Chain Reaction

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.

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.)

Social Security Words

Social Security Words, a paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 65, by Henri Picciotto (Hot)

If instead of using the digits 0-9 for Social Security Numbers, we used the letters A-Z, it would be extraordinarily lucky to have a Social Security Number that was a word! Even more so if it broke down into three words following the SSN pattern xxx-xx-xxxx. For example: ARC-HE-TYPE.

This is a puzzle based on that idea.

Nearly Chess

Nearly Chess, a creative game by Henri Picciotto (Hot) from Equinox 64.

Obviously, this can be adapted to any theme by changing the list of starting words.

Cross Purposes Revisited

A pencil-paper game from Equinox 63: Cross Purposes Revisited by Henri Picciotto (Hot)

Setup:
- MC has the numbers 1-40 in an envelope, to be drawn randomly.
- Players count off, and write down their number. When their number is called, they call out a letter, or "black square".

If there are fewer than 40 people, when an unclaimed number is drawn, a letter can be drawn from a bag of Scrabble tiles.

The game can also be played on a blank 6 by 7 grid, using the numbers up to 42, or really any grid that will work for the number of participants.

Equinox Primary

Creative Game from Equinox 62: "Equinox Primary" by Henri Picciotto and Sally Picciotto (Hot and Alice)

This was inspired by a Tumblr meme. It was played in groups of eight or so.

Each group got this handout.

Here are some of the best entries.

Mob Villain

A wall game by Henri Picciotto, from Equinox 61.

Write words that rhyme with well-known names. Other people are to guess the names.

Example: mob villain (→ Bob Dylan)

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..."

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.

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.

Right and Left

Paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 59: "Right and Left" -- Henri Picciotto (Hot)

The file includes both the puzzle and the solution (on another page.)

The puzzle turned out to be too difficult for a few of the participants. Possible hints include giving instructions about how it all works, and a pointer as to where to find the four-word phrase.

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.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas, a megagame from Equinox 18, by Henri Picciotto (Hot) & Joshua Kosman (Trazom). It was presented as a wall game at Equinox 56.

(At the party, a page was missing. This upload is complete.)

Solution.

Seven Times Eight

Pencil and Paper Game from Equniox 56: Seven Times Eight by Henri Picciotto (Hot)

(The title is based on the original version of the game, as played at Equinox 56. This version, Seven Times Seven, is somewhat improved.)

Roy 'Gamester' Biv

Name tags theme from Equinox 54: Roy 'Gamester' Biv, by Henri Picciotto (Hot)

Supervillains

Name tags theme from Equinox 53: "Supervillains" by Henri Picciotto (Hot).

Give yourself a supervillain name -- find a "real" one from the list, or make one up.

• Sign
• List
  

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.

License Plates

A wall game from Equinox 51:  License Plates by Henri Picciotto (Hot)

I used a computer to generate completely random trigrams, and printed a bunch on a page. The object is to come up with a word for each trigram, containing the three letters in order, but not necessarily consecutively. Example: DKG --> DucKinG. Best word is shortest. Among equal-length words, earlier in the alphabet is better.

I don't know the origin of this game, which is usually played using actual license plates, while driving.

Sample set: XTX, USL, JDO, CQZ, XNE, HVQ, SYI, ZLI, JMP, LEH. Any letter has an equal chance of showing up, so you have to deal with challenging trigrams such as XTX, some of which may yield nothing.

This was also played as a paper-pencil puzzle at Equinox 1 (with different plates, of course -- someone might remember the original set!)

StrangLers on a Train

From Equinox Party 39 (Hitchcock), revived for Equinox Party L, a wall game by Henri Picciotto: StrangLers on a Train. It was nearly entirely solved by the end of the evening.

Gold Rush

A pencil and paper game by Henri Picciotto (Hot) from Equinox 49:

   Gold Rush

Some answers.