Fragments

by Allan Stagg

Original Game

1. Fragments from two headlines are presented to players each turn. Players have to identify the year the headline refers to.

2. When a headline is first presented, players are told the number of characters (not including spaces) in the headline, and one in ten of these characters are revealed.

3. For each headline, a player may either make a guess at the date or nominate a character to be revealed, either by position or by letter (e.g. '8th letter' or 'an S'). For one of the headlines a player may, instead of guessing the date or nominating a character, ask for an analysis of the headline. That player will be informed of the number of words in the headline, and the number of letters in each word.

Example:
1) ****a **Ni* ****p ***h* ***** wat** g**** *and* l (41) - guess at 1974
2) So*** **ib* **y** ***** eE*** ***ia ****a ****M ***a* h**** **B** (55)- ask for analysis
3) ****o r**** ***** q**** ***** **** (29) - reveal first letter
4) I**** ***** ***** ***** ****e ***n (29) - reveal a C
The requested letters are revealed in the next turn report in addition to the random 10%. The analysis sent exclusively to the player, in this case it is 10 words (4,2,7,8,4,5,7,2,13,3)

4. In the game report the GM will reveal unsuccessful guesses at the year of each headline, and will disclose another ten percent of the characters (rounded but always at least one) in headlines that were in play at the beginning of the turn. The GM may also reveal two new headlines. Note that for wrong guesses, the guesser's name is not disclosed, and for correct guesses it is but obviously not the answer itself.

5. Players who correctly guess the date of a headline will score a number of points that is determined by the number of turns that the headline has been in play. If the date of a headline is guessed after the first turn, the player will score ten points. If it is guessed after the second turn it will score 9 points, reducing to 1 point after ten turns. A headline that is more than ten turns old will always score 1 point.

6. The first player whose score reaches a limit set at the start of the game is the winner. Alternatively the game can be played over a fixed number of turns, or a combination such as "first to 50 points, 8 rounds maximum". If there is a tie, the player with the highest total score is the winner. If two or more players finish with the same score, the player who made the fewest number of requests for analysis is the winner.

7. Headlines may be straightforward or cryptic. For instance, "Normans win victory near Hastings" pretty clearly refers to 1066. But so could "One in the eye for Harold as William wins at Hastings".

Categories Variant

1. Instead of headlines describing historical events, the fragments can be a description of anything, and players need to guess the name of the thing rather than a year. The fragments in the game can be any combination of categories.

2. Example categories are: geographic feature, book, film, song, town or city, building, sports team and historical event (name not year). E.g. "The Mona Lisa is on show here and eight million visited last year" answer: The Louvre (building)

3. The categories of the fragments are not given in the turn report. However, on one fragment per turn, a player may ask for the category to be revealed to them privately. A player choosing this action may not also ask for an analysis on the same turn. Category revelations count the same as breakdown analyses for tie break purposes.

4. The game can also be run on a one-category basis, where for example the GM states in advance that all the answers are (say) famous novels. The category request option can be removed or modified as desired, for the books example perhaps the genre could be requested.

Movie Madness Variant

added by Richard Smith 2018

The category is movies, and the fragments can be one of four types:

1. Crossword - A cryptic crossword style clue to the movie's name. For example: Slave fights taking a cut badly - answer Spartacus
2. Sound Charade - A verbal sketch describing the movie in a humorous way. For example: "My wash basin is enormous" - answer Monsters Inc
3. Cougar Town - As per the game played on the US sitcom - the answer is a composite title made from two movies, the last word of one being the first of the second e.g. "From Russia With Love Actually". The synopses of the two movies are jumbled together.
4. Mouse of Games - As per the Richard Osman game show, the synopsis is for a movie with one letter changed in the title - e.g. "Robocod", "The Germinator"

Following the completion of the first game of FMM in VP, the rules for special actions have been tweaked:

Players have three SPs to spend and unlike the stanard game and categories variant, these are in addition to rather than instead of normal goes (guess or letter) on any fragment(s).

Cost 2SPs:  Analysis of word breakdown (as per standard game).

Cost 1SP:  Type of clue (Mouse of Games, Crossword, Cougar Town or Sound Charade).

Cost 1SP:  Year of the movie(s). This is qualified as follows:

• Years are according to IMDB (in brackets after the title).
• If a movie has remakes the original year is reported (so King Kong = 1933).
• If there is more than one movie on IMDB with the same name, if only one fits the clue its year will be returned, if there is more than one GM chooses arbitrarily.
• For Cougar Towns, the earlier year of the two is revealed on the first request, the later year on a second request.

Notes

• Players may play more than one special on the same fragment.
• Type and year specials can be used up to three times in the same round, for example two year requests on a Cougar Town.
• For Sound Charades type requests, the GM will give the number of words.
• Partially right guesses (such as getting one out of the two movies in a Cougar Town) will be reported simply as incorrect, but the guessing player will be informed privately that the answer is "warm".
• Players are free to use internet resources such as search engines and crossword solvers.
• If an existing player misses a round they get sent a year for one and a type for another unsolved fragment chosen at random (exluding ones they already have the information for).