Wall Street 2010 Dead Pool - Now taking submissions

I am running a "Dead Pool" this coming year and we are now taking submissions. If you're unfamiliar, the concept of a Dead Pool is that you pick a list of famous people and track them throughout the year. Each time one of the people on the list dies, you receive points. You receive additional points if the person is in the younger age brackets. Each participant puts up $30 and the top 3 winners split the prize pool in a 65/25/15 split.

Here are the rules:

1. The Wall Street Dead Pool (WSDP) for 2010 shall run between Midnight, Dec. 31st, 2009 and Midnight Dec. 31st, 2010. Eastern Standard Time will be used as the standard of judging when the year has started and stopped and for any other timing issues.

2. Persons' deaths will be considered to have occurred on the publicized date. If there is a discrepancy between sources, Wikipedia will be the final source considered. As information becomes clearer during the year, the date may be amended. What Wikipedia reports at the end of the contest will be the final source.

3. Each person/team must forward me a list of up to 25 famous people no later than midnight on Dec. 15th, 2009. If one of your list members dies before the start of the contest, you will receive no points and have the option of forwarding me another name to replace that person BEFORE midnight of Dec. 31st, 2009.

4. "Famous" people, eligible for the list, will be defined as:

A. Human
B. Famous enough to have general name recognition
C. Famous enough to have a substantial Wikipedia entry.
D. Famous because of something they've done, not their relation to other people. For example, David Letterman is eligible but his mother, even though she's been on his show, is not. Tom Cruise is eligible. Suri Cruise, despite general name recognition, is not. Paris Hilton is eligible due to her record albums, films, TV shows, etc...
E. People who are famous simply for being old (e.g. the oldest person in the world) are not eligible.

I will be the final judge on what is defined as "Famous". If a submission isn't deemed famous enough to be eligible, the entry will be rejected and the applicant notified in time to give a new submission.

5. People who have artificial organs or have had organ transplants at the start of the contest shall not be eligible. Only the "Major" organs are in consideration here. For example, persons who have had heart transplants are not eligible. Persons who have had heart valve replacements are.

6. People who have terminal diseases at the start of the contest are not eligible.

7. People who are scheduled to be executed at the start of the contest are not eligilble.

8. People who are hostages or abductees at the start of the contest are not eligible.

9. Each person/team must forward to me, no later than midnight on January 15th, 2010, the entrance fee of $30. Acceptable forms of payment are Cash, Check, Paypal.

10. I will do my best to keep up with the news, but if you see that a person on your list has died, it would be appreciated if you could forward me the relevant information so I can update the scoreboards.

Scoring
1. Each applicant/team will receive 10 points if a person on their list dies in 2010.

2. Additional points will be awarded based on the age of the person at the time of their death as follows:
A. 0 - 9 years old will be awarded an additional 20 points
B. 10 - 24 years old will be awarded an additional 15 points
C. 25 - 39 years old will be awarded an additional 10 points
D. 40 - 54 years old will be awarded an additional 5 points
E. 55 - 64 years old will be awarded an additional 3 points
F. 65+ years old will be awarded no additional points.

3. Additional points will be awarded based on specific categories:

A. The Princess Diana Bonus - 5 additional points will be awarded for anyone who dies in a car accident.
B. The River Phoenix Bonus - 8 additional points will be awarded for the person/team who has the youngest person to die in the contest.
C. The Paul Newman Bonus - 5 additional points will be awarded for the person/team who has the oldest person to die in the contest.
C. The Notorious B.I.G. Bonus - 10 additional points will be awarded for anyone who is murdered by gunfire.
D. The Lizzie Borden Bonus - 10 additional points will be awarded for anyone who is murdered by a bladed weapon.
E. The John Belushi Bonus - 5 additional points will be awarded for anyone who dies from a self-inflicted drug overdose.
F. The Michael Jackson Bonus - 8 additional points will be awarded for anyone who is murdered by a drug overdose.
G. The Kurt Cobain Bonus - 8 additional points will be awarded for anyone who commits suicide. Suicide must be the coroner's final proclamation.
H. The JFK Bonus - 20 additional points will be awarded for anyone who is assassinated for political purposes.
I. The Jack LaLanne Bonus - 50% of the buyin will be refunded to the person/team who don't record a single death during the contest.

4. Participants in the contest who murder or otherwise arrange the death of anyone on their list (or anyone else's list), shall forfeit their buyin, be removed from the contest and be reported to the proper authorities.

Submissions, questions, payments, etc... can be sent to Fritzle *AT* Gmail *DOT* Com