Indian Summer Game

David Hughes and Charles Cameron

This was a delightful speed game which I played on the WaterBird board one lazy summer afternoon with my friend David Hughes, while a couple of friends peered over our shoulders, kibitzing.

We scribbled our moves on a print-out of the board which we swapped back and forth, and our rough notes afterwards provided this brief account of the game...

From my point of view, much of the fun was in setting the stage for my devastatingly clever move 9, with my unobtrusive moves 1 and 5. I wasn't sure David wouldn't move into some position along the way which blocked me -- but I figured that if he didn't, I'd have a winning combo going there... And then David comes up with his move 10, as you'll see -- and blows me out of the water with his seven links!

Charles plays Move 1: Walnut in position 2.

I place walnut in 2, for no apparent reason.

David plays Move 2: Offspring in position 7.

In 7, I place Offspring, whose "Smash It Up" is currently receiving much radio play, in homage to the recent birth of your own son, Emlyn.

Charles plays Move 3: Indian Summer in position 10.

I place Indian Summer in 10, linking Summer and Spring for 1 point, and claiming a second point for Indian Summer being an off-season like "off-Spring". Your move.

David plays Move 4: The Doors in position 9.

Okay, I place The Doors at 9, claiming links with "Offspring" at 7 because they're both bands, and with "Indian Summer" at 10 because The Doors recorded a song of that title on their album, "Morrison Hotel" -- for two points.

Charles plays Move 5: Brain in position 3.

I'm playing Brain in 3, because I hope my offspring will have a good one, claiming one point, because The Doors blew theirs (or at least their minds, which most scientists now think is the same thing), one point, and because the brain, with its two hemispheres and intricately folded gray matter looks like nothing so much as a walnut (and in some cases may even be the same size)...

David plays Move 6: Monsoon in position 6.

In 6, I place Monsoon, the name of the "Indian summer" rainy season (with 10, one point), and the moniker of one of Britain's most popular Indipop groups (with "Indian" at 10, one point, and with "The Doors" at 9, one point).

Charles plays Move 7: Nutmeg in position 8.

I place nutmeg in 8, because, ground up, it's a psychedelic (association with the Doors at 9, one point), and thus influences the brain (at 3, one point), but it's also a kind of nut (link with walnut at 2, one point).

David plays Move 8: Whiz Kid in position 5.

I place whiz kid at 5, claiming links with "brain" at 3 (a whiz kid is a kid with brains, for one thing, and could also be called a "brain" -- for two points), and with offspring at 7, because if the kid ain't somebody's offspring, it ain't a kid.

Charles plays Move 9: The Paradine Case in position 1.

I place Hitchcock's classic film, The Paradine Case, in position 1, claiming links with both "walnut" at 2 and "brain" at 3 because at one point in the movie, Charles Laughton says: "Surprising how closely the convolutions of a walnut resemble ah, those of a human brain." I wish I could think of a connection to nutmeg, but I can't. Two points, then -- and you're left with "walnut" and "monsoon" and "nutmeg" to connect to -- good luck.

David plays Move 10: Cut in position 4.

Well, the Lady is with me, as you shall see.

In 4, I place cut: you can cut walnut and make furniture out of it, including doors (two links); you shave nutmeg to use it as a spice (another point); the Doors cut a lot of records, and a number of their cuts still rule the airwaves -- like "Light My Fire", on which keyboardist Ray Manzarek really cuts loose (three links); and, stretching a bit, the monsoon is a cut above your average rainy season (for a grand total of seven).

David Hughes and Charles Cameron

a WaterBird Game

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