Prompting—Still Not Allowed, But Some Exceptions/Clarifications, and New Process (2019):
Please avoid coaching inexperienced players on possible moves. Do your best—prior to the start of the game—to answer questions about (1) official Parcheesi rules, (2) Tournament rules, and (3) table rules (e.g., according to your table, must dice rolls be on the board? Do leaning dice need to be re-rolled? etc. Please try to be as thorough as possible in addressing questions and clarifications prior to the start of the game).
Prompting consists of informing another player of (1) a possible move, or (2) a rule that necessitates/prevents a move. There are two exceptions to Type 2 (rule informing) prompting, “Vested Interest” and “Table Acclamation” prompting:
Vested Interest prompting occurs when the reminding of the rule brings direct benefit to the person making the reminder (e.g., if a player attempts to use a 5 to capture the prompter’s token, but the player still has a token at base, prompting in this case is allowed, but only by the player in danger of being captured illegally). In essence, there should be no general reminders of rules as a matter of practice; we realize this will lead to some sloppy or even illegal play in certain circumstances.
Table Acclamation prompting may occur in cases of very obvious rule infractions (moving the wrong number of spaces, splitting up bonus spaces, taking 14 when a token is at base, etc.). To make such a prompt, one or more players may acclaim, “You can’t do that!” Table acclamations should be rare, and in fact, it is much preferable that all Type 2 prompts be handled under the category of Vested Interest prompts.
Procedure for Making Accusations of Prompting and Penalizing Perpetrators
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- The Accusation: When a player (the Accuser) wishes to make an accusation of prompting, the player will say: “I call PROMPTING—hearing requested.” The hearing follows automatically.
- The Hearing: The Accuser explains why the accusation was made.
- The Judgment: If one other person at the table agrees with the Accuser, PROMPTING has occurred, and the perpetrator of PROMPTING will suffer a penalty, as described below.
- The Penalty: First offense: loss of a turn; Second offense: loss of two turns; Third offense: furthest token sent back to base (or, if all four tokens are at base, the perpetrator’s next roll of 5 is negated; Fourth offense: forfeiture of game.
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Abuse of the Prompting Accusations/Hearing Process: A player who believes that competitors have colluded to abuse the Prompting Hearing, Judgment, and Penalty process may request the intervention of the Ruling Committee, whose decisions (including possible forfeiture of players) will be final.