Tournament rules

OBSERVE: READ ALSO THE TOURNAMENT-SPECIFIC RULES FROM THE TOURNAMENT INFO PAGE!

Rule number one

  • Maintain common sense. This is a game. This is intended to be fun. This must not cause displeasure to players or bystanders. Everything the rules do not explicitly forbid is not allowed.

Applying to the game

  • If a candidate does not have a helsinki.fi-address, their identity will be otherwise confirmed. Applications will be confirmed by a personal contact.
  • During the game the players are assumed to read their e-mail every day from Monday to Friday.
  • The umpires use their discretion in accepting players for the game. If the applicant e.g. states s/he is not practically reachable during the game, there is no point for him/her to participate.
  • Sometimes there just is no room for everyone. The umpires make the decisions as they see fit. First priority is given to students of the University of Helsinki, second to students of other tertiary education students in the capital region and third to everyone else. So far we’ve never had to limit the number of players.
  • Required information is stated on a game-by-game basis. This will include at least name, desired alias, address, a good recent photo and some data about the player's daily life.
  • The alias is a nickname used in the scoreboard and any other game-wide announcements. The umpires accept the alias according to their taste and preferences. The alias can be changed from one game to another and - with the umpires' permission - within a game.
  • A person who has intentionally given misleading information will not participate in future games. (The umpires maintain a blacklist on rule breakers and other people who've disqualified themselves.)

The umpires

  • The umpires maintain the game. The police maintain the law. Do not involve the umpires in your self-made problems. (Yes, burglary is illegal, even if you're playing a game in which people get shot with water pistols.) Your life is much easier if you don't cause the aforementioned problems to yourself.
  • Kaikkien HYSin pelien tuomaristot asettaa HYSin hallitus pelikohtaisesti.
  • The umpires are the final authority in the game.
  • You may to complain about the umpires' decisions to the HYS Board. This will be done in writing and will not influence the ongoing game or its scoring.
  • The easiest way to be blacklisted is to break rule number one. If a player wishes to complain about being blacklisted, it is useless to refer to what the rules do NOT say. The rules do not explicitly forbid e.g. kidnapping the pets of your victims but you can rely on such things getting you blacklisted.

Salamurhaajat

  • The umpires arrange the players into kill rings: all players are both hunters and hunted.
  • Players lead their normal lives: No one forces you to open the door when the doorbell rings but locking yourself into your home and constantly breaking your reported daily routines will not be considered sportsmanlike.
  • A passive assassin (no assassination attempts during the time limit announced by the umpires) may find themselves on the list of wanted assassins as a revenge of the dissatisfied mandator.
  • It is forbidden for an assassin to claim to be an umpire, a detective, a person of authority (police officer, fireman etc.), or deceased, or to claim others to be dead or wanted.

Detectives

  • Deceased assassins may become detectives, who hunt wanted assassins, if they so desire. The role requires an application, and the detective application is filed separately from the assassin application.
  • Detectives score points by executing the (wanted) assassins. If detectives work together, the points will be divided as the umpires see fit.
  • The real names of the detectives are public.
  • Detectives do not need to care about witnesses as such, but all rules about propriety are still on: a detective can shoot the wanted assassin in front of a railway station but not in a lecture hall during a lecture.
  • Even a detective dies if he/she is shot in self defense. The umpires resurrect dead detectives according to their needs.
  • Detectives are not allowed to use indirect weapons, such as poisons and bombs.
  • Each wanted assassin is hunted by a group of detectives chosen by the umpires. All detectives do not get all assignments.
  • The detectives' information on their target may initially be more limited than the assassins', but it may become more detailed as time passes.
  • Arrest step-by-step:
    • A detective must point the target with a gun and say clearly "[Alias], surrender." Only after this the target can be shot; then, if possible, the detective may be shot by the target as an act of self-defense, provided s/he fires his/her weapon quicker than the detective. All successful arrests end with the assassin getting shot (i.e., the target can not surrender to avoid being shot).
    • If the assassin reaches for a gun, s/he can be shot immediately. If the assassin starts to run, the phrase must still be said and the shot must still reach the target.
    • One call for surrender is sufficient in each individual arrest even if there are more than one detective present.
    • Arrests will not take place in off-game areas (see below). Assassins are not allowed to run there for cover either.

