Tag Archives: playlist

No Prep Road Trip Games!

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Summer is nearly upon us, and with the arrival of summer, one cannot help but think of road trips with friends and ways to pass the time in the car.

While singalongs, I Spy, and the License Plate Game are all well and good, perhaps you would like a little more challenge with your road trip games.

Well, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a few suggestions for road trip games that require no preparation, save for a little imagination!

The Movie Game

I learned this game while stuck on a long train ride, and it certainly made the delays go faster.

Someone starts with a film, and the next player names an actor in that film. The next person names ANOTHER film that actor has appeared in, and the next person names ANOTHER actor from that film. And you keep going until someone can’t continue the game.

(If you present an actor or film in the chain that the next player can’t continue, you can only eliminate them by offering another answer, showing that the chain can continue. If you give them a chain link you can’t continue either, you’re out!)

It’s surprisingly difficult, because the more you play, the more devious you try to get. You want to lure other players down garden paths, but you have to make sure you don’t go so obscure that you can’t find your way out as well.

Playlist

Friend of the blog Jen Cunningham created a music-themed version of The Movie Game: Playlist.

In this version, you start with a song and an artist, and the next player either names another song by that artist OR another song using one of the key words in the song.

So, for instance, if you say “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by the Beatles and you need to match the song, you could do “Owner of the Lonely Heart” by Yes or “Only the Lonely” by Roy Orbison. Then someone needs to name another Yes song or another Roy Orbison song, and then the chain continues.

I find this game slightly more challenging than The Movie Game because of both the musical knowledge (which isn’t as strong as my movie knowledge) and the associative nature of the song title aspect. But many hours have been wiled away with this game!

My Friend Is An Expert… / Conspiracy Theory

In this game, the first player picks two random subjects, and then prompts the next player with them, and it’s the next player’s job to explain in entertaining fashion something fascinating about them that only an expert would know.

For instance, the first player would go “My friend is an expert in ancient archaeology and polka music” and the next player has to riff on those subjects for a bit. Other players can ask questions to continue the silliness.

The game continues with different topics and additional nonsense.

There’s a similar game to this called Conspiracy Theory where someone has to rant about the grand conspiracy behind two seemingly unrelated topics provided by the other players.

Both of these are great fun with a group of improvisers or snake oil salesman during a long road trip.

Alien Ambassador

(I haven’t played this one yet, but a friend recommended it, so I’m happily including it.)

In this game, one player is selected to be the alien ambassador, an alien visiting Earth for the very first time. The other players must answer the alien’s questions and explaining simple concepts to them. (It’s sorta like that comic strip with the aliens.)

As the alien ambassador asks more questions about this, the players will invariably scramble to explain the very weird things we accept as normal, everyday life, and laughter will ensue.

Hastur Horta Hodor Mordor

Inspired by a Dork Tower comic, Hastur Horta Hodor Mordor is a road trip game that actually became a real card game. But let’s focus on the road trip version.

This is a memory game where one player says a word — preferably one related to fandom, geek culture, etc. — in order to begin a nerdy tongue twister. The next player says that word AND another word. The next player says the two previous words AND another word, and the chain continues.

If you can’t complete the chain or you hesitate too long, you get a Hodor point, and a new chain begins.

If you get 3 Hodor points, you can only say “Hodor” for the rest of the car ride. (That’s a reference for the Game of Thrones fans in the audience, if there are any of you left after those dismal final seasons.)

Do you have any favorite no prep road trip games, fellow puzzlers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

Delving into the Lollapuzzoola 10 puzzles!

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Lollapuzzoola celebrated ten years of puzzling this year, and although I was not in attendance, I did sign up for the Solve At Home puzzles. Last weekend, I finally had a chance to sit down and try my hands at this year’s tournament puzzles, and I was not disappointed. Lollapuzzoola continues to push the envelope with topnotch themes and unique spins on how to bring crosswords to life.

This year’s theme was “Passing the Torch,” so every puzzle had something Olympic or athletic about it, and the constructors were clearly inspired in all sorts of ways. Let’s take a look at what they came up with.

Warm-Up: Twinlets by Brian Cimmet

This puzzle felt more like hitting the ground running than warming up, but it definitely got the creative juices flowing. The solver is presented with two identical grids and two sets of clues, and you have to figure out which grid each answer applies to.

This was complicated by the fact that several of the clues were the same for multiple entries. For example, the clue to 1 Across for both grids was “Olympic season.” The grids themselves also made for a tough solve, since there were several sections only connected by a single word, so you had fewer ins to tell you which answer applied.

That being said, the Olympic theme was well-executed and working back and forth made for an enjoyable solve.

Interesting grid entries included BALLSY, ONE-NIL, BIONIC and A-MINOR, and my favorite clues were “Asian river (or mountains) (or maybe both, I can never remember)” for URAL and “One might check it at the door” for EGO.

[Image courtesy of The Odyssey Online.]

Puzzle 1: Let the Games Begin by Paolo Pasco

The tournament proper gets off to a strong start with Puzzle 1, a really clever opening solve where the letters in various Olympic events have been removed from the other entries along that row. For instance, the first answer in the top row, JUDO, has each of its letters removed from the four subsequent entries: (J)ABS, FA(U)ST, (D)RIPS, and GO(O)DS.

This technique made for a curiously sized grid — 23×13 — but an impressive grid overall, since each of the words with missing letters still formed actual words. BENCHED became BEND and TRYOUTS became TOUTS when the CHE and RY were removed to be part of ARCHERY.

Interesting grid entries included K-POP, LABOR DAY, NASCAR DAD, and SIREE, and my favorite clues were “Mythological character who had a problem with hot wings?” for ICARUS, “Prop for Fred Astaire or Yoda” for CANE, and “Pair in a boat” for OARS.

