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Hoshitori Home Game Rules Past Basho Results Make Your Entry Current Basho Results |
Hoshitori Game Rules
A hoshitori is a game that involves picking the men you think
will be good winners in the coming basho. Each rikishi gets from
1 to 13 points, assigned by the entry, for each time he wins
during the 15-day tournament. There are other ways to earn extra
points as well (see below).
The entry with the most points at the end is the winner, of course.
Entries (one per person) are due by noon (JST) on Shonichi (the
starting Sunday) for the basho.
GAME RULES:
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1) OVERVIEW
To become a cyber-rikishi, you first have to think up a shikona
(sumo name) to call yourself. Then, each basho, simply pick
O Any 13 makuuchi rikishi that you think will do well,
O A substitue, in case a rikishi leaves the basho, and
O 2 tie-breakers, in case two players finish at the same score.
Review the banzuke (list of rankings) for this basho. If you can,
also take a look at the banzuke for prior bashos to see if there
is a trend in some particular rikishi.
2) SCORING
Put your 13 makuuchi rikishi in order: the top guy gets 13 points
for each win, the next man gets 12 points, and so on. Note that
your picks must be MAKUUCHI rikishi: that is, ANYONE FROM YOKOZUNA
THROUGH MAEGASHIRA 16. No Juryo rikishi can be used. As you will
soon see, they are not even listed in the web entry form...
The winner is the one whose rikishi total the highest number of
points at the end, including the following extra bonuses:
a. Triple points for kin-boshi (a maegashira, komusubi, or
sekiwake beats a Yokuzuna). For example: if a rikishi
should get 5 points for a normal win, he would get 15 for
beating Akebono.
b. Double points for gin-boshi (a maegashira, komusubi, or
sekiwake beats an Ozeki)
[Note that in real sumo, the Kyokai only gives kin-boshi
to maegashira rikishi, and officially doesn't even
record gin-boshi at all. We're the ones in charge here,
though...]
c. 10 points for any of the 3 Sansho prizes. Note that
these prizes are only awarded to maegashira, komusubi
and sekiwake rikishi.
d. If the yusho winner is in your list, he will get three
extra wins for bagging the Emperor's Cup. Thus if his
normal point score is 8, he would get an extra 24 points
for the yusho, on top of the regular points he got for his
bouts.
e. Each rikishi on your list will get an extra 10 points for
kachikoshi, but will lose 10 points for makekoshi. This will
be a one-time addition/subtraction at the time of his 8th
win/loss. If he is 15-0 or 8-7, he gets just 10 points,
and if he is 7-8 or 0-15, he loses just 10 points.
3) SUBSTITUTES
The substiute covers the event of one rikishi leaving the basho.
The sub will assume the same point level for all torikumi on days
when the injured/sick rikishi is not called by the yobidashi. The
injured rikishi IS responsible for his loss by fusenpai (forfeit),
though, and the sub cannot replace him on that day. If more than
one rikishi pulls out, the substitute will count only for the first
to exit.
If a rikishi goes out and then returns, the sub's performance will
still count for the days after fusenpai and up until the return of
the main rikishi. The substitute then can be used for one more
substitution.
4) TIE-BREAKER
Ties for the yusho are broken in the time-honoured Japanese tradition:
jan-ken-pon, (aka paper-scissors-stone). Note that the actual words
used in Japan are Pa (paper) Gu (rock) and Choki (scissors). Please
include two choices on your entry form (e.g., paper/stone, gu/pa,
choki/gu, stone/scissors). If more than two choices are needed to
produce a winner, the cyber-rikishi involved will be contacted via email.
5) SHIKONA
Please keep your shikona (sumo name) to a maximum of 13 characters.
Results will be posted on the sumo mailing list and on the Web
pages by shikona. No spaces or odd characters can be used. Only
one shikona per person is possible.
6) ENTRIES
The entries have to arrive by 12:00 noon, Japan time, on Shonichi
(first day of the basho). You can change and resubmit your entry as
you like. The last entry is the one which will be used.
If a selected rikishi withdraws from the tournament before it starts,
and a player who selected him does not change his selections by the
deadline, then the withdrawn rikishi is removed from the selections,
everyone below him moves up one spot, the sub moves into the 1pt slot,
and a new sub, the highest ranked rikishi who wasn't already selected
by the player, is assigned.
7) SANSHO AWARDS
The hoshitori now has sansho awards that mirror (at least in name)
the awards found in real sumo. They are awarded as follows:
Shukun-sho (Outstanding Performance) kachi-koshi player with
the largest kin/gin-boshi
bonus total
Gino-sho (Technique) kachi-koshi player with
the biggest (upwards)
jump on any one day
Kanto-sho (Fighting Spirit) player with lowest average
daily position that still
manages to make kachi-koshi
8) PRIZES
Sometimes, list members offer prizes like a real banzuke,
some TV video tapes, or sumo trinkets grabbed by people visiting
the Kokugikan. These prizes can be given to the first or second
placed cyber-rikishi, or the sansho award winners, or whatever.
They vary and may or may not be offered for any given basho.
9) RANKING
If you do well over a number of basho you have a chance to become a
cyber sanyaku, cyber-ozeki, or cyber-yokozuna. Each player
participating in a basho will have their final position converted
into "win-loss equivalent" score. This makes the highest and lowest
possible scores 15-0 and 0-15, as in real sumo. Specifically, to
get n wins you have to beat n/15ths of the players in the
basho. This means, for example, that for the equivalent of
kachi-koshi (8-7), you need to be in the top 46.7% of the table.
