Sample Page
From RulesWiki
| SHOW TITLE | |
 (Screenshot of show logo/title) | |
|---|---|
| Airdates: | NBC January 1980 - September 1982, Syn. March 2003 - Present |
| Host: | Bruce Wayne |
| Co-Host: | Dick Grayson |
| Models: | Lois Lane, Vicki Vale |
| Assistant/Referee: | Commissioner Gordon |
| Announcer: | Barry White |
| Regular Guests: | Huey, Dewey, Louie |
| Producers: | Bialystock-Bloom Productions (1980-1982), Tony Kornheiser (2003-Present) |
This page is intended to serve as the list of guidelines when creating a new rulesheet. Failure to adhere to the standards explained in this page may result in your being blocked from making edits to the wiki.
Contents |
Information Table
The table you see on the right-hand side of the page is where the show's vital statistics are to be placed. Much of the layout for the table is pretty-self explanatory; however, it is requested that you attempt to keep things in chronological order, especially with regards to personnel. Also, we realize that some shows employed the use of subtitute hosts and announcers. To keep the table from adding unneccessary clutter to the page, we ask that you omit subtitute talent, unless they subbed for a significant period of time (such as Jim Peck's work on The Joker's Wild).
With regards to production companies, we request that you supply a company name whenever possible, and the names of the producers and executive producers when it isn't. Please note that if a show's production company is listed as "The (Show Title) Co." in the credits, you should use the people's names instead, since it otherwise wouldn't be particularly informative. Also, take care to differentiate between a show's producers and their packagers or distributors.
Rules
It is imperative when writing a rulesheet to keep writing as concise and coherent as possible. This can be difficult when explaining a show that tweaked its rules on a regular basis or had a large number of complexities to begin with. Here are some pointers to help you out both in layout and in content:
- When dealing with a show that had multiple versions, it helps to handle each run separately, only pointing out the changes from run to run. Some shows may benefit from explaining the general front game in all its permutations first and then its end game, but those are few and far between.
- Two things to use sparingly when writing a rulesheet are headings and parenthetical remarks. In the case of the former, most shows are simple enough not to require every paragraph to be separated into its own section. In the case of the latter, too many statements put in parentheses within a paragraph gives it a very disorganized appearance, and generally gives the reader the impression that things are being thrown in as afterthoughts rather than actually being implemented into the flow of the paragraph. While it is sometimes unavoidable to use parentheses - often to point out a minor variation in the game's early format - they should be used sparingly.
On another note, there is often a fine line between having a detailed explanation of the rules to a show and simply being esoteric. Spending half a paragraph on an obscure rule that only came into play once during the show's run is probably more time than it really needs. While we appreciate people going to great lengths to explain the subtleties of a particular show, one needs to take into account how important those subtleties are to the actual game.
Notes
In many cases, it may be appropriate to add side notes to the rulesheet that may not fit elsewhere in the rulesheet. Once again, however, it is important that you pay attention to what bits of information are useful and what is just trivia.
Images
For the benefit of those who have never seen a particular show before, we do our best to provide pictures of games in progress to help give people a visual reference to what's going on. You're free to add your own pictures to whatever rulesheets you create, as long as they follow these rules:
- They are no more than 160x120 pixels in size.
- They are actual screen captures of the game in progress; no press photos or behind-the-scenes shots.
- They are of relatively good quality. I say "relative" because it's going to be hard to get pristine pictures of all shows, but please make sure someone can recognize the action.
Also, feel free to use the pictures used on the rulesheets from my Rules Repository as fodder for your rulesheets. Seeing as they're staying on the same site, I have no problem with anyone re-uploading them for Wiki purposes.
To include an image, us the following code, ignoring the parentheses:
[[Image:(filename)|thumb|(left or right alignment)|(caption)]]
As a formatting note, take care that your first picture should probably be aligned to the left, so that it doesn't interfere with the table on the right side of the page. Also, if the paragraph that the picture accompanies is fairly small and it's immediately followed by a new heading, be sure to add a few extra lines of space so that the heading clears the picture. This paragraph has about six lines of space between it and the next paragraph so that the next heading is aligned properly.
Categories
Finally, the show you're writing about may be part of a subset of shows. In that case, be sure to include category tags to the bottom of the rulesheet so that the rulesheet is added to those subsets. The current categories available are:
Category: Game shows (All shows belong in this category)
Category: Game shows hosted by Bill Cullen
Category: Game shows hosted by Tom Kennedy
Category: Game shows hosted by Wink Martindale
Category: Goodson-Todman game shows
Category: Barry-Enright game shows
Category: Bob Stewart game shows (only shows that he produced on his own should go here; shows he did as part of G-T productions should go in that category)
Category: Foreign game shows - This category only applies to shows that had did not originally air in the United States. American shows that had foreign versions, or foreign-born shows that were brought to the US do not go into this category.
Category: Kid's game shows
Category: Million-dollar game shows (Shows that offer a top prize of $1,000,000 or more)
If you look at the source for this page, you'll see that each category is surrounded with double brackets, with a colon preceding the text. To add a category listing, you'll simply need to have the double brackets.
Please do not create your own categories. The ones listed above are plenty to separate out the major groups of shows. Also keep in mind that every show gets listed on the main page anyway, so the categories are being used more as a cross-reference than anything else.
Templates
If you happen to come across a rulesheet that needs significant revising, you can bring it to the attention of other users by adding an alert template to the top of the rulesheet. Currently there are four such templates available for use; more may be added if there's a pressing need for them (although that doesn't seem likely at this time).
To add a template, use the following code:
{{Needspics}} will indicate that the rulesheet is missing pictures of the gameplay or logo.
{{Cleanpics}} shows that the pictures in the rulesheet should be replaced with ones of better quality.
{{Needsinfo}} indicates that there is information missing about one or more of the show's runs - usually earlier runs that have not been broadcast in the recent past.
{{Rewrite}} states that the rulesheet is in need of a major rewrite.
Disciplinary Actions
We will do our best to keep this Wiki in good condition, and we appreciate those who contribute to the Wiki. However, given that this is a medium that anyone can edit, we need to make sure that those who do make revisions to pre-existing rulesheets, or add new ones, do so in accordance to the guidelines above. The following acts are frowned upon within the Wiki:
- Creating "bloat" - overdescribing a show to the point of minutia. (For a good example of what constitutes bloat, observe the history pages of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Think Fast.)
- Knowingly submitting false information to a rulesheet.
- Repeatedly submitting material that the administrator has already rejected, either because it causes unnecessary bloat or is factually incorrect. If an edit in the page history is listed as a "rollback", it means that the previous revision did not meet the Wiki's standards; it is not an invitation to submit it again.
- Using images whose dimensions far exceed those laid out above. Please be considerate to users of older computers with lower resolutions.
- Creating rulesheets that are, for all intents and purposes, worthless. A one-sentence summary of a show is not an acceptable submission for a rulesheet.
Users who consistently break the above guidelines will be subject to disciplinary action, beginning with a 3-day ban from editing the Wiki, followed by a 2-week ban, and finally a permanent ban. This disciplinary schedule may be accelerated based on the nature of the offense.
