Hi POG! If you actually sent me an entry for round 1, you will automatically receive an entry for round two sometime later today. Obviously if you don't want to play, don't answer.

However, anyone new can jump into the game, just post "in" in this thread. Again, no need to post "in" if you entered the first time.

Your entry is timed. If you have email notifications for PMs, reading the PM email in advance is not allowed.

With strategic opening / sending of the PM, one gain as much as a minute of real time.

Rules, slightly modified from game 1:

The first word must begin with the key letter from the die. The determiners "a," "an" and "the" are disallowed in the game even though they might be part of an official title. (The Godfather counts for G, not T) Extra points (2 max) are given for names or well-known phrases that begin with the same key letter, including "Ronald Reagan", "Brady Bunch," or “Last Laugh.” When choosing a person, either the first or the last letter of his name can qualify as long as the part of the name that carries the key letter is written first. Players are not allowed to use the same answer twice within a round.

You can try to come up with creative answers that may be a borderline fit for the category. In the real game, all players vote on whether the answer is acceptable. In this case I will make the determination if your answer is acceptable. If you have time, feel free to include a brief rationale after your answer if you want to influence my judgement.

Clarifications:

Only exact duplicate answers are disallowed. Only the first instance can score. A series like ice/iced tea/icing is acceptable, though.

Random adjectives thrown in front of a word will not get accepted. Examples of stuff I took last game but will not take in the future include “inbred shark” (maybe good for a , though) and “ink-filled pen” (All pens have ink initially, and this is not really something somebody would actually say)

You can say something like “blue buttons” but don’t expect an alliteration bonus, and expect to be grouped with “buttons.”

Time bonus / penalties

Two minutes: +1 pt
Three minutes: +0 pts
Four minutes: -1 pt
Five minutes -4 pts
Over 5 minutes: -6 pts

4:45 to 4:48 is "three minutes" although you could give yourself as much as 4 minutes with perfect timing.

Obviously there is always going to be a degree of subjectivity to this game. I could devise a very strict set of rules with less subjectivity, but I think that takes away from some of the fun.

Entries are going to be due by Feb 26th

Is taking 6 minutes equivalent to taking 48 hours under this scoring system?

Also,

Yes. You can even re-submit, which would be an automatic -6

Questions are being sent. Hopefully everybody looks this over before opening the entry

oops. accidentally opened then sped through my answers. still probably 3-5 mins.

may take you up on that...

several in so far. If I get all the entries back, I'll try to reveal early

Blah, accidentally clicked send 2 seconds late cuz I'm a space cadet. I need to start playing with more alacrity.

angles have been shot

I won't be in until this evening, don't want to try this on my phone

Pro tip for maximum time:

Get a stopwatch ready (google has a built in stopwatch, just google "stopwatch"). Open a forum page that won't change length (i.e. the FAQ) and scroll to the bottom where it says the time:
.
Press F5 every few seconds until the minute changes, then immediately start your stopwatch and start your entry. Now you can go up to probably 3:45 or so and it will count as 3 minutes.

Don't know if this works on mobile, but lol you if you're doing a timed entry on mobile.

Sorry, if any new players happen to jump in, you may want to know the scoring rules. Forgot them in the op

The game consists of 12 questions which are similar to sheep questions. A random letter is chosen, and then every response must begin with that letter. You are trying to come up with a unique answer for each question. If you match another player, you score zero for that question. Unique answers score one point, with the possibility of a bonus for alliteration.

Answers ruled invalid or "blanks" on your entry also score zero.

In, sacrificing a couple of questions in the name of time. (I hope)

The penalty really hurt me last time; I hope I've avoided it this time.

Honestly, I have a pretty big issue with "ice cream" "ice skating" and "ice cube" all scoring points from the same person.
In a lot of ways it really reduces the requirement to actually think of something to fill the categories with on hard letters.

Will prolly still play anyway, but really hate that rule if I'm understanding it right.

my clock is synced to the server clock so none of these timed games are an issue for me

Would you feel the same about ice cream / iced tea / icing from the same person? The official rules say the same "answer" can't be repeated, so how should that be interpreted?

What about:

Type of bird: Duck
How to avoid a punch: Ducking

Where do you draw the line?

I think the specific question set, the letter "i", and some lolmodding happened to create a situation where the "ice" theme could be repeated for several questions. I don't think its the norm.

At any rate I couldn't change it now even if I wanted to.

Oh I'm not hating on the previous modding, just sort of expressing my opinion on games going forward (since I hope this game continues).

When I've played iced tea and ice cream would be disallowed since the specific word of 'ice' is being used in both.
icing would be allowed however.

I can see the case for saying that {ice, iced}, {duck, ducking} are different

ftr: I'm in

I'm not just complaining a game that I'm not participating just for funsies.

In, managed to minimize my penalty this time at least.

another massive penalty incurred dammit

+1

I have never had a problem in lilrascal's timed word twist. My computer changes to the next minute the very second the 2+2 clock does.

In

Slightly less panicked entry this time

in it