This is based on the game show of the same name and has some similarities to Wordle. Unlike the past two times I've run the game, this is just the word-guessing portion played for the right to go next.
One player will choose a word to guess. Traditionally, Lingo is played with five-letter words, but if the word-chooser wishes to adjust the difficulty, four- and six-letter words may also be chosen. To be a valid word, it must meet these criteria:
It must be a valid English word. I check Merriam-Webster when I'm the chooser and I'm in doubt about a guessed word's legality, but any other reputable English dictionary such as American Heritage, Chambers, Collins, Oxford, Macquarie,
etc.
may be used in its stead. Be aware that the word-chooser reserves the right to reject neologisms that do not appear in the dictionary that they are using.
It must have at least one sense that is not profane.
Words that are always capitalized are not allowed, but words capitalized only in some senses are (
e.g.
AUGUST
is valid, but
LONDON
is not).
Punctuation is not allowed.
Both British and American spellings are legal.
The first letter and the chosen word length are given at the start. The guessers as a team have five guesses to solve the word. Guesses must be bold to count. Only one guess per person per update is allowed. (Repeat guesses are ignored and do not count toward this limit. Conditionals are acceptable, but only your first guess that meets an applicable conditional counts.) Letters that appear in the word in the correct place will be colored green; letters that appear in the word but are misplaced will be colored yellow; letters that do not appear in the word will remain uncolored. Some people color lines for guesses after the next in gray, but this is optional. Letters are allowed to repeat, but only as many of the same letter will be colored as appears in the word. If a guesser guesses a word that does not meet the criteria above for a valid word, starts with the wrong letter, or is the wrong length or if the word-chooser catches the guesser editing the word, the entire word will be colored red and that guesser will be disqualified until the next word. (Note that the guess doesn't actually have to fit the clues except for the first letter and the word length. For example, if a word starts with an A and it's been established that there's no B, it's not illegal to guess words that have a B in them.) The first guesser to solve the word chooses the next word.
Spoiler: Sample word #1
Let's say the word-chooser selects a five-letter word starting with a C:
C _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
A player guesses the word
CLASS
and gets this result:
C
L
A S
S
C _ _ _ S
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
We now have an S in the right place, and we also know it's the only S in the word. There's an L somewhere, but it's not the second letter, and there's no A.
Someone decides to try
COILS
:
C
L
A S
S
C
O I
L S
C _ _ L S
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
We're getting closer! There's no O or I, but now we know where the L goes.
Now let's try
CURLS
:
C
L
A S
S
C
O I
L S
C U R L S
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
Yay! We got it right and get to go next!
Spoiler: Sample word #2
Suppose the winner of that word chooses a six-letter word starting with T next:
M A T O
T _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
Not much apparent help, but we know there's exactly one O in the word, and it's not the second or sixth letter. (Which of the O's is colored yellow is arbitrary in this case; I chose to color the first one.)
The players are stuck, and someone makes a wild guess of
TOWERS
—even though it's known it can't be right, it's still legal under the rules. Let's see what happens in this case:
T
O
M A T O
T
O W
E
R
S
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
We now know that, in addition to the O we know about, we also have a W and and R, both out of position.
Let's see if
THROWN
works:
T
O
M A T O
T
O W
E
R
S
T H R O W N
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
It does, as a matter of fact!
If all five guesses are exhausted or no one guesses at the word for 72 hours, the word-guesser reveals the word and chooses the next one. If it's been more than 72 hours since the first outstanding guess with no update, if the winner of the word takes longer than 72 hours to put up a new word, or if the winner of the word chooses not to select the next word, then anybody may take a turn at choosing a word to guess.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Good luck! Here is your first word to guess:
P _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
Last edited by StrangerCoug on Sun Mar 31, 2024 5:08 am, edited 5 times in total.
