This is about this Balderdash! game AlternateTorg started, with its affiliated OOG thread. Since we're on page 10 of the OOG thread and Funky Honky has told mods to lock it, I figured I should do this elsewhere, but I wanted to do it.

AlternateTorg made this wonderful summary post at the end of the game thread.

I knew the definitions used for only xeric, tyro, obdurate, gluten, fabaceous, epiphysis (a word I used), and centenarian before the game. AT says that I got 26, or 51%, of the definitions correct. That means that I knew 6 words and guessed 20, so that 77% of my correct guesses were, in fact, guesses. For most of my guesses, I did a process of elimination and often used word parts. But really, most of my skill here is the same reason I did well on standardized tests back when they were an important part of my life: I like to game tests and analyze distractors. It's easier to do when they were all written by one person, but it's certainly fun to do in this case.

Absolutely everyone guessed my word in round 4 (here and a few posts down), when I just copied and pasted the correct definition from the OED. From then on, I deliberately simplified the language for all of the words I found. Using dictonary-ese also really helped when I was making up fake definitions; I haven't analyzed it, but it certainly seemed that putting a semicolon in a definition greatly increased the number of people who'd chose it.

AncientMemories and anyone else having trouble with coming up with hard words: random buttons are your friend. Because my university has a subscription with the OED, I used their random button. I rarely used the word that came up, but usually used a word close to it. After I used up a weird word I knew (epiphysis), I started out just using the random button on wordie, but not all of the words there are real words, and many were "rare" or "obsolete" when I looked them up in the OED, so I just started using the random button right in the OED and checking for a word I didn't know that wasn't tagged as rare or obsolete.

Googling for "weird word" sites brings up lots of neat ideas, as well. But you do have to check a word you choose from one of those against a dictionary; some of the sites are less reliable than others.

The knack for deducing the language of origin is a useful skill in Balderdash. For example, when I tossed out "macuahuitl," I'm guessing that the "tl" ending may have tipped people off to its Mesoamerican origin, as CodeBlack, who guessed the wrong definition, still provided a fake definition referencing the Aztec. Knowing your Greek and Latin roots helps a lot, until people wise up to that and stop putting out words that use them.

Long words are fun, but they tend to give more clues to guessers. A good, obscure, monosyllabic word can really throw people for a loop.

A little introspection (using elfy's strategy against yourself) can also help. I noticed that I tended to give "regional" definitions, ("A Scottish word for open grassland," "A Polynesian dessert of mashed fruit wrapped in banana leaves") so I tried to mix it up a bit to make things less predictable. Unless, of course, the word "smelled" strongly of a particular region already--no reason to pretend a word isn't East Asian when everyone knows it is.

When playing against Grillick, I'd recommend opting for words with non-Western roots. He's studied French, the Classics, and history, which gives him a rather enormous vocabulary; particularly in regards to words with Greek, Latin, or Germanic roots.

Or, you know, just don't let him play any more because he's a big cheater. :D

I also have a mind like a steel trap, and used to read the dictionary in my spare time.

And as all the world knows, he is the very soul of modesty. ;-) :-)

--tll

Full of deceased animal?