[Fictionary] New round: the rules to STONE

[Jim Moskowitz]

Okay, having gotten no objections, several enthusiasms, and a couple 
of requests for clarification, I'm going ahead with my variant round, 
and spelling out the rules more explicitly:

Instead of sending in a made-up definition for a real *word* nobody's 
ever heard of, you're being asked to send in made-up instructions for 
a real *game* nobody's ever heard of. STONE is a game I found written 
up in a century-old book children's games.  Please send me a writeup 
of instructions intended to fool the other players into thinking it's 
real; I'll send out a ballot with the real STONE rules somewhere 
among the pretenders; we'll vote as usual and declare a winner based 
on who fooled the most folks. Your writeup should resemble the one I 
invented for JINKIM (see below): between a few and a dozen sentences 
explaining its rules and any needed equipment.

Please send in your entries by next Thursday, 12/8.

-Jim


P.S. To make it slightly less of a mystery what your entries ought to 
sound like, here's the writeup of a different game taken from the 
same book where I got STONE:

JUMP THE SHOT: "The players stand in a circle, with one in the center 
holding a rope with a weight on the end. The center player swings the 
rope around to describe a large circle on the floor, with a 
sufficient length of rope to place the bag in line with the feet of 
those in the circle. The circle players jump to avoid being caught 
around the ankles by the rope. Any one caught in this way must retire 
from the circle, the player winning who longest retains his place.
For this game a shot bag, such as is used to weight the ends of the 
rope that is drawn over jump standards, may be used, and the game 
takes its name from this. This bag, however, being heavy and hard, 
may lead to accidents by hitting the ankles of players, and other 
things are more desirable unless the players be expert. A bean bag, 
sand, or oat bag will do just as well, tied to the end of a rope."


>>At 11:44 AM -0500 11/28/11, Jim Moskowitz wrote:
>>Jinkim is played in an open field or playground, in the center of 
>>which a knife has been set into the ground with the blade sticking 
>>up several inches. The players, who may range in number from twelve 
>>to one-hundred, are divided into two teams, and from each team a 
>>target, or jinkim, is chosen. All but the jinkims are given a 
>>clothes-pin. The jinkims are made known to the members of the other 
>>team, and then all players scatter promiscuously about the playing 
>>area.
>>Each player must fix their clothes-pin to the clothes of the jinkim 
>>of the other team. Once he has done so, the player leaves the field 
>>to the side-lines. The jinkims may not leave the playing field, nor 
>>remove any clothes-pins which have been placed on them, nor may any 
>>other player touch a clothes-pin so attached, except that the 
>>jinkims may use the knife to scrape off or cut off their 
>>clothes-pins, with the caution that while doing so they will be in 
>>one place, and therefore easier for the other team to catch. 
>>During the entire game all players chant, "jinkim! jinkim!".
>>As soon as all of the members of one team, except its jinkim, have 
>>returned to the side-lines, the game is concluded, and the jinkims 
>>stand while the number of clothes-pins successfully attached to 
>>each is counted. Which-ever team has put the most pins onto the 
>>other team's jinkim is declared the Winner.