My co-workers and I have taken to playing Scrabble when it gets unbarably slow at work, which is often (one hour photo store and it's neither summer nor the holidays...lotsa free moments), and I made a casual mention of Lying Bastard Scrabble, which I first heard about in one of the Symphony stories. As there was quite a bit of interest, I did the prerequisite Google search, and came up with quite a few hits. (Yours came up in the first 20, I might add.) Unfortunately, nothing had the rules, just references to lying bastards playing Scrabble...( I pitched in the towel after 50 hits...)

So, I said to myself, why not go to the person(s?) who implanted the concept in your brain and ask? So, is this some codified form of Scrabble with rules and whatnot, or is it the kind of deal where you agree to let the word go if the definition sounds plausible enough, and can be delivered without stopping first to think it up? I'd really love to know, so we can start playing it. Thank you for your time.

"I can't say I'm very pleased with the way my life is just now...but I can't help but look forward to where it's going."

-JTHM"

I never bothered making up actual rules for LBS, and as far as I know none exist elsewhere - I just made it up for the sake of a couple of offhanded references. It's not a real game like Knightmare Chess (although the game of KC featured in the Symphony isn't played according to the official rules, as a certain segment of the population never tires of informing me).

Your interpretation above is pretty close to the way it works in my mind, though. It's just a variation of Scrabble where the idea is to make words up and present them to the other players. The keys to the whole thing are quick wits - making up the words on the spot based on what's on your rack - and confidence, since you have to sell the concept to the other players. Not that you have to make them believe it's a real word - the game is called "Lying Bastard Scrabble", after all - but still, putting it across with authority tends to help one's case. The idea is to come up with something that looks like it could be a real word, albeit one you'd have to look up if you found it in a book you were reading.

In the pure form of LBS, no real words are allowed, and a player accidentally making up a word that can be proven real is disqualified.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
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