How to Play

Game on 2012   How to Play the Game
   By Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson

The object of the game is to score as many points as possible. At the end of the game, the person with the most points wins! Taken from The Game On Diet: Kicking your friend’s butt while shrinking your own written by Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson and published by Harper  ISBN 978-0-06-171889-2with pagination included. Please refer to the book itself for more information.  
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Setting up your Game:
Form teams of two or more players
Teams need not be of equal size
Each team must designate a score keeper

Prize: (modified from the original game to suit our community health project)
There will be prizes awarded to the winning team and the grand prize winner at the end of the summer on Saturday, August 18. 

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Dates of the competition:
The game will run from July 18 through August 15.
Each week allows for a day off and a meal off.   All holidays can be fully celebrated.

How to play:
The Game is played in four week intervals. Since our Game lasts twelve weeks, there are opportunities for different teams to win each interval!
Each week the individual points tallied must be reported to the team’s scorekeeper.
The scorekeeping is based on an honor system---- your integrity is essential!

Keeping Score:

A perfect day is worth 100 points. It includes:
•    30 Meal Points:  You earn 6 points per meal for eating five fully sanctioned per meal for eating five fully sanctioned meals. No snacks between meals.
•    20 Exercise Points:  You earn your exercise points by doing some form of exercise points by doing some form of exercise for 20 minutes per day.
•    10 Water Points:  You earn your water points by drinking three liters of water per day.
•    15 Sleep Points:  You earn your sleep points by sleeping for a minimum of seven hours per night.
•    20 Transformation Points: You earn 10 points a day for practicing one healthy new habit and another 10 points a day for eliminating one unhealthy old habit.
•    5 Communication Points: You earn your communication points by being in contact with at least one teammate and at least one opponent each day. (Phone calls, emails, and text messages count.)

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Exceptions:

Each week, each player gets one meal off in addition to one day off.  The meal off and day off may be taken at any time during a given week but they may not be saved and carried over into later weeks.

Your day off includes a respite from all rules. The respite may be spread throughout the week ( i.e. Monday can be your water day off; Tuesday can be your habits day off; Wednesday can be your sleep day off, etc.; or you can take one whole day off from everything).

Bonus Points:
You can also earn a 10-point bonus each week by turning in your scores to your team’s scorekeeper by a designated time (e.g. noon on Monday).
In addition, each week, a bonus equaling 20 percent of your points earned for the week is awarded for losing 1 percent of your body weight. (Note: If weight loss is not a goal for you see additional fitness points at the Game On blog so that everyone uses the same point rewards).

Penalties:
There is a 10-point Snacking Penalty for snacking between meals.

There is a 20-point Collusion Penalty.  If any player suggests to any other player a compromise of integrity, e.g. saying to an opponent, “If I eat a snack and you eat a snack, then we both lose points so it all balances out!” the player who suggested the compromise loses 20 points.

There is a 25-Point per portion Alcohol Penalty. A portion equals any amount of alcohol up to 6 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. One portion of alcohol may be freely on the day off.
If during any week of play a player fails to earn their weight-loss/fitness bonus, that player loses the privilege of alcohol on the day off for the rest of the game.

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Winning the Game:
At the end of the week, each player turns in their score to the scorekeeper. A maximum-score week equals seven 100-point days + the 20 percent weight-loss/fitness bonus + the 10-point scorekeeping bonus.
                700+140= 840+ 10-point scorekeeping bonus= 850

A score of 850 points is the (hard to earn) maximum points for each week.
At the end of each week, the scorekeeper tallies the total points for the team.
The total score for the team is then divided by the number of players on the team.
Example: 
Team A has three players. During Week 1, Player 1 earns 750 points. Player 2 earns 850 points. Player 3 earns 780 points. 750+850+780 = 2380. Divide 2380 by 3 for a team score of 793 points.
Team B has two players. During Week 1 Player 1 earns 685 points. Player 2 earns 750 points.
685+750+1435. Divide 1435 by 2 for a team score of 717.5.
So at the end of Week 1 Team A is in the lead!        

Example of 4 week Game:
Team A                    Team B
Week 1:   793 points            Week 1:   717.5 points
Week 2:   760 points            Week 2:   845 points
Week 3:   840 points            Week 3:   810 points
    Week 4:   800 points            Week 4:   795 points
Total: 31943 points            Total: 3167.5 points

So at the end of the four week Game, Team A has won.

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Tie-breakers
In the entirely unlikely case of a tie, the game goes to the team with the highest number of 100-point days.

Results:
As a result of the Game, your clothes will be looser, your energy will be higher, and you will be losing a minimum of 1 percent of your body weight per week. If any of these things are not true for you after any week of play, please see the book for the Chapter on Troubleshooting .