Care to join me for a game of STUPID?
During the Philippine Intercollegiate Debate Championships, the members of the UP Manila Debate Circle introduced me to one of the things that was spawned after my resignation - the annoyingly simple and hilariously frustrating game of STUPID.
It’s a game that combines the principles of Boggle, Scrabble, Spelling Bee and Hangman with the scoring system of the basketball playground game of H-O-R-S-E. A player loses when he or she spells out a word.
To start the game, the a player has to give a letter. The next players will have to add letters before and after the already existing and lengthening sequence of letters without forming a legitimate word. Players will have to make sure that they are forming a word though. If someone feels that the current sequence will not yield a word, he or she may challenge the last person who added a letter to produce a word.
Completing a word, inability to produce a word after being challenged, producing an illegitimate word to answer a challenge and having your challenge sufficiently addressed are all infractions. Just like in H-O-R-S-E, each infraction is worth a letter - for this game, you lose once you spell out S-T-U-P-I-D. Should there be any protest regarding the validity of the word, a vote will be taken and the majority’s decision will be carried as final.
Yes, I know it sounds geeky, but I’m telling you IT IS FUN!
Sample Game: [there are six players]
Player 1: F
He/she may pick any letter because she’s going first.
Player 2: R after [current sequence FR]
He/she may add a letter before or after the first letter - in this case an F. Keep in mind that adding an O or I before the F will make he/she spell out a valid word. Adding an A after the F will also produce a valid word.
Player 3: A after [current sequence FRA]
Adding Y or O after would’ve made him/her lose.
Player 4: A before [current sequence AFRA]
Adding Y or G after would’ve made him/her lose.
Player 5: I after [current sequence AFRAI]
He/She sets up Player 6 to spell out a word. Keep in mind that as you add letters, you must have a specific word in mind! You can’t just add X’s and Q’s without a word in mind.
Player 6:
Realizing that he has only one option as far as word-forming go - adding D to form AFRAID— he may choose to 1) concede the point and get his first letter (S T U P I D) or 2) refuse to face the music and challenge player number 5 to name the word. Of course, unless player number 5 is stupid (pun intended), Player 6 will surely get the first S. If Player 5 is retarded, Player 6 will get a free pass and the former will be the one to get the letter for failing to name a word.
Can you see the potential of this to be fun?! Haha. It will definitely screw with a lot of people’s minds. Heck, it would even expose your friends who can’t spell [certain words]. Aids even spelled a word as CONJOURS. Hehehe.
Speaking of Aids, he along with Yves and Robin will be taking part in the 3rd Asian Universities Debating Championship to be held at Jakarta, Indonesia. Good luck to them. I would also want to wish Estelle the best of luck - unless she faces the team from UPM.
GO UP MANILA!
GO PHILIPPINES!
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I used to play this game with my cousins back when we were kids
anlabo. haha.. tamang-tama ung pangalan nung game. hahah
Ah, debaters and their word games.
UP Diliman seems to have these things in abundance too. This and Squabble, I think?
* Couldn’t help but notice that you were part of the Philippine debate community. I’m not too familiar with debaters from UP Manila though (save for Aids Rabe and Alvina Antonio). I’m a debater myself, although one in high school, limited to IDeA plus the normal national competitions for that level.
But interesting read.
nice game, benj. will make sure to try this out with my geeky friends. hehe.
Michael: I’ll adjudicate in the NaSHDCs if ever I’m invited again. Maybe we can see each other there. Who knows, I might even adjudicate one of your rounds… hehe
Joe: Yeah, real geeky. It’s a social game too (ala Survivor). Certain words will only lead to certain combinations and that will set up people to get letters for sure.
Thanks for introducing the game to us. I only know Scrab and WordFactory. And Skribbage. Oh, i think I misspelled that. Pwned me.
But I think MONKEY is better. Or A**. Lol.
interesting sample game…
FRAY
FRAG
hey isn’t FRAT a valid word too?
and if I challenged the player who used AFRA, what word could’ve he/she spelled?
James: I guess I wasn’t clear on that bit. The player can still say AFRAID.
As long as the current sequence can form a word by adding letters before and after the existing sequence.
In short, if somebody if somebody is challenged after YL, he or she can say xYLem, xYLophone etc.
The word “frat” may be contentious and I think that word will be put to a vote. hehe.
After a player gets an infraction, who will start the next sequence?
The player next to him will start. Haha ang daming kulang sa instructions ko ah. Thanks for pointing them out. I’ll add them to the post later.