Currency: Any player may transfer any number of points to any other player at any time by posting a notice to that effect in the Point Transfer Forum established for this purpose, provided said point transfer would not leave the receiving player within 51 or fewer points from the victory condition.
In order to determine the legality of 1's transfer of points to gerryblog (giving him 458 points in total and resulting in a victory claim), we need to know what exactly the definition of the victory condition. "Victory condition" does not appear anywhere else in the rules. The only hint we have is that:
The total number of points required to win the game will be 300.
I read this to mean that the way to win the game is to have any number of points equal to or greater than 300. In other words, the victory condition is to have any number of points equal to or greater than 300.
Judge gerryblog, is this the victory condition?
If this is the victory condition, then 1's transfer of points left gerryblog within 51 or fewer points from the victory condition: it left gerryblog in the victory condition, which is to say being zero points from the victory condition. In that case, 1's transfer was illegal and gerryblog has not won.
If this is not the victory condition, judge gerryblog, what is?
Just how many of these can we spin out, anyway.
That thought had crossed my mind, jay, but that isn't my intention here. I'd at least like to get gerryblog to give us some sort of explanation.
This one's completely legitimate.
Unless you need exactly 300 points to win, it was an illegal transfer, because it resulted in a win.
gerryblog did transfer points away later to go back down to 300, but it's obvious that the transfer to him was the direct cause of the win.
Any claim to the contrary is a farce.
Your future employers read on with great interest, gerryblog...
gerryblog, you are no longer the judge as the game has ended. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.
As posted in another thread, no player should be able to claim "I win" and pack away the board without proper vetting.
AAA, that's just silly.
Either the victory condition is any point value between 300 and infinity (inclusive) or is 300 exactly. If its' the former then no one was able to transfer points to gerryblog to give him a value above 248, such a transfer is illegal and therefore void. If it's the latter then gerryblog has the wrong amount of points and therefore has not yet won.
Either way gerryblog can't have won, it's not logical or legal or in any way reasonable. Judges aren't allowed to declare themselves the winner out of the blue and for no reason, otherwise I would have won on my turn (same goes for everyone I'd say).
So this whole thing is a joke. Just stupid people fucking around not bothering to read the rules or think about what they're doing. You can all either get your shit together and play properly or just give up. After all there's no point playing once you all stop following the rules, since that's the whole point of the game.
Just be clear that no one won. It kind of sucks to have it end because of this idiocy instead of a legitimate win but I can only assume you're all too bored to continue playing correctly.
JUDGMENT: I have gone back and forth on this question since the transfer; I find that the rules are ambiguous as to two related issues:
(1) whether or not a player can win by simple transfer of points;
(2) what is the functional definition of "victory condition."
After much debate I have concluded (see previous ruling) that there exists a "forbidden zone" from 250-350, within which player cannot transfer points, but that they can transfer outside this band. Further, I have come back to the wisdom of my original ruling, now one of our most cherished game traditions, that in order to win one must achieve exactly 300 points: "The total number of points required to win the game will be 300." 301 is not 300, nor is 458.
This I only did when I transferred 158 points to leave me with exactly 300, thereby achieving victory.
This is, of course, a cheap loophole in a provision intended to prevent exactly this situation from occurring -- but it is, I believe, a legitimate loophole, created by the vague language of a rule we passed unanimously. If it were my ox being gored, I believe I would feel the same way.
Thus, contrary to my earlier non-judicial ramblings on the subject, ssg is correct that a player cannot have points transferred into the victory condition. However, ssg is wrong insofar as precedent and the rules themselves suggest that 300 and 300 points alone is the victory condition.
Thus, a player CAN overshoot the victory condition by more than 51 and then transfer points away to obtain it, which is exactly what I have done.
So this whole thing is a joke. Just stupid people fucking around not bothering to read the rules or think about what they're doing. You can all either get your shit together and play properly or just give up.
That's awfully harsh, shelleycat, and not in particularly good faith. Here is how I see the situation, based on my reading of the rules:
1) The "victory condition" is 300 points. Because this point system is based on counting and numbers, it's possible to surpass this victory condition and win.
2) gerryblog wrote a poorly worded rule, that disallowed transfers "within 51 points" of the VC (i.e., 300, i.e., from 249-351).
Now, it is clear that you don't think this is how the rules should be read, and there is a process underway, following the rules, to sort this out. But please don't assume bad faith! We can disagree about what the rules mean, but it doesn't mean we are "fucking around" or bored, or giving up. We are trying to win, which is the point of this game. :)