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December 21, 2007

The Constigootion of Magoo

I've been mulling over whether or not to pitch Magoo to Milton Bradley or one of the other major gaming companies. But then I think of how the world would be a better place if we all just shared our belongings. In the spirit of cooperation and holiday cheer, I present to you the full Constigootion of Magoo, vetted by the members of the executive committee and available for your reading pleasure.

If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, click here for the full story of the genesis of Magoo.

In one hour, we will be driving to Kansas City. I will sure to post the highlights of the trip. Which is to say, be prepared for a very dull post.

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Rules of Play and Parliamentary Procedure for
MAGOO
As conceived this Sunday, the Sixteenth day of December,
Two-thousand and Seven,
The Rules Committee having convened
To ordain and establish
This Constigootion
Standardizing and specifying the Rights and Rules
for all Players of
MAGOO

ARTICLE I:
All rules of the original Mattel game known as UNO apply unless overridden by the articles and amendments contained herein. Amendments to the Constigootion shall be known collectively as the Maglossary.

ARTICLE II:
MAGOO is a gentleman's game.

ARTICLE III:
Rules of play may be amended only by a regular or an emergency session of the Rules Committee, the Rules Committee being comprised of those players in attendance. A motion to convene may be brought to the floor by any player and, once seconded, shall summon a meeting of the Rules Committee.

Any such meeting which occurs between rounds shall be known as a regular session. A regular session of the Rules Committee shall be chaired by the dealer of the previous round or, in the event that a regular session precedes the first round, by the player who owns or rents the site of play.

Any such meeting which occurs during play shall be known as an emergency session. An emergency session shall be chaired by the dealer of the round underway.

Proposed changes to the rules of play may come from any member of the Rules Committee. A rule shall be considered ratified and in full force and effect once put to a voice vote and agreed upon by more than one half of the Rules Committee. Be the committee evenly divided, ratification shall be considered to have failed.

A rule change or amendment agreed upon during an emergency session of the Rules Committee shall be considered in full force and effect immediately upon adjournment of the Rules Committee.


AMENDMENT I:
MAGOO has not ended until all but one of the players has discarded his entire hand.

AMENDMENT II:
THE MAGOO
Proposed by Matthew Swanson and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.

The Magoo applies to numerical cards only.

A player shall not be limited to discarding one card at a time. He may play two or more cards should they add up to the number of the last card put down by the preceding player. These two or more cards shall be themselves of the same color but need not match the color of the card in play. For instance, if a green eight is in play, the next player may put down two green fours. He may also put down a yellow two and a yellow six. He may even put down a red two, a red six, and a red zero.

A player who uses this technique to discard two cards at once shall be said to have achieved a Double Magoo. A player who uses this technique to discard three cards at once shall be said to have achieved a Triple Magoo, and so on.

Players must say aloud "Double Magoo," or "Triple Magoo," as they make their play.

AMENDMENT III:
THE THREESOME
Proposed by David Turner and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.

The Threesome is not restricted to numerical cards.

If a player should hold three-of-a-kind, of the same color or of different colors, he may forfeit his right to discard to the pile and opt instead to hand his three-of-a-kind to the player of his choice, even if that player is already "out" of the game.

A player who uses this technique shall be said to have achieved a Threesome.

A Threesome must be broken up and discarded during regular play or reconstituted with at least one new card before it is given to another player, thus a Threesome cannot simply be handed around intact.

AMENDMENT IV:
THE PILE-ON
Proposed by Richard Flynn and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.
Bracketed phrases further amended by Richard Flynn on December 18, 2007.

The rules of the Pile-On shall be invoked whenever a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four shall have been played.

Should a Draw Two be discarded, the next player shall have four options:
1. He may play another Draw Two of any color. This shall have a cumulative effect upon the subsequent player, forcing him to draw [two additional] cards.
2. He may play a Reverse of the same color, reversing the direction of play and forcing the original player of the Draw Two to draw [the indicated number of] cards himself.
3. He may play a Skip of the same color, skipping his own turn and causing the very next player at the table to draw [the indicated number of cards]. Note that a Skip works differently in the context of a Pile-On than in regular play.
4. He may play a Wild Draw Four, allowing himself to choose the color of play, and forcing the next player to draw [an additional four cards].

Should a Wild Draw Four be discarded, the next player shall have three options:
1. He may play a Reverse of the color named by the player of the Wild Draw Four, reversing the direction of play and forcing the original player of the Wild Draw Four to draw [the indicated number of] cards himself.
2. He may play a Skip of the color named by the player of the Wild Draw Four, skipping his own turn and causing the very next player at the table to [the indicated number of cards]. Note again that a Skip works differently in the context of a Pile-On than in regular play.
3. He, too, may play a Wild Draw Four, allowing himself to choose the color of play, and forcing the subsequent player to draw [four additional cards].

A Pile-On shall continue until a player has not a Draw Two, a Reverse, a Skip, nor a Wild Draw Four to discard. This player must draw cumulatively the number of cards dictated by all the Draw Twos and Wild Draw Fours in the Pile-On sequence.

AMENDMENT V:
THE SOCIAL
Proposed by Matthew Swanson, amended by Christian Vainieri and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.

The Social is not restricted to numerical cards.

Should four or more cards of-a-kind appear consecutively on the discard pile, no matter their color, a Social shall be said to have been achieved. A Social continues until a player wishes to discard a card that does not match the face of those in the Social. This player must declare an end to the Social and request that all the cards comprising the Social be obscured. The dealer must oblige.

A Social shall be said to have been obscured when it is removed from the pile and placed face down at a corner of the table. Subsequent socials shall be obscured in the same fashion and added to the same pile at a corner of the table. This pile must be claimed by the first player "out," forcing him back "in." He is then free to play the obscured Social pile regularly or in the form of Threesomes.

A Social having been obscured, the card that preceded the commencement of the Social becomes the active card in play, dictating both face value and color for resumption of the game.

AMENDMENT VI:
THE STRAIGHT
Proposed by Christian Vainieri and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.

The Straight applies to numerical cards only.

A player shall not be limited to discarding one card at a time. He may play two or more cards should they form a descending or ascending numerical straight with the card in play. Cards played in this fashion must be of the same color as the card in play. A Straight may change directions from descending to ascending within a single player's turn, thus seven, eight, seven, eight shall be considered an acceptable progression.

AMENDMENT VII:
END-OF-PLAY CONDUCT
Proposed and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.

Upon conclusion of play, the losing player shall display the last card discarded in his upturned palm. All players must then chant in a gentlemanly fashion: "Magoo" and "Huzzah." The number of times "Magoo" is chanted shall be equal to the number of players in the game, minus one. All but the last "Magoo" shall be interrogative in inflection, while the final "Magoo" shall be declarative. Eye contact with fellow players is desired but not required. "Huzzah" should follow immediately the declarative "Magoo" and be a general expression of merriment delivered to the room at-large rather than to a specific player.

AMENDMENT VIII:
THE FLYNN
Proposed by Christian Vainieri, David Turner, and Matthew Swanson and ratified by the Rules Committee on December 16, 2007.

A player who loses five games of MAGOO in a row shall be exempt from exclaiming "Huzzah" upon the conclusion of play.


The RULES COMMITTEE
Baltimore, Maryland,
This Sixteenth day of December,
Two-thousand and seven.

Posted by bogenamp at December 21, 2007 10:13 AM