Naming.

I'm having a hard time writing about my date. Not because of time or anything like that, but because every time I think about it, I get a silly grin on my face and can't really write anything.

In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with a fancy nickname for She Whom I Am Dating. This is a very particular thing. I know it has to be cryptic enough not to refer to her directly, since she's very concerned about her privacy online. Also, it needs to be one that fits. It took a long time for Rwth to get her nickname, but it fits well. I want this girl to get one just as apt.

So far, the only thing I can come up with is "Gottschalks," which has a wonderful origin behind it but is an absolutely horrible name. Also apropos is "Elba", except that it sounds more like a heavy-set domestic servant. The reason I think of "Elba" is because she's a fan of palindromes. In fact, the book I mentioned earlier was a book of anagrams and palindromes. She liked it. Yeah, I'm a big dork, but I'm a dork with good taste!

Right now, though, she's blocked off from (nearly all) Internet access, so although I keep hoping to see an email from her, I know I won't. Such a thing is impossible for now.

Oh well, more as it develops.

Make Love, Not War.

Because I thought of it, that's why.

The Rules to Strip Scrabble

For two to four players.

Beginning the Game:
Each player grabs a standard rack of seven tiles to begin the game. Don't worry about drawing to see who goes first, that's not an issue. It's often a good idea to agree beforehand on a reference that will be used to decide on the validity of words during challenges.

A Normal Round:
All players arrange their tiles for the best possible play on the board as it currently stands. All plays must follow standard Scrabble rules (all words must connect with at least one word in play, all strings of two or more letters must be valid words, etc.), and intended placement on bonus spaces is taken into account. When everyone is ready, they reveal their plays simultaneously. The player with the highest-scoring play puts it onto the board and replaces his tiles. All players other than the winner of the round may choose to exchange some or all of their tiles with no penalty.

The player with the lowest-scoring play must remove an article of clothing. If more than one player has the lowest score, than all players with that score must remove an article of clothing. If all players have the same score, then nobody removes an article of clothing, and the player with the most clothing puts his play on the board. Once the appropriate tiles and clothes have been exchanged or removed, the next round begins with the same rules.

Bingos:
If any player arranges a play that uses all the letters in his rack (a bingo), all other players must remove an article of clothing. This is independent of the normal round, and applies even if the play does not make it to the board. This means that the lowest-scoring player may have to remove two or more articles of clothing in the same round, and the highest-scoring player may also need to remove an article of clothing.

Challenges:
Any player may challenge the validity of another player's word. To do so, they must announce the challenge before a play is placed on the board. The word may be checked in any agreed-upon manner, following the guidelines of Scrabble (no proper nouns, no foreign words, no phrases, etc.). If the word is found to be valid, the challenger wins; if not, the challenged wins. In either case, the loser is penalized in two ways: he must remove an article of clothing, and his score for the round becomes the negative value of his play. (So if Alvin had a play scoring 42 points but lost a challenge, his score for the round would be -42 points.) It is likely, then, that the loser of a challenge may also be the loser of the round. Further, in a challenge involving a play with a bingo, the loser must remove a number of articles of clothing equal to the number of players.

Note: A player may not challenge another play in the same round in which he lost a challenge unless there are only two players in the game. If, in a two player game, a player losers two challenges in the same round, his score does not return to positive.

Winning:
The conditions and rewards for winning the game are best decided upon by the players themselves, before beginning play.