posted 4 days ago
A new take on an old standard (the 'change-a-letter game').
You may either change, add, or drop a letter - as long as the new word contains between 4 and 6 letters.
Format: repeat the original word with a question mark, follow it with a new word - and then append a common phrase that includes the new word.
Examples
If the original word were 'sever', a valid response could be:
sever? never
A magician never reveals his secrets
If the word were 'table', a valid response could be:
table? able
Ready, willing, and able
If no common phrase containing your new word exists (or you blank/can't think of one), you can also make up a whimsical or poetic one containing the new word.
Examples
If the original word were 'table', a valid response could be something like:
table? able
Go fetch Aunt Mabel
(Importantly, your phrase doesn’t have to make coherent sense, it just has to have whimsy - or contain a poetic sound device.)
Examples of valid poetic sound devices: rhyme (as in the instance above), alliteration, assonance, and consonance
Longer phrases are also allowed — for example:
Would you, could you, on the table? Would you, could you, if you're able?
I've tailored the rule-set to preclude 'traps' - words that can be played into but not out of. ('Undoes' are not allowed.) Although rare, there do seem to be a few traps under the current rules... In theory, one could go from limit ⇒ dimit, and from dimit ⇒ dimity, but here one finds oneself in a gameplay cul-de-sac.
To keep the game moving in the event of suspected traps, one final rule -
A new seed word may be dropped if the time since the last post reads "posted 2 days ago" (or longer).
Use the following format when dropping a new seed:
dimity dies
I pronounce it dead
play on from cello instead
The first seed word is 'cello'.
Don't be naive about the nature of life on Earth.
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