It was during IOI training camp that I learned the games Mafia and Contact. Mafia is a huge and lovely game requiring some time and space, while contact is a short and lovely game requiring just three persons.
Rules
These are the rules of contact as I play it, and not necessarily how it is played elsewhere.
Objective
Contact is a word guessing game. One turn would be equivalent to one word that is thought of by the word master. There can be any number of turns - the game can be stopped after the very first turn or can continue forever. There is no scoring. There are no winners. There are only words and guesses.
Players
Minimum: 3 - (every turn, one becomes word master and the rest become guessers)
Maximum: 7-10 (there’s no real maximum. But life becomes extremely difficult for the word master if there are too many people giving cryptic clues)
Required
Nothing but words.
Turn
For each turn one player becomes the word master. Automatically, everyone else becomes guessers.
The word master thinks of a word.
The word master gives out the first letter of the word, say “D”.
The guessers aren’t allowed to directly make guesses by shouting out words. Rather, they have to do so indirectly by giving a (cryptic) clue about what they think the word is. For example, a guesser here might say “Not an animal, but makes quacking sounds.”
The clue is for other players and the word master to ponder upon.
If other players can identify what the word the guesser gave a clue about is, they can shout “Contact!” and they’d have established a contact with the guesser which is important to defeat the word master.
If the word master, on the other hand, can identify what word the guesser was thinking about they can just say “Oh, you’re thinking about a duck? My word is not ‘duck’” and that clue is dissolved. (Another player can now guess what the word might be by giving another clue like “One on cheek, a hundred on a golf ball”.)
But if the word master cannot identify the word, while a contact has been established, it is dangerous for the word master. Now their only option is to “Challenge” the people having a contact. On hearing “Challenge” from the word master, the players with established contact have to say together (in a chorus) “3..2..1..Duck!” (where Duck is the word they were guessing).
If the person who gave the clue and the person who established contact both blurt out “Duck”, the word master has to give away the next letter of his master word. Say “O”. (And now any player can give clue based on a guess for a word starting with “DO”. Like, “The chemical which brain loves”)
If the person who gave the clue said “duck”, and nobody with a contact said “duck” (maybe they said “Dracula”, “dinosaur”), then the word master is safe (does not have to give out the next letter), the clue is dissolved. And any player can give a clue based on a guess of the word.
The game goes on till the word master gives out so many letters of the word that there’s no other word that can be formed out of those letters other than the word the word master is thinking about. (“patients, not patience” “Oh you’ve got it, yes, my word is doctor”)
Choosing the word master
Word master can be anyone with a word in mind at the beginning of the turn. In case there is a fight for being the word master, the player who guessed the right word at the end of the last turn can be given the chance to be the word master or the chance to choose the next word master. If there’s a fight to be word master on the first turn, settle with any randomization method that’s acceptable with all players.
Fits the Clue
When a clue is given, the word master can guess any word that fits the clue as the answer. And the clue is dissolved if the word that the word master guesses fits the clue. For example, if the clue is “an animal” and the word master says “dinosaur”, the clue is dissolved.
Universality of the Clue
Unless it is okay for all players (or the word master specifically), the clues that are given should be such that anyone in the world with normal general knowledge will be able to resolve the clue to a word that the guesser is thinking of. This prevents abuse of in-jokes, or facts that are known only to a couple of people being used as clues. For example, “The word that you told me yesterday when I was having intercourse with you” is not a universal clue.
The criteria of universality can be relaxed upon agreement between players. It could be decided that a clue is universal if the majority of the players can resolve the clue to the word. This allows clues like “The thing on top of our college building”
Observational Consistency of Master Word
The word master can change the word they’re thinking about while the game is in progress. As long as the outside world does not know what word was initially thought about and as long as the letters already given out are same for both words, there’s no real way for outsiders to know what the “initial” word was. So, if the word master started off with “doctor” in mind, it could later become “dogmatic” while only “do” are given out.
Extending Clues, Breaking contact
If someone gives out a clue and nobody has any clue, they can choose to extend their clue or simplify their clue. The word master has the right to hear every hint about the word when such extensions are made. (You can’t privately tell a guesser an extra clue which the word master hasn’t heard.)
If someone establishes contact and the clue-giver is not sure if the other person has the right word, the clue-giver may choose to extend the clue to confirm they both have the same word in mind.
The players can decide whether “breaking contact” is permissible. If yes, when a player who established contact thinks that they’ve got the wrong word (maybe after the clue was extended), they can choose to say “I’m breaking contact”.
Tips
Some tips for you
Challenge, if clueless
If someone makes a really cryptic clue. And if someone says “oh, I think I may know this, unless it’s not what I think it is. Contact!”, there’re chances that the words they are thinking of are different. Challenge immediately before they extend the clue or break contact.