It’s time once again for the sickest thread on the board – the Celebrity Death Pool 2004!
The Rules:
1. You pick 13 celebrities whom you predict will die within the calendar year 2004. 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 admiration of the SDMB. 
2. All picks must be time- and date-stamped by midnight Chicago time, Dec. 31st, 2003. (For you furriners, that’s U.S. Central time, which is six hours behind Greenwich.)
3. Valid picks must not be:
a. already dead
b. a fictional character
c. non-human
d. under age 18 at death (This means that the Olsen twins, Haley Joel Osment, and the kids from the Harry Potter movies are invalid.)
e. a registered member of the SDMB, 'cause that would be weird.
4. You can pick people who are age 100 or more but you won’t score any points for them. See the “Quantity Not Quality” Award below.
5. If we are uncertain about the celebrity’s age at death, we will go with the higher age (lower score).
6. Your picks must specify a name: listing “anybody from the cast of [your most hated TV show]” as a pick will be ignored.
7. Persons under sentence of death will be valid for scoring points only if they die by means other than official execution.
8. Any poster who kills or otherwise contributes to the death of any celebrity mentioned in this thread will be disqualified. It’s just a game, people. 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.
9. 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. If any of your picks dies before the end of the year, you may submit a substitute by 12-31-2003. If you do not submit another name, I will submit the rest. You can 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.
We have no rule about submissions having to be unique, despite claims of “copying” anyone else’s list. Sharing news of celebrities in ill health and whatnot are up to individual posters.
We have no rule about valid SDMB memberships (disqualifying members who have been banned).
Spelling counts! Please try to spell celebrities’ names correctly so I can find them on the list if they die.
If the celebrity uses a stage name or is commonly known by a nickname, it is helpful to have the person’s “real” name listed as well.
Some celebrities have common names or similar names. It is helpful to specify whether you’re picking “George Herbert Walker Bush” or “George W. Bush,” to use examples from this year’s picks – not just “George Bush.” If you pick “the Pope” I’ll assume you mean “Pope John Paul II,” but it is helpful to be more specific.
Additional awards:
The “Quantity Not Quality” Award: to be 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: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick a celebrity that no one else picked.
The “Opening Kickoff” Award: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick the first listed celebrity to die in 2004.
The “Final Hours” Award: to be awarded to the poster or posters who pick the last listed celebrity to die in 2004.
Remember, it’s easy to come up with a list of really old celebrities, but you likely won’t score many points with their deaths. Many players prefer to pick people who are known to be ill, or who engage in self-destructive behavior, or who are just tempting Fate.
My thanks to Little Nemo who created this perennial thread and its rules, which I am essentially copying.