That One Rule: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''Proponents [of the Duckworth-Lewis method] assured us that this was the fairest way of determining the outcome of rain-affected matches. Fans without calculators and computer printouts were not so sure.''|'''2003 Cricket World Cup highlights DVD'''}}
Games require rules. Even [[Calvin Ball|Calvinball]] has one. Most of the rules are simple, especially in simple games, like tag. But then, there's
It's the one exception, it's complicated, it can get most people arguing over how long players can stay on base without getting tagged.
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The point here is that this is a case where most of the rules are very easy to understand except for a rule, or a few rules, that are glaringly complicated.
Differs from [[Loads and Loads of Rules]] in that this is a localized case of the problem. See also [[Grappling with Grappling Rules]], an example from tabletop [[RPG
{{examples}}
== Board and tabletop games ==
* [[wikipedia:Castling|Castling]] and ''[[wikipedia:En passant|en passant]]'' capture are confusing to many [[Chess]] players. The latter move is an [[Obvious Rule Patch]], while the former is the only way in the game to have two pieces of the same color move at once and has highly unusual restrictions on when it can be used. [[Tournament Play
** Once or twice, chess grandmasters have demonstrated a lack of understanding about castling (namely, thinking that the rook is not allowed to pass through a threat, when that only applies to the king).
* Some of the mechanics of ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' are like this.
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** Another problem with Armor Penetration was that its effectiveness increased exponentially, making it [[One Stat to Rule Them All|vastly superior]] to other stats for physical damage dealers.
* ''Monopoly'' has a few, and perhaps more than any other board game has families just ignoring rules they don't like and [[House Rules|making up rules they do]]. A lot of people don't even know the mortgage interest rules ''exist''. More think that the auction rule is ''fake''!
* ''[[Star Wars Customizable Card Game]]'': '''''Attrition'''''. For a vastly simplified explanation, at the end of most larger battles, ''both'' sides are assessed a penalty, in addition to the penalty paid for losing a battle, which can only be paid by discarding combatants (as opposed to discarding from one's hand or deck), which counts simultaneously toward the penalties paid by the loser; this penalty or its remainder is often waived if the characters remaining have sufficient [[Plot Armor]], but how much plot armor is needed depends on the ''whole'' penalty, regardless of how many has to be paid by [[Red Shirt
* Before 4th edition [[Dungeons and Dragons]], initiating a grappling attack is usually cause for your entire gaming group to throw large, heavy objects at you. There's a reason the trope is call [[Grappling with Grappling Rules]].
** Submitting dragons in early editions required the GM to recalculate what percentage of the dragon's HP you had burned through with non-lethal damage and then make percentile roles. Worse, it basically amounted to giving a rampaging, roaring engine of death a blanket party and hoping it decided to cry. Bad rules are bad; violating the [[Rule of Cool]] and [[Rule of Fun]] at the same time is unforgivable.
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=== [[The Beautiful Game|Association football (soccer)]] ===
* The offside rule. The rule is of course very straightforward (basically, you can't score if you were behind all the defenders<ref>
** There is one ''slight'' complication. You can't score if you're behind all the defenders ''but one,'' with the goalkeeper counting as a defender. This only matters when the play has gone past the defending goalie, but there's another defender between the player who got the ball and the goal. Which is to say, hardly ever.
** The inability of anyone to explain the offside rule is gloriously parodied in ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue|The Little Book of Mornington Crescent]]''. The explanation of Mornington Crescent's offside rule is half a page of dense, jargon-filled gobbledegook. Which concludes "''This should not be confused with the offside rule''".
* The lack of goal line technology could perhaps be called That One Lack Of A Rule. Every fan knows the pain of having a good goal disqualified (or a bad goal by the opponent let through) thanks to a ref's poor vision. FIFA's refusal to consider change hit its nadir during the 2010 World
* AFA (lit: Argentinian Soccer Association <ref>
** Actually... [[Self-Demonstrating Article|that's not how it works]]. In most of the world, the team(s) with fewest points during a single season are relegated. In Argentina, the two teams with the lowest point average during the last three seasons are relegated. This benefits big teams because:
*** a) the big teams can be counted on being able to outspend most opposition to ensure a good season every three years, at least.
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=== [[Baseball]] ===
* The infield fly rule. Much as with the offside rule above, the infield fly rule is simpler than its reputation -- [[Obvious Rule Patch|an infielder can't deliberately let a fly ball drop in order to get an easy double play by picking off runners who would otherwise be forced to advance.]] If it's a double play situation<ref>
* The balk rule. Balks are relatively simple to understand, but hard to actually call. Balks are when the pitcher makes a motion towards a base, but throws to a different base. So a pitcher can't act like he's throwing a pitch and then throw to first base to pick off a runner, which is why when trying to pick off a runner, the pitcher will ''almost'' always move their front leg towards the base. The problem is, how do you classify a "motion"? Is it when the pitcher starts his windup? When he lifts his leg? When he moves his arm? Balks are almost always controversial at the Major League level.
* The Posting System. Basically if a Japanese player wants to play in America, teams must first pay millions '''just to talk to him'''. In addition only one team is allowed the privilege of talking to the player. They get 30 days to negotiate a contract or the player must return to Japan (in which case the posting fee is refunded). The system actually would allow a team to promise more than a rival who could really use the player, with no intention of signing him, just to prevent said team from getting
=== [[Basketball]] ===
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== Politics ==
Politics, like games, generally operates under a system of rules, and in many
* From the [[American Political System]], we have:
** The Twenty-fifth Amendment, specifically Section 4 (the part that gives the Cabinet the power to declare the President incapacitated), whose complexities are so interesting for writers, [[Twenty-Fifth Amendment|we gave it a trope]].
** The Electoral College. This one is relatively simple to explain and extremely easy to adjudicate, but it still gets Americans in a tizzy every time it becomes relevant. The Constitution stipulates that the President and Vice President are elected by an absolute majority of a special body called the Electoral College, composed of electors chosen in each state in a manner of the state legislature's choosing. Each state gets a number of electoral votes equal to its representation in both houses of Congress, i.e., the size of its House of Representatives delegation plus two (for its Senators); this gives us 535 electors for today's Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment grants [[Washington DC]] three electoral votes,
*** And then there's Party delegates in the Presidential nomination process. One of the reasons [[Barack Obama]] won in 2008 was that his campaign understood the Democratic delegate system, and Hillary Clinton's did not.
*** The 2012 Republican Party primary has a lot of states giving electorates by percentage (i.e. if you win 75% of a state, you get 75% of the delegates). This is being seen as problematic because it has contributed to the dragged-out nature of the primary and Republicans are worried about how much the candidates are needling each other. Other people are just bored with how much news coverage it's getting.
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