18-29 years: 12
points
30-49 years: 10
points
50-59 years: 9
points
60-69 years: 8
points
70-79 years: 7
points
80-89 years: 6
points
90-99 years: 5
points
100-109 years:
4 points
110+ years: 3
points
Derby Dead Pool - Rules & Scoring
HOW TO ENTER:
The DDP 2008 is no longer accepting entries!
If you want to take part in 2009, then please send an e-mail to mailto:ddp2009@derbydeadpool.co.uk?subject=I'm a sicko - count me in for 2009!
THE BASICS:
Pick 20 different celebrities who are alive as at 1st January 2008, but who, in your opinion, will no longer be with us by 31st December 2008.
Nominate one of them as your "joker".
For each celeb demise that you guess correctly, you'll score points, and if your joker sadly passes away, your grief will be alleviated by the fact that you'll score double points.
We'll keep you updated via email every time someone scores points, and there will be a (usually) up-to-date scoreboard on the website.
The team with the most points at the end of the year will, unsurprisingly, be deemed to be the winner.
In the event of a dead heat on points, the winner will be selected according to the following criteria, applied in this order:
The most hits (i.e. correctly-chosen deceased celebs).
The youngest average age of hits.
The most amusing team name.
OTHER RULES:
All entrants must
supply a team name and a valid
All of your chosen celebs must be:
Human.
At least 18 years old as at 1st January 2008.
Not on any form of "Death Row" or scheduled for execution.
Actual real-life people, not characters out of soap operas and the like.
Named individuals, not just "Pope Wotsisface" or "the oldest person in the world".
Players must not murder their chosen celebs. That's cheating, and cheating is wrong.
The date of death is taken as that in the country/region where the person died, i.e. local time is used. If the time of death is reported as exactly midnight local time, the date of the day just beginning is used. This may be relevant in deciding bonuses (see below).
DEFINITIONS:
"Celebrity" means someone who, upon their death, gets a written obituary in a British national newspaper or on the BBC News website. This does mean that you can't always be sure when picking your team whether each person will be famous enough or not, but that's all part of the game.
"Obituary" simply means an article which mentions the fact that the person has died. It doesn't have to be the conventional biographical write-up.
"Alive" means drawing breath, not decomposing, that kind of thing.
"No longer with us" is the opposite of the above!
"Death" means the transition from the former to the latter. The death of a career (e.g. Michael Jackson) doesn't count.
SCORING:
The value of the basic death depends on the person's age:
On top of this, bonus points are awarded as follows:
Unique pick: +3 if you were the only competitor to pick that person.
Unlucky 13: +2 for a celeb who dies on the 13th of any month.
Unnatural causes: +3 for murder, suicide or accident (but not State executions).
Party pooper: +5 for a celeb who dies on their birthday or Xmas Day.
Joker: Take the total of all the above and double it.
ENTRY FEE:
Entry to DDP is completely free, for legal reasons.
PRIZE:
The winner of DDP will receive...precisely nothing, except fawning praise on this website.
There is in fact a trophy of sorts, but it's in such spectacularly bad taste that we haven't bothered to pick it up from the previous organiser of DDP, and frankly it would probably be illegal to send it through the post.