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A computer "mad libs" program
generates nonsense phrases. Players
compete to search the Web for images
which they feel best capture the
phrase.
Perhaps the photos are judged, or
perhaps this is more like
"Pictionary", and the objective is to
submit the URL to your partner (who
does not
know the phrase and cannot
talk to you) so they can guess the
phrase.
Perhaps the phrases are not
automatically generated, but (again
like "Pictionary") selected from a
list of funny phrases.
Inspiration: "crotch elephant" (see
links).
Example phrases (words selected at
random from a dictionary):
"cylindrical city",
"vaudeville pinochle", "pooch
pole", "aqueous moon".
Crotch Elephant: the photo
http://www.tip.net....inting/elephant.jpg
[waugsqueke] wins that one, hands down. [egnor, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
Holiday slug
http://www.geocitie.../holiday_music.html
Not an image, as such, but it "conjures" one....? [globaltourniquet, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
explodingdog
http://www.explodingdog.com/
Sam draws pictures from phrases people submit. Strangely entertaining. [egnor, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
Holiday slug
http://www.obsse.com/dec00-1.html
The X-files inspires the actual image -- toward the bottom... [globaltourniquet, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(?) aggression in repose
http://www.thomassa.../pages/daysof2.html
Sleeping Soldier [globaltourniquet, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(??) "snake paper"
http://www.geocitie...tosa/KCAD-Pic03.jpg
Damn, waugie beat me to it. [egnor, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
Gigantic Sheep Farmer
http://www.agripict.../images/1012135.htm
Gigantic, but by trick of perspective.... let's see you do better [globaltourniquet, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(??) winged toe nails
http://www.teleport.../sample/banding.htm
Second picture from the bottom... Look at those toenails! [globaltourniquet, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(???) On a Tuesday, a Tuesday, but only overboard!
http://www.macworld...otogallery/tuesday/
Tuesday's MacWorld online: Last row of photos, first from left: people going a bit "overboard" [globaltourniquet, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(???) Tiger Rod
http://www.isiaz.com/TIGeR.htm
The opposite of Rod's Tiger [goff, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(???) Inflatable Car
http://www.theentir...ore/product157.html
As its name suggests... [goff, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
(???) Spider Goat picture
http://web.tiscali.it/sculptus/ragno.html
Not as good as I thought. [Spidergoat, Jun 08 2001, last modified Oct 17 2004]
[link]
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I like this too, but it needs to be a separate website. |
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For each word pair (before knowing the pair), you register as either a spy or an analyst. The spy submits image links, given the phrase; the analyst submits phrases, given the image links. |
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When an analyst guesses correctly after seeing an image, both the analyst and the spy who got the image get points proportional to the time the phrase has been up. |
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Past images and their guesses are available for the perusal of the amused public. |
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Cheating: People will try to cheat by creating images that spell out the words; there needs to be some way of catching that. People will try to cheat by checking the site that an image is from for phrases; I don't know whether that's worth preventing. People will also try to create images that enact the term; that, I think, should be encouraged. |
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Copyright issues: Hm. Tricky. You'd want the pictures to be inlined, and I don't think the courts will listen to "but it's not served from my site! I just link to it! It's the browser that makes it into one piece!" On the other hand, the whole game is probably too small to get onto anyone's radar, and you can always filter out images whose use people complain about. |
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"Analyst" and "spy" -- neat. You
get to see the other photos before
deciding which you want to be... |
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I was thinking the image URLs
would be blinded (the images
served by proxy), but then that
removes the "linking" defense (for
what that's worth). |
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Creating images that enact the
term makes it a different game, I
think. |
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holiday slugs,snake paper,gigantic sheep farmer,winged toe nails. |
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aggression in repose
weeping alacrity
filch with two
never, never, never sigh
On a Tuesday, a Tuesday, but only overboard!
'twas brillig |
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This one and "collaborative web fiction" in the same week! I'd pay more for the web if egnor ran it. A plentitude of pastry for you sir. |
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The game in Galactic Pot-Healer involves machine translation, not web searches by people, and text, not images; it's really no closer to the suggestion than any other charade. |
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shadowy marksmanship
unruly agriculture
Martian spleen box
global tourniquet
abominable nougat
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What's a game that does have "real
intellectual content"? |
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Searching for images is actually
rather tricky. You can't usually
just type the search keywords in
directly; you have to think about
where an image that captures
something like the concept would
be likely to occur. |
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Um, stretch. And that's such a hideous "curio" that I think I'll reject your find on those grounds alone. Perhaps think Marvin(TM)....The "Uranium 236 Explosive Space Modulator" might be called a box of spleen, in the metaphorical sense.... |
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I never did know exactly what Marvin was saying there waug. I knew *someone* here would know... |
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Spooky! I found a Spider Goat! (other than the usual goat with spider web milk stories). |
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