they receive three Scrabble tiles from a standard English Scrabble set as found at http://aptomic.pbwiki.com/Scrabble-tiles The player must consult an appropriate source of randomness to select the tiles they receive from the grid, and post the letters they receive in the aPTomic thread. These tiles will then be removed from http://aptomic.pbwiki.com/Scrabble-tiles.

 

If the FR is the first FR of a new round the player receives one additional Scrabble tile. If the FR is the final FR of a round (the winning FR) the player receives three additional tiles. If the FR is both the first and last FR of the round, the player receives four additional Scrabble tiles.

 

These Scrabble tiles can be played on the Scrabble board found at http://aptomic.pbwiki.com/Scrabble.

Words are placed by posting the word, in bold, in the aPTomic thread, followed by the coordinates of the first letter of the word. Coordinates take the form LetterNumber, where Letter is the column from left to right, A - O, and Number is the row from top to bottom, 1 - 15, when placing a horizontal word, and NumberLetter when placing a vertical word.

 

The game proceeds as per the rules of Scrabble found at http://www.farscapegames.co.uk/shopscr743.html, with a number of exceptions:

 

- New tiles are not drawn from the bag upon the placing of a word.

- Players do not take turns to place words on the board; a player can place a word at any time.

- Tiles are not drawn in order to decide who goes first.

- There is no 50 point bonus for placing a 7 letter word.

- http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn will be used as the 'standard English dictionary'.

- Any dictionary may be consulted at any time.

 

Upon the end of the game, all tiles are returned to the grid from both the players' hands and the board, and a new game begins.

 

The scores for the game can be found here http://aptomic.pbwiki.com/Scrabble-scores, and will also be posted periodically in the aPTomic thread.

 

12a. Starting aPTo!

In order for a game of aPTo! to begin, players of aPTomic must do the following

 

(a) Redesign the game board found at http://aptomic.pbwiki.com/aPTo%21 in order to incorporate every valid FR up until the last valid FR of the most recently ended round, and either one Event Square (ES) for each round of aPTomic, or, if need be, one more ES than there are rounds of aPTomic. This design must be in the form Start, ES (i), all FRs with the prefix 0, ES (ii), all FRs with the prefix 1, ES (iii), and so on in the same form until all FRs with the prefix (most recently ended round number), with the last FR of that round filling the square adjacent to Start, or, if need be, an additional ES filling the square adjacent to Start.

 

(b) Create new ES Instructions (ESIs) so that the number of ESIs and the number of ESs are equal. These ‘new’ ESIs may be identical to previous ESIs.

 

(c) Randomly designate every ESI an ES, and clearly show this on the aPTo! page.

 

d) Ask in the aPTomic thread who would like to play the new game of aPTo! Players then state their intent to join by posting, in bold, in the aPTomic thread, ‘I would like to join the new game of aPTo!’.

 

(e) Once two days have passed since (d), state the names of the players of the new game of aPTo! in the aPTomic thread.

 

(f) Once (e) has occurred, place every player on the aPTo! board at Start, by listing their names on the aPTo! page and, in the cell adjacent to their names, state the square that they are currently on, i.e. Start.

 

Once all of the above have been completed, the game of aPTo! can begin!

 

12b. aPTo! Gameplay

(a) A player may ‘roll the dice’ (find a number 1-6 inclusive using any reasonable, random method) once every 24 hours.

 

(b) Having ‘rolled’, the player moves the indicated number of squares around the board in a clockwise direction, and indicates, next to their name, the square which they now stand on.

 

(c) If the player lands on an ES, they follow the ESI for that square.

 

(d) If the ESI indicates that they should ‘Take a card’, the player uses any reasonable random method to select a card from the list of cards. They then take this card, and can play it at any time, where the instructions on the card act the same as if following an ESI. The playing of a card is, for all intents and purposes, the same as a dice roll. Cards can only be played once.

 

(e) A player may introduce a new card to the list of cards at any time, except in the period between landing on the ES with the ESI ‘take a card’ and following that ESI.

 

12c. aPTo! Scoring and Winning

(a) A player receives 3 points (at most once per aPTo! square per player per dice roll) for posting an FR in the aPTomic thread, valid in terms of that round, that also abides by the restrictions of the FR indicated by the square that they are currently on in aPTo!

 

(b) A player receives 3 points for passing the Start square.

 

(c) The game of aPTo! ends when one player has obtained at least 30 points. This player is declared the winner of aPTo! All players are then removed from the board.

 

13a. Holidays

A member can, at any time, state in the aPTomic thread, that they are going 'On Holiday'. While On Holiday members cannot:

 

(a) Be selected as Judge for an FR posted by the Judge.

(b) Be selected as Judge for the next round following a tied round.

(c) Be selected as Judge for an FR posted while the Judge is On Holiday.

 

If the Judge states that they are going On Holiday, or a member who is On Holiday becomes Judge, any member may randomly select a Judge for all FRs posted while the Judge is On Holiday.

 

As soon as a member who was On Holiday posts in the aPTomic thread they are no longer considered to be On Holiday.

 

13b. Inactivity

If a member has not posted in the aPTomic thread for at least 28 days, they become 'Inactive'. Members who are Inactive cannot:

 

(a) Be selected as Judge for an FR posted by the Judge.

(b) Be selected as Judge for the next round following a tied round.

(c) Be selected as Judge for an FR posted while the Judge is On Holiday.

 

As soon as a member who was Inactive posts in the aPTomic thread they are no longer considered to be Inactive.