How to Organize a Death Pool
Plenty of people contribute to a local betting pool, from the tiniest office to the local teacher's lounge. What people bet on, however, is up to them. The more macabre gamblers among us prefer to form a 'death pool' betting on the eventual passing of celebrities in a given year.
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Instructions
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Gather together a pool of interested individuals. These individuals should have a morbid streak at a minimum, and a fondness for gambling would be ideal. Each member might contribute a certain amount of cash to a pool, which serves as the award for the winner.
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Have your participants select their names before the first of the year. Names should be accepted by all parties and should be specific. "The oldest man in the world" does not count, and Santa Claus is not a real person. Death lists should be limited to 10-50 names. When completed, have your participants turn in a copy of their Death Lists for safe keeping.
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Monitor the obituaries over the coming year. As listed names pass on, cross them off. You may want to keep a master list of all names, and to cross them off individual lists afterwards.
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Tally the points at the end of the calendar year. There are various methods of scoring. Counting point values for age ranges (five points for 30-39, for example), or subtracting the ages of the dead from 100 (Elvis, dead at 42, would be worth 58 points would be scoring methods. You can also award bonus points for categories, such as methods of death.
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Award the pool's cash value to the winner.
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Tips & Warnings
Ties can be broken by determining which player has the youngest deaths. Players should be forbidden, however, from naming any individuals who are younger than 21.
You may not select people who have been sentenced to death by a recognized government.
