Parlor Games for All

Parlor games are sometimes genuine games and sometimes no more than holdem tricks and stunts. In this chapter I have tried to select a few of the more popular so-called “parlor games ” that require some skill, but are fun to play.

CATEGORIES

Any number may play this game, which is also called Guggenheim. Each player is given paper and pencil. Each player names one category and everyone lists these categories in a column on the left of his paper. Nominations may be vetoed by a majority vote so that one player may not gain an advantage by naming a category of which he may have special knowledge.
The players then agree on a key words, usually of five letters, which has no repeated letters and no uncommon letters such as J, Q, X, Z. The letters of this word are written at the head of columns to the right of the category list.
A time limit is agreed upon, say 15 minutes, and at the signal to start each player tries to write a word in each row and column a word which belongs to the category on the row and which has the initial letter heading that column. A completely filled in paper having five categories and the key word SPORT might look like this:

When time is called all players must stop writing, and the lists are then compared and scored. A word which was not written by any other player receives the maximum score, one point less than the number of players. For instance, with five players, if no one else wrote panda the player scores 4 for this word. One point is deducted from the maximum score for each additional poker player who wrote the same word, so that if two player wrote panda, each player scores 3 for the word. If all the players wrote the same word in any space it scores nothing. And if a player left a blank space it also scores nothing, although some players rule that one point must be deducted for each blank. The player with the highest total scores wins the round.
Change the key word and perhaps the categories as well for succeeding rounds. The game may be as easy or as difficult as the players like depending on whether the categories selected are broad or restricted. Experienced players usually prefer to restrict a broad category like rivers to something like American or European rivers, and foods might be limited to fruit.
Some rules as to the admissibility of words should be agreed on in advance to avoid arguments that may otherwise arise. Players often agree that:

1. If the writer can give no identifying information about it, a word, when challenged, does not score.
2. Compound words scores one point less than simple words – Rio Grande being worth less than Rhone.
3. In categories calling for names of persons, the initial applies only to the surname. In a category characters from Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer would be valid under the initials, but not under T.
4. Only the American spelling of foreign geographic names under T.
5. Questions as to whether a word fits a category properly are decided by majority vote. If a word itself is challenged, its validity is decided by a dictionary.

ANAGRAMS

Requirements

1. Any number up to eight, but five or six players are best.
2. A set of anagram tiles or a pack of anagram cards is needed. Most sets contain about 200 units, but it is a better game if two sets are used. Each unit bears a letter on efface, and the letters supplied are roughly in proportion to the frequency of their use in English (no more than two J’s , Q’s, X’s, and Z’s, for example

The Play. Tiles are scattered face down on the table and a space cleared in the center for play. cards, after shuffling, are stacked in one pile face down in the center.
Any player begins play by turning one tile (or card) face up and putting it in the center. Thereafter each player in turn to the left turns up a tile. A time limit is sometimes used (anything from 15 seconds to 1 minute by agreement), sometimes not, in which case the turn to play need not rotate and any player may turn a tile to keep the game moving provided the others agree that they are ready to see a new tile.
The object is to form good English words from the face-up letters in the center. Whoever sees letters that will form a word calls the word, takes the letters from the center, and builds the word before himself. The first player who makes five or ten words (as agreed ) wins the game.
A player may capture a word from another player by adding one or more letters from the center to form a new word. A player may also add to and transform his own words in order to make them harder to capture.
Words must be good English and at least four letters long. Plurals made by adding S to three-letter words do not count. A dictionary should be at hand to settle arguments as to the validity of words.
Other rules, on which the players should agree in advance, are:

1. Some essential change in form or meaning of a word must be made in order to capture it; adding S to make a plural or D to change the tense is not enough. Adding pre-fixes or suffixes or suffixes which do not change the word root are also sometimes not permitted, although the owner of a word may make such additions in order to protect it.
2. If two or more online poker players call new words at the same time, or try to capture the same word, the longest new word has priority. If both words are the same length, the first to speak has precedence, and the host decides who spoke first.
3. If a player calls a word for which the necessary letters are not available (including any word he intended to capture), his call is a foul, and, as penalty, he must return his last word to the stock.
4. Any player may challenge the validity of a word claimed by another. The host or the dictionary decides. If the challenger is correct, the challenged player loses not only the word claimed, but the last previous word he made; if the challenger is incorrect, he must return his last word to the table. Returned words are shuffled face down into the stock.

When players take too much time to figure out capturing possibilities and the game moves too slowly, it is best to specify a maximum interval (such as 1 minute) between the turn of a tile and the next turn of a tile.
GHOSTS

Any number may play. One player names a letter, the next in turn adds another letter, and so on, the letters being visualized as written in the order named. Players must avoid completing any English word of more than three letters, but must be prepared, when challenged, to give a word which contains all the letters thus far named.
Instead of calling a letter, any player on his turn may challenge the last previous player to give such a word. If the challenged player cannot do this, he loses; if he gives an acceptable word, the challenger loses. A round ends when a player completes a word, or when a challenge is decided.
A player who ends a round, either by completing a word, or by losing after a challenge, becomes “one-third of a ghost.” A second loss makes him “two-thirds of a ghost.” A third loss makes him a “full ghost.” Full ghosts may not continue to call letters, but they may talk to other ghost and to the players. But if any player makes the mistake of talking to a full ghost he becomes a full ghost himself. The full ghosts try to make the players forget this basic poker rule .
The sole survivor wins the game. Remember that only the player whose turn it is to call has the right to challenge; otherwise there are too many challenges, bluffing successfully becomes almost impossible, and much of the fun is lost.

Two-Way Ghosts or Heads and Talls Ghosts

This is ghosts plus a rule that allows a player to add his letter either after or before the sequence he receives. For instance, he can avoid having to add a T to PERFEC, which would cost him a life, by prefixing an M, with IMPERFECT in mind.

WORD CHAIN OR WORD DOMINOES

The first player names a category (animal, flower, country, and the like), then gives a word that fits it. The player at his left must supply a word in the same category which starts with the last letter of the preceding word. Example: If the category is animals and the first word is buffalo, the succeeding players might give: ostrich, hippopotamus, skunk, and so on.
A player who cannot supply a name is out of the game, provided the next following player can do so, or, if no following player can do so, if the player who game the preceding word can. If this player cannot, he must substitute another word for the one he first gave. The survivor wins.

WORD SQUAREs oR STOCK EXCHANGE

Any number may play. Each has pencil and paper, and draws a diagram of 25 squares, 5 by 5. Any player starts and the turn moves to the left around the room. Each player, at his turn, calls a letter of the alphabet, and each player writes that letter on his diagram in any space he likes. Once written it must not be moved.
The object is to form words of three or more letters horizontally and vertically on the diagram (diagonals do not count). The game ends when 25 letters have been called, filling all the spaces on the diagrams. A word of five letters scores 10; of four letters. 5 of three letters, 2. The player scoring the highest total wins.

Poker Squares

Any number may play. Each has pencil and paper, and draws a diagram of 25 squares, 5 by 5, as in Word Squares. In addition, a standard 52-card deck is needed. After the cards have been shuffled, one player picks a card from the deck. Each player then must write this card into one square on his diagram. Example: If the ten of hearts is drawn, the players must mark “H10”in one of the squares in the diagram. This must be done before the next card is drawn and called, and its location may not be changed.

The object of the game is to form the best possible poker hands along the horizontal and vertical lines; the diagonal lines do not count. When 25 cards have been turned up and written in, the game ends and best hand is decided.