From: sachs@FID.Morgan.COM (Josef Sachs)
Subject: Re: Failure to free (was Gosh, look what's here!)
Organization: Morgan Stanley & Co., Fixed Income Research Dept., NYC
	<1993Jan21.212015.3142@infodev.cam.ac.uk>
	<1993Jan23.132331.30889@ucl.ac.uk>
	<1993Jan23.154717.11042@infodev.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 21:38:37 GMT

>>>>> On Sat, 23 Jan 1993 15:47:17 GMT, ag129 (Alasdair Grant) said:

	ag129> p.s. in a pairs game, who gets to play the nominated wink?

This is specified in Section (d) of Rule 11 of the May 1990 ETwA Rules
(is there something more recent?):

(a) When all the unpotted winks of one partnership are squopped, the
    opposing partnership is obliged to free at least one of the squopped
    winks.  Before doing so, the squopping partnership may play one turn
    per wink on the field of play which was neither squopping nor squopped
    after the shot which caused this Rule to be invoked.  These are called
    "free turns", and are shared between the two colours in normal rotation,
    even if a colour cannot play at a particular turn.
(b) A freeing shot is a shot which leaves an opponent's wink unsquopped, one
    which pots the sixth wink of any colour (after which Rule 8 applies) or
    a shot which terminates the game according to Rule 6 (b).  One must be
    played no later than the first shot of the turn following completion of
    free turns, except when the number of free turns is zero and the first
    of the squopping partnership has no playable winks.  In this case his
    partner must free on his first shot.  N.B. A shot which is forfeited
    owing to Rule 7 (a) is always counted in the timing of a freeing shot,
    and the playability of a free wink.
(c) Free turns cease whenever a freeing shot is played.  Thereafter, until
    their opponents have a turn with a playable wink, the squopping pair
    must leave an opponent's wink free after each shot played.  This wink
    must be of the same colour as the wink free prior to the shot, unless
    the other colour is given an opportunity to play first.  If both squopped
    colours become free, the first to play must be left free after each shot.
(d) If a freeing shot is not played as required by section (b), or a wink is
    squopped contrary to section (c), the turn in which the offence occurs is
    terminated, and the offended partnership is awarded a "nominated wink".
    For the first shot of the turn immediately following the failure to free,
    the player due to play the next colour shall nominate a playable wink of
    any colour and play it as if it were his own.  If this shot fails to free
    any of the squopped partnership's winks, free turns are recounted and
    start immediately.  If in the playing of the nominated wink any of the
    nominated colour is potted, it will ultimately count for the opposition,
    but the player may continue the turn, playing any wink of his own colour
    freed by the previous shot.  If a wink of the nominated colour leaves the
    field of play, the player forfeits the next shot due to be played with his
    own colour.
    If the failure to free occurs on the final turn of the fifth round after
    expiry of the time limit, the next colour in sequence shall be entitled to
    one extra turn, commencing with a nominated wink.
(e) If the time limit expires during free turns, it is deemed to have expired
    at the moment before the first playable shot (including a nominated wink)
    of the squopped pair, and Rule 9 (b) applies from then.

So, for those needle-in-haystack-seekers, the answer is "the player due to play
the next colour" ... "immediately following the failure to free".  So if yellow
fails to free, blue plays a nominated green or yellow wink.  Clear enough?

I have to admit that I consider this rule convoluted, confusing, and overly
verbose to an extreme.  I also find the concepts of "nominated wink" and of
"sixth-round play" to be injurious to my sensibilities.  As a paid-up member
of ETwA, how can I best register my dissatisfaction with this rule?

How's this for a simple, reasonably equitable rule:
  If, after its first turn following the free turns, the squopping team
  has failed to free an opponent's wink, the game immediately ends, with
  all seven game points being awarded to the squopped-out team.
("team" meaning the same as "partnership" in the ETwA Rules)

This leaves the squopping team with the opportunity to try to maximize their
score (as in the classic example of attempting to pot out on the "freeing
turn", even if the potting color is not squopping any opponents), while
providing a penalty in case the "free after free turns" injunction is dis-
obeyed.

By the way, what is the history of Section (e)?  When I wrote _The Rules of
Four-Color Tiddlywinks_ (copyright 1979 by me), I'm pretty sure the rule was
that the *freeing turn*, and not the first turn of the previously-squopped
team, was mandated to be in Round Zero.  Can anyone point me to a Newswink
article or Congressional Minutes that discusses this?  I notice that the
Dean/Wand vintage _The International Rules of Tiddlywinks_ (the "little blue
book" included with the Ilkeston sets in the red boxes labelled "Match Play
Tiddlywinks as approved by the National Tiddlywinks Associations") makes no
mention of any such rule.
-- 
Josef Sachs                     \     Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc.
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