Wikipedia:Department of Fun/Word Association
Introduction
This is a fun and simple game. It's in the Sandbox - feel free to join in! It's a good place to practice making links to articles, and to start looking for interesting articles on Wikipedia.
How to Play
By way of example, a game might start off with: cat. Then, the next person might add cat, dog. And after a few more rounds, we might get cat, dog, pet, animal, forest, tree, ...
Simply, the game involves adding a single word to the list that is related to the previous one. Avoid repeating words, and keep the links tasteful! Clearly, as the game develops, one gets a pretty long list! If you're stuck for ideas, link to the last word in the list and add the first link that appears on that page as the next link. Thus Sebastian Junger would be followed by 1962, and Latin by language.
Try to update the word count each time you add a word. The official limit for the main game is 400 words.
Occasionally, it's good to have some branches that diverge the main game into several sections. The official limit for said branches is 80 words. Try not to make a branch when the main game is about to close down; that will only store your branch away in the archives. Please only branch when the word exists in the word list.
In spirit of the game, please only type one word consecutively. Then, another person can respond to your word, and the game continues!
The game
Main Word: 'Rhymes'
Rhymes, Poetry, Bob Dylan, Dylan Thomas, November 9, 9/11, 9-1-1, Telephone operator, Directory enquiries, Yellow Pages, White Pages, Notepad, Computer, Disc, Vinyl record, Deutsche Grammophon, Music, MTV VMA, VH1, Breaking Bonaduce, Bai Ling, Bail, Bonds, Chains, Balls, Abdomen, Belly, Button, Ornament, Christmas , Tree, Graph, Chart, Billboard, Advertisement, Advertising, Billboard, Lithography, Photography, Paparazzi, Hello!, Goodbye, Farewell, Adios, KMFDM, Acronym, STFU, Internet slang, LOL, AOL, Proxy, Proxima, Alpha Centauri, Sid Meyer, Oscar Meyer, Wiener, Vienna, Ultravox, Annoying, MTV, Music, Snobbery, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens, United Kingdom, Afternoon tea, Boston Tea Party, U.S. History, Abraham Lincoln, American Civil War, Molly Pitcher, Molly Hatchet, Charles Hatchett, Niobium, Periodic table, Punctuation, Grammar, Kelsey Grammer, Frasier Crane, Seattle, Washington, George, Bush, Idiot, Moron, Mormon, Cult, cult film, Clerks., Jay and Silent Bob, Bobby pin, Hairdressing, Salon, Beauty, Caitlin Stasey, Neighbours, Australia, Convicts, Prison, Cell, Mobile phone, Orange, Lemon, Citrus, Fruit, Gay, homophobia, Bob Dornan, Who?, RTFA, initial, first, Prime, Prime Directive, Directive, Communism, Wikipedia is communism, hammer and sickle, USSR, Socialist, Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Elitism, Scottsdale, Arizona, Golf courses, Hole, The Hole, Prison, Rape, Deflower, Cherry, Sherry, Solera,
- Total Word Count: 133/400 as of word Solera
Branch: 'Christmas'
Christmas, Christmas lights, Lambeth, lambda, Wavelength, Thoughts, Secrets, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Erin Brockovich, Arnold Schwarzenegger, groping, Pervert, Hentai, tentacle rape, Pornography, Ron Jeremy, Judaism, manora, Minaret, mosque, Imam, Iman, Naomi Campbell, Campbell's chicken noodle soup, Andy Warhol, War, and Peace, Pies, Weebl and Bob, Homestar Runner, Lone Star State, Dallas Cowboys, American football, Brett Favre, Gulfport, Mississippi, Ghost town, Spook, Chanel Cole, Australian Idol, Crocodile Dundee, Stereotype, Ethnicity, Ethnic music, Sitar, India, Pakistan, Cricket, Grasshopper, Zurich, Turicum, Zurich, Swiss banks, Switzerland, Europe, Boxing Day, Santa Claus, Presents, Toys, December, Winter, Snowflakes, Snowman, Holiday, Feast, Culture, God, Bible, Church, Hymn, Christmas Carol, Music, Musical