Hi readers! Just for fun, I’ve decided to do a weekly anagram game here at StarCity! Why? What good will such a contest serve? Well, allow me to answer that question by telling you a story.
Once, I was visiting my grandmother in her old folks home, a fairly nice place called”Green Mountain”. After I walked in and our initial bout of hugs and chit-chat had subsided, she proceeded to tell me that I’d come on a special day – a fellow named”Old Ernie” from the home was going to put on a magic show for his fellow octogenarians, and anyone interested was allowed to attend the presentation. It would be held in a large room in the east wing that served as a gathering place and auditorium, and my grandmother was eager to attend, seeing it as a welcome break from the very rigid schedule of her normal days at Green Mountain.
I agreed to sit at her side for the show at once, and it was only an hour later that we proceeded over to the east wing. My grandmother, a woman of formidable will, if not physique, took a seat at front row center, and gestured for me to join her, which I did without trepidation – having raised dozens of children and grandchildren in her time had made her very persuasive to those of lesser age and experience. Many in my family had told me stories about how they were ailing and downhearted with the flu, only to have Grandma Jody put the spring back in their step with careful attention and lots of chicken soup.
The show was scheduled to start at 4:00 PM, and the seats were packed at that time, with many standing in the aisles. A black top hat sat on a podium on the makeshift stage, lonely, waiting for its master to appear and entertain. Unfortunately,”Old Eddie” didn’t appear that night or ever again. At approximately 4:15, one of the nurses from the home came out on stage and said tearfully “I’m sorry, but the performance won’t go on. Eddie has had a heart attack, and though we tried, he couldn’t save him.”
There was a great dismayed murmur just then, but my grandmother was unswayed. She stood up and said “Quick, give him some chicken soup!”
The nurse looked sad and gently replied “I’m sorry, Jo, but you don’t understand- Eddie has passed on.”
Again, my grandmother repeated “So give him some chicken soup!”
The nurse was flustered. She replied, “Jody, Eddie is DEAD. What good will chicken soup do?”
And my grandmother replied, “What harm?”
So yeah, this contest might not blow StarCityGames through the roof on the hit charts. It might not revolutionize Magic strategy. But come on, gentle reader. What harm? Let me introduce you to this bit of wordplay fun.
What is an anagram? It’s a bunch of letters that, when switched around and re-arranged, form a recognizable name or phrase. The rules are simple. The first person to post all ten correct answers in the forums……wins! Currently there is no prize – except for the tremendous pride that will flood your soul when word of your victory reaches your ears, and mention of your name (real or forum alias, your choice) in the Hall of Fame that will be kept at the bottom of each”Anagram Game” column!
If the contest becomes popular enough, I might start to offer a prize of some sort. If the contest doesn’t become popular, well, I’ll bury it at sea along with the tape of that Geraldo where he opens Al Capone’s vault. Not every idea is a good one, so if it gets boring and pointless and people are out on the street are pointing at me and laughing, I figure it’s time to retire this little quote-unquote”feature”.
Until that sad day comes, though, you can expect lots of letter-switching hilarity here every Friday. The category for our debut contest:
“StarCityGames Featured Writers”
Here are the ten phrases.
1. I Slice Ken
2. Nuker en’Kor
3. I Mise ‘Til Men Waltz
4. Eisel’s New Bib
5. Kent’s Donut
6. Vanilla Anurids
7. Air Rifle Mojo
8. I Reinflate
9. Co-Star N/A
10. A Mitten
Just for this week, I’ll give you a hint so you know what to expect -“Air Rifle Mojo” is Standard-tech-toting dynamo”Jim Ferraiolo.” Can you get the others? To be fair, there aren’t very many StarCity featured writers, so this will be a fairly easy contest for the first week. Once we start expanding our list of categories to include all Magic players, or card names, it’ll get a lot harder. Keep in mind that such phrase adornments as apostrophes, dashes and slashes aren’t necessarily part of the final answer.
Have fun twisting your brain!
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PS: No…not even the mighty Ted Knutson knows all the answers! So don’t try to cheat and ask him in #mtgwacky!
PPS: Any anagram that doesn’t work out because I’m stupid and screwed up will be disqualified from that week’s contest. I’ll try to triple-check my work so no mistakes creep in- but if you happen to find that one of the phrases in this contest comes out to something like”Mike Florees,” it’s likely that I’ve made an unfortunate error. Hopefully I can be forgiven.