It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!!
The Rules:
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You pick 13 celebrities (that’s thirteen, not ten) whom you predict will die within the calendar year 2026. If any of your celebrities dies, you score 100 points minus their age at death. Whoever has the most points at the end of the year wins the undying snort admiration of the SDMB.
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All picks must be time- and date-stamped by midnight CST, Dec. 31st, 2025. (That’s U.S. Central time, which is six hours behind Greenwich.)
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Valid picks are not
a. already dead
b. a fictional character
c. non-human
d. under age 18 at death, 'cause we’re macabre but not THAT macabre.
e. a registered member of the SDMB, 'cause that would be weird
f. famous solely as a result of their illness or associated actions/events.
g. listed as “any member of whatever group”
It’s really hard to define “celebrity” Best we can do is someone who’s death is rather widely reported in major media outlets, because of something they’ve done, be it art, politics, athletics, science, music, the military, or even serial murder. It’s not going to be your Aunt Mabel who was in the local paper because her apple pie won first place in the county fair. HOWEVER if you Do have a question about whether or not someone else’s choice qualifies, please, I’d prefer a PM about it to start off with, rather than thrashing it out in public and possibly causing resentment. Remember, people, it’s only a game. It’s supposed to be fun, Fun FUN!!!
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You can pick people who are 100 or more years old but you won’t score points for them. See the “Quantity Not Quality” award, below.
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If we are uncertain about the celebrity’s age at death, we will go by the higher age (lower score).
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Prisoners held on death row will be valid for scoring points only if they die by means other than official execution.
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Any poster who kills or otherwise contributes to the death of any celebrity mentioned in this thread is disqualified. The only exceptions to this rule would be deaths caused by those posters serving as members of the police or armed forces of any country, in the line of duty.
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Editing your choices: be careful! You can make changes to your list before the end of the year, but it has to be clear which names are your final choices. It might be advisable to submit one or more “alternates” with your list, in the event that one of your picks dies during December 2025. If you have no alternates, and one of your picks has died the remaining twelve will be all you have. You may have no more than 13 picks. If you pick more than 13, or if any of your picks is otherwise invalid, I may ask for clarification. Otherwise, I will submit the first 13 names on your list. Do me a favor: check twice, post once.
Sharing news of celebrities in ill health and whatnot is up to individual posters.
If a poster playing the game gets banned during the year, this does not invalidate their entry, although they won’t be able to gloat in the thread if and/or when they do get points.
If a player changes their username at some point, post this news on the thread, or PM me, so I know who you are.
Players who pass away themselves during the year will still have their points counted, and will receive a special award, or notice, when the year is over.
Some celebrities have common, identical or similar names. It is helpful to be specific.
Spelling counts! Please try to spell celebrities’ names correctly. In 2023 I had Rosalynn Carter’s name spelled three different ways, and almost lost one. Names that weren’t originally spelled in English can be tricky, I know, but if you aren’t sure of a name, try looking at what a major news outlet, like CNN or the BBC, uses.
While all deaths garnering points must occur during the calendar year, I know that a death might go unreported for a day or so. So, I will not post official total points for at least 24 hours after 12/31/2025 If you find that one of your picks died, say, late on 12/31/2026, and you didn’t hear about it until late on Jan. 1, 2026(this is a not so subtle hint to check your lists)then post a cite at once, and you will get your points. After that you will be out of luck.
Additional awards:
The “Opening Kickoff” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the first listed celebrity to die in 2025
The “Quantity Not Quality” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the greatest number of celebrities who died, regardless of their actual point value.
The “Inside Track With the Grim Reaper” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who had the most unique picks that died.
The “Robbing the Cradle” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the youngest celebrity to die in 2025 but see rule 3.d.
The “Final Hours” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the last listed celebrity to die in 2025
I have a spreadsheet that allows me to post game standings and produce various other statistics. The pain is “loading” the data into the sheets. So if a person is born by one name and refered to by another, use the most common one. I refer to it as the “Pope” rule, that is, use the name a celebrity is most commonly known by. It isn’t necessarily their birth name. If a person is known primarily by a titled name, please use that. So it wouldn’t be Jorge Bergoglio, it would be Pope Francis. And don’t put down Charles Windsor, put down King Charles III. If you do pick George or Chuck, under their lesser known names, I might not notice it, to give you those points if and when they shuffle off this mortal coil and go to join the choir invisible. And please, let me mention again, check your spelling of names!!!
And second, post your list in a plain format. An example of a plain list follows here:
Pete Arredondo
Greg Abbott
Dan Patrick
Ken Paxton
Ted Cruz
John Cornyn
Tony Gonzales.
Don McLaughlin
Mandy Gutierrez
Christina Mitchell Busbee
Tucker Carlson
Lindsey Graham
Paul Gosar
No spaces between the names. So not like this
Pete Arredondo
Greg Abbott
Dan Patrick
However, I know that many of you like to include commentary within your lists, such as:
Pete(I wasn’t in charge) Arredondo
That’s fine, it’s entertaining. But if you do that, please include the list again in plain format for me to copy & paste. I will give one reminder only, and after that you have to figure things out for yourself.
It’s good to be the Death Mistress!!
Have fun, sickos, and “May the odds be ever in your favor!”