1. FUCK
2. Study Guide

The Study Guide was a page on the Club Web Site, written by Niki Moto in December 2004 (slightly edited since to keep up with changes in the club), to help potential members with studying for the Initiation Test, since there was a period of enlightenment in which the applicant would research and learn about the club by looking at the web site. It was also published in Newsletter #91 as an article entitled How Far We've Come. Niki Moto wrote the Study Guide by typing out all the answers to the questions on the Initiation Test in prose and arranging them into a narrative.

Here is the Study Guide:

(Note: Any reference to "the club" means this one, under any name, beginning with the Fire-Breathing Dragons Club. "The club" does not include any side clubs members may have participated in, such as the Edgewater Defenders Club or the Jack Slater Kids, or pre-FBDC clubs such as the Phillip D. Engeldrum Club.)

The Legendary Era is prehistory. This is the time period from which we have no written records of the events studied, so we rely solely on recollections and legends to tell this part of the story of our club. It is included as an era of our club's history because the events that took place affected the future course of the club to some degree. It also has cultural significance for the members, as any nation's mythology would.

The earliest legend is that of Block War I, in which Theodore Phillips fought the kids down the block over the theft of his plastic bowling set. Unfortunately, he lost the war because they closed the gates to their fortress before his tank could invade. This battle, the last one of Block War I, took place on 3rd Avenue, Edgewater Park.

The Legendary Era also includes stories of early attempts at clubs. The earliest one was the Phillip D. Engeldrum club, which did not last because the clubhouse became a garbage shed.

Theodore Phillips declared himself the first President of the club because he was the founder. Co-founder Nicholas Phillips received the nickname "Vice President Spacey" because of his affinity for science, at the time especially astronomy. All of the attempts at clubs included the drawing of elaborate architectural blueprints for clubhouses, one of which humorously resembled the face of the character Piglet from the animated series "Winnie the Pooh."[1] All attempts at building clubhouses failed except for the gazebo in the backyard of 35-D Edgewater Park, which is taken down occasionally for storage purposes. The Fire-Breathing Dragons Club had its own currency depicting club members. Clare Phillips was even depicted as a infant on the first $100 bill, while Daniel Hostomsky was depicted as an alcoholic! Unfortunately, this ancient currency has since been lost.

There are also other legends, such as the Legend of Ryan and the Legend of the Great Log Race.

The Constitution was written on April 21, 1999. It is the main source of unity for our club. It states all the laws of the club, the rights of the members, and the workings of the government. A good member follows all the laws of the Constitution.

The Constitution was written to include all the laws that seemed to be needed at the time it was written, although some of the laws might seem absurd, such as the prohibition of refunds, farting, and roughhousing. Of course, stealing and cheating are prohibited. There is also a law about the possession of guns: the only guns allowed in the club are water guns and rubber band guns, and not ones requiring bullets, ships, clips, grenades, harpoons, darts, air, or staples.

The club supposedly meets once a month to have an official meeting. All members are required to attend those meetings. At the meetings, members vote on new laws. If the majority votes for the law, it is passed. However, the President has the power of Veto, which allows him to negate the passing of the law. (The word veto is Latin for "I forbid.") The President cannot pass any laws unless the members agree with it; this is also done by voting. Since every member's vote counts, the way to participate in your government is to attend the meetings.

People who join the club must be at least seven years old. At age eight they earn the right to vote, and only at-least-ten-year-olds can run for President. The choosing of the President is also done democratically through election, and for whomever the majority votes becomes President. (For example, for the Summer 2001 Election, both Nicholas Phillips and Richard Falantano ran for President. Nick received five votes while Rich received only one, so Nick became President.) The candidates are chosen by nominations. There can be any number of candidates in an election, but there must be at least two. After the President is elected, he chooses a Cabinet of qualified members. Cabinet members have very important jobs heading the government departments of the club.

The Constitution also declared that the club must have its own mascot. The Constitution stated that the first club mascot was "the kitty." "The kitty" is the nickname that was given to the cat Janya. Later club mascots included Mew, Tommy, Dr. Pepper, and Martin. The Constitution also mentioned some non-Presidential member positions such as Merchant (the first one Richard Falantano) and Scientist Government Official (Nicholas Phillips). Today, there are several member classes in the club: Presidential, Official, Mercantile, and Common. Before the writing of the Constitution, there was also a Pet class, consisting not of animals but of underage members, but this class no longer exists.

Because we like to see the club grow, members are encouraged to tell others about our club.

