Up until now, the rules for playing the "Guess That Anime" Game have been unspoken for the most part, although they exist. I thought it was time to write them down finally, so that new players didn't have to figure them out by observation.
If I've missed anything or there are any questions, feel free to post them in this topic.
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1. General Play
The game is played by guessing the title of the animation based mainly on visual clues. These clues are normally uploaded to a free image server such as ImageShack or Photobucket. The person who guesses right then provides the next subject. Note that directly linking to an image on another web site is not okay. The image must be from a web site you own, or uploaded to an image server.
The game is open to anyone who wants to jump in and start guessing.
2. Playing the Game
One official guess is permitted in each post in the topic, although the titles of other shows may be mentioned as part of a train of thought. If several shows are mentioned, the official guess must be emphasized by some means, either by a statement that it's the real guess, or by some method such as using bold text for the title.
If the correct title of the subject is mentioned in a train of thought, but is not the official guess, it doesn't count.
If you do not have any ideas about what the title of the subject is, you may attempt to narrow the possibilities by guessing its genre, production studio, or release date instead.
3. Posting Subjects
When the subject is correctly identified, the person who did so posts the visual clue for the next subject. No one else is allowed to post clues, either visual or verbal. The person who guessed correctly may choose to pass the responsibility for the next subject on to a specific person or open it to anyone at all to post, at their discretion.
After the first clue, which must be visual, you may post either more visual clues, or you may post verbal clues instead, such as the decade the show was released, primary genre, or subject of the plot. It's your option.
If no one makes a guess within 24 hours of posting a clue, post another clue to bring the topic back onto the "posts since last visit" list. We don't want the game to be idle for more than a day at a time.
When you are the person posting a clue, you are expected to answer guesses with appropriate answers. You are not expected to make things easy, but if a person writes "this looks like it comes from the 1990s", you should give a yes or no, hot or cold type answer to help players narrow down the search. The same goes for guesses about genre, style, or any other attempt to zero in on the show.
It's okay to give unsolicited hints if you feel that it will help the game progress, but not be so obvious that it takes all the fun out of it. For example, if someone posts a guess naming a show that was released sometime around the same year as the subject, you may say so at your discretion.
4. Ending a Round
The round is not officially over until the person who posted the subject confirms that it has been guessed correctly. That means that if you play, be ready to keep a constant eye on the game after you have won a round and posted the next subject so that you don't delay it unnecessarily. Respond as promptly to guesses as you can manage. If you know that you won't be able to keep an eye on the game and respond promptly, then pass the turn to someone else.
5. Limitations
This game is limited to anime as the subject. For the purposes of this game, anime is defined as "Japanese made animation". This means that a Japanese production company must somehow be involved in the production of the animation.
For example, shows made and shown in Japan and shows created in other countries and shown in other countries but animated by a Japanese company are legal subjects.
Shows made in other countries and animated by native production companies are not permitted, even if they have expatriate Japanese animators on their staff.
If a show cannot be found in an anime database such as http://www.animenfo.com/ and http://anidb.net/, then it is recommended that you choose one that is. This is to give players a chance to find the subject by searching the databases.
The subject of the visual clue may be any form of Japanese-made animation. Movies, TV shows, Original Animation Videos (OAV), internet-only releases such as Flash animations, and animated music videos are all among the permitted clues.
If you have any doubts or questions about a potential clue or something else about the game, ask Larry F by PM.