Rock Band and License Plate Game

You all read before about how much I suck at Guitar Hero. So, it comes as no surprise that I also suck at Rock Band. I think I am best at the singing and worst at the drums. And, for anyone that has ever seen me do karaoke, you have a pretty good idea of how bad I am at this game. I guess I simply have no rhythm. I should stick to word games.

Now, speaking of word games, here's a game I invented long ago to help pass the time on long drives. It's really quite simple, and I think it's pretty fun. You can also come up with various ways to score.

First, the game only works with license plates with 3 letters in a row. For you California folks, this is easy to find... since all the auto plates have the format #LLL###. Okay, so here's what you want to do. You want to find a word that contains those 3 letters in that order (but, they need not be consecutive). As you would expect, some patterns are really easy, others are really tough, and some are just impossible.

If we have a plate that read 1AFG123, then we're looking for AFG in that order, but not necessarily consecutive. One legitimate answer would be crAFtinG. Now, you can just play this for speed against friends, where the first person that produces a legitimate word wins the point. Or, you can play the more advanced and more challenging version where the goal is to get the shortest valid word. Everyone gets a chance to improve upon the current word and it's not turn-based... it's a free for all. If you can improve upon the best, then you just blurt it out to stake your claim.

Like, say we have a few players in the game. I could start with say deAFeninG (9 letters). I could then blurt out an improvement... crAFting (8 letters). Another player can then shout out rAFtinG (7 letters), and someone else could come back with AFGhan (6 letters). If no one else can't find one shorter, then whoever said it wins that point.

Of course, you should alter the rules where you see fit. One good rule is that if the 3 letters form a word already, then it's pointless and shouldn't be used. There are lots of ways to tweak the game to make it more enjoyable.

Anyway, if you like words, give this game a try some time.