The rules are certain and cannot be ignored or worked around.

(slang, nonstandard) Alternative form of rules are rules

A regulation, law, guideline. / A regulating principle. / The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control. / A normal condition or state of affairs.

(transitive, stative) To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over. / (slang, intransitive, stative) To excel. / (intransitive) To decide judicially.

(obsolete) Revelry.

(obsolete, intransitive) To revel.

simple past tense and past participle of rule

Having printed lines. / (geometry, of a surface) Being a scroll; being such that through every point of S there is a straight line that lies on S.

(law, transitive) To make a decision in an official capacity regarding some matter.

(idiomatic, transitive) To consider (something) as a possible option among others.