Hello Group, Solve Mixer

A Wordle-ish mixer from Equinox 73

Hello Group, Solve Mixer by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)

Each player receives a sticker on their back with a five-letter word, plus three separate half-sheets of paper that are labeled page 1, 2, and 3.

The game was setup for 55 players, though in the end we had fewer than 55 players, so some people took double solving duty.

Within the PDF:

• The first 55 sheets each contain a page 1 and a page 2. These should be cut in half before play.
• Everyone's page 1 is the same as each other so of course it doesn't matter who gets which one. 
• Each player gets a different page 2, but again it doesn't matter who starts off with which one since part of the game will be re-distributing them.
• The next 28 sheets each contain two different page 3's. These should also be cut in half before play.
• Again, it doesn't matter who starts off with which particular page 3 since part of the game will be re-distributing them.
• The next four sheets are the stickers. They are to be printed using Avery 5162 template labels – that is, 1 1/3" x 4", with 14 labels to a sheet.

Further instructions are on the sheets.

Make it ...

Mixer from Equinox 71: "Make it ..." by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick)

Each attendee is given a random strip. The right-hand side features a query spoken by a Star Trek: The Next Generation character that can be paired up with a reply by Captain Picard on the left side of someone else's strip. All of Picard's replies are of the form "Make it [X]", where X rhymes with "so".

When all questions are paired up with appropriate replies, it forms a loop. Everyone then flips over their strip, revealing a single word on the back. These words spell out a message from the crew, which can be answered with one final line from Picard.

Make sure to print the Backs (PDF) so that the (upside-down) "Captain" on the first page sits behind the strip on the first page of Fronts (PDF) with "Make it Moe" on the left. Also note that the printouts are in the solution order, so after printing and cutting, you'll need to shuffle before distributing strips.

Sagas of the Noo Moon

From Equinox 69, a mixer leading to a creative game: Sagas of the Noo Moon, by Henri Picciotto (Hot)

Each participant was given part of a palindrome, and was instructed to find the other parts.
This was designed for 52 players, and divided them into ten teams.

The teams were then asked to write Noo Moon Sagas inspired by their palindromes, following specific instructions.

Instructions
(To be studied and read by the presenter.  It would be helpful to have a helper to manage the timer.)

The palindromes
(Broken up into fragments. For a smaller gathering, delete the shorter palindromes, re-sequence the remaining fragments in alphabetical order, and copy/paste them into a word processor.)

The fragments
(In alphabetical order, so that the palindromes are not given to people consecutively. The presenter will need to cut the pages into four 2.5 inches high slips.)

The worksheet
(This is where the teams will write their sagas. The instructions are summarized at the top. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a tad too small. It would help to print on legal-size sheets if possible.)

The resulting stories 
(when we played the game in Berkeley.)

LMNOP, my dear Watson

Mixer from Equinox 67: LMNOP, my dear Watson, by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)

Each answer word contains three consecutive letters of the alphabet, separated by single letters, such as "eLeMeNtary".

The PDF is intended for duplex printing (i.e. both sides of the page). If you don't have a proper duplex printer, you can print the odd pages, then feed the sheets through again to print the evens (as long as you're careful about which way you feed the sheets through the second time for your particular printer).

Adjust a Minute!

A mixer from Equinox 62: "Adjust a Minute!" by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)


Sheets (including instructions)
Stickers
(print the stickers on Avery 5162 or compatible labels – that is, 1 1/3" x 4", with 14 labels to a sheet)

It Ain't ME Babe

"It Ain't ME Babe", a mixer from Equinox 61, by  NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield) and Henri Picciotto (Hot).

1. Add a two-letter state abbreviation to your keyword to form another word – the two letters of the state abbreviation will stay consecutive, but may be inserted at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the keyword.
2. Find other people “from the same state”.
3. Within your state, arrange in alphabetical order (by keyword).
4. Arrange the states to form a hypothetical new interstate highway.

The first three pages of the PDF are the examples given to explain the rules above.

The final answer spells out "Equinox party goers, get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six Revisited"

We envisioned the hypothetical new highway would go from Michigan to California, but that yielded the answer backwards. It would have been better to go from CA to MI.

Also: David Moulton (Badir) suggested that a better answer, given the party's theme, would have been "...get your fun on Route 61..."

Have You Got the Time?

A mixer by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield) from Equinox 60: Have You Got the Time?

This PDF is intended for duplex printing (i.e. both sides of the page).  If you don't have a proper duplex printer, you can print the odd pages, then feed the sheets through again to print the evens (as long as you're careful about which way you feed the sheets through the second time for your particular printer).

Also note that the pages in the PDF contain all of the clues in order followed by all of the answer-blanks in order, and so to actually play the game, after printing (and confirming that the duplex printing worked out correctly), the pages should be shuffled before being distributed to players.

If you have fewer than 64 players (but ideally more than 32), some players can be given two sheets, and then when either one finds its match, you hand it off to keep the matched sheets together as you continue to circulate.

(Of course, given the specificity of the final message, it's not a great game for re-using, but you might get ideas from it, or keep the clues and change the message.)

