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btw I definitely agree with the ninja gathering. I live in San Jose as well. :)

[e) Your hands must keep the open palm position at all times. You can't close it at all.]

other short asian guy with long hair

lol thanks QT

I'm glad that the game is alive and well after we started playing in the game room last year, but the rules this year were absurd.
I'll give you the original rules as I was taught them last year:
1) Moving:
     a) Only 1 jump OR step is allowed.
     b) Head movement is always allowed.
     c) Exact position (besides head) must be held between turns unless dodging.
     d) torso can't move to check where another person's hands are.  You have to keep your pose except for your head.
     e) Your hands must keep the open palm position at all times.  You can't close it at all.
     f) You can't hide your hands in your pocket, armpit, between your legs, or anything like that.  They have to stay visible and actually reachable.
     g) Don't leave your hands near anything you don't want touched or hit.  Don't put them neat your face, your butt, groin, or chest if you're a girl.
     h) You can't stay on the floor, this game was meant for standing originally.  You can't keep your hands on the floor either.  Do everything in your power to avoid being on the floor.  If you fall on the floor, you're allowed to use your next turn to "recover", where you can stand up and assume a position using more moves than the fluid rules apply.
     i) You can't cartwheel or dive into a roll.  Those aren't single fluid motions.
     j) If you assume a pose, you have to hold that pose.  If you can't hold that pose, you're eliminated.  This means if you stand on 1 leg and can't keep that pose, you lose.

2) Attack:
     a) 1 fluid motion that must be done while your body moves.  It's 1 fluid motion, not 2.  Step then strike is 2 moves.
     b) Both hands can be moved at once, but not one after the other.
     c) Your hand(s) must remain where they are when they stop moving.
            ie. In a jab, you can't retract your hand after it stops moving in the original direction.
     d) You aren't allowed to make your opponent flinch.  You move or you don't, no faking out.
     e) The entire hand counts as a hit, the wrist and below is safe.
     f) You can't make any intentional body contact with your opponent excluding your hand slapping theirs.  You can't lean on anyone, put your hand on their shoulder, rest your foot on their leg, be back to back, no contact.  I heard about people body checking and elbow checking this year, are you guys serious?

3) Dodging:
     a) If you believe an opponent is attacking you, you may take a single step or pivot to avoid them.  The fluid motion rules apply to your upper body, but you can only take 1 step or pivot with your feet.
    b)  If you change position when you think they're attacking, but they didn't attack, you have to resume your original position.

I believe that's all of the original rules.

I agree with all of that but I believe the "1 step or pivot" gives too much leniency for the defender and I think with everyone else playing ninja (their time away from Fanime) might abuse or skew the rules on that one and when playing with others not use to their rules, confusion between players might happen and have a similar effect with Fanime this year. Just my suggestions, but I have to say when playing at Fanime'09 I didn't remember having a 1 step or pivot.

            ie. In a jab, you can't retract your hand after it stops moving in the original direction.

Relsek I agree with all of those rules as well, but I think with the rule of "f) You can't hide your hands in your pocket, armpit, between your legs, or anything like that.  They have to stay visible and actually reachable." covers the jab issue because what stops the defender from jabbing the attacker on his turn. Another thing I think jabs should be done with an slight elliptical arch and with no malicious intent for obvious reasons, essentially a tap on contact.

Those were just my suggestions.  ;)