Becoming wanted and wanted assassins

  • Bystander victims add to your probability of becoming wanted.
  • An assassin is not usually told of their becoming wanted.
  • In specific circumstances, a player may be listed as publicly wanted. In this case, all detectives can try to arrest him/her. Furthermore, all assassins can try to assassinate him/her. Normal witness rules still apply to assassins in this case.
  • The wanted assassin can shoot a detective in front of witnesses in self-defense. However, even if wanted, an assassin is forbidden to kill his/her assigned victim within the presence of more than 2 witnesses. (This still doesn’t count as a successful assassination.)
  • Detectives are not counted as witnesses.
  • Even if an assassins knows a person to be a detective according to his/her knowledge about the game situation, s/he is not allowed to shoot him/her in self-defense before an attempted arrest or obviously suspicious behaviour (running towards the assassin etc.) Nothing requires you to stay put, however. If you know without a doubt that a particular detective is after you, you can shoot him/her freely and ignore the witnesses.
  • If you discover the identity of another assassin (witness an assassination, hear someone talking about the game…), you can’t kill them, but you can turn them in to the umpires for a warrant within 3 days of the event.

Witnesses and observers

  • An observer is a bystander who sees the deed. All observers are witnesses but a witness can also be a person who - after the body has been found - could identify the assassin.
  • Sivullisten näkökenttä on lähtökohtaisesti 360°. Jos sivullinen on samassa huoneessa sinun ja kohteesi kanssa murhahetkellä, hän on silminnäkijä, vaikka olisikin katsonut hetkeksi toiseen suuntaan.
  • Myrkytyksessä silminnäkijöitä ovat sivulliset, jotka näkevät sekä tavaran, juoman tms myrkytyksen että siitä aiheutuvan kohteen kuoleman.
  • A stylish assassination has no witnesses.
  • If there are witnesses, the event must not cause harm or displeasure to them or (through them) to the victim.
  • More than two observers cancels the assassination and leads to an assassin becoming wanted.
  • 1-2 witnesses endanger the assassin: each witnessed assassination attempt carries a cumulative 10% probability for ending up on the wanted list. Over 2 witnesses at a single attempt will lead to becoming wanted. Example: Mary Murderess slays her first victim in front of two witnesses. She survives a lottery in which the umpires give her a 20% chance to become wanted. Her next operation has one witness. The probability for having to deal with the detectives is now 30%.
  • As with other things, common sense regarding witnesses is necessary:
    • You're an idiot if you shoot a person at work when they’re, say, talking to their superior. You also won't be participating in our future games. And this game ended for you right this instant.
    • A witness doesn't need to be an observer. For example, if you visit a private apartment as an invited guest, slip into the bedroom and slay your host's partner, you've got a witness. (And since you're familiar to the host, there won't be anything random about you becoming wanted.)
    • If you kill a person alone in a closed room and, as you are leaving, meet a person in the corridor who’s going to the same room, you have a witness.
  • Do not kill observers.
  • To make playing the game easier, security cameras do not count as witnesses. Let us think they don't exist.

Bystanders

  • You're playing a game in which you hunt other voluntary players. This does not entitle you to be rude, unpleasant let alone dangerous to your environment. The game must not disturb bystanders.
  • Respect for bystanders is crucial: If you accidentally push someone when you run away from your assassin, you will stop and apologize. If they drop something, you will lift it. If you just run away and your assassin reports the incident, you didn't get away and might have stopped yourself from attending the next game as well. The assassin is expected to possess so good manners as not to shoot the victim during the situation described above. If they don’t, the umpires may decide they just shot themselves.
  • The ongoing game is not a subject of discussion. It doesn't exist and even if it did, you wouldn't be playing in it. (Exception: You're free to explain your own blunders or those of others, if you e.g. shoot an innocent bystander or your roommate gets shot by accident.) This rule is intended to protect players from accidental exposure and to prevent players from drafting bystanders as game-aware accomplices.

