The Rebel Forum/Go Actuary 2023 Celebrity Death Pool

The Sandbox Games
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The Rebel Forum/Go Actuary 2023 Celebrity Death Pool

Back for its 20th year! We’re keeping the full set of rules for the sake of any newcomers*:

“What’s a celebrity death pool?”, you ask… Simple, just make two lists of celebrities* that you think will kick the bucket, buy the farm, cash in their chips (a.k.a. DIE) in the coming year, 1/1/2023-12/31/2023 11:59pm in the city in which the celebrity passes. Your first list should have 15 celebrities of any age, and your second list should have 5 celebrities under age 50 (as of 1/1/2023)… we’ll call these your “tragedy picks”.

Number the lists from #1-15 and #1-5, with #1 being who you feel is most likely to die, and so on down the line. As the obits roll in, you will score 15 points if your #1 pick dies, decreasing down to 1 point for your #15 pick. The tragedy picks have higher scores… #1 will be worth 20 points, #2 will be worth 16 points, #3 will be worth 12 points, #4 will be worth 8 points, and #5 will be worth 4 points. They don’t have to die in a tragic way, we just refer to them as tragedy picks since, unlike many of your other selections, they aren’t being picked largely for being old and decrepit. Also, there is nothing keeping you from putting people under 50 years old on your main list of 15 if you have lots of younger entries, they just don’t all qualify for the tragedy scoring… One last extra scoring point: if one of your celebrities dies and you are the only person playing to have guessed that celebrity, you will score 1 extra point.

NOTE: Submit “Alternate” picks in addition to your lists of 15 regular and 5 tragedy selections. This is in case one or more of your picks dies between the time you submit, and the start of 2023 (there were a few celebs that died in December 2021) or we have to throw out one of your picks for not being a celebrity.

If that happens, your Alternate Pick will move to the bottom of your list and all others will move up one spot. Same thing goes if a celebrity dies in a previous year, but for some reason the news doesn’t become official until much later… in that case I will retroactively add points for that celebrity in the pool for the year in which they are reported to have died. That celebrity would then be removed from your list, all others would move up one spot, and I’d add your Alternate Pick to the bottom. However, if someone on your list is dead before 2022 or I must reject one of your celebrities, and you don’t have any alternates, that’s your own fault.

I’ve tried to close up most loopholes in the rules, so just try and make life easy by picking legitimate celebs. If you have any questions on if someone is eligible, feel free to ask via PM. Anyone who has been allowed and is still alive is still eligible. For a somewhat reliable list of many celebrities alive-or-dead status, check out these web sites http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com/ and http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf

Since there is some degree of judgment as to who is and is not a celebrity (see below), let me know if you are not participating and you want to volunteer to be part of an independent (i.e. not an alternate ID of somebody competing) arbitrator group to make judgment calls on questionable choices.

PM your entries to me by 11:59 PM, Dec 26th, 2022 . This will allow time over the holidays to determine who is famous and who isn’t. I won’t look until I give my picks to another contestant who has finalized his/her picks and I send my picks to that participant.

Another reason for cutting off entries before midnight on New Year’s Eve is that it gives time to compile the frequencies of the names selected so we can submit an AO-composite entry in the http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk The Derby Dead Pool)

What constitutes a celebrity?

*Celebrities are musicians, actors, writers, athletes, political and religious figures and such… pretty much any public human figure recognizable by name alone.

The celebrity must have a Wikipedia page. (If there isn’t one, make one!)

What is not a celebrity?

*Anyone who is known more for being related to another celebrity by birth, marriage, or romance (which is entirely different from marriage) than for any of their own fame/accolades is not a celebrity.

*Anyone who is known solely for their health history and/or current condition more than any accomplishments is not a celebrity. Individuals prominently renowned for being amongst the world’s oldest living people, multiple transplant survivors, etc. are not eligible.

*Persons known to be on death row or whose death is a certainty do not qualify. Don’t try and take the guesswork out of this! Famous prisoners that die of natural causes (not by capital punishment) will count towards the pool.

Should you enter a celebrity with a name shared by other celebrities or quasi famous people, Please specify exactly which you are referring to. For example, if you mention on your list that you want Vanessa Williams, I can’t exactly tell if you mean a) Vanessa A. Williams, the actress whose credits include the Showtime TV series “Soul Food” or b) Vanessa L. Williams, the pageant model/singer/actress? Without clarifying which celebrity you are referring to, it will become my discretion.

What are we playing for? Well, the administrator has given emoticons named after some past winners. If we have a tie, we will have co-winners. No tiebreaker.

I will then handle all of the updates unless anyone else wants to volunteer. Feel free to use this thread as a discussion area, try and break the news on new deaths before I beat you to it, etc. Any help in acknowledging relevant deaths will be a big help in keeping score! You may also PM me if I am lagging behind. I will post the full list of entrants and selections once all entries have been received and verified.

