Wormfarmer

I am going to try a new pool, wherein the trick is in how you structure your entry. It will not have a set end date, rather the first player to score 30 or more points will be the winner. The idea: Each player will submit a list of 9 names in the form of a tic tac toe board, wherein each line of the board (V)vertically and (H)horizontally has a theme. The table below is an example of a legal entry following the category rules that follow it: 1 2 3 1 frankie avalon smokey robinson lance henriksen (b. 1940) 2 keith richards ken rosewall kim novak (k) 3 neil diamond pete rose nick nolte (b. 1941) (musicians) (r) (actors) Mandatory categories: H1 = year of birth #1 H2 = first letter of first name H3 = year of birth #2 V1 = claim to fame #1 (choose 1: actors, musicians, politicians/world leaders, religious figures, scientists/inventors, authors/journalists and athletes) V2 = first letter of last name V3 = claim to fame #2 (choose 1: actors, musicians, politicians/world leaders, religious figures, scientists/inventors, authors/journalists and athletes) For this example table, I chose year of birth #1 = 1940 and year of birth #2 = 1941, while claim to fame #1 I used musicians and claim to fame #2 I used actors, and obviously the letter I chose for H2 is K and for V2 is R. You may choose any year of birth for H1 and H3, but you must choose 2 different years. Similarly you must choose 2 different claims to fame for V1 and V3, of the 8 listed categories. Scoring: 1 point per hit. If you complete a vertical trio (tic) or a horizontal trio (tac) you get 7 bonus points. If you complete a diagonal trio (toe) you get 10 bonus points. It is obviously possible and probable that a single hit will eventually score more than one trio. You will get bonus points for both in that case. First player to 30 wins. If multiple players exceed 30 points on the same day, the player with the highest total wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the youngest name on their board wins. Names accepted by the Derby or getting obits in the NY Times, Time, CNN, LA Times or AP websites are fine. Others not found there will be considered on a case by case basis, but don't push the obscurity limit too far. You may post your entries in the thread or PM them to me. If you post in the thread I will not allow any identical rows or columns between players, so check that you are not duplicating a posted entry. please indicate which birth years and claims to fame you are using. I will accept entries until we get 20 or so, or if that goal isn't reached I will close entries and start the game on the 5th of August. I would like to play along, but have not yet created an entry, so I will plan on PMing mine to the first entrant or two. I hope you enjoy!

Updated through known hits of 1/7/25 (jean marie le pen is the most recent). diego jumps into 4th. 3 teams can end it with one more hit. . . .

1 dick van dyke 2 Esther rantzen 3 Dennis skinner 4 Ian Smith - JOKER 5 Esther rantzen 6 Alan Greenspan 7 Linda Nolan 8 mel brooks 9 Stanley Baxter 10 sandy gall 11 noam Chomsky 12 yoko ono 13 Geoffrey boycott 14 Julie goodyear 15 prunella scales 16 David Attenborough 17 Joanne Woodward 18 buzz aldrin 19 Rupert Murdoch 20 Brian Wilson 21 asma al-assad 22 Stuart hall No sense in having Esther in there twice, it was supposed to be Eva Marie Saint .......That's 21/50. The dam is still ready to break.

Waiting on official final results but I dare expect to finally take a title in the 2024 Hare's Pool.

Im in.

Here we start a new year and this pool is still accepting entries . . . . we could be expecting incoming choppers at any time at which point the pool will be closed to newcomers. Come one, come all. . . . . .

Still one of my favorite comedies ever is the 1970's sitcom, M*A*S*H. Over the course of its 11 seasons, it had 11 different main cast members. Six of them have already passed on (in real life): Col. Henry Blake, Col. Sherman Potter, Trapper John, Frank Burns, Charles Emerson Winchester and Father Mulcahy. Which leaves five in no particular order: Hawkeye Pierce (played by Alan Alda) Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) Max Klinger (Jamie Farr) B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell) This pool is simple - put the five surviving characters in order you think they will pass on, the top name being the next to go, and the bottom name the last survivor of the show. The pool will remain open for entries until the first character passes. Then the game begins, and only the players who have selected correctly (at the top of their list) will continue on, all who selected a different character are eliminated, right out of the gate. Each time a character passes, all lists not having that character in the correct order are eliminated, until we only have one team remaining = the winner! So the game ends when either: only one list remains that hasn't been eliminated, OR when the fourth character passes, and there are multiple lists left that have guessed the correct order! In the latter case, we need a tiebreaker: which is to pick the date of the 4th character passing. Closest date, whether before or after, will be the winner. I will even come up with a prize for anyone who wins by getting the order of all 5 correct. My entry will be in the following post, please use it as an example of format for your entries, which should all be posted to this thread.

Scoring table changes with Jimmy Carter! A new leader in Buffalo Phil and also Toast added to the "could win it at any moment" list!

