Pairs of Clues in games of 3 & 4 - How must the 2 words be?

[SonicJuz]

It wasn't named "Just one" but "We are the word" when it first got published.
Then again you should check with the other players what the spirit of the game is. If it's to have fun with words, it's up to anyone to play further. If it's to increase difficulty, that's one way to do it.

[clash]

It doesn't contradict the letter of the game rule, so I think it's hard to ban it without talking about it first (at the start of a game, for example).

On the other hand, I think it goes against the spirit of the rule. Why is that? Because the main aspect of Just One is to find a clue that's obvious enough to help the player, but not too obvious to avoid duplication . By playing a clue composed of two words, you lose this aspect, because there's almost no chance that a pair of words unrelated to the word to be found will end up doubled. It's a different game. It's almost like playing Dixit without the main rule ("if everyone bets on the correct card, the storyteller loses"). Well, not that far, but...

What I find a pity is that people who play with connected clues (the majority of experienced players on BGA in my experience) do so throughout the game, and not just once in a while. What should have been a "think out of the box" moove to spice up the game becomes a routine that undermines the rule, and that's a bit of a shame.

[Wreckage]

I've played about 500 games. Seeing the same word pop up for the 50th time can make this game pretty stale. What keeps it fresh is using 2-word clues, and trying to find a new way to clue the same old words in a new way each time.

If you just use the same few clues each time you see a given word, that seems pretty boring to me. Using 2 words that relate opens up a lot more possibilities, and I'm continually surprised how often I can find a new way to clue that I haven't used before. It makes the game much more replayable.

This is really only possible if your two words are related.