Hello Group, Solve Mixer

A Wordle-ish mixer from Equinox 73

Hello Group, Solve Mixer by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)

Each player receives a sticker on their back with a five-letter word, plus three separate half-sheets of paper that are labeled page 1, 2, and 3.

The game was setup for 55 players, though in the end we had fewer than 55 players, so some people took double solving duty.

Within the PDF:

• The first 55 sheets each contain a page 1 and a page 2. These should be cut in half before play.
• Everyone's page 1 is the same as each other so of course it doesn't matter who gets which one. 
• Each player gets a different page 2, but again it doesn't matter who starts off with which one since part of the game will be re-distributing them.
• The next 28 sheets each contain two different page 3's. These should also be cut in half before play.
• Again, it doesn't matter who starts off with which particular page 3 since part of the game will be re-distributing them.
• The next four sheets are the stickers. They are to be printed using Avery 5162 template labels – that is, 1 1/3" x 4", with 14 labels to a sheet.

Further instructions are on the sheets.

Equinox 72: Fairy Tales

The 72nd Equinox Word Games Party was held in Berkeley on September 9, 2023.

Theme: Fairy Tales

Name tags: Fairy Tale Names by Stephen Ng and Hilary Somers
Wall games:
    Out of Left Field cryptics - by Henri Picciotto and Joshua Kosman (Hot and Trazom)
    Acrostic - clues (PDF) and grid (PDF) - by Pam Hampton
Mixer: by Debbie Goldstein and the Tivols
Creative Game: Fakelore by NeilFred Picciotto and Lisa Eckstein (Renfield and Mooncalf)
Paper-and-pencil puzzle: Opposites Puzzle by Colin Tivol
Whole-room game: Animal Planet by Stephen Ng
Performance game: Chocolate Milk by Kid Beyond (Murdoch)
Megagame: Two Sides to Every Story by Rick Rubenstein and Joshua Kosman (Rubrick and Trazom)

Two Sides to Every Story

A puzzle suite (a.k.a. “megagame” in Equinox parlance) by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick) and Joshua Kosman (Trazom).

Intro (PDF) and Meta (PDF) are each a single page; obviously don't look at the meta until you've solved the puzzles.

Puzzles (PDF) must be printed double-sided, with page 1&2 on opposite sides, likewise 3&4 and 5&6. If your printer doesn't do double-sided automatically and you have to feed the same sheet through twice, make sure the opposite sides have the same orientation (so that the title on page 2 sits behind the title on page 1, etc).

For the meta, you'll need scotch tape, though a stapler might work in a pinch. Also, before you start the meta, make sure you've circled all your answer letters, as mentioned in the puzzle instructions.

Animal Planet

A whole-room game by Stephen Ng.

Animals remake classic TV shows so they are centered around animals, not humans. Can you figure out the titles of the new shows?

In each round, there are three phases. Guess the title sooner for more points.

1. Just the information printed on the sheet – 4 points.
2. After the audio hint – 2 points.
3. After the visual hint – 1 point.

Handout (PDF), and the audio and visual Hints (Google Slides).

Alternatively, if the audio doesn't work for you in the Slides or you need something that will work offline, you can download this 170MB Zip file containing all of the individual audio files and image files.

Opposites Puzzle

 A paper-and-pencil puzzle by Colin Tivol. Solve the puzzle (PDF) to derive its title.

Fakelore

A Fictionary variant using lesser-known folk tales from around the world, by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield) and Lisa Eckstein (Mooncalf).

Each page of Summary Cards (PDF) is to be cut into six cards for one round of play. In each round, the title of a real folk tale is printed at the top of each card; one card has the real summary for that title. Twenty different folk tales are provided, one on each page.

Instructions (PDF) to be printed one per person.

Equinox 71: Star Trek

 The 71st Equinox Word Games Party was held in Berkeley on March 18, 2023.

Theme: Star Trek

Name tags: Technobabble Acronyms
Wall games:
    Out of Left Field cryptics by Henri and Josh (Hot and Trazom)
    "Outer Space without a Chorus", an acrostic (grid, clues) by Pam Hampton
    "Spock" by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick), excerpted from the 2012 National Puzzlers' League Con Extravaganza, "Spaceportland"
    "Letter Bankers" by Martin Eiger (Wrybosh)
Mixer: Make it ... by Rick Rubenstein (Rubrick)
Paper-and-pencil puzzle: Opposite Episode by Stephen Ng
Whole room game: Start Wreck Two by Kid Beyond (Murdoch)
Performance game: Scar Talk by NeilFred Picciotto (Renfield)
Paper-and-pencil puzzle: The Trouble with Triples by Vynce Montgomery
Creative game: Exquisite Fruit by Todd McClary (T McAy), presented by Debbie Goldstein

Exquisite Fruit

A creative game by Todd McClary (T McAy), presented at Equinox 71 by Debbie Goldstein

Players write trivia questions in “exquisite corpse” fashion, with each player contributing words while only able to see the last word contributed.

Full instructions, including a link to a printable sheet.

The Trouble with Triples

A paper-and-pencil puzzle by Vynce Montgomery

It is well known (though perhaps untrue) that English never allows words with triple letters. Here we demonstrate some of the extreme conditions that can temporarily create such atrocities.

PDF