Subject: I was right. I was incredibly right.
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Posted on: 2015-12-14 12:11:00 UTC

Circular Gallifreyan Scrabble


A tiny portion of a game in progress.

Circular Gallifreyan Scrabble uses the Circular Gallifreyan writing system. It is played on a hexagon-based grid of interlocking circles, using a set of twelve transparent tiles.

-Five of the tiles are triangular, covering the intersection of three circles. Four of the five tiles show the circles/portions thereof which make up the basis of Circular Gallifreyan. Each 'base' tile has a set of holes in it (marked in red), to allow the insertion of...

-The other seven tiles, which are small and circular. Two of these show the vowel symbol (one with a line, one without); the other five show the consonant modifiers used in CG.

Play is similar to normal scrabble, but, er, harder. ^_^ Circular tiles are not able to overlap, so there is a tactical element to their placement - should a three-dot modifier to turn a T into a R be placed on the edge of the arc, allowing the other circles using that tile to be modified separately (but only leaving space for an 'A' vowel), or in the centre, locking all three circles to use 'T', but giving them freedom to choose their vowels?

According to the most common ruleset used in HQ, any circle with two or more modification tiles in it must form a word. A circle which is only affected by triangular tiles, or by only one modifier, can be gibberish or a partial word. (And yes, there are hardcore players who say any tile in a circle means it has to make a word. Of course there are.)

Since Circular Gallifreyan is a writing system, not a language, the game can be played in any tongue. Among HQ's fans of the game, it is considered to be easiest when played in either Quenya (since the written form of that tongue traditionally leaves out the sign for 'A', the most common vowel, and the most inconvenient one in CGS), or in the various languages which traditionally do not write their vowels. (Some, of course, consider this to be cheating.)

And did I mention it's ridiculous? Because it's super ridiculous.

hS

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