Advanced Rules

This page explains obscure rules that apply under rare circumstances. See How to Play for basic rules.

player creations: Some celebrity goos are created by players, who may provide merely a name or fill in the goo with a clue, source image, and/or gooed image. Players are not allowed to guess at their own creations, which can affect their score. See the "Create a Goo" page for more information.

fictional characters: Goos are never fictional characters. If you recognize a movie or television character in the image, the correct answer is usually the actor shown. Although the goo is always a real person, the source image might be a dramatization of that person, such as a historical figure represented by a model in costume today. Use the category and clue as context to decipher the correct answer. Some goos may be real people whose lives have become largely fictionalized through folklore, such as Robin Hood and King Arthur. (Note: Some early goos were fictional characters, such as Mickey Mouse. Scott decided in 2009 not to create any more goos of fictional characters.)

non-humans: Goos are never non-humans, such as objects or machines or concepts. Occasionally, famous animals may be turned into goos.

multiple people: A single goo is never multiple people unless the clue states otherwise, in which case it will specify that both names are required. This only happens on very rare occasions.

re-occurrence: The same celebrity can re-appear as new goos an unlimited number of times, even appearing in different categories depending on shifts in their career or public perception. The same goo (clue and image) usually will not reappear, except for two cases:
• "Do Over" goos are inspired by incorrect guesses made for previous goos. Sometimes the same clue or image is used again to highlight the connection between the two goos.
• Goos from the live game at GooCon occasionally appear in the online game, sometimes intact and sometimes altered. Players who attended GooCon and saw the answer are allowed to guess freely.

What Happens When...

This chart spells out whether a player's guess is counted as correct or incorrect under specific circumstances.

Occasionally, a guess might be disallowed, which means it is erased from the record and the player may enter another guess during whatever time remains, if any, before the goo expires.

CIRCUMSTANCE	OUTCOME OF GUESS
A player guesses the correct name, but misspelled.	Correct, as long as Scott can tell what the player intended, and the guess is not so misspelled as to become another name entirely.
A player guesses the correct person, but under a different name, such as guessing "Samuel Clemens" for a goo of Mark Twain.	Correct. If Scott doesn't recognize the alternate name and counts the guess as incorrect, the player is invited to notify him so that he can change the decision.
A player guesses only the last name.	Correct. In rare cases where a celebrity is known by a single name like Madonna or Prince, their real last name will count as correct.
A player guesses only the first name, or otherwise omits the last name.	Disallowed, except in cases where the celebrity is known by a single name like Madonna or Prince.
A player guesses the correct last name, but gets another part of the name incorrect.	Correct in most cases, such as "Tom Goodman" for John Goodman. The exception is when the guess is the name of another celebrity entirely, such as a guess of "Roger Bacon" for Francis Bacon.
A player guesses the incorrect last name, but otherwise has the name correct.	Incorrect. A guess of "Kanye White" for Kanye West would not count. Guesses that are clearly misspellings usually do count (see above). Scott is the final judge of what misspellings are "close enough," and he does his best to rule fairly.
A player guesses a descriptive phrase rather than a name, such as "the woman who stars in those insurance commercials" or "that Congressman who's always in the news." (If the clue mentions that the celebrity is the wife of John Doe, then a guess of "Mrs. John Doe" is considered a descriptive phrase.)	Disallowed. Clarification is needed.
A player guesses the fictional character seen in the source image, when the correct answer is the actor playing the character.	Disallowed. See the "fictional characters" rule at the top of this page.
A player guesses the actor portraying the historical figure in the source image, when the correct answer is the historical figure.	Disallowed. The player is invited to guess again.
A player guesses a fictional character widely associated with or closely based on the real person who is the correct answer.	Disallowed. The player is invited to guess again.
There is a factual error in the clue that causes a player to guess a different person. (Some clues contain sarcasm, wordplay, lateral thinking, or other turns of phrase that do not count as factual errors.)	Disallowed: All players who guessed incorrectly will have an opportunity to re-guess. Furthermore, the mistake will be corrected while the goo is still current, and an additional seven days will be added to the goo's duration as of when the mistake is corrected, up to the end of the month.
The source image that was used to create the goo is of the wrong famous person, or it is described on multiple web sites as different famous people and it is impossible to distinguish which famous person it really is.
A player finds the source image online under the wrong name and guesses that name.	Incorrect, unless the source image really is the wrong person (see previous line).
More than one person is visible in the image, and the player guesses the wrong one.	Incorrect, as long as the category and/or clue make clear which person in the image is the answer. If the correct person truly cannot be distinguished, guesses for the wrong people will be disallowed.
More than one person is a valid answer given the information in the clue and category, and the player guesses the wrong one.	Incorrect, as long as the person in the image is the correct answer.
The correct answer requires multiple names (see "multiple people" above) and the player doesn't guess all of them.	Disallowed. All names are required.
The goo is a single person, but the player guesses multiple names (whether any of them are correct or not).	Disallowed. One name must be guessed.
A player guesses a surrender phrase like "I don't know" or "I give up" or "your mom."	Incorrect. Scott may disallow the guess if he can't tell whether it's a descriptive phrase that's intended as a real guess or a surrender phrase. Players can guess the word "surrender" to have their guess marked incorrect automatically.
Multiple goos are active on the same page, and a player submits a guess for the wrong one.	Disallowed. Since this can create a loophole for cheating ("I didn't mean to guess that answer for that goo. Let me try again!"), Scott does his best to judge what is an honest mistake.
The answer, or a strong enough hint to make the goo almost instantly solvable, is revealed online.	Disallowed. Players will be allowed to guess again with the time remaining. The goo's duration will not be extended, in order to avoid manipulation of the game. If a player seems to have revealed the answer on purpose, Scott may impose penalties on the player in the interest of fairness.