Start Wreck Two

A whole-room game by Kid Beyond (Murdoch)

Your mission: Guess a bunch of famous women whose names have been scrambled.

Each attendee gets a two-page answer sheet (PDF). Don't print duplex as page 1 will be used to occlude page 2, sliding it down to reveal one line at a time. The presenter reads instructions aloud from this sheet (PDF).

????????????

Paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 69: ???????????, by Bevik and Murdoch

Interstate Roadtrip!

A paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 66: Interstate Roadtrip! by Kid Beyond, Bill, and Judah.

Subterranean Gnomes Pick Shoes

"Subterranean Gnomes Pick Shoes", a pencil-paper game from Equinox 61, by Kid Beyond (Murdoch).

The name of this game supplies an example of the rules: three parts of a "Subterranean Homesick Blues" have been replaced by bits that rhyme with them.

18 teams. Each team gets a Dylan song title (see the list in the answer sheet.) They create the title of a hypothetical new song, following the model suggested by the name of the game. When their turn comes, they give a straightforward clue to the title, or (more entertaining) they supply lyrics to their song, which will serve as the clue.

Example of a clue (yielding the name of the game): "Short white-bearded garden ornaments shop for footwear underground"

Teams who guess the title right off the bat get 4 points. Then one of the transformed words in the title is revealed (e.g. "pick" for our example.) Teams who guess the title at that point get 2 points. Then another transformed word is revealed. (Perhaps "shoes".) Teams who guess the title at that point get 1 point. Finally, the title is revealed in its entirety.

Parsley Sage Rosemary and... Time!

Pencil-paper game from Equinox 59: "Parsley Sage Rosemary and... Time!" by Kid Beyond (Murdoch)

- I will be cluing things that are well-known foursomes or groups of 4 -- like PARSLEY SAGE ROSEMARY THYME, or CLUBS DIAMONDS HEARTS SPADES.
- All the answers are in 1 of 8 categories: Books & Movies, Geography, Music, Religion, Science, Sports & Games, TV Characters, and Miscellaneous.

- First you'll see the first two letters of each thing, like so:

   CL
   DI
   HE
   SP

Your job is to write down "Suits" (or "Cards" or the like -- we're liberal here.) You don't have to write down the members of the category.

If you guess it here, you get 4 points.

- After about 15 seconds, I'll say the category -- in this case, Sports & Games. If you guess it here, you get 2 points.
- After 15 more seconds, I'll reveal another letter:

   CLU
   DIA
   HEA
   SPA

If you guess it here, you get 1 point.
You can change your guess throughout the round, and there is no penalty for an incorrect guess.

- After 15 more seconds, I'll reveal the answer and move to the next round.

- Highest score wins!

Catch Up!

 A pencil and paper game from Equinox 57, by Kid Beyond (Murdoch).

At each table, 3 people each come up with a 6-word clue for something easy, like so:

A: What big ape terrorized New York?
B: What mouse food has many holes?
C: What explosive display honors July Fourth?

They write these on special sheets I have designed (to make the following process very straightforward).

Then they stand up and read out their clues to the room, round-robin style, one word each, staggered, like so:

ROUND 1:
A: What
B: mouse
C: display
A: terrorized
B: many
C: Fourth?

The rest of the room all write down their guesses for the 3 clues -- each worth 4 points.

ROUND 2:
B: What
C: explosive
A: ape
B: has
C: July
A: York?

Rest of room writes their guesses -- each worth 2 points.

ROUND 3:
C: What
A: big
B: food
C: honors
A: New
B: holes?

Rest of room writes their guesses -- each worth 1 point.

The 3 cluers each reveal their clues as written, and the answers. Then the next team begins.

Note: Guessers are not allowed to write down the words as they hear them (that would make it too easy!). Instead, they use these sheets to keep a record of their guesses.

A-lien Invasion!

A paper-pencil puzzle from Equinox 51: A-lien Invasion! by Kid Beyond (Murdoch).

One solver got a special prize for finding the intentional factual error in the puzzle.

Equinox Filter

A pencil & paper game from Equinox 46: Equinox Filter (pdf), by Kid Beyond (Murdoch).