The 60th Semi-Annual Equinox Word Games Party was held on 14 March 2015 in Berkeley. As is traditional on multiple-of-ten parties, this was a "best of" party, where we re-played some games from previous equinoxes.
However, it was π day, and moreover an unusual π day featuring a π moment at 3/14/15 9:26:53. This provided a bit of theme for some of the games. As instructed to do by the mixer, we all set our alarms to go off at 9:26. When they did, we jointly recited the digits of π. Two Equinoxers went on in unison for quite some time after most of us had to stop.
Name Tags: Boggle your name, by Barbara Selfridge (Banterweight). (Make a grid where your name can be read, Boggle-style.)
Wall Games:
Two Nation cryptics by Kosman and Picciotto (Trazom and Hot)
Best of: the wall game! by Jill Tallmer (Shmaltzy)
Film or Fillmore by Dean Howard (Shrdlu)
πP πP! by Dwight Freund (Dandr)
Mixer: Have You Got the Time? by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)
Paper-Pencil Puzzle: Pie by Dwight Freund (Dandr)
Creative Game: Constrained Nursery Rhymes by Erica Klarreich (Slairch)
Paper-Pencil Puzzle: Altered States by Alex Boisvert and Jeremy Horwitz
Whole-Room Game: Counting Bee presented by Ann Daniels and Jon Zingman (Iolanthe and Plaid who got his nom when playing this very game many years ago)
Performance Game: On the Rack by Henri Picciotto (Hot)
Megagame: The Treasure of Triple-Sixty by Rick Rubenstein and Joshua Kosman (Rubrick and Trazom)
Showing posts with label -Equinox 60. Show all posts
Showing posts with label -Equinox 60. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Film or Fillmore
A paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 35, updated as a wall game for Equinox 60:
Film or Fillmore by Dean Howard (Shrdlu)
Film or Fillmore by Dean Howard (Shrdlu)
Thursday, March 19, 2015
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.)
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.)
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Constrained Nursery Rhymes
Creative game from Equinox 60: Constrained Nursery Rhymes by Erica Klarreich (Slairch)
A version of this was played at Equinox 2.
A version of this was played at Equinox 2.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Counting Bee
A whole-room game presented by Ann Daniels (Iolanthe) and Jon Zingman (Plaid) at Equinox 60.
Neil Picciotto (Renfield) compiled the word list.
A version of this game was created by Henri Picciotto, and was played at a very early Equinox party.
Two people get up. A word is read from a list by the emcee.
The first person to correctly state how many letters are in the word wins, and faces another person. After four wins, a player sits down.
A final round can be played among the people who won four times in the first round.
Neil Picciotto (Renfield) compiled the word list.
A version of this game was created by Henri Picciotto, and was played at a very early Equinox party.
Two people get up. A word is read from a list by the emcee.
The first person to correctly state how many letters are in the word wins, and faces another person. After four wins, a player sits down.
A final round can be played among the people who won four times in the first round.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
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.
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.
Friday, March 13, 2015
The Treasure of Triple-Sixty
The Treasure of Triple-Sixty, a megagame from Equinox 60 by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick) and Joshua Kosman (Trazom)
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Mark your calendars
Equinox 59, "Feelin' Groovy", will be on September 20, 2014
Equinox 60, "Best of", will be on March 14, 2015
Equinox 60, "Best of", will be on March 14, 2015
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