The Vulture

In college, JG and I used to throw together semi-spontaneous game nights in a common area of our dorm because we were, and still are, the consummate party-hardy types. (Ahem.) Depending on the number of people, there would be several areas of play going on at once: Catch Phrase, Dutch Blitz, and spades made appearances, but I inevitably huddled on the floor to play Cutthroat Anagrams.

I learned to play this anagramming game during a summer college program I attended during the summer before my senior year of high school, and it played to my strengths so well that I was on a constant mission teach others how to play so that I could whip them. I mean, I wanted to spread the joy of a fun game…

Uh, anyway, the game is pretty simple, and it works best with at least 4 people:

• Dump Scrabble tiles onto the floor and arrange them so that all of the letters face down. Players should circle up around the tiles.
• One by one (we usually go clockwise), players flip over the tiles in the center. If a word (3 letters or longer) can be formed from the exposed tiles, a player can say that word, take those tiles out of the center, and arrange the word in front of him. That player then flips the next tile.
  - For example: If C, A, and T, were all flipped over, the first person to say, “cat” or “act” would take those tiles out of the center. Ties are generally settled by popular consensus of who was first.
• As players continue to flip over tiles, they can form words from both the letters inside the circle (as above) and words that others have made — hence the cutthroat aspect. There are no limitations on the number of times a word can be stolen.
  - For example: If someone flipped over a K, a player could steal CAT from the player who claimed it and anagram it to form TACK.
• If a player flips over a blank tile, put it aside; they are not included in play.
• Play continues until no additional words can be formed. Players tabulate their scores by counting up the Scrabble values of the letters in their possession. Letters remaining in the center do not count toward anyone’s score.
• Limitations on word formation:
  - Words must be at least three letters long.
  - Words must appear in the Scrabble dictionary to be valid. If a word is challenged successfully (i.e. the word is proven to be fake), the letters return to where they started.
  - Anagrams cannot include derivations of the original word.
  - - For example: CAT could not be stolen to form CATS. DATE could not move on to form DATED. However, it would be legal to anagram CAT to CART and DATE to FATED.

There were several regulars who enjoyed the game as much as JG and I did, and we had a good time talking smack and coming up with new word combinations. I was not known to be particularly competitive, but when I played Cutthroat Anagrams, I was rather ruthless. I shouted my new words loudly, so as to drown out any other potential rivals. In the event of a claiming tie, I found that if I swiped the letters right away, people would generally let me keep them. I sat in the circle on my knees, perched right over the tiles so that I could afford a good glimpse of the newly-flipped tile. My posture earned me the nickname, “the Vulture,” which I interpreted as a sign of admiration.

On one occasion, I taught the game to a newcomer, but I wasn’t sensitive to the fact that I was somewhat, uh, overzealous in my energy. Anagramming didn’t come easily to this new girl, and I showed no mercy as I swept up tiles left and right. I remember stealing a word from her with a triumphant “HA!” and pouncing across the circles to gather my prize. In a low voice, JG said to me, “This is why people don’t … never mind.” Okay, whatever.

At the end of the round, the new girl got up from the floor shakily and said, “I think that’s enough of this game for me, but thanks for showing me how to play.”

Is this what JG meant? This is why people don’t what? Don’t want to play with me? They don’t want a challenge? It’s not my fault that I know that the ZOO will most likely go to OOZE and then OZONE. If she just played longer, she’d get it, too.

But I knew that I wasn’t as gracious as I could have been. I tried to dial down the Vulture mannerisms for other newcomers, despite the fact that it was perfectly obvious that we should be looking for a sequence like CAT, CART, CRATE, TRACED, DETRACT. Right? Totally obvious.

#53, 54

Sunday Scribblings #88: Competition