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2 GENERAL RULES2.1 THE GM The "GM" (jargon for Games Master, by obscure tradition) is the person responsible for the operation of the game. In more normal terminology the GM would be called a moderator, or an umpire. The game is actually processed by computer, but is supervised by the GM. The name of your GM is given in the game report.2.2 ADDRESSES The correct address to which you should send your instructions for the game is given in the game report. The names of the players in the game are listed in the game report, but the address list is provided only with new gamestarts (if you join later, it's up to you to introduce yourself to the other players). You can use the message facility (see 2.7) provided to contact other players and give out your address and/or phone number. The game provides plenty of scope for alliances and trades (which are difficult to arrange if you decide not to talk to other players). 2.3 DEADLINE The GM will set a deadline for each turn. You orders must arrive on or before this deadline (if on deadline day itself, then by 10 am). You should, if possible, allow three days for first class post - our experience shows that "next day" delivery cannot be relied upon. If your orders arrive late then they are set aside. If no orders arrive from you for the next deadline then your late orders are used instead. If new orders do arrive then your late orders are discarded. Under no circumstances will two sets of orders be processed together. If you miss a turn there is no way to make it up. 2.4 ORDERS & ACTIONS For each turn you should be provided with a turnsheet on which to be your orders (the last page in the report for each turn is the turnsheet for the next turn). Your orders are written in the form of actions, each of which is one line of your orders. You can make sixteen actions in each turn. Each line of your orders can use up to six boxes. The first box is the WHO BY box to say which company that action applies to. The second is the ACTION box for the name of the action, which tells the computer what you want to do. The third is the COMMODITY box, which says which commodity the action applies to. The fourth is the PRICE box in which you enter the price, premium or discount. The fifth is the NUMBER box, which says how many. The sixth box is WHO which says which "other" company the action applies to (when one company is buying shares in another company, for example). The format of the individual actions are shown in the Actions Table (in the reference section) and in Section Six in these rules. In some of our other action-driven games you can enter "ALL" or "ALL BUT" a number instead of a number, but in Speculate you can't. In the previous version of Speculate you could enter "MAX" instead of a number, but in this version you can't. You don't need to. You're always in a position to know how many of something you want to order. 2.5 EMAIL ORDERS We provide a website with forms for entering your orders online (it's at www.softsim.co.uk). This is the quickest, cheapest and most reliable way to send your orders. This website has a log-in procedure (for security) so to use it you will first need to obtain a user name (email your GM to ask for one to be allocated). The rest of the instructions needed are provided on the website itself. When sending orders via the website, the turn number to give is the one on your turnsheet (ie. the next turn to be played) not the one on the last game report (the turn just played). |