instrument, Choir, Religion, Reality, Love, Joy, Peace, Grace, Gratitude, Salvation, Jesus Christ, Pat Robertson, Coke, Cocaine, Drug addict, Courtney Love Valentine's Day, Cupid, stoopid, Connie Francis, France, Tricolour, Flag, Design, Intelligent Design, Creationism, Darwinism, social Darwinism, natural selection, Darwin Awards, Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel, dynamite, Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess, Rudolf Hess, Nazi, Fascist, Mussolini, Il Duce, Il Divo, Il Gattopardo, Sicily, Mafia, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Boots, Dora, explorer, Netscape, Mozilla Foundation, Long Now Foundation, y2k, January 1, New Year, New Year's Day (song), Chinese New Year, Tet, Vietnam, Laos, Asia, continent, Geography, Geology, Rock, Wrought,
- Total Word Count: 136 as of word wrought
Ultra Word Association
This is a fun derivative of word association that involves a bit more creativity. It is also a good way to start seeing how you make Tables on Wikipedia.
How to Play
Simply add your word to the grid, either going sideways or downwards. One word at a time please!
- If you go sideways, your new word needs to associate with the word to the LEFT of it.
- If you go downwards, your word need to associate with the word ABOVE it.
- If there is a word ABOVE and to the LEFT of your word, it needs to be associated with BOTH of them.
- You can't add a word so that there's an empty gap either above it or to the left of it.
- You are not allowed red links.
By the time we can reach the final gridsquare, (bottom right), we will have a word associated with every single other word in the grid, that began as the top-left square.
Obviously, it is harder to fill in the in-between squares as you have to be creative to find the word that associates twice. Thus more satisfaction and praise goes to the guys who can get us closer to that elusive bottom-right square. If absolutely necessary, a previous word can be overwritten.
Give it a go!
Example
Here's what the beginning of a game might look like:
| Angels | Demons | Fire | Hose |
| Halo | Kill | Gun | |
| Ring | TV | Dirty Harry |
Here's how those words are working. The highlighted squares show how the bottom-rightmost word is related to the one ABOVE and to the LEFT of it.
| Angels First word. |
Demons Related to Angels. |
Fire Related to Demons. |
Hose Related to Fire. |
| Halo Related to Angels. |
Kill Related to Halo (via the X-Box game) AND related to Demons as Demons kill |
Gun Related to Kill AND related to Fire via Gunfire. | |
| Ring Related to Halo as it's a Ring |
TV Related to Ring and Kill as in "The Ring", the TV Kills |
Dirty Harry Related to Gun and TV as Dirty Harry uses guns on TV |
This is achieved with the code:
| [[Angels]] || [[Demons]] || [[Fire]] || [[Hose]] |- | [[Halo]] || [[Kill]] || [[Gun]] |- | [[Ring]] || [[TV]] || [[Dirty Harry]] ||
The ultra game: 'Melbourne Beach, Florida'
In this game, the initial word was chosen by clicking the "Random article" link.
| Melbourne Beach, Florida | Brevard County | Atlantic | Pacific Ocean | Marianas Trench |
| Melbourne | Country | Cape Verde | archipelago | |
| Melba toast |
Official Target Grid-Size: 7x15
Ultra Fixed Word Association: 'House'
This is a spinoff of the Ultra association. In this one, you don't have any control over what the initial words are.
Grid-Size: 7x15 (do not expand)
Radial ultra game: 'Albert Einstein'
The rules are identical to the ultra game, except that the starting point begins in the centre of the box, and words expand out from the centre, associating to all the adjacent cells.
Word Disassociation
Introduction
This is a take-off of the original word association, and hasn't been seen since Game #3.
As with the ultra word association and the ultra branch, leave this here to archive itself seperate from the main game.Also, feel free to make a branch occasionally.