The top player (and only the top player) will have a zensho yusho
score of 15-0.
A kachi-koshi (more wins than losses) score will always result in a
promotion, and a make-koshi (more losses than wins) will result in
a demotion, according to the following table:
R
A N U M B E R O F W I N S
N -----------------------------------------------------------------
K | 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
----+----------------------------------------------------------------
Oe | Y Y Y Y Oe Oe Ow Oh Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok
Ow | Oe Oe Oe Oe Oe Ow Oh Oh Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok
Oh | Oe Oe Ow Ow Ow Ow Oh Oh Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok
Ok | Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow Oh Oh Se Se Se Se Se Se Se Se
|
Se | Ow Ow Oh Oh Oh Se Sw Sh Ke Kw M1 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5
Sw | Ow Se Se Se Se Sw Sw Sh Kw M1 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6
Sh | Oh Se Se Sw Sw Sw Sh Sh Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7
Ke | Se Se Se Sw Sw Sw Sh Sh M1 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7
Kw | Se Se Sw Sw Sw Sh Sh Ke M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8
|
M1 | Se Sw Sw Sw Sh Sh Ke Kw M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9
M2 | Sw Sw Sw Sh Sh Ke Kw M1 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10
M3 | Sw Sw Sh Sh Ke Kw Kw M1 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11
M4 | Sw Sh Sh Ke Kw Kw M1 M2 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12
M5 | Sh Sh Ke Ke Kw Kw M1 M2 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12 M13
M6 | Sh Ke Ke Ke Kw M1 M2 M3 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12 M13 M14
M7 | Ke Ke Ke Kw Kw M1 M2 M3 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12 M13 M14 M15
M8 | Ke Ke Kw Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M9 M10 M11 M12 M13 M14 M15 J1
M9 | Ke Ke Kw Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M10 M11 M12 M13 M14 M15 J1 J1
M10 | Ke Ke Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M11 M12 M13 M14 M15 J1 J1 J1
M11 | Ke Ke Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M12 M13 M14 M15 J1 J1 J1 J1
M12 | Ke Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M13 M14 M15 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1
M13 | Ke Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M14 M15 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1
M14 | Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M15 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1
M15 | Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1
M16 | Kw M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1 J1
J1 | M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 J2 J2 J2 J2 J2 J2 J2 J2
J2 | M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 J3 J3 J3 J3 J3 J3 J3 J3
J3 | M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 J4 J4 J4 J4 J4 J4 J4 J4
J4 | etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
----+----------------------------------------------------------------
New players start at the M16 level, and follow exactly the same
promotion rules as those above. This means that the M16 rank
distinguishes them from regular players without putting them at the
disadvantage of requiring a disproportionately long climb to reach
sanyaku.
10) OZEKI/YOKOZUNA PROMOTION/DEMOTION
The promotion of Sekiwake to Ozeki is subject an extra rule: He must
have a 3-basho record prior to the promotion of 34 or more wins.
The promotion of East Ozeki to Yokozuna is subject to some extra rules.
Notably the following is required:
a) a 3-basho record (the last two as Ozeki) of 39 or more wins, with
none of the contributing records less than 11-4.
b) To show the ability to actually win, one yusho or jun-yusho
at any time in the history of the contest, or one instance of
consecutive 14-1 records.
There is no limit on the number of Yokozuna.
The demotion (retirement) criteria for a Yokozuna is failure to meet
45 wins in six successive basho (absences count as 7 wins).
A retired Yokozuna may enter in subsequent tournaments from the M16 rank.
11) CHANGING YOUR SHIKONA
Changing shikona is OK, but it can only change your luck, not your
rank... The exception to this is when any player reaches J16, when
they'll be allowed to humanely retire their current incarnation, and
start again from M16.
12) MISSING A BASHO
Every player is allowed to take one basho off without the absence
affecting their rank (a "kosho"). However, being absent from a basho
when you were also absent from the immediately previous basho will be
regarded as a losing 0-15 score. That is, two consecutive absences means
one 0-15 penalty, three consecutive absences means two 0-15 penalties,
etc. Once a player re-enters the contest after one or more absences they
are again allowed to miss one basho as a kosho without affecting their
rank. For example, a pattern of absence, basho entry, absence, basho entry,
absence, basho entry, etc., would incur no penalties (all the absences
would be treated as kosho).
13) TIPS
For the top of your list, try to pick the rikishi who should
get 10 or more wins, as they will boost your total the most,
obviously. Some of the Maegashira who really sucked in the prior
basho and dropped way down will also be likely to get a decent
record this time, and are often good picks. Also, take into
account that a couple of kin/gin-boshi bonuses can transform an 8-7
or 9-6 result into the equivalent of 13 or 14 wins.
For the point levels of around 1-4 points, you can take shots at
rikishi who may be overdue for the occasional 10-11 win basho. The
kachi-koshi bonus (and make-koshi penalty) is *big*, though, so
another tactic is to avoid "risky" selections altogether and
try instead to identify the "elevator rikishi" who tend to move up
and down the banzuke with scores close to 8-7 and 7-8 each basho
(of course, the idea is to ride the elevator on the way `up' and to
jump off when they're on the way down...).
Be objective, and don't pick just the ones you like the most.
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