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This is the familar game - (respond to the word posted with a related word) - but with a Brain Den twist.

This game has a winner. And it has some simple rules. Here they are:

Each 'innings' lasts one hundred posts (exact round number - post numbers 100, 200, etc.), after which scores may be tallied. The word association will continue unbroken, but everyone's scores will return to zero.

Scoring is the joint responsibility of the players involved. There will not be a "host" or moderator. Best to keep your own score and then post it at the end of the innings (100-post "game"), resolve disputes among yourselves, and recognize the winner.

In the event of multiple posts responding to the same word, always try to continue the chain by using the first response - this is a game of speed and creativity. In any event, however, only the response that continues the unbroken chain to the end of the innings counts. All other responses score no points, regardless. However you cannot respond to an old post just to nullify a bunch of more recent ones. That will disqualify you from the innings entirely.

Also, you can't post twice consecutively. In other words, you can't post in response to your own trigger word.

Scoring: Your posted word can earn you between -2 (minus two) and +2 (plus two) points, as follows:

-----minus 2 points: you earn this under two conditions:

----------if you cannot explain the association in five words or less (see examples below)

----------if the word does not appear in the ENABLE2K Data Base *

-----minus 1 point: earned for one of two reasons:

----------if your response is the most obvious, specifically the most frequently cited in EAT **

----------if you misspell or misdefine a word, such that your association makes no sense.

-----zero points: if your response appears anywhere in the EAT list for the trigger word. Creativity counts!

-----plus 1 point: if your response is not among the EAT data base responses for the trigger word.

-----plus 2 points: if your response word does not appear in the EAT data base at all.

* ENABLE2K contains 173,528 words. The name is an acronym for "Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon, version of year 2000". It is the premier non-copyrighted word list used for most on-line word games, Scrabble ®, etc. The words use North American spelling; sorry Brits, but ...

** The data base we use to determine the most frequently cited associative response is the EAT Data Base. EAT is an acronym that stands for "Edinburgh Associative Thesaurus", and it uses British spellings and usages, which could be significantly different from North American responses for some words, such as "biscuit" -- NB. "cookie" does not even appear in this data base. Sorry, Yanks, but this is the best searchable on-line resource for word association that I know about.

Now here is a quick example of a string of posts: starting with the word "Dead" given in post number 1

Post #2: Dead : Bucket (kick the bucket).

Post #3: bucket > slosh (water sloshes in carried bucket)

Post #4: slosh - tsunami (ocean sloshing)

Post #5: tsunami --> wave

Scoring of this example: Post #2 earns +1 point. The EAT data base lists 40 different answers in response to the word "dead" but "bucket" isn't one of them. Similarly, post #3 earns +1 point because "slosh" is not among EAT's 29 listed responses to "bucket". Post #4 earns +2 points because the word "tsunami" does not even appear in the EAT data base. Post number 5 earns plus one point because the word "wave" does appear in the EAT data base. Post number 5 did not include an associating phrase because the association was assumed to be obvious. You can, however, challenge this poster to provide an association phrase. Note that if Post #2 had said "Dead : Alive", "alive" being the most frequent response in the EAT data base, then that poster would have earned minus 1 point.

Strategy suggestions: If you want to win, you need to post a clever response rapidly and stay as active as possible for the full 100 posts (if there are many players, this will go very fast!). In general, if you have a wide vocabulary, you should be able to think of words that won't appear in the EAT data base. That data base is rather limited, so it may not pay to check EAT before you post (takes too much time!) You need to hurry, but not abandon your senses! Be sure you can defend your response (it might be best to post your five-word association phrase when you post your word).

Let's see how quickly BD'ers can associate all 173,528 words in the data base :lol:

Enjoy! Good luck, everyone!

Beginning word: bludgeon (Yay, I get two points! :D )

Edited by seeksit
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Uncle --> Remus (tales of Br'er Rabbit, etc.) -2 (proper name)

Current trigger: REMUS

seeksit: 4

reaymond: 0

scsw: 6

palmerc7: 1

CaptainEd: 3

why would you submit a word to lost points?

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