Report post Posted August 14, 2023 (edited) RULES: The competition will start 10 SEPTEMBER 2024 (all lists must be posted or sent in to me by 11:59pm (GMT) Sep 9) and scoring will end Aug 31, 2025. Submit a list of 26 people. The first name OR last name of the first person must begin with an A. Second person with a B. You get the idea. No joker. Please use this format A - Alan Arkin B - Harry Belafonte C - Clark Gable etc . . . . . Obit sources include those used by the Windy City Deadpool (Derby Dead Pool, plus for North America The NY Times, LA Times, CBS News, Fox News and MSN). Also acceptable: CNN, ABC, NBC, Rolling Stone and Time. Due to the large number of names possible, and because the more tenacious of you can find the folk on the very fringes of celebrity, please police your own obits and notify via post on this thread. NEW: This will be a self scoring pool. I will maintain a hits list and standings table and be responsible for double checking lists that are in contention for victory toward the end of the game. You do not have to update your score after every hit, but every few months would be nice to keep the standings somewhat accurate and interesting. SCORING: A hit using the first name (letters except as below) - 1 point A hit using the last name (letters except as below) - 2 points A hit with the first name at (A, E, I, O, U, Y) - 2 points A hit with the last name at (A, E, I, O, U, Y) - 3 points A hit with the first OR last name at (Q, X, Z) - 4 points A hit with an alliterative name scores the points for both first and last names as specified above (so an alliterative at the A spot would be worth 5 points, the B spot would be worth 3 points, the Q spot would be worth 8 points) NAMES: General titles such as Queen/Pope/Prince, etc. are NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE for scoring at that letter. Single names submitted (Cher, Madonna, Pele) will be treated as first names. I prefer to see real names used (e.g. Richard Penniman instead of Little Richard). No animals, due to the ease of earning the WS bonus. BONUSES: Whippersnapper Bonus (WS): dies at age 75 or younger = 2 points (if there is substantial ambiguity or birth year is unknown, no bonus will be awarded) NEW: No solo or duo bonuses will be awarded this year to make self scoring simpler. Solos = 3 points Duos = 1 point Vowel Movement Bonus (VMB): hit your names at all five vowel spots (A, E, I, O, U) = 5 points OR hit any four of your vowels + your name at the letter Y = 3 points NOTE: Do not try to score this bonus with a single hit by picking a name with all five vowels in it. That ship has sailed! You must hit 5 names at all the vowel spots (or Y) to get the bonus! Late Bloomer Bonus (LBB): If a single player is left without a hit, that player will automatically earn 20 points! This is a backdoor way for someone to potentially go from the cellar right into the thick of things. 20 points is not likely to win the game, but it is certainly a nice place to work for the come from behind win while also having a full list of 26 names left to score. Scoring Example: if someone gets a hit with 71 year old Zadora Zephyr, the score would be 8 + 2 (WS) = 10 pts TIES: Will be broken by the date the final score is reached. That is, if three folks end up with 48 points, the person that got to 48 on the earliest date will be the winner.  This was a pivotal rule one year! SUBS: Please check your list at the start of the game to make sure all names are still alive. I will allow a sub for that letter, but it can't be someone who is new to the DP radar since the game started. That means no one who is diagnosed with cancer/has an accident after your original submission. Enjoy!

Didnt everybody have Jimmy Carter?

Richard Parsons should be worth a cool 48 for Wormfarmer and maybe others . . . .

Ummm . . . . this could be the kind of hit that makes me a PLAYER . . . Arnold Yarrow, my joker, and so late in the game. I guess I still need to fear those Dec 31 bonuses from wrenching the win from my grasp. . . .

Ladyfiona does the difficult . . . 4th hit and no tic, tac or toe. Still just 4 points . . . .

I am awake and my eagle eyes spotted a different boo-boo. It was Ella Jenkins, not Elaine May, that died 24 hours later.........but I do love your summary!!

June and Ella, 2 hits in 2 days . . . .that's gotta be worth something good!

Updated through June Spencer . . . . . .

Been quiet. Let's hear it for Diego for breaking the silence. 1 point for Dub Jones. Leaders are not feeling threatened as of yet . . . .

Teams posted on page 1, scoring table coming . . . .

As I collate and post, I note gcreptile has maybe the most questionable names on his list. Here are my rulings on his most obscure names.... Fisk - absolutely acceptable, but my research show he passed in 2020. If so, that's on you, so keep the name but no score there. Mathers - she's the rapper's mom, but if not, she's a nobody . . . disallowed. Valentine-Morton - my first searches yielded story headlines like "Brighton Man w terminal cancer . . . . and "Theater lover w cancer raises money for . . . . We can do better, sir. Disallowed. Worthington - acceptable, and dead. well done.

