Saturday, October 24, 2009

Simon Says ... #1

Do you remember, as a child, playing "Mother, may I?" I think this was probably more of a girl's game. Boys were busy climbing trees - altho I did a bunch of that myself (In fact, I used to have about an 8" long scar on the side of my upper right leg that has faded a bunch over these many years. I got it from falling out of a tree and landing on a board that had this rusty old nail in it. Had to get a tetanus shot, stitches and all those other awful things.) - and playing cowboys and Indians.

There's a word game I dearly love that reminds me a bit of "Mother, may I?" It's called Simon Says. "Mother", of course, was very much a popularity contest. Whomever was currently in favor with 'mother' always won the game. As I said, a girl's thing.

Anyway, this is the first in what will be a series of Simon Says puzzles for you to solve. (Btw, folks, I'm only going to publish those that I find particularly amusing.) However, there will be no 'mother' to tell you whether you may or may not do something. With Simon Says, you must do the steps in the order presented and follow the directions exactly in order to arrive at the correct solution, which will be an amusing word or phrase that is apropos to where you started.

Only rarely do I get it right the first time, so have a little patience. Ready? Here we go with the first one.

1. Print the words MAD MITES ON THE MOON.
2. Change the A to a U.
3. Remove the center letter.
4. Swap the second vowel (A, E, I, O, or U) with the fourth consonant. (When directions like these are given, always assume that they mean starting from the left.)
5. Move the S to the very end of the row.
6. Remove one O.
7. Change the first letter to the letter that immediately precedes it in the alphabet.
8. Repeat step 3.
9. Swap the second consonant with the eighth consonant.
10. Insert a K immediately before the last letter.
11. Remove all M's.
12. Change the eleventh letter to the letter that immediately precedes it in the alphabet.
13. Remove the word THE.
14. Change the E to an A.
15. Remove the O.
16. Move the A two places to the left.

Did you have some fun with this game? What did you end up with? If you had LUNATICKS, you were correct. (If not, you need to start all over again. Be more careful this time.)

If you were really intrigued by this kind of puzzle and would like to see a bunch more, I'm sorry to tell you that you're in for a bit of a disappointment. You will notice, depending upon which store you are in, all sorts of different puzzle books and magazines. Generally speaking, however, only one or two Simon Says appear in any one issue - and there don't appear to be any large volumes of this particular kind of puzzle available from the publishers, as there are for many others.

Jacky, there's one coming up for you in the near future, but - unfortunately - I have misplaced it at the present time. It's here, somewhere. lol

PS. Tammy, your girls might have fun with these!

9 comments:

steven said...

hello goldenrod - very cool! my wife and her girlfriends (some of whom go back to kindergarten) often share memories of playground games, rainy saturday at home games, or just kid games. it's amazing the variety and subtlety that goes into them. have a lovely texan day. steven

The Bug said...

You mean it's not LDA IU TMKS? LOL

Guess I'd better go try again!

The Bug said...

OK - I got it that time. VERY tricky!

Goldenrod said...

I just KNEW you'd try this puzzle, Bug, and I'm not the least bit surprised that you didn't get it right the first time! (However, I DID notice that it took you only another five minutes to come up with the correct solution, so it's obvious you're no newcomer to these kinds of games. Btw, I read your 'hangman' post. Didn't leave a comment, but I read it. Got a kick out of it being one of the very few things you're allowed to do at work. I'll bet you're a Wheel of Fortune fan, too. I used to be - before they removed thousands of my accumulated points because I wasn't purchasing anything from the sponsor.)

Btw, this is one of the really easy ones. (You didn't want to hear THAT, did you?) I used to just ignore these completely until somewhat recently, when I thought, "You know, I ought to be able to DO those!"

In the back of each puzzle book, there are answer pages (of course), and the ones for Simon Says are pretty durned specific. They give - line by line - the changes that you would have seen had you followed the directions.

The one I'm saving up for Jacky is about pigs. Her ex-husband (now deceased) was - among other things - a pig farmer, and to this day she still collects pig-related paraphernalia.

THAT one is really hard. I haven't solved it yet. Tried probably three or four times already. When I locate it again, I'll keep trying until I DO!

(Another btw ... I no longer look at the answer pages. Kind of takes all the fun out of it for me.)

Happy puzzling and have a great rest of the weekend, Bug. You, too, Steven!

Tammy said...

Oh, this was fun; I've been waiting to comment til the girls and I could all do it. Here is what we came up with:

Kayla - lumita loanks
Katie - lukafteoonks
Emily - ludatincnks
Tammy - lunaticks

We all roared with laughter when we were done, then I showed them step by step how it is done to get the correct word.

We're all looking VERY forward to your next Simon Says. PLEASE post more of these on your blog - it was a lot of fun. :)

Tammy said...

P.S. - I'm gonna post this on my blog and link you. :)

Goldenrod said...

I'm so glad that you and your girls had some fun with this puzzle, Tammy, and am tickled that you will be linking my blog.

A couple of added notes ... ... 1) Jacky wrote in an e-mail that she was looking forward to the pig one. Well, she might have to wait a while for THAT! I've been going through all of my loose puzzle pages one by one, looking for it. Haven't found it yet. Doesn't mean it isn't here. Just means that I have absolutely TOO MANY LOOSE PUZZLE PAGES floating around this house!!!!! I have made a solemn vow not to buy another puzzle book until I find it.

2) She also wrote that, when she was a kid, the boys participated in "Mother, may I?" Give me a break here, Jacky! Boys participating in that game?? I'm having a problem believing THAT one!

Tammy said...

I remember playing Mother May I with the neighborhood kids in several neighborhoods. Just as many boys played as girls. :)

Goldenrod said...

Well now, see folks? Just goes to show you how boys were boys where I grew up and they liked to play girlie games in Indiana and Idaho! :)