On the Rack

ON THE RACK -- team performance game by Henri Picciotto (Hot), from Equinox 36 and Equinox 60.

Teams of 13 to 15 people.

EQUIPMENT

98 large index cards with letters on them, (the Scrabble distribution -- "the deck"), plus blank cards.

A fat marker, in a color different from the letters in the deck. (The color does not affect play, but it makes it possible to keep track of which tiles are part of the deck.)

A TEAM'S TURN

* They select seven players who will be "on the rack".

* Each of four of those players gets one tile randomly selected from the deck, which they hold up for all to see.

* The other three get blank tiles and the marker.

* A four-minute clock is started.

* In complete silence, each of the two players with blank tiles in turn uses the marker to write a single letter on their tile, in full view of everyone. [Alternate version: start a three-minute clock after the letters have been written.]

* The seven players stand with their letters visible to all.

* The remaining members of the team take turns calling out a one-, two-, or three-word definition for words that can be made out of those letters. If someone cannot think of such a definition when it is his or her turn, he or she can pass with no penalty. The solution words should be Scrabble-legal words consisting of three or more letters. No form of the answer word can appear in the definition.

* In complete silence, the players on the rack rearrange themselves so as to spell the word thus defined -- the tiles for unused letters are turned over. Silent nudging is allowed. If you keep score support person writes all the correct answers on a board of some sort for scoring at the end of the turn.

* If the players on the rack seem stumped, or if the person who called the definition realizes they made a mistake, they can decide to pass.

* Once the word is spelled correctly, a bell is rung.

* At the bell, or after a "pass", the next player calls out the next definition.

SCORING

If scoring, at the end of the team's turn:

* One point per word formed correctly in response to a definition.

* A given root word yields a single point, and thus there is no reason to use inflected forms (e.g. plural, past tense, etc.) unless the uninflected form is not available. For example, TONE and TONES would only be worth one point. STONE and STONED would be worth one point. But TONE and STONE would be worth two.

* No points for one- or two-letter words, for capitalized words, or for hyphenated words.

* In case of contested words, or of far-fetched connection between answer and definition, the decision of the judge is final.

If there's a desire to encourage longer words, scoring can be based on word length, but it's also fun to  go for speed and quantity of words without worrying about quality.