Lastly, links to the previous years’ pools:

The Rebel Forum 2004 Celebrity Death Pool/COLOR/URL - Won by Ray Finkle, Runner-up urysohn

The Rebel Forum 2005 Celebrity Death Pool/COLOR/URL - Won by father of two, Runner-up Butters

The Rebel Forum 2006 Celebrity Death Pool/COLOR/URL - Won by working girl, Runner-up hotkarl

The Rebel Forum 2007 Celebrity Death Pool/COLOR/URL - Won by Werewolf, Runner-up working girl

The Rebel Forum 2008 Celebrity Death Pool/COLOR/URL - Won by working girl, Runner-up Werewolf

The Rebel Forum 2009 Celebrity Death Pool/COLOR/URL - Won by working girl, Runner-up Joker

The Rebel Forum 2010 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by zeuz, Runner-up Wannabe Actuary

The Rebel Forum 2011 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by frummie, Runners-up Patience/Werewolf

The Rebel Forum 2012 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Traina, Runner-up keyser soze

The Rebel Forum 2013 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Werewolf, Runner-up frummie

The Rebel Forum 2014 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Maphisto’s Sidekick, Runner-up frummie

The Rebel Forum 2015 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Patience, Runner-up Werewolf

The Rebel Forum 2016 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Maphisto’s Sidekick, Runner-up Traina

The Rebel Forum 2017 Celebrity Death Pool - Won by Wannabe Actuary, Runner-Up Patience

The Rebel Forum 2018 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Werewolf, Runner-Up working girl

The Rebel Forum 2019 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by Wannabe Actuary, Runner up hotkarl

The Rebel Forum 2020 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by hotkarl; Runner up Werewolf

The Rebel Forum 2020 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by hotkarl; Runner up Werewolf

The Go Actuary 2021 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @Hotkarl and @Maphistos_Sidekick; Runner up @PatientZombie PatientZombie

The Go Actuary 2022 Celebrity Death Pool – Won by @Maphistos_Sidekick , runner up @ArthurItas

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so there is someone local and famous enough, who I thought of doing this for, then felt it was just way too creepy.

Can you imagine the family reaching out and asking why you made the page?

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:rofl:

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I think I’m going to try to make a themed entry in the Derby Dead Pool. I think it has promise, but I’m not going to share my idea until we do our submission here. I have a couple of ideas for the team name I’d ask for input on.

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Let the heads roll!
Here are the lists in order received. T denotes Tragedy pick; * denotes unique pick

Good luck to the contestants! Bad luck to the celebrities!

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They might be flattered. Maybe leave out the deadpool aspect though. Just focus on the person’s accomplishments that made you feel that they needed a Wikipedia page.

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If we can show you that there is a draft of a wikipedia page, is that enough ? It is saying " **Review waiting, please be patient.**This may take 4 months or more, since drafts are reviewed in no specific order. There are 3,573 pending submissions." Also, said person does have an IMDB page as well.

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I need a way to know the person is alive or dead and this is the easiest way for me. Also helps me write the obit and gives credibility to the person being a “celebrity”. If the person dies before the page is published, I need the contestant to write the obit for me. But if the draft is ready I’m ok with the pick.

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I sent my picks to someone for verification so go ahead and send me your picks

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I decided I might as well not wait. My themed entry for DDP: only those that have received Kennedy Center Honors are eligible.

What team name do you like better: Dead Kennedys or Nearly Dead Kennedys?

Other suggestions welcome

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Since they’re not dead yet, I like “Nearly Dead Kennedys”. It’s cute.

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It’s definitely cuter than the themed entry I’m sending in for DDP: Individuals sanctioned for the invasion of Ukraine.

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Change “nearly” to “mostly”

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Thanks for the feedback. I just submitted Nearly Dead Kennedys as my DDP entry. Still working on my GoA entry.

I did ask frummie an eligibility question. I identified a person without their own wiki page that is featured prominently on another wiki page. I am certain news of their death would be reported in most national news outlets. I think they should count, but of course defer to the ruling of the commish.

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I’d bet Russian Army generals would be a good themed entry too, both for risk during war and risk back home if they don’t succeed.

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In the past, I have had three individuals who didn’t have their own Wiki pages, but who had linkable sections on Wiki pages - two as a members of a group, and one as the criminal in a notable crime.

I’ve also had one person who didn’t have a page in the English language Wiki, but did have a page in another language’s Wiki.

I think as long as you can provide a Wikipedia link specific to that person, especially one that will be updated to reflect their eventual demise, you’re good.

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Thanks. I think this would qualify under that standard but will of course defer to the commish.

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I am good with that

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Count me in. Thanks for running this Frummie!

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I will be submitting today, but am struggling with my list. I have too many good candidates, so ranking and tossing some is difficult.