SQLServerCentral Editorial

Stump the Wizard

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Today we have an editorial from Aug 3, 2007. It is being republished as Steve is on vacation.

It goes like this:

Kendall: "I need a coach...Kyle!"

They confer in the back seat of the car and in a minute we hear "I'm thinking of a word that starts with a "P"

Mom: "It is an animal"

Kyle: "No, it's not a 'pig'."

Mom: "It is an animal"

Kyle: "No, it's not a 'pelican'."

Mom: "It is an animal"

Kyle: "No, it's not a 'parrot'."

Delaney: "Is it the word in the military alphabet that starts with 'P'?"

Kyle: "No, it's not 'Parade'."

Delaney: "Is it the word in the military alphabet that starts with 'P'?"

Kyle: "Sorry Kendall, I don't know that one."

Delaney (laughing): "It's 'Papa'!"

Kyle: "The next letter is 'a'."

Dad: "Is it something used to carry water?

Kyle: "No, it's no a 'pail'."

Mom: "Is it something you do when you're very scared?

Kyle: "No, it's no a 'panic'."

In case you haven't guessed, it's a car game we play called "Stump the Wizard". You try to guess the word by asking questions of the Wizard. If you can ask a question the wizard cannot answer, then you get the next letter. All subsequent answers to your questions must use the letters you have. If the wizard can come up with 3 answers to your question, then he or she is off the hook and the question is discarded. We've played this quite often and it's fun, just hard enough to make it challenging, but it's not too often that the word can't be eventually guessed.

It's fun and you might want to try it sometime. So for a Friday poll, let's get off technology.

What's a fun game to play with others that passes the time?

With family, friends, even something to do while that next Service Pack is being applied. 20 Questions used to be our favorite before this one.

A funny story: we played Stump the Wizard a bunch of times while driving around Cancun in June and of the dozen or so games we played, we were stumped twice. Both times by our 6 year old daughter, Kendall! She uses whoever is sitting next to her as her "coach." She comes up with the word and they respond to the questions.

The words? Palace and Vulture.

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