Categories by Another Name …

All players will compete in all four rounds, attempting to fill in a 5 x 5 grid of information (five different starting letters in five different categories). Only correct answers in opinion of GM will be accepted. The player with the top score will be the champion.

Game Rules:
* A scorecard will be provided for each preliminary round with five categories printed at the top of each column. The categories can be just about anything: ice skaters, car brands, words associated with money, household items, breakfast cereals, songs of the Beatles, etc.
* Each player must fill out his or her name and badge number on the scorecard.
* After any questions on the categories are answered, the GM will announce five letters of the alphabet, which are written on the left side of the scorecard.
* A timer will be started for 5 minutes. All players will try to write an answer for each of the 25 boxes on the scorecard, each of which corresponds to the category at the top and begins with an initial letter on the left.
* After the five minutes run out, the GM will ask the players to pass their scorecards to another player for judging and scoring. Any questionable answer should be given to the GM for verification. There are only a finite number of answers for each category and letter, so disputes should not occur.  GM ruling final. 
* After all answers are determined, players will score the game. (An example is given below.)

Tournament format:
* All players will play each of the four rounds.
* The player with the highest total score after 4 rounds will win the championship. If there is a tie, the tied player with the highest score in the final round will be the winner. If there is still a tie, then the highest fourth round score will win, then the highest third round score, etc. If players tied in all 4 rounds, we will shoot both players and the next highest player will win!
* Difficulty of the rounds should increase during the tournament.
* One player at each row will be the scorekeeper for that row. He or she should double-check the answers for validity and the scoring. Then the score should be recorded on the score sheet.

Validity of answers:
* Each valid answer must match the category at the head of the column and its “Keyword” must begin with the given letter on the left. The Keyword is USUALLY the first letter in the first word of the answer, except:

** For a person’s name, the person’s surname is the key word (Exceptions: categories that specify another name and people who are known primarily by a single name (soccer great Pelé, guitarist-"Coochi, Coochi” girl Charo, etc.)) If only a surname is given, the answer is valid. If the wrong first name is tied to a surname, the answer is wrong.

** In titles, the articles “A", “An” or “The” are never considered Keywords. The next word is the keyword.  Foreign words are not accepted unless announced in advance for the category.

** The GM will note any other exceptions.

* Spelling generally WILL count.  A misspelled word must be close enough to be easily recognizable as correct.  A word beginning with the incorrect first letter will be wrong (e.g Korgi instead of Corgi for dog breeds starting with K):

* There is no penalty for using the same answer in two different categories in the same round. (This is different than the published rules.)

* The GMs have prepared a list of valid answers for every category. Any answer on the list will be accepted as valid. A copy of the list will be given to each row. All categories have been chosen based upon a finite number of answers in existence.   Any player may bring information to the GM’s attention as to whether an answer should be ruled valid. However, the GM’s ruling will be final.

Rulings:
A player has finished a round of Facts in Five. Another player has judged each of his answers as shown. Checked answers are valid, while answers with an X are wrong. Some notes on the reasons for each ruling:

US Presidents:
—“Clinton” is OK. First names may be omitted.
—Ben Franklin was never President
—Common abbreviations, such as JFK for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, are OK
—“George Bush” is ambiguous as to which president is being referred to, but that does not matter.

Military Leaders:
—Colin Powell: Last name begins with P, not C as required
—Donald Farragut. The famous admiral’s given name was David.

TV Shows
—All entries are misspelled in this category. Spelling does not count unless it incorrectly changes the first letter of the answer (as in “Candid Camera”) or if the category is a Spelling category.

Stores:
—“5 & 10-cent” store is OK, because 5 begins with the letter F.

Movies: (note the A’s and The’s are not considered keywords.)
—“Erin Brockovich”, in this case, refers to the title of a movie, not a person. The title starts with “E”.

Scoring:
1) After ruling on all of the answers, the scorer makes check marks in the scoring grid on the right. In each column of the scoring grid, one box is checked (filling from the top) for each correct answer in the corresponding column.
2) Count the number of checks in each column of the scoring grid. Square that number and write that in the box at the bottom of that column in the grid.
3) Count the number of checks in each row of the scoring grid. Square that number and write it in the box to the right of that row in the grid.
4) Add all of the numbers in the right column, and enter this total in the box marked “GENERAL SCORE”. (This score is intended to measure the breadth of your knowledge). Add all of the numbers in the bottom row and enter this in the box marked “SPECIAL SCORE” (This number is intended to measure the depth of your knowledge.)
5) Finally, add the SPECIAL SCORE and GENERAL SCORE to calculate the TOTAL SCORE.