Category: Rules

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Vested Interest and Table Acclamation Prompting

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

      • 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.

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.

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Prompting

PROMPTING

Prompting is saying something during the course of Parcheesi gameplay to persuade, encourage, or remind another player to make a certain move. If found guilty of prompting, penalties will occur.

If you feel prompting has taken place, stop play. If the table cannot agree on whether prompting occurred, any player from that table may request a ruling from the Ruling Committee. If the Committee agrees that prompting has occurred, the designated penalty will be enacted. (see: “Penalties for Prompting” below).

There are a range of motivations that causes a person to prompt. You may desire to hurt an opponent, or maybe you’re just a nice person who wants everyone to do well—it doesn’t matter.  DON’T DO IT.

That being said, there are situations that warrant speaking up. You have a right to protect your self-interests if an opponent makes an illegal move. Two conditions must be met to allow for a legal prompt:

    1. An opponent executes an illegal move.
    2. That illegal move has a negative impact on the player pointing out the illegal move, i.e., the prompter.

Both of these conditions must be met to constitute a legal prompt.

Penalties for Prompting:

      • First offense: lose a turn
      • Second offense: lose two turns
      • Third offense: closest player to home gets sent to base
      • Fourth offense: …really?

In all disputes, Ruling Committee’s judgment is final and binding.

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Glossary of Terms

The Basics

 Base – each player’s starting area

Blockade – when two pawns of the same color are on the same space. No other player may land on, pass, or capture these pawns.

Doubles – a roll of matching dice, i.e. both 1’s, both 2’s, etc

Home – goal/final destination for each pawn in order to win game.

Pawn – Parcheesi game pieces; four of each green, yellow, red, & blue

Prompting – Saying something during the course of Parcheesi gameplay to persuade, encourage, or remind another player to make a certain move.

Terminology

Breaking a blockade – when the blockade player moves one or both of the pawns that are forming the blockade. A blockade can never be moved together. If both pawns are moved, they should end on separate spaces.

Capturing a pawn – achieved when a pawn lands on a space occupied by another color, as long as it’s not a safety space.

Doubles bonus – when all four of your pawns are on the game board, you can use the numbers on the top and bottom of the dice that equal 14, to move your pawns

Doubles penalty – if a player rolls three doubles in a row, their turn is forfeit and the pawn furthest along to home is returned to that player’s starting base

Entering game play (the five rule) – Each player has their own blue entering space from their base and must roll a five to enter the game.

Extra 10 spaces – a bonus given when a player reaches home

Extra 20 spaces – a bonus given when capturing a pawn of another color.  May only be taken by one pawn and not divided among all that color’s pawns on the board.

Reaching home – final destination for pawns; can only be reached on an exact die roll. The game is won when all four of the same color pawn reach this goal.

Safety Space – all blue spaces on the Parcheesi board. No other color pawn may occupy this space; however, a second pawn of the same color may land here and form a blockade.