A performance game from Equinox 70, by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield).
Phrases related to Star Trek have had some letters transported away and replaced by other letters. Give clues for the resulting silly phrases.
This document contains a detailed explanation of the game, plus links to the web pages on which the game can be played.
Equinox 70 was held on Oct 1st, 2022, after the pandemic hiatus. As is tradition for multiples of 10, this was a "best of" event, including re-plays of games from past parties, together with new puzzles.
Neighborhood Walkabout game by Myles Nye (Owler)
Name tags: Coming together from 6 feet apart by Debbie Goldstein
Wall games:
Out of Left Field Cryptics by Henri and Josh (Hot and Trazom)
Departures and Arrivals by Qaqaq (Trip Payne)
Creative game: Personal Perfection by Vynce
Paper-and-pencil puzzle: Dyal N for Mudder by Dean (Shrdlu)
Performance game: Chain Reaction by Henri and NeilFred (Hot and Renfield)
Megagame: Retrospective by Rick and Josh (Rubrick and Trazom)
Megagame from Equinox 70: Retrospective, by Rick Rubenstein and Joshua Kosman (Rubrick and Trazom)
Performance game at Equinox 70, by Henri Picciotto and NeilFred Picciotto (Hot and Renfield)
Chain Reaction was first played at a very early Equinox Party, we're not sure which one. It spawned a number of variants in the years that followed. For the 70th, we re-played the original game plus one variant, and we used a legal pad of answer words that Henri still had from decades ago (skipping over a few answers that were very "of their time").
Rules for the original game:
The host prepares words/phrases to be clued, written or printed large enough for the whole room to be able to read them. Each round has two cluers and one guesser, and runs for one minute. The guesser stands with their back to the stage, where the host holds up the answer words, visible to the cluers and the audience. When the guesser guesses the answer, a new answer word is revealed and play continues, until the timer runs out.
To form their clue, the two cluers take turns saying one word at a time, and as they do so, they must form a grammatically-correct question. It is recommended to start with the word "what". For example, if the answer word was "the Bay Bridge", the cluers might say:
Cluer 1: What
Cluer 2: structure
C1: connects
C2: Oakland
C1: to
C2: San
C1: Francisco
The guesser of course can jump in anytime to guess an answer, even if the clue is not yet a complete sentence. On the other hand if the cluers reach the end of the intended sentence and the guesser still doesn't know, they can continue the sentence with "and"...
Variant: "Blind Chain Reaction"
This time, instead of two cluers and a guesser, each round has just one cluer and one guesser, and the guesser must participate in alternating words to form a grammatical question, even though they don't know what the question is trying ask.
In both versions (but especially in the "Blind" version), it's worth noting that while the question is required to be grammatically correct, there is no requirement that the intended answer word actually needs to be a correct answer to the question asked.
Creative game from Equinox 70, by Vynce Montgomery: handout and instructions for presenter. Based on Personal Perfection from Equinox 45 by Henri Picciotto and Barbara Selfridge.
The Equinox 70 Walkabout puzzle was (is?) a site-specific game shining a spotlight of gratitude, foolishness, and puzzlocity on the physical area surrounding the meetup spot where we have hosted our puzzle parties lo these many years. Redwood trees, stained glass windows, fruit trees, gardens, little libraries - all this and more are the raw materials for which a hurried game master slapped together a one-time-only (so far) game with TaskMaster style tricks as well as wordplay games and treasure-hunt style directions. The second place finisher was Golden Golems and the winners were the Galactic Tree Sniffers.
Equinox 70 is ON for 10/1! Outdoor walkaround by Myles from 5:45, indoor program starts at 7:00. Masks required for indoor stuff. No potluck, so have an early dinner (and bring snacks as needed).
As it stands now, the 70th Equinox party is scheduled for October 1, 2022, at the usual place.
The 70th Equinox Word Games Party will be held on April 4, 2020.
The 71st will be held on September 12, 2020.
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Both those dates were canceled, of course.
Equinox 69: 21 September 2019
Equinox 70: 4 April 2020
