The Bench Sumo Ichimon Championship Flag is awarded each basho to the best performing Ichimon in Bench Sumo.

 

The rules are as follows

 

Participation:  There must be a minimum of 8 ACTIVE players in any Ichimon to compete (this is an attempt to limit statistical bias).  Only Ichimon players active as of day 1 of the basho will be included in the results (i.e., new recruits will not be counted unless they start as an active Ichimon member prior to the start of the basho).

 

Scoring: An Ichimon’s score is the average of all Ichimon members’ scores (so every Ichimon member is important).

 

Each player’s score is a combination of technique points plus points for wins.  Bonuses are added at the end of the basho for yusho, jun-yusho and prizes. Now those bonuses are nice, but the majority of your points will come from a combination of technique points and wins. So, to help your ichimon the most, not only must you be able to score well, but you've got to have a knack for winning, too. Being friendly with certain Bench Sumo officals may help in the latter (& the best way to get friendly is to send a check payable to "torikumi-maker"). I'm not sure about the former. :-)

 

Points will be awarded to each player thusly:

·   Raw Technique Prize points (i.e., 0 to 14 pts daily - from your BS daily score) plus 10 pts per win

·   Bonuses are awarded to each player as follows:

+10 pts for a Kachi-koshi

+30 pts for a Yusho (any division)

+15 pts for a Jun-Yusho (per division)

+1 pt for each rikishi in a Ganbare lineup (GBL), i.e. a 6 man GBL = 6 bonus pts, 3 GBL = 3 bonus pts, etc. (awarded whether or not the player won)

·   Individual prizes give additional points, as follows:

·   No Cigar (1 per division) = +10 pts

·   Yaocho Bum (1 per division) = +10 pts

·   Nekonishiki Nakabi Zensho Sho (just 1, per BS rules) = +10 pts

·   Nekonishiki Zannen Sho (just 1, per BS rules) = +10 pts

·   Zentoryu Quality of Sumo Award (Makunouchi Division) = +10 pts

·   Unofficial Zentoryu Quality of Sumo Award (Juryo Division) = +10 pts

·   Outstanding Performance (1 for Makunouchi Division) = +15 pts

·   Fighting Spirit (1 per division) = +15 pts

·   Technique (1 per division) = +15 pts

·   Gochisozan Oyakata Prize (1 per basho) = +20 pts

·   Kintamayama Challenge Cup = +25 pts (for winner)/ +15 pts (for runner-up)/ +5 pts (for both defeated semifinalists)

·   Most Competitive Player = +25 pts (for winner)/ +20 pts (for runner-up)/ +15 pts (for 3rd)/ +10 pts (for 4th)/ +5 pts (5th)

 

Winning:  The winning Ichimon will have the highest average score on Day 15 of the basho (including all bonuses).  Winners are entitled to fly the “Ichimon Champion” flag from the highest mountains (or from their heya page), carry it across the land and proclaim from their rooftops that they the best of the Ichimons .  They are also entitled to sing Queen’s “We are the Champions” as often as they like (at least till the neighbors start complaining).

 

Ties: In the very unlikely event of a tie, the average of the top three Ichimon members (by points) will determine the winner.  In the event that there is still a tie, the lowest ranked rikishi with the highest Ichimon point total will determine the winner.  If all else fails, the Oyakatas will be asked to settle the matter themselves through mortal combat. ;-)