The Revolutionary Era began with Block War II. It was fought between the members of the Fire-Breathing Dragons Club and the Ancient Macaroni Kids. The AMK were called so because they tricked Nicholas Phillips into trading them an audio cassette for a piece of macaroni, which they claimed to be from the tomb of King Tuti. The war was fought during the summer of 1999. The club used weapons such as rubber band guns and a shovel with animal feces. The last major battle was the Battle of the Oranges, in which the AMK threw oranges at the club members.

The Constitution was also written during this time. Richard Falantano was the first Merchant, and Nicholas Phillips the first Scientist Government Official. Daniel Hostomsky soon became a temporary Scientific Apprentice to Nicholas Phillips. A few years later, Joseph Justus and Christopher Mojica also became his Scientific Apprentices.

Only a few weeks after the club's founding, Thomas D'attore became the first member to quit at the order of his mother, who believed that clubs were the synonymous to gangs.

Sometime during 1999, Teddy Phillips wrote a Declaration of Independence, making the club an independent nation.

In December 1999, the name of the club was changed to something more descriptive, the Free United Club of Kids. The initials for the club name were used in the club newsletter many times. The parents of Daniel and Michael Hostomsky, Dolores and Daniel Sr., found the club name abbreviation offensive, so the club was forced to change its name in order to keep its members.

In March 2000, the club became the Pok?mon Trainers Club. Many of the members became Pok?mon Gym Leaders that held Gym Badges. These badges were: Hand (Clare Phillips), Fighting (Michael Hostomsky), Water (Daniel Hostomsky), Lava (Richard Falantano), Lightning (Nicholas Phillips), Sky (Michael Berrios), and Psy (Theodore Phillips).

During the Dictatorial Period, many changes were made without election. Most of these happened around the Economic Crisis. To help, Richard Falantano made a 200-celbo donation to the Treasury in late 2001 (the celbo being the unit of currency, a celbo equivalent to one American cent), but the club was only saved for one month. Some of the dictatorial changes included the establishment of a 100% income tax and the nullification of club currency. This nullification, as well as the establishment of a membership fee to create a new Treasury, helped solve the Economic Crisis. After this solution, a Treasurer, Rich F., was also elected to guard the Treasury in January 2002. Joseph Justus became the last member (at the time) to pay the membership fee. He initially only paid 15 cents and so for a few months owed the Treasury 85 cents.

Another dictatorial action was the exile of Daniel Hostomsky from the club near the beginning of 2002 for poor meeting attendance.

After the Economic Breakdown, the government planned to resurrect the club currency, so that the currency in circulation matched the amount in the Treasury. The bills were printed and cut, but they were never put into circulation because the government never finished writing the serial numbers on the bills, a long and tedious task.

The Golden Age is referred to as so because it is the time when club spirit was at its highest. One way this manifested itself was in the form of club tournaments, such as the Duel Monsters Tournament in 2002. Hilariously, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters card game was initially played with Pok?mon cards, as most members lacked Yu-Gi-Oh! cards at the time. Joseph Justus also held his own tournament, with the admission fee of one dollar. However, because he has poor administration skills, he never held the tournament, and so owes many members one dollar to this day. He has paid in full to a few members, however.

Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments were not the only variety of fun events. In 2002, several video game tournaments were held. Pok?mon Leagues have also been a fun tradition. So far there have been four Pok?mon Leagues: Red (February 2002), Blue (September 2002), Yellow (April [[2003]]), and Gold (February [[2004]]). We also hope to hold a Silver League soon.

Michael Berrios was elected President for spring of 2002 because he promised members salaries of U.S. currency. However, he was not able to pay them, so he resigned. He later left the club because he was rarely able to attend meetings.

In November 2003, Michael Vacca announced plans to overthrow the YDC government and seize control of it, running it by his own twisted rules. This is known as the "Vacca Anarchy Conspiracy." However, no one voted for him at the election, thwarting his plans. Instead, Joseph Justus was elected President. At the election, one of his old speeches had been read (because he was absent), which promised members salaries of U.S. currency, so the members voted for him. When he arrived at the meeting, he withdrew the promise for U.S. currency, but kept his other promise that allowed members to ask him for glasses of water. He was elected anyway. A few months later, tension in the club was created due to Michael Vacca's bad conduct; he soon withdrew from the club.

The club soon became more organized with the improvement of government. This included the establishment of a Supreme Court Justice position. The first Judicial Election took place in June 2004, with William Mazzariello the first Judge.

In December 2004, five years after the first attempt, the club name was changed back to the Free United Club of Kids.