A&J's Survivor Rulebook

The **A&J's Survivor Rulebook** is a full and detailed list of the basic regulations behind the *A&J's Survivor* franchise. Though these rules are not explicitly always mentioned out loud or reminded by the hosts, they must be followed by every *Survivor* castaway, or else they face expulsion with possible exclusion from future season participation.

## Challenges

*See also: Challenges*.
* Live challenges for each season will occur daily within a pre-determined timeframe. Notification of the times for each challenge may regularly be given very close to when it is due to begin, and thus castaways are required to always be aware that a challenge could be taking place between the stated timeframe.
	+ Current live challenge timeframe: **7pm - 9pm EST** / **6pm - 8pm CST**
	+ To compete in a live challenge, castaways must "check-in" to the challenge from within 15 minutes of the stated challenge time. Castaways who are late to check-in may or may not be allowed to compete depending on the type of challenge and host discretion.
* Non-live challenges can occur at any time following a vote read. These challenges will be pre-set for castaways to complete by a certain time, such as a screenshot or spamming challenge. Castaways may contribute to the challenge for themselves or their tribe at any point before the finish time, where results would be revealed.
	+ For non-live challenges castaways will be given approximately 24 hours to compete. The finish time for a non-live challenge is likely to be at some point with the live challenge timeframe stated above.
	+ Semi-live challenges are non-live challenges which finish on the same day that they start, at an unusually late time not necessarily within the live timeframe.
		- Current likely semi-live finish time: **7pm EST**.
* Challenges are hosted by BigBrother\_78 and zorbo678.

## Tribal Council and Voting

*See also: Tribal Council*.
* The losing tribe during the tribal phase or all castaways during the individual phase are required to send votes to eliminate a castaway each day without failure, unless otherwise stated.
* Votes for Tribal Council must be submitted by a certain time on the day following an live challenge or non-live results. That time is unlikely to fluctuate much throughout the season, but may be extended/reduced per castaway wishes. This should only happen if completely necessary, and a notification of vote time change will be given out to all castaways. If all votes are received early, then the votes may be read before the deadline.
	+ Current voting deadline: **7pm or 8pm EST**.
* If a castaway has to leave for a certain amount of time, but still wishes to participate in the season, they may be allowed to send a "boot list"(castaway ranking in order of wish to eliminate) which could be used as their votes in their absence. This however is not advised upon, and may be rejected by the host at their discretion. Castaways who are likely to be absent for a long period of time may be advised to quit. A boot list is more likely to be allowed in the case of a jury vote.
* Castaways may change their vote at any time until the deadline.
* Failure to vote is a violation of the rules, and such castaways will receive a self-vote for the ongoing Tribal Council if they fail to submit. A self-vote increases the number of votes against the receiver by one as penalty for not voting.
	+ As of *Caribbean*, castaways who violate the rules of self voting two times in one season are removed from the game via "medical evacuation". They will not join the jury if they have made to that stage.
* If a castaway is banned from the Tengaged website while still participating in *A&J's Survivor*, the rules change depending on their type of ban.
	+ Temporarily banned castaways will receive self-votes until they return unless they are able to send votes via Skype (all castaways would be informed of the method change). The three violations rule still stands in this instance.
	+ Known permanently banned castaways - or castaways who are temporarily banned for long enough the span the remainder of the game - may be immediately removed via medical evacuation at the host's discretion.
	+ If a castaway has been offline for 3+ days, the host(s) may take action and immediately remove the player from the game.
	+ Immune castaways who don't vote will receive a "DNV" (stands for 'did not vote'). This does not count as a vote against them, but does count as a violation, and could lead to a medical evacuation if is their second

## Tiebreaker Policy

*See also: Tiebreaker*.
* In case of a tie during a Tribal Council, the castaways will be forced to re-vote. All castaways, apart from the two whom are tied, must re-send their choice to eliminate before a new deadline.
	+ The new deadline is changeable. Votes may just be due late that day, or it could be set to the usual time the following day. This will heavily depend on the number of castaways required to re-vote.
* If a vote remains tied after a re-vote then the Tribal Council becomes deadlocked, and must be resolved by a luck-based "rock drawing". In this instance the two tied castaways become immune and all other non-immune players must each select a numbered rock for drawing. A randomisation system will then select one rock number, and the castaway who selected that rock is immediately eliminated from the game.
	+ In the case of a tie at the Final Four (or if only four castaways remain on a tribe), the re-vote is skipped and we are sent straight to the rock pulling tiebreaker, this time between the two tied players ONLY.
* In the rare instance that all but one player is immune from the rock draw, then the one unsafe castaway is eliminated by default.

## Hidden Immunity Idols

*See also: Hidden Immunity Idol*.
* Clues to the whereabouts of hidden immunity idols are handed out to the winning tribe(s) after each challenge, or to the winning sole castaway and two people of their choice. If a castaway correctly guesses the idol's whereabouts, they will receive a hidden immunity idol for free use.
* To play a hidden immunity idol a castaway must state to the host that they are doing so BEFORE the votes are read at the vote deadline. The idol will negate any votes cast for the person it is played on, leading to the person with the next highest number of votes going home.
	+ The idol owner can either publicly "play" the idol on someone else, or they can opt to hand it to a member of their own tribe discreetly behind the scenes without actually playing it by formal transfer, potentially as a bargaining chip.
	+ You cannot give a hidden immunity idol to a member of an opposing tribe without publicly handing it to them at the challenge or at Tribal Council. To do this they must publicly say \*drops idol\*, and get the person they are giving it to say \*picks up idol\*. This will confirm the transfer, but will also make people aware that the transfer has taken place. The idol cannot be picked up by anyone other than the person the dropper wishes to have the idol.
* The last chance to play an idol is at the Final Five Tribal Council, regardless of weather it is a Final Two or Final Three scenario.

## Final Tribal Council

*See also: Final Tribal Council*.
* Each season it is pre-determined weather the game will end with a Final Two or a Final Three, and the castaways that reach this stage must receive the majority of votes from the jury to be declared the Sole Survivor.
* The last person voted out pre-jury will be designated as a "backup juror". This means they have to submit a jury vote to the host which will ONLY count in the case of a jury vote tie to decide the winner.

## Confessionals

* Confessionals are a widely advised part of the *A&J's Survivor* series. The hosts like to know what is going on in the game, and confessionals are the castaway's port to express their plans for the game. They are so important that a major part of the decision on returning castaways a lot of the time comes down to who has sent confessionals, because they are the people most invested in the game.

## Viewers Lounge

* Another important part of *A&J's Survivor* is the viewers lounge - the place where fans of the series go to discuss the season. It is locked tight to ensure game secrets are secure, because as standard ALL confessionals from castaways will be posted for the occupants to follow the game. Because of this, the residents of the lounge are regularly checked and modified to ensure that they are trustworthy "neutral" players who will not leak secrets out to the castaways within the game. This applies to both the main Tengaged Viewer's Lounge group.
	+ If you wish for all or some of your confessionals to not be posted within the Viewer's Lounge, you may request for them to be retained until after the season's conclusion.
	+ Furthermore, upon request, certain members of the lounge may be removed to avoid certain bias to or against players within the game, at the host's discretion.

## Rule Changes

* These regulations stand as the basic rules of *A&J's Survivor*, however there are instances where the rules may be changed. This could be due to a twist or some other anomaly which forces the hosts to make alternative decisions. In most cases, no previously unmentioned rules will be introduced mid season, and new major rules would likely be introduced following the season conclusion, ahead of the next one, such as the medical evacuation and idol transfer rules.