Rules of the Death Pool

• Each player is allowed to select 50 names. The pool of all names selected by the players is called the Master List. (Living people only; no animals, cartoons, comic strip characters, etc.)
• Each player's list must be e-mailed to Ron Frey before the deadline for entries (see below). No paper or snail-mailed entries will be accepted for the 2002 Death Pool. Entrants will be given a snail-mail address to which they can send their $10 entry fee.
• The deadline for entries for the 2002 Death Pool is 11:59pm (EST), December 31st, 2001.
• The duration of the Death Pool is from January 1st through December 31st of the same calendar year.
• When a death is mentioned in Time, Newsweek, and/or People magazines, the name of the descedent is checked against the Master List. If there is a "Hit" in the Master List, each player who picked the "Hit" is awarded points.
• Points are calculated as follows:
  100 minus the "Hit's" age.
  For example: When Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy, died, he was 91 years old; he was worth 9 points. When Ryan White died, he was 17 years old; he was worth 83 points.
• If the decedent is 100 years old or older, no points are awarded.
• If someone dies, but their name is not mentioned in Time, Newsweek, or People Magazines, you'll get an honorable mention, but, sorry, no points are awarded.
• The date of death must occur within the year of play (regardless of when the death is announced). Time of death will be determined by the time zone of the location of death (for deaths occurring on December 31st). Deaths must be published in Time, Newsweek, or People magazines on or before January 15th the following year in order to score points.
• At the beginning of January, the winners for the prior year's Death Pool will be announced. The player with the most points will be awarded 80% of the total of the entrance fees. The player with the second highest score will be awarded 20% of the entrance fees.
• In the event of a tie, the tie breaker will be the player that has the youngest "Hit". If all of the tied players have the youngest "Hit", the next youngest "Hit" in succession will be the tie breaker, and so on. If the players each had the exact same "Hits," then the players will share the winnings.
• Updates of recent "Hits" and player standings will be distributed to the players by the person running the Death Pool.
• All disputes will be settled by the person running the Death Pool and decisions will be deemed final. At his/her option, costs of running the Death Pool (photocopying, envelopes, postage) may be deducted from the prize money.

the Strategies

• The number one rule to being successful at the Death Pool is: Be on the lookout! If you keep an eye out all year long, you'll be more likely to get more "Hits" than if you just start to think about it during the last two weeks of December.
• From the above example on how points are awarded, it's easy to see that there can be different strategies in how you approach your picks.
  1. Pick the old fogies. A lot of people got points for Sir John Gielgud, Vincent Price, and Ginger Rogers. These were good picks for the simple fact that these people were ancient and were likely to soon meet their maker. But...they weren't worth many points, and some people would consider them a waste of a selection.
  2. Pick the young and the restless. Kurt Cobain would have been an excellent pick if any of the players were brave enough to pick him. (No one was.) But...Keith Richards is still alive and kicking.
  3. Become an ambulance chaser. Gene Kelly, stroke. Frank Zappa, prostate cancer. Randy Shilts, AIDS. But...a popular pick, Stephen Hawking, has had Lou Gehrig's disease for over 25 years when the life expectancy is only seven.