The 58th Semi-Annual Equinox Word Games Party took place on March 15, 2014 in Berkeley.
The theme was "Beware the Ides of March"
Name tags -- "Et tu?" by Barbara Selfridge (Banterweight)
Wall games -- cryptic crosswords (Cryptic All-Stars poster, The Nation, NPL)
Chronograms 2014 by Henri Picciotto (Hot)
Mixer -- "Beware!" by Henri Picciotto (Hot)
Creative game -- "Your Latin Roots Are Showing" by Ann Daniels and Jon Zingman (Iolanthe and Plaid)
Pencil-paper game -- "Hot Plates" by Sally Picciotto (Alice) and Brandon Nutter (Brampersandon)
Paper-pencil puzzle -- "I come to bury Caesar", by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick)
Performance game -- "Caesar Salad", by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)
Showing posts with label -Equinox 58. Show all posts
Showing posts with label -Equinox 58. Show all posts
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
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!)
Clues and answers.
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.
Et Tu?
Name tags -- "Et tu?" by Barbara Selfridge (Banterweight)
You were supposed to include a Latin phrase along with your name on your tag. For those less familiar with Latin phrases, a list of suggestions was posted.
You were supposed to include a Latin phrase along with your name on your tag. For those less familiar with Latin phrases, a list of suggestions was posted.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Your Latin Roots Are Showing
Creative game from Equinox 58 -- "Your Latin Roots Are Showing" by Ann Daniels and Jon Zingman (Iolanthe and Plaid)
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Caesar Salad
Performance game from Equinox 58 -- "Caesar Salad", by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)
Play requires a computer with a screen that can be seen by all; we used a
projector. The game is available on a web page (linked below), but once
the page has loaded in your browser, the game can be played while offline -
no further internet access is required.
The room is divided into two teams - red and blue. In each round, the
participants consist of two cluers and two guessers, one of each from each
team. The guessers stand with their backs to the screen; the cluers and
the audience can see the screen.
Each round has nine answer words (or phrases with dictionary nature). All
answer words fit some constraint on their letters - the constraint varies
from round to round. The title of the round (shown at the top) has some
letters in boldface type, that are suggestive of the constraint. The game
leader may wish to look at the answer words in advance to understand each
round's constraint. Generally they take one of three forms:
- A specified sequence of letters appearing consecutively.
- Specified consonants that appear in the given order, not consecutively
(e.g. "a C, and then later an S, and then later an R").
- Specified vowels that appear with precisely indicated counts, in any
order (e.g. "exactly three A's and one E, in any order, and no I's, O's,
U's, or Y's").
The game leader begins the round, revealing the nine answer words. A timer
begins and the page background changes color to indicate whose turn it is
to clue. Rounds alternate between red and blue going first.
The cluer from the red team, say, picks one of the nine words and gives a
clue for it. The clue must not contain any of the answer words or
alternate forms of them, or "rhymes with", etc. If the red guesser gets
the word (or indeed, any of the current answer words, whether intended for
the clue given or not), then that word is awarded to the red team, and the
timer stops. Play goes to the other team, and a new timer begins.
If the red team's time runs out, a buzzer sounds; no word is awarded and
play goes to the blue team with a fresh timer. At the game leader's
discretion, a couple extra seconds can be given after the buzzer to allow
the red guesser make a guess, before starting the blue team's time.
Play continues in this way until all nine words have been guessed
correctly. New cluers and guessers then step up, the game leader advances
to the next round, and it all begins again.
Round 0 is intended as a sample round, used to explain the mechanics; it
only has three answer words instead of nine. Then there are 15 real rounds
that can be played.
Additional notes for the game leader:
Whenever the background is grey, pressing "space" will give play to the
next team and start the timer.
Clicking a word while the background is red or blue will award that word to
the current team, stop the timer, and flip to a grey background. Normally,
the game leader should immediately then press "space" to give play to the
other team. In case of an error (clicking on the wrong word, say, or due
to giving the guesser a little extra time after the timer ran out),
clicking any word while background is grey will cycle through the two team
colors, white (still available to be guessed), and grey (e.g. if for some
reason the word should be disqualified), so just keep clicking until you
get what you need.
Pressing left- and right-arrow (cursor keys on the keyboard) will move back
and forward through rounds 0 through 15.
Pressing plus and minus will increase and decrease the timer time limit. 8
seconds seemed to work fine, but if that's too hard or easy, you could
adjust. Also note that if you press command-plus and command-minus to
adjust the font size (which may be necessary if the projector is low
resolution), then the time limit will adjust as well; just press minus or
plus to get it back to 10. The current timer length is shown when the
answer words are hidden before a round begins; otherwise pressing plus and
minus will change what the timer will be next time it starts although you
can't see what you're changing. So best to just change it between rounds.
