All great suggestions and comments. I'd like to add some thoughts too, if I may.

Over the last few months, I notice some mass confusion happening in the Chains. It seems that following instructions on how to format each chain has gone out of the window, and some of them have become a real jumble of higgledy-piggedly-ness (is that a word? ) as of late.

Out of respect to the original authors who each determined the format of their chains, and out of consideration to new-comers that stick their head in here, wondering whether to play or not, may I suggest that we get back to following the format for each one? I for one, am starting to second-guess myself when I see several different formats in the same chain, and I've been here a while and have a few posts under my belt, so I can imagine how confusing it must be for someone just starting out! I'd like to see it made a little easier for them, so they will stay and join in the fun! Using a uniform format for each individual chain will do that, and the likelihood of them inadvertently adding to the chaos will be greatly reduced, as well as making for a tidier looking space.

Any thoughts on whether we should go back to using the proper format for each chain, or should we just 'do our own thing' ?

I'm not sure which games you mean, Mags? I haven't noticed format changes on the ones I play most often, so maybe those aren't the ones you're referring to? Or maybe they've been messed up long enough that I don't remember what they were before? lol

Oops, sorry for not being clearer, gg. It's mostly the various words games that I'm referring to, Word Tag, Opposites Attract, Keep One Drop One, Original Word Game to name a few. Some were set up as lower case only and some as capitalized. They seem to be both in the same chains now, which I find it confusing as to which should be used, and find myself scrolling back to see whether I should capitalize or not. In the grand scheme of things, I realize it's not the end of the world, but I do find it messy and a little confusing. I can imagine for a newcomer it's even worse. Personally, I can find all kinds of reasons not to combine different formats in one chain, and no reasons to combine. But that's just me.

As a fairly new chain devotee, I think I would prefer some structure for each game. I am making a concerted effort to follow original formats.

What I love about the chains, is the variety of answers based on geographic location of the participants.

Thanks to all the quirky, original minds that keep these going, in spite of unruly newcomers.

L

We're glad to have you aboard Lizzie. Thank you for paying attention and for playing nicely .


MadMags - I fully agree with your views. A uniform format and a nice tidy looking chain is all I ever wished to see. And I keep on hoping that the word "respect" has not been withdrawn from the dictionaries yet.
Maybe it's about time I start *enforcing* things around here. After all, I've spent 27 years of my life living under a dictatorial/communist regime - I have a good example of how to implement that .

Well, see what happens when I don't visit this thread for awhile? Everyone gets to offer Gatsby well-wishes except for me. But, Gats, we all notice instantly when you aren't around the chain games ~ you've got folks all around the world sending you hopeful but concerned wishes even before you are able to hobble to your computer and explain your absence!

I wanted to add, rather belatedly, my two cents about the uniformity of the various games. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but having a nice neat chain overall makes the playing much easier. I'm know it's a bit of an adjustment for newbies (having once been one myself), but consistency is definitely the key to keeping the whole thing from running willy-nilly into chaos.

I think the point of that comment was that when a letter is a added (e.g. Grater + E : Greater), if you remove the same letter (i.e. the E) on the next turn, we're essentially right back where we were two posts ago. Not that big of a deal, to me, but it would be more "going forward" if we had new letter combinations with every post.

Gats, no disrespect meant because this is by far my most favorite chain game. GG has explained my semi-complaint well. When I attempt to add to the chain I always will respect the answer that the previous solver has come up with by not deleting the letter he added (or adding the letter he deleted) so that the chain keeps evolving. This even means when a second E, for instance, is added the next solution must preserve both E letters.

Keep up the great work, Gats, I look forward to the next chain you "invent".

I'm noting the huge difference in the flow of this games without Gatsby here. Sometimes I log on after a long absence and only a few games have been played. Some of the games that are usually played frequently have been languishing on page 2. Each of us makes a contribution to these games, but when Gats is gone, I sense a big hole in our little world.

Yes, what you're saying is correct and everybody knows it. Gatsby IS the Chain Games and we all thank him for that.

I am honestly trying to do my best but it will never be enough for the "power players" - the ones that come here more frequently than I do. Over the week I'm at work and never get home before 8 PM . By that time my brain is half numb... At least I'm happy that the games haven't disappeared on my watch .

Thank you, everybody (by the way ) for keeping Chainville alive, kicking, smooth and hearty while I was out with mysteriously broken bones . So nice to be back, after days of people telling me to move that leg this way, do it forty times, stand on your head, now squawk like a chicken fifty times. Repeat. Just kidding . While grueling, rehab was definitely purposeful. I hated much of it, make no mistake. But nobody ever said 'purposeful' was always to be *fun*, did they?

