Rules? Guidlines? Who needs 'em?...Noobs

[kipland_r]

Hi, I am new here, and have a question concerning water wars. I am hosting a water war for my friends, youth group etc., and am trying to figure out some rules for combat. I realize this type of question has been asked before, but I figure there is some kind of general standard or rules that you must have, since this is a water wars thread.

When I was really young, we used to play a way where people had yarn tied around their fingers, (three pieces or so) and when they got shot, one piece of yarn would be taken away until they were all out. Have you heard of this way of playing, or was it something we just made up? I am thinking capture the flag would be a great game to play but, to borrow the term, "slayer" or something like that would be fun as well. Are there any rules for that, it would be kind of hard to track the number of hits on a person I guess, but would be really fun. And do you know what the exact rules, or variants are for capture the flag, or any other game you can think of?

Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks

[mutuhaha]

Just 2 common ways to regulate kills.

Honour system: This system is largely based on honesty. When someone gets hit, he sits out of the game of his own will. Until the next round/game or something. Alternatively, you could allow dead players to respawn by doing a forfeit or by going back to a spawn point. In this system the organizer must define what exactly a kill is. An acceptable definition could be a fist sized wet mark on the person's shirt.

Soakertag system: A hitbox (area on shirt defined by tape) can be placed onto the player's shirt. When someone scores a hit there, he would be dead and either respawn or get eliminated from the round. Alternative methods of defining the hitbox could be kitchen towels wrapped around the player and once those are shot off or soaked, the player would be "dead". Transparency sheets with soluble marker markings also work.

[isoaker_com]

mutuhaha summed up the basic, common hit systems people use. I wouldn't recommend the transparency/water-soluble marker hit-zone, though, since the flushed dye may end up staining clothing.

The next, less defined rule revolves around the idea of respawning. For longer games, single or even a handful of lives per player may mean many players sitting out for a long time. Instead of this, a soaked player is often given the chance to come back to life. Respawning may involve a simple timed countdown (i.e. one minute out) or the player must return to a designated respawning point in friendly territory.

Many individuals are currently trying to draft out a more complete rule set at WaterWarfare.com, but it is still far from complete.