| Author: | Clinton R. Nixon and Crystal Dreisbach |
|---|---|
| Date: | August 24, 2004 |
| Copyright: | This work is copyright 2004 Clinton R. Nixon. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA. |
| Colophon: | This document was created using DocTools. |
"Coffeepot" was originally shared with me by Crystal Dreisbach and its origins lie deep in old family lore. "Tournament Coffeepot" is my own invention.
Standard Coffeepot is meant to be played with two people, and is good for long road trips or sitting in an airport. One of the people, the coffeepotter, thinks of a verb phrase - a gerund phrase, to be exact. Examples:
The other person, the questioner, must ask questions with yes or no answers about the phrase, which is given the term coffeepot. These questions are used to determine what "coffeepot" is. Examples:
All questions can be assumed to have the word "generally" as a part of them in order to make them answerable.
The point of the game is for the questioner to guess what "coffeepot" means correctly. When guessed correctly, or when the questioner gives up - a very non-sporting thing to do - the roles of coffeepotter and questioner are reversed.
In Standard Coffeepot, there is no winner. Tournament Coffeepot adds the idea of a winner, as well as multi-player competition. Tournament Coffeepot may be played with as many people as you like, although three to eight are recommended.
One person is designated the coffeepotter, and all others are questioners. Starting to the left of the coffeepotter, each questioner takes turns asking one yes/no question of the coffeepotter. After receiving the answer, they have a chance to announce what they think "coffeepot" means. If they choose to guess and are incorrect, they are eliminated for that round of play.
Whoever guesses the meaning of "coffeepot" correctly wins the round and scores two points. If every person is eliminated, the coffeepotter wins the round and scores one point. The winner of the round is the coffeepotter for the next round.
Play progresses until either a specified number of points are met, or a specified number of rounds.