So... if there are Japanese crossword puzzles (there are),
why is there no Japanese version of Scrabble?Ever wonder? It's because it's impractical and not very fun.
Spelled in kana, a couple of characters in almost any combination makes a word.
In normal Scrabble-like gameplay, that would promote small, filled-in blocks of tiles,
which is unproductive because Scrabble only gets interesting when the arrangement
on the board branches out.
Also, there would be over 200 distinct character tiles, not counting disused and
"small" kana or modifiers, so a game for four players would have thousands of pieces.
If they allowed kanji characters… you'd need tens of thousands to approach the freedom
to make words that the English version allows. You'd spend a whole evening arranging
them so you could find them, then the cat would knock them flying.
Naturally as a computer game with some special rules, it would at least be feasible.
Still more work than fun. People have tried to come up with this and failed.
〜〜〜
🎶 Pittan, pittan, mojipittan 🎶For little kids, there's a scrabble-like computer game that started off on arcade
consoles and quickly moved to portable game players, and now smart phones.
Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan (Character-Matching Word Puzzle)
It's restricted to hiragana and thus native Japanese words only. Your points come
from making more words, not placing more characters, or high-value characters,
or landing on multiplier squares.
Better than Scrabble: it has the catchiest soundtrack ever created.
〜〜〜
There are a couple of traditional word-game alternatives.
Shiritori (
long article in Japanese at Wikipedia)
尻取り(shiritori, "taking up the rear-end") is a word-chaining game normally
played with simple rules. Each new word in the chain begins with the final
mora of its predecessor. Gameplay can be verbal, or pictorial like a rebus,
for extra party fun and inevitable arguments about what your picture
is really a picture of.
Ame >
Medaka >
Kai >
Isu > etc.
Kotoba Asobi: Shiritori – Learning the Japanese Style of Wordplay 32014 DEC 16 by staff for the Quest for Japan blog (updated:2015.05.19)
quest-for-japan.com/traditional-culture/kotoba-asobi-shiritori-learning-japanese-style-wordplay-3/ Other forms of wordplay, not really related but still fun:
Kotoba Asobi No.1: Kaibun (Palindromes)quest-for-japan.com/traditional-culture/kotoba-asobi-kaibun-learning-japanese-style-wordplay/
Kotoba Asobi No.2: Dajare (Puns)quest-for-japan.com/traditional-culture/kotoba-asobi-dajare-learning-japanese-style-wordplay-2/〜〜〜
What Shiritori looks like as a made-for-TV battle contestThe Morning Musume crew did their take on it.
There's a rebus drawing and guessing battle somewhere I can't locate.
Strict time limits is a little more than Reina can handle.
Open in a new tab at Daily MotionHello! Morning - World Children's Games (Subtitled)
2006 by V3rtIgO (09:34)
Hello! Morning - (2006.08.06) - World Children's Games Section
Featuring "Hard Gay" Razor Ramon (Subtitled)
AKB48 being older, there are extra pro-series rules. In this Fuji TV
special, only bitchy-idol phrases are allowed. "They *would* say that!"
Open in a new tab at Daily MotionAKBIdoling!!! Shiritori Battle 12011 by Gozua (13:47)
AKB-48.COM did the subs so thanks should go to them.
Check channel main page or playlists for more Japanese TVIf you loved that so much you need 40 minutes of it...
Taped on the same day?
Open in a new tab at Daily MotionAKBIdoling!!! Shiritori Battle 22011 by Gozua (42:28)
AKB-48.COM did the subs so thanks should go to them.
Has the same beginning as the last AKBIdolling, but not the same episode. Check channel main page or playlists for more Japanese TVThis clip is just fun when you're a 4-year-old, or just want to be.
"Shiritori Rock'n'Roll" Yokohama Ginbae2008 FEB 10 by degusakura (00:18)
Complete song lyrics:
あらいぐままままままままま マントヒヒヒヒヒヒヒヒヒヒ ひとこぶらくだだだだだだだだ ダックスフンドドドドドドドドド どうも | Ariguma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma Mantohihi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi Hitokoburakuda-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Dakkusufundo-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do Doumo | Raccoon Hamadryas Baboon Dromedary Dachshund Thank you
|
It's a pro-level flourish, that even
doumo starts with the last mora
of
dakkusufundo. You can't be that cool by accident.
Yokohama Ginbae (横浜銀蝿) are never cool by accident.
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/横浜銀蝿They are formally known as "THE CRAZY RIDER 横浜銀蝿 ROLLING SPECIAL",
or "TCR Yokohama Ginbae RS" for short.
They've been a constant source of inspiration since 1980 and are still playing.
They announced their disbandment in July 2002, but the attempt failed miserably.
Knucklehead yankee delinquent rocker hot-rod hoodlums
.
「デビュー前秘蔵映像」横浜銀蝿 2017 AUG 25 by H (21:31)
Yokohama Ginbae – Cherished Pre-Debut Footage
At 02:30 it's 「横須賀Baby」("Yokosuka Baby"), still
their most popular number if Google is any indication.
〜〜〜
You'd expect that something like
Capping Verses would be a old-time
word game in Japan, and you'd be right.
It's just a harder variation on Shiritori, in which you pick up as much as
the entire last word of a complete phrase to begin a new phrase.
If the players are lucky or astute, the chain of phrases grows into something
greater than the sum of the parts, like a Dadaist poetry game.
Fujimi Saigyō u shiro muki ▽
Muki mi hamaguri baka hashira ▽
Hashira wa ni-kai to en'noshita ▽
Shimotani uenonoyama katsuraWait, the last one's no good!
Yeah, it is…
en'noshita is a compound ending in 下 and
Shimotani is a
compound starting with the same kanji character. It's pronounced
differently, but that's what makes the choice such an ace move.
The example comes from Kotobank:
kotobank.jp/word/尻取り-535841〜〜〜
The word game of Capping Phrases is not to be confused with the
jakugo of Rinzai zen Buddhism, sometimes also translated as capping phrase
or capping verse. That's different, and not a game.
Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Koan PracticeVictor Sogen Hori
(2003) University of Hawaii Press
muse.jhu.edu/book/8068 〜〜〜
To play Capping Verses correctly in English, each new phrase should be an actual
line of verse from a well-known poem. This pastime is centuries-old among
literary scholars, who would play for bragging rights.
In Hard Mode, restrict the selection domain to classical poetry in Greek or Latin.
Or one certain author or school. And so on.
Exalted Grand Master Double-Capping version:
Players take turns providing a challenge verse. To cap it with a new verse,
you have to match both the initial *and* the final letter. Successful answer
wins the right to issue the next challenge, and so on.
Incredibly boring unless real geniuses are playing, and then it's a little thrilling.