Puzzle 2: Crossword De-Cat-hlon by C.C. Burnikel

Puzzle 2 was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It was a relatively easy solve, one that most solvers would no doubt finish well before the end of the 20 minutes allotted. But it was also hilariously interactive. The themed entries were instructions for different catlike actions for you to perform aloud!

For instance, MEOW FOR SOME MILK was one answer, and the clue instructed you to do so nine times, one for each “life.” It’s a very funny idea that no doubt must have made for a fairly unique and chaotic experience at the tournament.

Interesting grid entries included HOOKUP, PALE ALE, and HEEHAW, and my favorite clues were “Palindromic Swedish band with a palindromic hit” for ABBA and “Car mechanic’s wiper” for RAG.

Puzzle 3: Gym Playlist by Erik Agard

We take a break from the Olympics specifically to focus on music in Puzzle 3, where we have song titles broken into two parts on different lines, like NINETOFIVE, which would have read out in order, except TOFIVE was one row lower. Why? Well, because they become UNEVEN BARS, as the revealer explains.

It’s a very playful theme that mixed well with some engaging grid fillers, and a really fun solve overall.

Interesting grid entries included MAURITANIA, SCHMOE, MENUDO, MEDICO, and POUFS, and my favorite clues were “Titular thief of literature” for GRINCH and “Singer Lavigne who allegedly died in 2003 and was replaced by a lookalike” for AVRIL. (Now that’s some trivia!)

[Image courtesy of YouTube.]

Puzzle 4: New Biathlons by Francis Heaney

Probably the toughest puzzle of the tournament, save for the finals, Puzzle 4’s themed clues felt more like clues for a cryptic puzzle than a regular crossword. There were essentially two clues for each answer. The first was a “new biathlon” — a sport formed by combining two events into one hybrid event, like skiing and shooting — bookended by parts of an additional word. The second clue was a description of the word chain also formed both those letters.

For instance, 20 Across was clued “Indian instrument + new biathlon = Caption of a photo in which reviewer Gene and an alien sit atop a carpet, next to a sailor.” That’s a LOT of information, but it does make sense when you complete the answer: SISKELETONRUGBYTAR. You have SITAR with SKELETON RUGBY inside it, and you also have SISKEL ET ON RUG BY TAR.

Couple that with some hard grid fill, and you have a difficult but really engaging puzzle.

Interesting grid entries included CATARRH, UNICEF, ESTADOS, LAUNDROMAT, and TELL ME THIS, and my favorite clues were “When repeated, ‘Look, Senorita Sorvino’!” for MIRA and “What the wicked get” for NO REST.

Puzzle 5: Stick the Landing by joon pahk

The tournament puzzles closed with joon pahk’s immensely clever Puzzle 5, which presented four themed entries that vaulted the black squares between neighboring spaces on the same row in order to complete the answer. You see, each black square represented a pole vault, and those poles — MAY, SOUTH, SKI, and TOTEM — were found elsewhere in the grid. So 86 Across, MAY, bridged the gap between 24 Across’s JOHNM and YER to form JOHNMAYER.

This gimmick meant that, for instance, there was no 25 Across clue, because 25 Across was part of 24 Across, just separated by a black square, which I confess was confusing at the outset until I figured out the puzzle’s hook. Still, it was a very satisfying solve and one of the highlights of the day.

Interesting grid entries included BROUHAHA, I GOT THIS, UM OK, DC AREA, and DASHIELL, and my favorite clues were “Insult that Bugs Bunny mistakes for ‘maroon’” for MORON and “Cow who hasn’t had a cow” for HEIFER.

[Image courtesy of Wikipedia.org.]

Puzzle 6: Finals by Mike Nothnagel and Doug Peterson

As always, there were two sets of clues for the Finals puzzle, the Local and the more difficult Express clues. But this year, there was an additional challenge to tackle.

As both solvers in person and at home were warned, “Each finalist will have a personal Marker Caddy. The Marker Caddy will be holding a cup of several markers. We aren’t going to say anything else, except that we’ve never had Marker Caddies before. Just this year. That is all.” Non-finalists were provided with a small four-pack of crayons containing a green, a red, a blue, and a yellow crayon.

Those colors would come in handy, as there were four O’s in the grid that needed to be marked with the colored markers. The first O in LOW RESOLUTION was blue, so that OSTATES would really be BLUE STATES, just as the last O in LOW RESOLUTION was red, so that OPEPPER was really RED PEPPER.

The same followed for the O in AS TO and the O in OUTS, so that BIGOTAXI would read BIG YELLOW TAXI and THEOMILE would read THE GREEN MILE.

Couple that with some very tough cluing — in the Express Finals anyway — and you’ve got one heck of a finale to the tournament.

Interesting grid entries included SQUAWKS, HEY WAIT, LA PLATA and GAMETE, and my favorite clues were “Station not popular with Rush fans” for MSNBC and “Nancy who solved ‘The Clue in the Crossword Cipher'” for DREW.

There was also a tiebreaker puzzle I quite enjoyed, especially with clues like “Do goo” for GEL and “Boxing great, or her father” for ALI.

The puzzles at Lollapuzzoola always impress, and this year was no exception. The grids were tight, there was very little crosswordese, and the creative puzzle gimmicks — the markers, the cat activities, the athletics in the grids (like pole vaunting or uneven bars) — ensured that not only would fun be had by all, but that the unique puzzles would linger in your memory longer.

Mission accomplished, and congratulations on the competitors and the organizers who made it all happen. The tenth year of the tournament showed that Lollapuzzoola is only getting more creative, more groundbreaking, and more clever with each passing year.

I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year!

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