Click here to play.
Play requires a computer with a screen that can be seen by all; we used a
projector. The game is available on a web page (linked below), but once
the page has loaded in your browser, the game can be played while offline -
no further internet access is required.
The room is divided into two teams - red and blue. In each round, the
participants consist of two cluers and two guessers, one of each from each
team. The guessers stand with their backs to the screen; the cluers and
the audience can see the screen.
Each round has nine answer words (or phrases with dictionary nature). All
answer words fit some constraint on their letters - the constraint varies
from round to round. The title of the round (shown at the top) has some
letters in boldface type, that are suggestive of the constraint. The game
leader may wish to look at the answer words in advance to understand each
round's constraint. Generally they take one of three forms:
- A specified sequence of letters appearing consecutively.
- Specified consonants that appear in the given order, not consecutively
(e.g. "a C, and then later an S, and then later an R").
- Specified vowels that appear with precisely indicated counts, in any
order (e.g. "exactly three A's and one E, in any order, and no I's, O's,
U's, or Y's").
The game leader begins the round, revealing the nine answer words. A timer
begins and the page background changes color to indicate whose turn it is
to clue. Rounds alternate between red and blue going first.
The cluer from the red team, say, picks one of the nine words and gives a
clue for it. The clue must not contain any of the answer words or
alternate forms of them, or "rhymes with", etc. If the red guesser gets
the word (or indeed, any of the current answer words, whether intended for
the clue given or not), then that word is awarded to the red team, and the
timer stops. Play goes to the other team, and a new timer begins.
If the red team's time runs out, a buzzer sounds; no word is awarded and
play goes to the blue team with a fresh timer. At the game leader's
discretion, a couple extra seconds can be given after the buzzer to allow
the red guesser make a guess, before starting the blue team's time.
Play continues in this way until all nine words have been guessed
correctly. New cluers and guessers then step up, the game leader advances
to the next round, and it all begins again.
Round 0 is intended as a sample round, used to explain the mechanics; it
only has three answer words instead of nine. Then there are 15 real rounds
that can be played.
Additional notes for the game leader:
Whenever the background is grey, pressing "space" will give play to the
next team and start the timer.
Clicking a word while the background is red or blue will award that word to
the current team, stop the timer, and flip to a grey background. Normally,
the game leader should immediately then press "space" to give play to the
other team. In case of an error (clicking on the wrong word, say, or due
to giving the guesser a little extra time after the timer ran out),
clicking any word while background is grey will cycle through the two team
colors, white (still available to be guessed), and grey (e.g. if for some
reason the word should be disqualified), so just keep clicking until you
get what you need.
Pressing left- and right-arrow (cursor keys on the keyboard) will move back
and forward through rounds 0 through 15.
Pressing plus and minus will increase and decrease the timer time limit. 8
seconds seemed to work fine, but if that's too hard or easy, you could
adjust. Also note that if you press command-plus and command-minus to
adjust the font size (which may be necessary if the projector is low
resolution), then the time limit will adjust as well; just press minus or
plus to get it back to 10. The current timer length is shown when the
answer words are hidden before a round begins; otherwise pressing plus and
minus will change what the timer will be next time it starts although you
can't see what you're changing. So best to just change it between rounds.
Click here to play.
Hot Plates
Pencil-paper game from Equinox 58 -- "Hot Plates" by Sally Picciotto (Alice). Computer program by Brandon Nutter (Brampersandon)
This is based on the classic License Plates game, but in this version, computer-generated license plates appear every ten seconds on a screen, and there is no preference for shorter words.
Worksheet, with instructions
Hot Plates applet
This is based on the classic License Plates game, but in this version, computer-generated license plates appear every ten seconds on a screen, and there is no preference for shorter words.
Worksheet, with instructions
Hot Plates applet
I come to bury Caesar
Paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 58 -- "I come to bury Caesar", another WordGrid puzzle by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick)
Instructions
Grid
Instructions
Grid
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Dates
Equinox 57 will be on 21 September 2013.
Equinox 58 will be on 15 March 2014.
Mark your calendars!
Equinox 58 will be on 15 March 2014.
Mark your calendars!
Monday, March 22, 2004
Chronograms
Creative game from Equinox 38: Chronograms by Henri Picciotto (Hot)
It was reprised as a wall game at Equinox 58, because it was somewhat thematic, but it didn't turn out to be well suited for that format.
It was reprised as a wall game at Equinox 58, because it was somewhat thematic, but it didn't turn out to be well suited for that format.
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