Animal Word Game Similar To Jotto

Post by **Jay** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 2:45 pm

This is an animal word game similar to the word game called Jotto.

One person thinks of an animal and posts how many letters it has. People would then post words with that many letters and the first person says how many letters match. For example:

First person: This animal has 5 letters (In this example, assume this person thought of "pinto".)
Guesser: rhino
First person: 3 letters match (The "i", "n", and "o" are in "pinto", but this is not told to anyone. Only the number is told.)
Guesser: hippo
First person: 3 letters match (The "i", "o", and only one of the "p's" match because "pinto" only has 1 "p". If the original word had 2 "p's", then both "p's" in "hippo" would match.)
Guesser: phone (The guess does not have to be an animal. This can sometimes be useful to zero in on the letters.)
First person: 3 letters match
Guesser: point
First person: 5 letters match (This means that the letters are correct, but not in the correct order.)
Guesser: pinto
First person: correct (So now, whoever guessed "pinto" can think of an animal and the playing continues.)

Sometimes letter counting is confusing. Here is an example. Assume the original word was "bandicoot". Let us look at the guess "crocodile". Both words contain one "d" and one "i". The confusion comes with "o" and "c". Since there are 2 "o's" in both words, each of the "o's" count as an additional match. The guess has 2 "c's", but the original word only has 1 "c". Therefore, only 1 of the "c's" match. You can think of it that the first "c" in "crocodile" matches the "c" in "brandicoot" and the second "c" does not. So the guess "crocodile" has 5 matching letters: c, o, o, d, i. Another way to look at this is to cross off letters as you go:

bandicoot / crocodile : First "c" in "crocodile matches. Matches so far: 1
bandioot / rocodile : "r" does not match. Matches so far: 1
bandioot / ocodile : First "o" matches. Matches so far: 2
bandiot / codile : This "c" does not match anything remaining. Matches so far: 2
bandiot / odile : This "o" also matches. Matches so far: 3
bandit / dile : "d" matches. Matches so far: 4
banit / ile : "i" matches. Matches so far: 5
bant / le : "l" does not match. Matches so far: 5
bant / e : "e" does not match. Total matches: 5

For those familiar with the game called Mastermind, the rules are similar. (Mastermind uses colors instead of letters. Mastermind also says whether or not the match is in the correct location. But, ofther than those 2 things, the rules are the same.)

So, if everyone is ready, I'll start with an easier one for the first round.

This animal has 4 letters.

Post by **Jay** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 1:22 am

frog: 1 letter matches
bear: 0 letters match
lion: correct

phantom · Post by **phantom** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:52 pm

eagle: No letters match
hippo: 1 letter matches
burro: 2 letters match
stork: correct

Post by **Jay** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:21 am

mongoose: 4 letters match
capybara: 1 letter matches
bluefish: 3 letters match
anaconda: 3 letters match
flamingo: correct

Post by **Kielo91** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 9:04 am

Hmm.... This is a bit of a tricky one.

hoatzin

HINT: You might find this somewhat of a useful source over at Animal Trivia.

phantom · Post by **phantom** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 1:11 pm

warthog: 2 letters match
wallaby: 2 letters match
giraffe: 2 letters match
pintail: 3 letters match
manatee: 3 letters match
quetzal: correct
The answer was quetzal, one of the most gorgeous birds I've ever seen and a great word to play in Scrabble

(Last time I was at Denver Zoo they had some quetzals. Very long tailfeathers.)

Post by **Jay** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:50 pm

I'm not sure if I've seen one live. The tail (which is what 'quetzal' refers to) is definitely, unusually long in pictures. The quetzal heavily influenced the Aztecs. (Many animals heavily influenced the Aztecs.)

asp: 0 letters match
dog: 0 letters match
yak: 1 letter matches
fly: correct

phantom · Post by **phantom** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:14 pm

nyala: 1 letter matches
dhole: 1 letter matches
coati: 2 letters match
robin: 4 letters match
rhino: 3 letters match
bison: correct

Post by **Kielo91** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:23 am

roadrunner: 5 letters match
woodpecker: 2 letters match
butterball: 6 letters match
sun bittern: correct

Post by **Jay** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 4:26 am

puma: 0 letters match
hawk: 0 letters match
bear: 1 letter matches
lion: 1 letter matches
deer: 1 letter matches
crow: 2 letters match
frog: 2 letters match
oryx: correct

phantom · Post by **phantom** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 10:51 pm

Baboon: 3 letters match
Wombat: 2 letters match
Marten: 2 letters match
Parrot: 2 letters match
kalong: 4 letters match
falcon: correct

Post by **Jay** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 11:53 pm

nyala: 3 letters match
llama: 3 letters match
camel: 2 letters match
koala: 4 letters match

Here are a couple clues. This one was somewhat tricky because the animal name probably isn't in any dictionaries yet. (At least none that I have seen.) The animal was 'discovered' by western science in 1992. At least two people have made the animal for Zoo Tycoon (although these two people got the animal info from the same place). But this animal is not one of the downloads at ZKL.

saola: correct

phantom · Post by **phantom** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 11:04 am

2 letters match: Maggot
3 letters match: Cougar, Parrot, Bobcat
Jerboa: correct

Post by **Jay** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:08 pm

OK, let's go with a humorous one. Since it is humorous, here is a big hint... This is available in the animal downloads here at ZKL.

This next animal has 5 letters.

Missy: wally

Congratulations, Missy. That is correct. And on the very first guess.

Your turn!

Post by **Missy** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:38 am

cobra=0
koala=0
horse=3
sheep: correct