Safe zones

  • Hospitals (incl. YTHS), police stations, places of worship etc.
  • WCs and dressing rooms of the opposite gender etc.
  • Using water is forbidden in libraries, computer rooms, offices etc. BANG-rule and other weapons are allowed.
  • Players' homes without an invitation. (Entering through a window - no. "Would you like to discuss the Kingdom of Heaven?" - Yes.)
  • Players can request personal safe areas or times for personal reasons.These reasons may include e.g. places of work where game activity is impossible, dangerous or otherwise harmful. (E.g. construction sites, experimental animal quarters, security detail etc.) You cannot carry out an assassination in your own safe area.
  • Personal safe areas should be kept as small as possible to keep the game playable.

Privacy

  • The umpires will keep confidential any personal details the player wishes to remain secret. (E.g. a specific health reason for withdrawing from the game.)
  • The players are expected to know and accept that their hunters will probably shadow them before attempting an assassination. We do not want to hear about players suing each other, if the next rule has not been broken.
  • If you observe the apartment of a fellow player e.g. to find out if s/he intends to leave, you may find out things about their habits or personal relationships s/he would wish to remain private. Respect this, if you intend to participate in our games. Please note that using a pair of fieldglasses (binoculars) near an apartment building might severely irritate bystanders.
  • Players' names are published on the score board and/or in the game event page after the player has died or he game has ended. The player may request for his/her name to be kept secret.

Assassination

  • All physical contact between the victim and the assassin is strictly forbidden.
  • If someone holds are door closed, forcing it open is forbidden. (It's dangerous. Besides, assassination is not a contest of strength.)
  • The victim is, of course, free to run for his/her life.
  • Mutual use of common sense makes life easier for the umpires. Your assassin has a water pistol simulating a pistol. No, the the folder in your hands is not kevlar and will not protect you. Doors and items of furniture will. But our consistency has its limits: a water pistol carries only as far as it does. Maybe we assume that our assassins are extremely bad shots?
  • It was hit = It died. "Hit" meas "hit in any body part", not "became soaking wet".
  • Aiming for the head is forbidden with any weapon, including water pistols.
  • As far as witnesses are concerned a water pistol is assumed to be silenced.
  • After the attempted murder the victim and the assassin report the event to the umpires. The umpires will give the assassin their next target and the victim can become a detective.
  • Things to remember while carrying out the assassination:
    • The operation must not cause hazardous situations. (The victim must not carry heavy / dangerous / fragile items, drive vechiles, operate dangerous equipment etc.)
    • The operation must not cause property damage. (Expensive textbooks, electrical appliances, chemicals etc. can be damaged by water.)
    • The operation must not cause unreasonable disturbance to bystanders.
    • The victim of a failed assassination attempt can at their discretion turn the assassin in to the detectives via the umpires. 24 hours after the tip the detectives get the datasheet of the failed assassin. The intended victim can also get the same data, but only if she turns the assassin in to the detectives.
    • Killing bystanders is forbidden (e.g. poisoning doorhandles) and all accidents must be reported.

Self-defense

  • You're naturally allowed to shoot back at a person attempting assassination. If you succeed, the incompetent assassin joins the detectives and their hunter gets a new target. Guess who.
  • The person who hit first gets their way. The place of your death will not be defiled by an argument along the lines of "I would have had time to shoot you before my heart finally failed." If the victim and the assassin really cannot tell who hit first, both died.
  • A person carrying a water pistol or otherwise acting suspiciously ("suspicious": would they be suspicious even if you weren't playing?) can assumed to be an assassin and is a legitimate target. However, please don't kill your friends just because you think they're playing!
  • If a paranoid victim shoots an innocent bystander they are expected to deal with their social problems by themselves and report the event to the umpires. This will not end your game (unless you have broken rule number one), but may lead to becoming wanted.

The end of the game

  • The game ends when:

    a) a time limit set by the umpires is reached

    b) the last assassin slays the second last without being wanted at the same time

    c) the detectives catch the last assassin

    d) the detectives catch the second last assassin and the last assassin is not wanted

    e) the umpires or the HUSH chairperson declare the game to be over.