So, anyway, back to 'chain game' focus for me . Much easier than internal bleeding. I really like the idea of this new "Anagrams" game! But there's a problem with word games like that, that "start with the last letter" ones. It becomes clear, in seconds, how many words end with *E*, *S*, *T*, and *N* . It's MUCH more challenging than it looks to skitter away from that pattern. Anyway, just explaining why I sometimes post a single 'anagram' (which is probably not the ideal to do). BUT it leaves a different-ish letter to start the next post with .

Do we need to somehow tweak the game? Make the letter mix more varied? Any thoughts? Ideas?

Or is it okay "as is"?

I've been making a conscious effort to try to end with a different-ish letter, but sometimes it's hard, especially if you're also starting with a different-ish letter. I think maybe *some* guidelines would be good for the game, something like "must make a list of at least three" or "words must be at least four letters". or something. it is okay as is, but I think there must be some way of improving it a little..


Also, I was thinking just yesterday, is that game where we have 20 questions to guess a person place or thing still around somewhere?

Guitargoddess, The "20 Questions" game is in the Games & Challenges Forum - HERE

It hasn't been played since december 2006 and I remember locking it sometime last year.
At some point it was suggested by a player to start it new in the Chain Games but one of the admins (Sue) said "no, because it's not a chain".

If you want to restart it, feel free to do so in the "Games&Challenges" forum. Or, if you prefer, I can post it in there for you.

Oh, thanks! Coulda sworn we had one in here, the Chain Games, 'cause Mags and I used to be pretty much the only ones playing it sometimes. I'll re-start if/when I think of something good to have people guess

GG, we did have one in here briefly. It didn't move along much because each person had to guess and then wait (sometimes long periods) for the other person to respond.

Sigh. Another game bit the dust yesterday, after several trips to the boneyard (and not retrieved from it this time, after two weeks cold and dead). RIP to that extremely interesting *Misquote The Previous Poster* one . Just announcing it, though, because that leaves room for a new game ... if anybody has any cool ideas for one. Or two or three, probably. I haven't counted lately ~ but I'm thinking there's space for more than just one new one.

Any ideas ?

I had been thinking awhile ago, that I like the "get to know each other" nature of the Pick Between These game, so I thought maybe it'd be neat to have something similar where you ask open-ended questions, not just give two choices. But not sure if that really qualifies as a chain game..

We had one once, GG, that might fall into that category. Called "Pick The Right One", or something. The idea was to give four "facts" about yourself -- except that three of those "facts" were very total lies. Whoever guesses the "true" one, then, gets to go next while the current 'list poster' gets to explain, a little, the details surrounding their 'truth'. Example:

I've spent more than three days in a county jail.
I once shook author Dean Koontz's hand.
Believe it or not, I've never seen the movie Top Gun.
I never, not even once, voted for George W. Bush for US President.

So, one of those is true as written. The question then becomes, which one? It's fun to get creative with the falsehoods, and gets interesting to explain the one that's for real.

Maybe something like that? And, by the way, feel free to guess which one of the above is true (as it applies to me), if you wish .

Keeping up with "follow-up" (yes,that's the one -or- no, that's wrong) as guesses roll in gets to (sometimes) be a problem, though. The game flowed in spurts, usually.

Oh neat! That sounds fun.

Looks like a few changes (or, OK, more than a few ) have happened on The Forums, and therefore the Chains, too. I'm liking them! And I, for one?, am not seeing anything changed so weirdly that it can't be adapted to. BUT ... if anyone is having glitches, go ahead and post them here (or to Terry directly in one of the Administrative threads). It can all be sorted out.

It all looks so different, though, doesn't it ?

I'm especially liking these new "smiley" icons !

I don't like that threads that have unread posts aren't showing up in bold... but they're showing up with a red number next to the total number of posts, so I guess it works out..

I've been gone for a few days -- has anyone figured out some cool things we can do with this new design that we couldn't do before?

One frustrating thing I've noticed so far is that I now must close all of my bolds and italics. Previously, if the end of my post was in bold, I could just insert a bold code and the entire end of the message would be in bold. Now, I must insert a "[/b]" code, even if I don't intend to enter anything after it.

Hey GG -- if you like the "get to know you" games like "Pick Between These", why don't you give "Describe the Next Person" a try?

Excellent recommendation Starfish! What a neat game.

Hmm. Well, that was very weird ! I tried to restart the *Six Degrees* game (and managed to) -- but it turned the whole thread, the whole order of the Chain Games actually, upside down! All the new posts switched to the bottom of the list (as per my screen at least)? I guess we'll see if that bug, or whatever it is, persists before I get all excited ...

Omigod (sigh!) They didn't reverse order ... they switched to alphabetical order! What the heck did I accidentally hit? Are you all still seeing them in order of most recent?

Ignore all that, now, I think. All sorted. Even though I still don't know what I hit to rearrange the order of matters on my screen .