Welcome to the 7th annual Hares Death Pool (Jesus, that many?). Sick of your Deathrace team living a few months too long, they (topped up with a few friends) might do okay here....         Hares Death Pool  The Rules (Last updated 2 Jan 2019)    1) Your Team   All teams must contain 25 people with some claim to fame (See FFBI section) you expect to die, and a nominated joker amonst the main 25. A maximum 5 subs are permitted for any picks who die before the starting line. (These substitutes will be promoted in order if required) All picks must be human beings aged over 18 on January 1st of the game year.. Death row prisoners only score if they die of other causes, those still on trial will still score points if sentenced to execution after 0000 on January 1st. Entries must be posted in the annual Hares Death Pool thread or PMed to the game runner. (From 2020 onwards teams posted in the Deathrace thread, delivered by status update or sent by carrier pigeon will be routinely ignored.) The competition automatically opens for entries at 0001 on the 1st December and closes at 2359 on December 31st. Substitutes will be automatically promoted if deaths become known about on January 1st or later from the previous years Note: in light of the automatic promotion of subs the host sees no reason to include the January 1st leeway for replacement. However in the unlikely case a player uses all 5 substitutes on picks who died before January 1st a special dispensation will be permitted allowing them add picks up until 2359 January 1st to get them back 25 names up until 2359 on January 1st . If someone has not provided 5 substitutes they will not be entitled to this dispensation as it's their own fault they're short..... Late entries are not permitted. Hosts have long come to the conclusion there is no reason for exceptions now the deadline is 2359 rather than 1600....... Entries submitted on the 31st December could suffer abuse from a stressed host via PM response. (It's something of a tradition, but kinder hosts are not compelled to continue it) For teams submitted up until midday on the 31st December every effort will be made to clarify who your picks are should their be confusion. Hare's has always been incredibly lenient on this front but we recommend you include good old bracket tradition - (i.e cancer nobody but she's a local celebrity who fundraised for dying cats before she got diagnosed, covered by the Buttfucknowhere Gazette....) or (geriatric actor).  For teams submitted after midday on the 31st December you'll just get the first name that comes up on a cursory google search if you've not clarified who they are. The host may add cancer/brain tumour/ill to that search if they are feeling nice (see Rule 9 - unlikely)....     2) Obituary Rules Celebrities qualify if they achieve an obituary or article about their death in a local, national or even specialist newspaper/website*. The aforementioned article does not need to specifically relate to their death, instead just mention it and date it*. or website/magazine/paper. If in doubt cite your death note for approval. There is absolutely no requirement for obits to be in the English language, however translations should be provided if they are not. The obit may be published in any language but entrants should give the host a translation if it is not in English. Note: (It's become a tradition for foreign dead pool players to submit local hero teams of DDP useless picks to the Hares on account of this and long may that continue!)  The * on specialist websites refers to the following: paid for obituary sites are not specialist websites and will be not used to clarify, the same applies to death notice sections of otherwise acceptable sources. The exception to this rule is if these sites have a celebrities death page - should the picks death notice/paid for obituary feature on their celebrity deaths page/feed the points will be awarded. Note: Wording of this rule has been slightly tightened in this update compared to the old rules but enforcement of it remains the same.  Social media posts, personal blogs etc do not count.  The cut off period for obituaries has always informally been 2359 on the 7th January the year after the competition ends. (death date must be recorded as 31st December at the latest) - just popping this in here to solidify that rule going forward...   3) Scoring Rules   For the purposes of determining the date of death of a celebrity the information to hand will be used to determine the points allocated to the competitors who chose the person. In the event that an exact date is available For the avoidance of doubt journalistic nuisance phrases 'on Wednesday, or last night/yesterday' will count as dates of death, with the date being determined by the tedious process of working it out - ) , full points will be awarded. In the event that only the month of death is in the obituary, points will be awarded to the first date of the month (in September) that has been given ('the Leah Bracknell' rule) if a date is subsequently given in press before the closure of the competition window the remaining points will be added to the total. In the very unfortunate event that only the year of death is provided in the qualifying obituary the poor bastard who picked them will be awarded points to the first day of the year that is given (which the savvy among you will have worked out is 0 points).  The overall points system is incredibly simple: 1 Point for each day of the year that passes before your celebs death (if they die on the 10th of January you are awarded 9 points for example) up until the games close at midnight on the 31st December. Pick 1 of your celebrities as a joker to double the points for that pick upon their death. (i.e if they die on the 9th January you'll get 16 points). Jokers are calculated before the 250 point bonus, meaning are 31st December joker will score 978 in a normal year and 980 in a leaper year.  250 point bonus if one of your "celebrities" dies on 31st December in that game year (i.e a 31st death will score 614 points in a normal year or 615 points in a leap year rather than the 364 or 365 points it would normally accrue) In the impressive event of all 25 of your team dying you will receive a 500 point bonus   4) The Don't Be A Cunt Rules   Blatant plagiarism of another persons team, in the eye of the game runner, is punishable by expulsion and a 5 year ban on entering the competition. Keeping alive another persons pick against the picks will to benefit in this game is also against the rules. Murdering your chosen "celebrities" is both against the rules and illegal regardless of willing participation. (not to mention gives us a bad name) If assisted euthanasia becomes legal in the future, contestants in this dead pool are forbidden from encouraging/discouraging/or actively taking part in their or another contestants picks decision regarding this or being an active participant in their euthanasia. This rules apply to assisted euthanasia in other countries of picks. Similarly encouraging picks to commit suicide is prohibited.   5) The FFBI Rules   Celebrities are disqualified if the game runner determines them to be famous for being ill. This rule has been significantly tightened in recent years. And now bans picks who are: Famous due to impending death (hit by a car, stabbed etc etc you get the idea) Famous due to illness, with not even a minor fame to claim of their own making resulting from that illness (mother with 6 months to live, man with rare genetic disorder) An awareness and activism exception exists (see the filter) If your unsure whether you're pick qualifies for the Hares Death Pool your in look; they're subject to a rigorous FFBI filter that you can use to check them before submitting them - so there's really new excuse. From midday on the 31st December the host has the right to outright reject a team that appears to contain so many FFBI picks it would fall short of a 25 strong field once they are removed or allow it to run short without seeking clarification.    The Filter   2014 Champion - Rotten Ali 12 Teams - Final Scoreboard 2015 Champion - Toast 16 Teams - Final Scoreboard 2016 Champion - Gcreptile 17 Teams - Final Scoreboard 2017 Champion - Grim Up North 24 Teams - Final Scoreboard 2018 Champion - Death Impends 30 Teams - Final Scoreboard 2019 Champion - John Key 43 Teams - Latest Scoreboard   All-Time Records Lowest Scoring Hit - maryportfuncity with 0 points for Dorothy Baldwin (2014) [1 was awarded in consolation] [1st January 2014] and by Wormfarmer with 0 points for David Stern in 2019 - no consolation point.....   Highest Scoring Hit - Sir Creep - 666 points (George H.W Bush on 30 Nov 2018 with WC points).   Time Without a Hit - 365 Days!! (mysteriousmummy 2019   Most Hits:  -  msc 16 in 2018   All Time Leaderboard - Points Tally (up to 2018 - 2019 will be added after it closes (7th Jan 2359.)     Best of luck.