Setup and Rule Diagrams

[Jeremy Press]

Hey Patrice,

So I think you're misreading the first rule, which says, "Each clan must participate at least once in any two consecutive years." That means for any two-year period, a clan has to show up at least one time. So, for the clan that goes in years 1, 3, and 5, it's showing up once in the two-year period that includes Year 1 and Year 2 (in year 1). It's also showing up once in the two-year period that includes Year 2 and Year 3 (in year 3). It's also showing up once in the two-year period that includes Year 3 and Year 4 (in year 3). And it's showing up once in the two-year period that includes Year 4 and Year 5 (in year 5). That satisfies the rule, because that's every possible combination of two consecutive years.

The way to avoid misreading any rule is to give effect to the language of every word in the rule, and to consider rearranging the language of the rule. How could you rearrange the language of this rule to help understand it better? Try putting the "any" clause first in the sentence: "In any two year period, each clan must participate at least once." So, when I look at a two-year period (say, Years 1 and 2), I should see a clan participating at least one time.

Also think about what the rule would say if it were doing what you read it to do: it would say, "At least once, each clan participates in two consecutive years." That would mean, for every clan, there would have to be at least one occasion in the game where it participated in two consecutive years. Different wording than our game rule.

I hope this helps!

[Patrice M. Walker]

Yes! This was so immensely helpful! Thank you!