With slightly fewer this year, I think we can make it two in a row. Plus, we’re starting WAY earlier.
Last year we didn’t have any rules on the limericks but I expect the big one is “don’t tear the game apart.”
I have 3 so far. I tested Focal Point. They are potentially spoilery, so be warned. (In fact, me saying this may make people think “Why is this spoilery?” and start some gears in motion that make some poems more spoilery than if I’d kept my mouth shut, if people read them. But overall, I still want to give the warning.)
These are all pretty short games, so you can and should play them before looking.
A Few hours later in the day of The Egocentric
A short game, neat comic book style.
The key? Find two numbers to dial.
Outsmart a gym rat
And soon you’ll find that
His gun-running’s spiked by your guile.
Focal Point
Your code name, alas, is Junebug.
With help from a janitor-thug
And chip upgrades, hack
things so you’re on track
To cut through financial-fraud fug.
Traffic
There’s lots of change-who-you-are loops.
On the MAIN you, death, this game scoops!
But say “screw this jive
I wanna survive
RIGHT NOW?” Double-plus-fatal oops.
A game that was likely a joke
With a mysterious author-type bloke
Who thought it was fun
T’have three words and be done
And sound when you give “play” a poke
Turn Right
You got stuff for cooking tonight
But the cross-traffic just got green lights
So you wait at a T
Just waiting to see
If you could just maybe turn right
Where Nothing Is Ever Named
You’re someone with something somewhere
There’s something but what to do there?
You just have to try
And maybe get by
With naming what you didn’t dare
Bless you for reviving this, Andrew - was tons of fun last year but I’d somehow forgotten about it until now! Looking forward to seeing everyone’s contributions and inflicting rhyme-crimes on y’all
These seem non-detailed enough that I can’t imagine it’s a problem for authors to submit them (and if there was, well, Andrew started it), so here’s my first attempt (one I tested)…
Turn Right
You need to get home, so turn right.
Wait. Maybe now, you can turn right?
You need to turn right,
So wait for the light,
And finally, you can turn right!
I do like some imperfect and contrived rhymes though (I used to read Ogden Nash pretty often) so no apologies there.
Why Pout?
You playing a guy in your parser
And rewrite homophones to be sparser
Doing this with the sentence-ees
Is the key to identity
And you don’t need to use your mouse cursor
The bad news: you are now dead.
The good: your dog can be led
To hunt down the clues.
Walk in all your friends’ shoes,
And you’ll find whodunnit instead.
Poor Alice, you’ve lost hold of your name,
Abandoned in a forest untamed.
A nominative void
Cannot be enjoyed –
At the other thing you’ll have to take aim.
What’s wrong with Jack and June’s beer?
Finding out is why you are here.
Travel back to the past,
Save poor young Will—fast!—
To bring back the pub’s good cheer.
A Warm Reception
The castle is all in a mess
And where are the hosts and their guests?
Hunt down the armor
(You’re no dragon charmer),
And finally your foe you will best.
Rod McSchlong Gets Punched in the Dong: non-spoilery
To write Dick McButts took some spine.
Would installment two lose its shine?
Of fun jokes we get a
Bunch, both crude and meta.
Thus, of Rod McS, I won’t whine.
Rod McSchlong Gets Punched in the Dong: spoilery
In sequels, so much can go wrong.
Would this be so with Rod McSchlong?
It’s more than okay.
I’m thrilled, too, to say
He and Dick McButts get along!
Doctor Who and the Dalek Super-Brain: non-spoilery
A tragedy, here! Dr. Who’s
Captured. Daleks, they turn the screws.
Conspire with Todd.
Soon, dark paths get trod.
With subterfuge, the Daleks lose!
Doctor Who and the Dalek Super-Brain: spoilery
He’s captured you, the chief Dalek,
To help with his cruel plan, high-tech:
Rule that universe!
'Til you make him curse
“A time paradox?! What the heck!”
You go for a stroll in a park
To look at pigeons, robins, and larks
I haven’t actually checked
To see if those birds were in the text
But I think one was on some tree bark
