IJO Rules and Guidelines

## Basics

* A team is a group of representatives, one from each planet of a participating stellar system.
* Any stellar system can sign up as long as it holds from 5 to 10 planets.
* The representatives must be between 10 and 25 years of age.
* The representatives who desire to participate are to attend an official IJO audition on their home planet.
* The representatives do not change with every edition, unless they request so.
* Every team must have a leader and a messenger.
* The team leader is the representative of the largest planet of the system.(See *Attributes of a Leader*)
* The team messenger is a member of the team, chosen by the other members. (See *Attributes of a Messenger*).

## Teleportation and Checkpoints

* Each contestant must hold the Teleportation Device (TD) during the contest in a place of their choice.
* Throughout the contest, the TD is used to teleport the contestant to different key locations.
* The removal of the TD means the disqualification of its owner and their teleportation back to the Base.
* The whole team is teleported to a new location once the current location’s checkpoint is claimed by any member of the team, at any time.
* Checkpoints are represented by miniature Foo Fighters. Checkpoints can be placed anywhere within the current locations and are meant to be found by the teams in order to advance to the next stage.
* Hints may be given to the teams in order to ease the hunt for the checkpoint. Hints may include riddles, puzzles or coded information.

## The Contest

* The contest takes place on a neutral planet.
* The goal of the contest is to defeat a monster at the final location by removing its TD.
* The number of locations of an edition varies every year.
* No contestant is allowed to deliberately kill another contestant. Breaking this rule automatically disqualifies the contestant, while further charges for murder might be pressed by the authorities of the host planet.
* Any contestant is allowed to disqualify any other contestant by removing their TD.
* Withdrawing is allowed and it can be done by removing one’s own TD.
* Alliances between members of different teams are allowed at own risk.
* Collaborations with the inhabitants of the host planet or with any person outside the contest are allowed.
* Teams are allowed to split at will, though collecting a checkpoint will automatically teleport the whole team to the next location.
* The teams break up when they are teleported in the second to last location. An official message will state so.

## The Finale

* The winner is the one contestant who removes the monster’s TD.
* The remaining members of the winner’s system (if any) are considered to be runner ups.

## Attributes of a Leader

* The team leader is advised to reflect on strategies and make decisions for the team.
* The team leader is the one to pick a messenger.
* If a leader is eliminated, the succession follows the size of the planets of the system.

## Attributes of a Messenger

* A team messenger holds a special device meant to receive official messages (may include announcements, hints, special messages) throughout the contest.
* Disqualification of the messenger does not disqualify the whole team, although it represents a big disadvantage since the team will no longer be able to receive hints.

## Notes

* The IJO committee is currently available only in The Milky Way and Andromeda.
* Auditions are not hosted every year. Auditions are only hosted in case the current representative cannot participate anymore or has deliberately withdrawn from further competitions.
* The recommended place is around the neck. The device might also be enclosed around either an arm or a leg. Contestants are advised not to keep their devices in sight during the contest.
* Breaking those rules is not considered a violation of the IJO laws.
* If the chosen messenger already owns a smart device, they can request the installation of a special official IJO software before the check ins. This year, the IJO has also released an application for smart devices, thus if the messenger’s device has this free application installed, the installation of the software is not longer required.