Initial Ruleset

The Initial Ruleset

1. The Rules
2. The Admin
3. Players
4. Money
5. Items
6. Trade
7. The Board
8. Turns and Rounds
9. Proposals
10. Disruption of Gameplay
11. Ending the Game

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1. The Rules

   1. All players must at all times abide by the rules. No player may ever perform any action that violates any rule in the current set of rules.
   2. The current set of rules is provided only as a convenience for interpreting the accepted proposals. In a conflict between a rule and the proposal that created it, the proposal is considered to be correct.
   3. In the event that two or more rules contradict at any time, the following resolving scheme will be used:
      • If one of the rules defers to another rule or explicitly states that it takes precedence over the other, then that rule will take priority.
      • If the above situation does not resolve the conflict, the rule which has been in its current form for the longest amount of time will take priority.
   4. All actions are subject to approval by the Admin.

2. The Admin

   1. The Admin for Gnomopoly is Geoff Lehr.
   2. The Admin is responsible for maintaining the Gnomopoly website and interpreting the rules.
   3. Players are allowed (and encouraged) to question and/or correct the Admin's decisions, however, the Admin will ultimately make any final decisions.

3. Players

   1. Each player will be required to have a unique nickname and a valid e-mail address. A single person may not act as more than one player.
   2. The Admin is not a player.
   3. New players may join the game at any time by approval of the Admin.
   4. Any player that does not contact the admin for 14 days will be removed from the game, unless previous arrangements have been made.
   5. All players are expected to act respectfully and courteously towards other players and the Admin at all times. Repeated violations of this rule will result in the offending player being removed from the game.

4. Money

   1. The Nomopoly Dollar is the basic unit of currency in the game. All fractional dollar amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
   2. A new player upon joining the game will receive $10000.
   3. A player with less than $0 is said to be bankrupt. No player may take any voluntary action that would cause him to become bankrupt at any time during that action. Additionally, any player that is bankrupt may not take any voluntary action that would result in a loss of money at any time during that action.

5. Items

   1. An item is any object that a player may possess. There is no limit to how many items a player may have at any time.
   2. If stated in the item description, an item may be "used" by the player owning it and any effects associated with using the item will take place. Unless otherwise stated in the item description, using an item causes the player to no longer have possession of it.

6. Trade

   1. Players may trade the following objects with each other by agreement of the players involved in the trade:
      • Money
      • Items, unless the item in question is specifically marked as untradeable

7. The Board

   1. The game takes place on the Nomopoly board, which consists of an ordered sequence of squares. Each square has an integer number.
   2. The board initially consists of 20 squares numbered from 1 to 20, and the board must at all times have at least one square.
   3. Any time a new square is added to the board, its number will be the integer one greater than that of the highest numbered square on the board at that time.
   4. The successor of a square is the square which has the lowest number greater than the number of the square in question. The successor of the highest numbered square is Square #1. A square is said to be the predecessor of its successor.
   5. The squares are laid out two-dimensionally in a grid with 10 columns. Square #1 is in the bottom left corner, and each successive square up to Square #10 can be found by moving right. Square #11 is above Square #10, and each successive square up to Square #20 can then be found by moving left. This winding pattern continues for as many squares as there are on the board (similar to the layout of a Snakes and Ladders board), however, if the highest numbered square is not a multiple of 10, the last row will contain less than 10 squares. Also, the board layout may have gaps if all squares between Square #1 and the highest numbered square do not exist.
   6. At all times during the game, each player occupies exactly one square. A new player upon joining the game will start on Square #1.
   7. If a player is instructed to "move" to a particular square, he is said to leave his current square, land on the destination square, and pass over each square in between in the direction of the move.
   8. If a player is instructed to "jump" to a particular square, he is said to leave his original square and land on the destination square, without passing over any squares.

8. Turns and Rounds

   1. A Gnomopoly round lasts one week, from 00:00:01 Monday to 23:59:59 Sunday. It consists of three Turns and one Day Off.
   2. A turn consists of moves by all players
   3. A Gnomopoly turn lasts two days, from 00:01 the first day to 23:59 the second. Turns will run as follows: Mon-Tues, Wed-Thurs, Fri-Sat.
   4. Players may email their move to the Admin at any time during the turn. Results will be posted as they are received and acted upon.
   5. If the Admin does not receive a move from a player for a turn, the player will make the Default Move, described below.
   6. Default Move: When a player takes a turn, the Admin will roll two 6-sided dice and the player will move ahead on the board the number of squares indicated by the sum of the dice.
   7. The following types of moves are allowed:
      • Default Move

9. Proposals

   1. A player may make one proposal during a Round, at any time during that Round.
   2. A proposal can be any of the following:
      • The addition of new rules
      • The deletion of existing rules
      • The modification of existing rules
      • A change to the game state which does not necessarily fit into one of the above categories
   3. No proposal may make any reference to a characteristic of a player if that characteristic is immutable within the set of rules at the time the proposal is accepted, ignoring the fact that rules may change in the future.
   4. No proposal may have retroactive application or take effect earlier than the moment it is implemented.
   5. At the start of the next Round, all proposals made during the previous Round will be listed for Players to vote on. During a turn (and preferably sent along with their move), players may vote either "Yes" or "No" on it. Each player may not vote more than once on each proposal.
   6. On the Day Off, the Admin will tally the votes for each Proposal, and modify the Ruleset accordingly. If the proposal has more Yes votes than No votes, the proposal is accepted and incorporated into the Ruleset. If the proposal does not receive more Yes votes than No votes, the proposal is rejected.
   7. Once voting on a proposal has been completed, the number of players who voted Yes and No on the proposal will be made public, however, each individual player's vote will not be revealed.
   8. A proposal may be retracted by the player who made it before it is posted for voting.
   9. The Admin has the right to refuse to implement any proposal that in his opinion is discriminatory, paradoxial, infeasible to implement, or destructive of gameplay.

10. Disruption of Gameplay

    1. In the event of a paradox, infinite loop, or any situation that prohibits further gameplay, the game will be paused. The Admin also has the right to pause the game at any time if he feels there is a need to do so.
    2. When the game is paused, players may not take any actions other than voting until the game is unpaused.
    3. During a pause due to a disruption of gameplay, the players have the option to suggest to the Admin ideas on how to fix the game. The Admin will make a proposal, and the players will vote on it using the same procedure as a proposal made by a player. If the proposal is accepted, the proposal is implemented and the game is unpaused. If the proposal is rejected, the above process is repeated until the game is fixed.

11. Ending the Game

    1. The game will immediately end without a winner if the Admin is ever on the receiving end of a lawsuit from any board game manufacturer.
    2. Once someone has been declared the winner, the game ends.
    3. If there is only one player in the game who is not bankrupt, the non-bankrupt player is declared the winner.