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ReverseIdiot

EmilyBender edited this page May 16, 2020 · 4 revisions

Reservse Idiot, As Played by DELPH-INites

This game is also known as "Contact" and played with slight variations. Below is the variation as played in DELPH-IN circles.

High-level overview

  • Players: 3+, but 5-10 seems optimal
  • Teams: "It" v. rest of the players
  • Starting: It thinks of a word ("target word") and divulges the first letter. Generally whoever comes up with a word first is It.
  • Game play:
    • Other players work together to get It to divulge their word, letter by letter until someone guesses the full word.
    • This is done by providing clues to other words ("candidate words") consistent with the known target word prefix.
    • It can defend against such clues by saying "No it's not X" where X is a word that is consistent with both the clue and the known prefix.
      • If X is not in fact the candidate word, but players agree it is consistent with the clue, then for the clue to remain live the clue giver has to refine it.
    • Other players, if they think they know the candidate word matching the clue, raise 10 fingers and count down, giving It 10 more seconds to defend the clue.
    • If It fails to in that time, then the player who has finished counting says their guess as to the candidate word.
    • The clue giver confirms whether or not it matches what they had in mind.
      • If so, then It has to divulge one more letter.
      • If not, then the clue is still live (but can be abandoned).

Examples

Side cases, further notes

  • Both the target and candidate words must be English words (including well established borrowings) and may not be only proper nouns. However, words that are homophonous with proper nouns can be evoked via their proper noun sense.
  • When desperate (i.e. when it becomes difficult to think of candidate words given the known prefix) it is customary to come up with clues of the form "Is it how Francis would spell..." but generally additional letters are not earned via such clues.
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