Hello Lamppost

Mixer from Equinox 59: "Hello Lamppost" by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)

The final four pages of the PDF are a separate miniature version to be used as an example:

- "caution (4)" yields CARE
- "unencumbered (4)" yields FREE
    - those two go together as the compound word CAREFREE
- "horse strap (4)" yields REIN
    - which connects to the prior one yielding the common phrase FREE REIN
- "assert (5)" yields STATE
    - which connects to the prior one in a less obvious way, yielding the word REINSTATE

(It is worth noting that there are a few false positives in the set, some of which are at least as legit-sounding as the correct solutions. Players should not hesitate to ask the game leader for confirmations of their solutions.)

Once everything is chained together, a message is revealed; in the example, the message spells GOOD!

Answers.

Beware!

Mixer from Equinox 58 -- "Beware!" by Henri Picciotto (Hot)
with help from Dwight Freund (Dandr), Erica Klarreich (Slairch), and Martin Eiger (Wrybosh)

Each person gets a card with three letters on it (or, in a few cases, fewer letters, and perhaps some punctuation).

Each card is in one of four different colors.

Participants deduce they must arrange themselves in four groups, so as to spell out four messages.

Each message is a clue to a warning, which they must guess. (Not a cryptic clue, just a clue.)

Once a group has figured out their clue, they are given a copy of it on a scroll of paper which can be held up for everyone to see. Everyone tries to guess the final answers.

The cards (for 51 players, two cards per 8.5 by 11 page. You'll need to print in color!)

• If fewer than 51 players show up, some people can get a second card.
• If more than 51 players show up, you can add some or all of these extra sets of cards.

Clues and answers.

Top This!

A mixer from Equinox 57 by Tyler Hinman (Mosayc).

The cards.

Print out two-sided, flipping on the long edge like a book. Cut carefully between the pairs of pluses and equals signs. Cut all slips in half with a vertical cut to handle up to 66 people; 33 otherwise. Shuffle and distribute.

frIends, roMans, equinoXers

A mixer from Equinox 56: frIends, roMans, equinoXers by Dan Egnor & NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)

Each page was cut in half to make two 8.5x5.5 sheets.  The halves with the
clues and two-word crosses (clue sheets) were given to players.  The halves
with the large letters and Roman numerals (answer sheets) were kept, to be
given out to players who solved their clue sheets.   After solving, players
stood in a line by number, and the answer sheet letters spelled a message.

To solve each sheet, players needed to complete the micro-crossword.  Each
word contained an embedded Roman numeral, e.g. "AXLE" contains "XL" (40).
 The small formula printed on the sheet indicated what to do with the two
numbers (add them, subtract them, ...) to get a result.  The crossing
letter and formula result were the key to get the answer sheet.

Long-Lost Conjoined Twins

A mixer from Equinox 55: Long-Lost Conjoined Twins by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield) and Dan Egnor.

What do you get if you cross...

"What do you get if you cross..." a mixer from Equinox 53 by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield) and Dan Egnor

License to Mill

A mixer from Equinox 52: "License to Mill" by Henri Picciotto (Hot), a sort of combination of the License Plate Game and Scrabble.

We used several packs of cards for this. Each pack had one letter written on each card (in other words two full alphabets per pack.) Participants each got three cards from a shuffled deck, and followed these instructions.

The game worked well, but people didn't really "mill". They stayed around one table, improving the layout of the cards -- until they were encouraged to walk around, admire each other's layouts, and try to figure out the words. So perhaps it's not really a mixer?

Presumably this could also be played in a solitaire version, or really with a group of any size.

They Walk Among Us

A mixer by NeilFred Picciotto, from Equinox 51.

Aliens have invaded!  They walk among us!  Some of them may be right here in this room.  Your job: identify the aliens.

Everyone gets a sheet of paper with a clue and a keyword.  Solve your clue to get your answer word.

Then find the person whose keyword is an anagram of your answer word -- but if instead of being a direct anagram, their keyword has exactly one extra letter, that means they're an alien!

Also find the person whose answer word is an anagram of your keyword.  If your keyword has an extra letter, that means you're an alien!  Write the extra letter on the back of your sheet.

Finally, everyone lines up according to the chain formed by the anagrams, for the final message.

By substituting sheets to make the final message skip over words as needed, the game was prepared to accept anything from 44 to 72 people.  Here's the 63 person version: They Walk Among Us

Panning for Gold

A mixer by Greg deBeer (Boots) from Equinox 49:

Panning for Gold

Heard on the Silver Screen

Heard on the Silver Screen, a mixer from Equinox 47, by Alexandra Dixon (Serendipity): directions, quotes, definitions table, cards, letters, answers

Word Orphans

A mixer from Equinox 46: Word Orphans (zip of pdf files), by Greg deBeer (Boots).

Singles Mixer

A mixer from Equinox 45: Singles Mixer, by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield) - fronts (pdf) backs (pdf) - Everyone starts out single; first find your partner, then arrange for the final message.

Your Towel

Mixer by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield), from Equinox 42:

Do you know where your towel is? (txt),
list of answer places (txt)