UPDATE: Picks are due 1/6 at midnight, and money due 1/16. (If one of your picks dies between 1/1 and 1/7, you get a free replacement pick.)
Deadline for list submission to hollydeadpool08@gmail.com: 1/6/2008, midnight
Deadline for $20 (cash or check to Holly or PayPal to hollydeadpool08@gmail.com): 1/16/08
How to Play
Make a list of ten famous*, non-fictional people you think will die in 2008, along with one alternate. If anyone on your list dies between the time that you send the list and January 7, s/he will be replaced by your alternate. Once the game begins, your alternates are no longer relevant to the game.
Check out Dead or Alive: Over 85 for a list of the aging famous by birth year, but remember: young folks drop dead, too, especially if they lead perilous lives.
Send your list with alternates to hollydeadpool08@gmail.com
Scoring works as follows: the points for each death = (number of people participating) minus (number of people who picked that goner).
Example: 20 people participate. Bill Clinton dies. Five people had him. Each person gets 15 points.
Example: Eight people participate. Bill Clinton dies. Three people had him. Each person gets 5 points.
NB: This is different from last year's scoring. It doesn't weigh uniqueness of guess nearly so heavily. This year, being right will matter more than picking people no one else picked.
Once the deadline has passed, I will post everybody's lists at the Dead Pool Blog (http://deadpuddle.blogspot.com) and give everybody's lists to Danny, who will set up a Google document spreadsheet and invite us all to view it.
I am playing, too. You're just going to have to trust that I'm not going to sneak peeks at your picks before I submit mine.
Once you have submitted your list, give me $20. You can give it to me in cash, by check (made out to me), or via PayPal to hollydeadpool08@gmail.com. (PayPal will take a small percentage.) If I have not received your $20 by midnight on 1/16/09, you are not in the game. (PayPal takes a small cut of all money paid using it, so the pot will be slightly smaller than all the money submitted. Deal with it.)
Throughout 2008, when someone on one of our lists dies, I (or someone faster than I) will post on the blog. Subscribe to its RSS feed or check in regularly to stay updated.
The Dead Pool closes at midnight 1/6/09. I will announce final scores and the winner on New Year's Day, 2010. I will send a check or PayPal the winner his ill-gotten booty the following day.
*Famous for something other than being really, really old. (No Maria de Jesus dos Santos, smart-ass.) I'm not going to define "famous." When I send around everyone's lists after New Year's, we will all have a week to challenge each other's picks for famousness. Once a pick is challenged, a majority vote will knock that pick off the list without a replacement.
7 comments:
Hmmm... would Andy be losing under the new rules? Because that would make me feel slightly better about the smackdown he's giving me.
Are you asking me to do math? Dude.
Here's the math, in spreadsheet form. http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pozuTGCB1_TVuZeW60InAJg
Under that scheme, it would take me (or Chris) at least three deaths to pass Andy, but there are more available combinations. For everyone else, a minimum of...
Holly, Morgan and Rebecca: 3 to tie
Heather, Elaine, Tom and Andre: 2 to tie
Betsy: 2 to pass
If I left anyone off this time, it's because I despise you and all your beliefs.
I think it's a good change to the rules, since it gives us more viable combos.
And, just because I have decided to have time on my hands, here are the results of another scheme: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pozuTGCB1_TWj9fDVrAr7Jg
The rules are age-based, encouraging low-age picks (and making Amy Winehouse quite a valuable crackhead).
This scheme upsets the Andycart a bit. He ties with Betsy.
My eyes are crossing! I like any of the rules if it means I have a chance of getting a better return for my $20 than I've gotten in the stock market or the garment center or even the grocery store.
Oh, and about last year's rules: they were last year's rules, and we all agreed to them. Change them for 2009 if you like, but Andy won the 2008 pool fair and square. Give him the money and move on.
Oh, I wasn't actually proposing we strip Andy of his earnings. He was just my benchmark for judging whether changing a rule really changed the game.
Plus, it was fun to play "unseat Andy".
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