Rule 101
Obey The Rules
All players must always abide by the current ruleset in its explicit format, as interpreted in accordance with currently existing game custom.
Rule 102
The Speaker and Voters
A Player is either a Voter or the Speaker; no Player may be both at the same time. There will always be one Speaker.
Rule 103
Nature of Players
A Player is any person who is registered as a Player. No person may register as a Player more than once concurrently. A person who is not a Player and owns a chiark account may register by emailing the Speaker and indicating their wish to register. A Player always has the option to deregister and leave the game.
Rule 104
Rule Change Defined
A rule change is either (a) the enactment, repeal, or amendment of a mutable rule, or (b) the transmutation of an immutable rule into a mutable rule, or vice versa. A proposal consists of exactly one proposed rule change.
Rule 105
Adopting Proposals
All proposals made properly shall be voted on. Three conditions must be satisfied for a proposal to be adopted: (1) Quorum is achieved; (2) the required number of votes is cast for the proposal; and (3) either the prescribed voting period has elapsed or all Players have voted. A non-adopted proposal with an elapsed voting period is defeated.
Rule 106
Changing the Rules
When a proposal is adopted, any rule changes it contains take effect. No rule change may have retroactive application.
Rule 107
Numbering Schemes
Each rule has a cardinal number. Each proposal has a cardinal number, as assigned by the Speaker. The first proposal shall be number 301, each proper proposal shall receive the next successive cardinal. The cardinal number of a rule enacted by a proposal is the cardinal number of that proposal.
Rule 108
Making Proposals
The proper way to make a proposal is to email it to the Speaker. The Speaker must distribute each proposal to all Players, at which point its prescribed voting period begins. Voters may vote either for or against any proposal during its prescribed voting period by emailing the Speaker.
Rule 109
Mutable/Immutable Inconsistencies
In the event of conflict between a mutable rule and an immutable rule, the mutable rule is wholly void and without effect.
Rule 110
Winning The Game
The way to win the game may not be changed from achieving n points to any other method. However, the value of n may be changed, and rules that establish a winner when play cannot be continued may be enacted and (while mutable) be amended or repealed. The winner of the last game shall become the Speaker for the next game.
Rule 111
At Least One Mutable Rule
There must always be at least one mutable rule. The adoption of rule changes must never become completely inpermissible.
Rule 112
Permissibility Of The Unprohibited
Whatever is not otherwise explicitly prohibited or regulated by the rules is permitted and unregulated, with the sole exception of changing the ruleset, which is permitted only when a rule or set of rules explicitly or implicitly permits it.
Rule 201
Proposal Conditions
Quorum is half of all active registered players. The required number of votes for a proposal is two-thirds of the legal votes cast on it. Each player has exactly one vote on each proposal. The prescribed voting period is seven days.
Rule 202
Scoring for Proposals
When a proposal becomes adopted, those players who voted against it receive 5 points each, and its author also receives 10 points. When a proposalbecomes defeated, its author loses 10 points.
Rule 203
Required Number Of Points
The winner is the first Player to achieve 200 points, and to have at least 20 points more than any other Player.
Rule 204
Resolving Conflicts
If two or more mutable rules, or two or more immutable rules, are in conflict, then the rule with the lowest cardinal number takes precedence. However, if at least one of the rules in conflict explicitly says that it defers to or takes precedence over another rule (or type of rule), such provisions shall determine precedence if a consistent interpretation results.
Rule 205
Invoking Judgement
Any Player who has a query about the laws and their interpretation may email a statement to the Speaker to incur a Call For Judgement (CFJ). The speaker must distribute each CFJ to all Players.
Rule 206
Selecting A Judge
When a CFJ is incurred, the Speaker randomly selects a Voter to be Judge. The Player selected has 3 days in which to notify the Speaker of their acceptance or refusal, or else lose 10 points and be deemed to have refused appointment. If a Judge refuses appointment, a further random selection is made from the remaining pool.
Rule 207
Delivering Judgement
A Judge shall post their official Judgement within 3 days of accepting their appointment. A Judge who fails this requirement is penalized 10 points, and then deemed to have refused their appointment.
Rule 208
Three Possible Judgements
There are only three possible Judgements: (1) True; (2) False; and (3) Undecided. A Judgement may be accompanied by reasons and arguments, but they will form no part of the official Judgement.
Rule 209
Judgements Must Accord With The Rules
All Judgements must be in accordance with the current ruleset. When the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the statement in question, the Judge shall consider current game custom and the spirit of the game in reaching a decision.
Rule 210
Status of Judgements
If a statement on which Judgement has been called is Judged to be true, it becomes an explicit part of current game custom. If a Judgement of true is overruled, then the relevant statement ceases to be an explicit part of current game custom.
Rule 211
Overturning Judgements
At any time in the week following the posting of a Judgement of "true" or "false", any player may propose that the Judgement be overruled, i.e. changed to "undecided". If that proposal is adopted, then the Judgement is overruled, and the Judge who made it is penalized 20 points.
Rule 212
Winning By Paradox
If the legality of some action cannot be determined with finality, then a player may call for judgement on a statement to that effect. If the statement is judged true, and the judgement is not overruled, then the player who called for judgement is declared the winner of the game. This rule takes precedence over every other rule for determining the winner of the game.
Rule 305
Wording Rules Easier
Any rule which has an effect on a Player within some time of them joining the game, or on joining the game, affects Players who were already Players when the rule was enacted as if they joined the game at the point at which the rule was enacted.
Rule 307
And you can call me Al
Every Player, within a week of joining the game, may choose for
themselves a pseudonym, which must be representable in 7 bit ASCII,
unique, and not the same as the name of any Player other than
themselves.
If a Player has not chosen a pseudonym by then end of this week then
the Speaker must choose one for them.
If a Player has a pseudonym then that is the only unambiguous way of
refering to that Player.
Rule 309
What week is it?
For the purposes of the game a calender week is considered to run from 6am BST on Saturday morning until 6am BST on the next Saturday morning.
Rule 311
Titles
Players may own Titles. They may only acquire and lose Titles as
described by the Rules. Unique Titles are a special type of Title.
If any Player acquires a Unique Title, all other Players who own that
Title lose it.
When a Player has a proposal accepted, and have not previously had a
proposal accepted, they acquire the Title of Non-Newbie."
Rule 316
Some degree of reversability
A Player may at any point at which one of their proposals is still
available for voting perform the action of repudiating it.
A repudiated proposal is immediately deemed to be defeated, however
the author of the proposal only looses half the number of points that
they would usually loose in such an occurance.
This rule takes precidence over any rule specifying what happens when
a proposal is defeated.
Rule 320
A textual convention to make life easier
Any text between brackets '{}' is considered not to be part of the
rules, however it is part of the text of the rules, and should be
maintained along with the rules.
It may be considered part of game custom.
Rule 324
A wider definition of 'person'
A person is either a natural person or an rule-described entity with the 'animate' attribute. The animate attribute can only be given or removed from an entity as described by the rules.
Rule 325
Slow Down and save the Speaker
It is not proper for a Player to submit a proposal if they currently have ten or more proposals under voting consideration.