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

[Ze Monstah]

Hi.
I was recently criticised for a game of 4 in which I gave pairs of clues in connection (to each-other); for instance:

For Word Chicken: Clue 1 - Cow, Clue 2 - And (as in the show Cow and Chicken)
For Word Umbrella: Clue 1 - Under, Clue 2 - Rihanna (as in the song Under My Umbrella)

I was told that my clues are bad because they are in connection to each other, and should be with 0 connection to each other, but connected to the word that is to be guessed by the active player.

I disagree with what I have been told, the rules say nothing of such stuff (https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/1f/0e/8f-j ... lebook.pdf) and I am curious if there is an established consensus, or curious about any opinion.

Thanks.

[bananasplay]

Hi.
I was recently criticised for a game of 4 in which I gave pairs of clues in connection (to each-other); for instance:

For Word Chicken: Clue 1 - Cow, Clue 2 - And (as in the show Cow and Chicken)
For Word Umbrella: Clue 1 - Under, Clue 2 - Rihanna (as in the song Under My Umbrella)

I was told that my clues are bad because they are in connection to each other, and should be with 0 connection to each other, but connected to the word that is to be guessed by the active player.

I disagree with what I have been told, the rules say nothing of such stuff (https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/1f/0e/8f-j ... lebook.pdf) and I am curious if there is an established consensus, or curious about any opinion.

Thanks.

You're correct: not only do the rules not forbid what you've done, but you're actually playing strategically, so well done!

[Jellby]

I see no problem. Besides, the cow-chicken connection does not necessarily relate to the Cow and Chicken show, and umbrella-under is definitely not exclusive to Rihanna.

[Palini]

Without knowing anything, I don't think the critique you got is related to any ruling. I'm guessing the person you played with simply had no idea what Cow & Chicken was or which songs Rihanna ever sung.

[Ze Monstah]

Thanks for the feedback; other 2 exact examples (from that game itself) were:
- "Unlawful" and "Clan" - for "Mafia";
- "Niro" and "Film" - for "Casino".

I think the person was saying something like: it's not ok to give pairs such as: Adjective + Noun (related to eachother) or any other type of such relation.

I thought I was missing an unwritten rule or something.

Thanks again for feedback.

[pjt33]

I think this is a case of varying opinions as to what the spirit of the game is, and consequently varying house rules on whether it's permissible. I personally try to avoid doing clue pairs most of the time, but occasionally I think of one which is too good not to use.

[ShassDow]

Hi.
I was recently criticised for a game of 4 in which I gave pairs of clues in connection (to each-other); for instance:

For Word Chicken: Clue 1 - Cow, Clue 2 - And (as in the show Cow and Chicken)
For Word Umbrella: Clue 1 - Under, Clue 2 - Rihanna (as in the song Under My Umbrella)

I was told that my clues are bad because they are in connection to each other, and should be with 0 connection to each other, but connected to the word that is to be guessed by the active player.

I disagree with what I have been told, the rules say nothing of such stuff (https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/1f/0e/8f-j ... lebook.pdf) and I am curious if there is an established consensus, or curious about any opinion.

Thanks.

The people that do this have not read the rules and recently BGA even added that you should not discard clues that you think have no relation to the word because too often people made up their own rules when deciding whether a clue was right or not.

[Daisyjo]

The consensus by high level ELOs is that it is acceptable to do as you are referring to, if you can create meta clues, more power to you!

[GeraldineMerida]

My group of friends quite often give 2-word clues like this when playing 4p. The onl downside is that if another player replicates one of your words, the remaining one won't make much sense, but I'm sure you are careful to avoid that.)

[Earthboundia]

Hi.
I was recently criticised for a game of 4 in which I gave pairs of clues in connection (to each-other); for instance:

For Word Chicken: Clue 1 - Cow, Clue 2 - And (as in the show Cow and Chicken)
For Word Umbrella: Clue 1 - Under, Clue 2 - Rihanna (as in the song Under My Umbrella)

I was told that my clues are bad because they are in connection to each other, and should be with 0 connection to each other, but connected to the word that is to be guessed by the active player.

I disagree with what I have been told, the rules say nothing of such stuff (https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/1f/0e/8f-j ... lebook.pdf) and I am curious if there is an established consensus, or curious about any opinion.

Thanks.

I think the first example could be argued as against the rules. The word "and" isn't related to chicken at all even though the word cow could be. As a house rule, I don't use double word clues as I feel that takes away the whole point of the game in giving one word clues and it makes conflicting clues significantly less likely.