It is time that the rules of the fish slapping game were formalised and this is where you can read the rules and ask for adjudications.

The Game

Teams are self selecting and can be of uneven composition (i.e. if a team wants to play against a larger or amaller team that is up to mutual agreement) Teams must have 3 or more players to be able to comply with the rules.

Every player must set up their own Fish Slapping Thread (FiST). To do this you must create a Journal entry. The title of which must begin with the word FiST and can then have anything after it to identify which game it is for E.g. FiST Red Team v Blue Team. You may choose to change your nickname for the duration of the game to include your team name for ease of identification. e.g. Vestboy - Red Team

Each team needs to appoint a team captain who will

• Agree who is on the team
• Represent the team in any discussions
• Agree the start and finish time of any games (a finish time is not necessary for a Capture All game)
• Wear the rather smart fishnet, team earmuffs

The aim of the game

The aim of the game is to disable as many members of the opposition team as you can within the time limit or to disable all of the opposing team in a time unlimited game.

The team captain's keep a tally - it is not how many are disabled at close of play but how many were disabled during the game.

Attacking Play

This is done by placing 3 uninterrupted fish smileys in an oppositions team member's FiST.

Fish have to be placed by three separate members of the attacking team. They have to be uninterrupted. If this is achieved the defending player is frozen and they cannot place fish or smileys in anyone's FiST until they are released

Defense

You cannot defend yourself but you can defend any other member of your team. You defend a team member by placing a smiley in their FiST.

If a member of your team has one or more fish in their FiST you can release them by placing a smiley in their FiST. You can't do this if you currently have 3 uninterrupted fish in your own FiST.

Declaring a Winner

When one captain is certain that all of the other team's players are treble fished he or she can declare a win.

The losing team then have to remove all of their virtual clothes and smother themselves in virtual caviar which is licked off by the hootoo cat in its own time

Game Terminology

3Fished - Disabled player
Caviared - Beaten
Fish or Fish Smiley - the smiley obtained by the word fish, with the lesser than and greater than symbols around it, in a thread posting.
FiST - Fish Slapping Thread - where the battles take place
Licked - See Caviared
Vestboy - The ultimate umpire and keeper of the rule book - his verdict is final, even if he's playing!