The answer to Q&A 2250 removed the shake test as a method of evaluating whether a ring is scored. Consequently, this leaves 2 criteria in rule <SC3> for a ring to be counted as scored:
- The Ring is “encircling” a Stake. In this context, “encircling” means that any part of the Stake is at least partially within the volume defined by the inner edges of the Ring...
- The Stake does not exceed its total permitted number of Rings (see definition of Stake). In the event of too many Rings on a Stake, the “highest” Rings will be removed.
The second bullet point regarding cases where a stake exceeds its permitted number of rings is relatively clear. However, the first one requires rings to be "encircling" the stake, and the meaning of this relies on the concept of "the volume defined by the inner edges of the Ring". We can see two different ways in which this phrase can be interpreted:
- The "inner edges" of the ring are taken to mean the very innermost circular boundary of the hole in the ring. This would mean that the "volume defined by the inner edges" would be the plane going across the hole in the ring at the point where the hole is the narrowest.
- The "inner edges" of the ring are taken to refer to all parts of the ring which face "inwards" - that is, if we placed the ring flat on a piece of paper and placed another piece of paper on top of the ring such that the ring is completely covered, the "volume defined by the inner edges" would be all the space between the two sheets of paper.
Two (rather crudely drawn) diagrams are provided here to illustrate these interpretations. In both diagrams, the red regions represent a cross-section of the ring taken along a vertical plane going through the center of the ring, and the purple regions represent the extent of the "volume defined by the inner edges". Which is correct?
Since the word "volume" is used, we are inclined to believe that the second interpretation is the correct one. However, the definition of a Stake is
A vertical ½” (12.7 mm) Schedule 40 PVC pipe (gray, red, or blue) with a compliant barb at the top, used for Scoring Rings.
Thus, the barb is also part of the Stake. When combined with the second interpretation, rings that are barely supported such as in this image would count as scored, but we have seen cases like this ruled as not scored at several competitions thus far.