Ruth Johnson Colvin on August 18, and Kris Kristofferson on Sep 28. Here I come . . .

ray anthony anne baker john cruickshank caren marsh doll lily ebert james c flowers rosie grier chuck howley paul ignatius (US Navy) dub jones agnes keleti william leuchtenburg morton mintz yoshiro nakamatsu marcel ophuls priscilla pointer marita camacho quiros rachel robinson june spencer michael tilson thomas bob uecker vija vetra woody woodbury wang xiji arnold yarrow milos zemin

RULES: The competition will start 1 SEPTEMBER 2023 (all lists must be in by 11:59pm (GMT) Aug 31) and scoring will end Aug 31, 2024. Submit a list of 26 people. The first name OR last name of the first person must begin with an A. Second person with a B. You get the idea. No joker. Please use this format A - Alvin Chipmunk B - Harry Belafonte C - Carol Channing etc . . . . . Obit sources include those used by the great Windy City Deadpool, which uses the sources of the Derby Dead Pool, plus The NY Times, LA Times, CBS News, Fox News and MSN. Also acceptable: CNN, ABC, NBC, the Associate Press (AP), Rolling Stone and Time. Due to the large number of names possible, and because the more tenacious of you can find the folk on the very fringes of celebrity, please police your own obits and notify via post on this thread. Of course if it's the likes of the Queen or the Pope, just give me time to post it, no need to bring it to my attention.  SCORING: A hit using the first name (all letters except as below) - 1 point A hit using the last name (all letters except as below) - 2 points A hit with the first name . . . (A, E, I, O, U, Y) - 2 points A hit with the last name . . . (A, E, I, O, U, Y) - 3 points A hit with the first OR last name . . . (Q, X, Z) - 4 points A hit with an alliterative name scores the points for both first and last names as specified above (so an alliterative at the A spot would be worth 5 points, the B spot would be worth 3 points, the Q spot would be worth 8 points) NAMES: General titles such as Queen/Pope/Prince, etc. are NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE for scoring at that letter. Single names submitted (Cher, Madonna, Pele) will be treated as first names. I prefer to see real names used (e.g. Richard Penniman instead of Little Richard). No animals, due to the ease of earning the WS bonus. BONUSES: Whippersnapper Bonus (WS): dies at age 75 or younger = 2 points (if there is substantial ambiguity or birth year is unknown, no bonus will be awarded) Solos = 3 points Duos = 1 point Vowel Movement Bonus (VMB): hit all five vowels (A, E, I, O, U) = 5 points /hit any four vowels + the letter Y = 3 points NOTE: Due to confusion with this bonus, a few players added names with all 5 vowels in them, in the hopes of scoring the bonus with that one hit, and then also scoring it again with a second hit, etc. If I had meant that, I would have said something like, "hit a name with all 5 vowels in it and score an extra 5 points". But the damage is done, so I will award a 5 point bonus to a team which scores such a hit ONE TIME per team. This has already been done by two teams, so they will get their 5 points now and be done, regardless of how many additional such hits they may get this year. Sorry to those who understood the bonus correctly, I sincerely hope the game does not come down to this being a deciding factor for first place. Late Bloomer Bonus (LBB): If a single player is left without a hit, that player will automatically earn 20 points! This is a backdoor way for someone to potentially go from the cellar right into the thick of things. 20 points is not likely to win the game, but it is certainly a nice place to work for the come from behind win while also having a full list of 26 names left to score. Scoring Example: if someone gets a solo hit with 71 year old Zadora Zephyr, the score would be 8 + 2 (WS) + 3 (solo) = 13 TIES: Will be broken by the date the final score is reached. That is, if three folks end up with 48 points, the person that got to 48 on the earliest date will be the winner.  This was a pivotal rule last year! SUBS: Please check your list at the start of the game to make sure all names are still alive. I will allow a sub for that letter, but it can't be someone who is new to the DP radar since the game started. That means no one who is diagnosed with cancer/has an accident after your original submission. Enjoy!

After rechecking several of the upper echelon scores and adding the unreported players to the leaderboard, I now get only 49 pts for you gc. Here is my breakdown, please confirm or show me where I went wrong . . . hits at: B 4 WS, F 3, G 3 duo, I 5 WS, J 3 WS, K 4 WS and duo, O 3, Q 7 solo, R 3 WS, U 3, V 2, Y 3, Z 6 WS = 49 pts. I had given you 2 extra points at G for some reason. So the leaderboard is updated to this total, for now.

This is the last day for scoring on this pool! With corrections needed to gcreptile's score, he has taken a comfortable lead and looks like our champion. But I am going to leave the final decision open for another week to allow all of you to double check for more omissions/errors in the scoring table. I will also post scores for the 4 unlisted players in the next few days whether they check in or not. Note again that I have a thread started for next season's game and entries are due in 10 days. Please recheck the rules at the start of the thread for minor rule changes! Enjoy!

This is a fantastic help. That's why I asked for the self scoring. I have verified all your notes and will credit you the points.....thank you! I had not QO'd you at Q, which was worth 7 points alone due to the solo. You were also only a hit at A away from earning a legitimate (second tier using the Y) vowel movement bonus~!