Use of dash to show clue relation to word?

[GeraldineMerida]

-apple would not be fine, unless you have missed the first 10 clues. According to the publisher.

That is an overly pedantic and distorted view of what they wrote. It's wrong to imply that.

I think YOU are misunderstanding what the publisher meant. He clearly says it is not allowed in the rules and then says 'but if you want to do it anyway (i.e. bend the rules) when things are going really badly for you, there's nothing stopping you'.

House rules (including bending the stated rules) are of course fine where everyone agrees in advance to play by them. It would not be OK by me or the people I regularly play with if someone just bent the rules with no prior discussion, because it's more fun for them that way.

And I see that as especially problematic in a game where ELO is awarded (even if it JO ELO doesn't mean all that much).

[pjt33]

I am towards the stricter end of the spectrum, but I would have no problem with playing with house rules after 10 incorrect guesses.

Note that the game is over after at most 7 incorrect guesses...

[GeraldineMerida]

I am towards the stricter end of the spectrum, but I would have no problem with playing with house rules after 10 incorrect guesses.

Note that the game is over after at most 7 incorrect guesses...

Haha. Maybe the publisher was referring to game nights with multiple games among friends?

[fiscused]

I think the game is easy enough as it is. I did miss cancelling a word pair once because I didn't even consider that they were in the same family. Accidental cheating!! But have fun winning or losing. Play the game a few times and you won't need extra help.

[Wreckage]

If you put "-apple", yes I would guess "pine". Does the game really need to be this easy?? No reason at all to look at the other clues. I imagine since you can play as loosely as you want you could clue "P_ne". To me, the clue "-Apple" takes away from the fun of actually trying to figure out what the word is, so it ruins the game. The clue "Apple" however is more fun, but requires looking at everyone's clue and making a guess.