-GRAMS

pronounced bnangrams
3+ players
Object Terrabull at spelling? Then this is your game! Score the most pointswhile unleashing your creativity in spelling. Getting Started Before the game, the players should decide on a pronunciation guide, whether it is MerriamWebster, Oxford, or Professor Katz (who studied at Oxford). Each player receives 18 bananagram tiles, facing down. Once all the players receive their tiles, they may flip them over and spend the next 60 seconds trying to formulate the best word for the game using the tiles. Needless to say, the players do not need to use all 18 tiles in formulating their words. Each player records his/her word on a sheet of paper for safekeeping and returns the tiles. Game Play The first player presents his word to the group in tile form. Starting with the player the first players left and continuing clockwise, each player makes one alteration, addition, or subtraction to a sound or syllable in the word that could still retain the original sound. For example, the word fish could be changed to phish, then ghish, then ghosh, etc. For convenience, the changes can be made with tiles from the pile, in clear view of all the players. Players cannot undo a change on their turn. The play is over when a player, during his/her turn, cannot play a change within 60 seconds. The player to the first players left then presents his/her word, and the cycle continues. Challenge Players may challenge the change made by another player within two turns of its play. The player whose change is in question must offer a word that supports his change. For example, if the change from fish to ghish is in question, the player can counter with the word enough. After the challenge, the play resumes. Nothing happens to the word in play regardless of the outcome of the challenge. Scoring -A player earns 1 point after completing an unchallenged change during his/her turn. -A player loses 1 point when the player fails to complete a change within a minute. -A player earns 1 point for each successful change made to his/her word during its play. -A player earns an additional 1 point if his/her change produces another 3 or more letter word within the word in play. For example, the player who changes fish to phish receives 2 points one for the change and one for the new word. -The winner of a challenge receives 2 points and the loser of the challenge loses 2 points. If the loser is the player that made the impermissible play, he/she also loses however many points he/she received from that play. It is possible (but discouraged) to score negative points.

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Apples to J. Appleseed
4+ players Object Score the most points while seriously considering the question, What do we think about when we think about a name? Players create names associated with given descriptions, using puns, anagrams, serious observations or common stereotypes.
Materials --Stack of green Apples to Apples-esque cards, with terms that roughly fall into the categories of profession, location, character trait, or likes/interests. For example: dentist, Woodrow Wilson School, timid, Twilight movies. Like the Apples to Apples cards, each word/phrase has a subset of similar ones. --small slips of paper or sticky notes Game Play The first player, the judge for the first round, picks a cardwithout lookingand passes it around for the other players to see. The other players consider the description and write on slips of paper the names (one name per person) that they believe could give off the impression of that description. Names of famous people or mutual friends of the players etc. are not allowed so that everyone can truly consider the name without knowledge of its bearer. Puns, anagrams, funny initials and the like are encouraged, especially when they allude to the description. Players are reminded to exercise discretion when resorting to potentially offensive stereotypes (or nasty Scrabble words); however, all players should keep in mind that this game is also an experiment in name-based impressions. The slips of paper are handed to the judge, who reads them aloud. The judge then attempts to guess the content of the card, based on the name. After the judge guesses, he/she flips over the card. Based on the content of the card, the judge picks the best name from the slips of paper. The judge does not have to explain his reasoning, but, before he/she announces his ruling, the other players can weigh in if they so desire. The player to the left of the judge becomes the new judge, and another round begins. Scoring -The judge earns 1 point for correctly guessing one of the descriptions on the card in play. -In each round, a player earns 1 point for submitting the winning name.

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