How to play
This is much like the regular word association,except instead of trying to put a word that is related to the previous one, you put one that has no relation whatsoever!
Sometimes, the game degenerates back into the normal version of word association, but it really doesn't matter because it's fun either way! (See if you can pick out when these switchovers occur)
Main Word: Chaos
chaos,
yams,
Final Fantasy VII,
Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun,
Angels,
Moon,
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantisiliogogogoch,
Adidas,
Plantains,
Blu-tack,
Floccinaucinihilipilification,
Emperor Norton,
Bingo,
Michel Foucault,
Acetylseryltyrosylseryliso...serine,
Wibble,
Red Screes,
Monism,
Exploding sheep (Continued below)
Titin (Oh just click the link (something like 184k words long)),
Cow,
Salad fingers,
Butterfinger,
Badfinger,
Glockenspiel,
Boredom,
Bob McGrath,
Menendez Brothers,
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116,
Sausage,
Fnord,
River Thames,
Bloop,
Marilyn (hill),
Autofellatio,
Herbert,
Seaborgium,
Shibboleth,
Iraq Survey Group,
Caitlin Stasey,
Henry Winter,
Booger,
Aylesbury,
nondimensionalization,
gibberish,
fa la la la la la la la la,
Mosque,
Heliopolis,
Ruth Rendell,
Signcryption,
Smoot,
Moncton,
Dord,
violin,
Karl Menninger,
Escherichia coli,
Unibrow,
Inaya Day,
Tomacco
- Total word count: 57/400 as of Tomacco.
Archive of old games
- Lasted until we had about 400 words on the list, and a bunch of repeated ones.
- Our first attempt at word disassociation. Creativity was somewhat lower.
- Our second word association game. Lasted until there were around 849 words on the list, including four "branches".
- Our third word association game. Was limited to 400 words in the main branch, but several branches arose, including two invisible branches.
- The first Ultra Association game on a 7x15 grid ("Grid" to "Filippo Bruneleschi")
- Second Ultra-Association game, random seed on 7x15 ("Bridle of Constantine" to "Men"). The game only got to 7x14 when it ended.
- The branch of an older game, with slightly different rules than ultra that started it all.
Players
Here is where you can place your name and become a common player.
Active players
Nickptar,
Takitei,
Rixth,
<frat boy>,
Hosterweis (talk) (contribs),
Sirmob,
Enkauston,
GeeJo,
Xhin ,
CannotResolveSymbol,
24.83.111.176,
Craig3410,
Mark J,
Snhivhitavae,
Jimmyatic,
Soo,
Occono,
jaurisova6,
Braddie,
Grue ,
FunFuBarMan,
RobyWayne,
Alfakim -- talk ,
Larrymels,
Gururvishnu,
Bearbear,
gkhan,
Catamorphism,
Neoballmon,
Akako|☎,
Peter T.S.,
Stix,
hydnjo,
Malacandra,
GVOLTT,
WAvegetarian,
Algebra,
Luigi30,
mikecb,
MatthewF,
Francs2000 
Cristi Is Awsome
Casually Observing Players
ANNA REXIA, Corey520, knoodelhed, PryItOpen, Kodukadvakch (KOE-due-KODD-vahk), Jonathan Weiss, Nil Einne 13:23, 20 October 2005 (UTC) Yayasirrah, FrankCostanza, Dewar912, Milk77, Aquarius Rising, Xiagu, PrinceDog, Calibration, Ilyanep, mahlered, HappyCamper, Sceptre (Talk), ArkansasTraveler
Template
I have devised a template for those of you who believe you are addicted to this game and would like to tell the world:
Left side template:
| WWAA | This user is addicted to Word association. |
- Right side template:
| File:Wwaa.JPG | This user is addicted to Word association. |
Utilize it with {{User:Xhin/wwaa}} (or {{User:Xhin/wwaar}} for one that appears on the right side of a page).