Thanks, Sam, for a very entertaining account!

> Issachar pulled out a Scrabble board at one point, and four of us played Scrabble according to some very loose rules. It was unscored, and words did not really have to be words at all, just something amusing or significant to RinkWorks or the RinkUnion. I didn't play, but in honor of The Eye of Argon, I raided the stockpile of tiles so I could form "MRIFK." I had it play it with some of the tiles outside the playing grid. That set a precedent, as future words extended entirely off the board and onto the table.

I definitely like the "loose rules" versions of Scrabble. I came up with one that I played with my family - it can be a completely made up word, but you have to provide a definition for it (as if it were a real word) and use it in a sentence. It's neat to make words that sound like words but aren't.

gremlinn, Monkeyman, and I played this in the airport after an RU once. I think it may have been grem who suggested Scrabble, and I brought up the version I just mentioned. Imagine grem's reaction* when I suggested we play Scrabble unscored and without any necessity for actual words! But he ended up liking it, I think; I know we all had a lot of fun.

One thing I absolutely love about RUs or other get-togethers is the opportunity to *do* things. Something like Scrabble seems commonplace but when played with Rinkies it can be something you'll remember for a long time.

Ga" *kind of a subdued (I'm not actually sure I ever saw him not subdued) scepticism"halyn