Description
To play Extractor, choose a long mother word and find as many words inside the long word as possible. Letters in the word cannot be moved around or skipped. To find the words inside, you first look forwards. Then you look backwards.
Example
Mother Word: Extractor
Words inside forward:
tractor
tract
act
extra
extract
actor
tor
to
or
Words inside backward:
rot
art
car
cart
Examples
| Extrapolate | Antepenultimate | |||
| late | lop | ant | mit | |
| trap | par | pen | pet | |
| extra | part | ultimate | tam | |
| rap | art | mate | ||
| ate | ate | |||
| at | at | |||
| nul | ||||
| Stupendous | Imagination | |||
| up | put | nation | no | |
| upend | ion | an | ||
| end | gin | tan | ||
| us | at | gam | ||
| pen | in | am | ||
| pend | on | |||
| do | ||||
| Continuous | Gastroenteritis | |||
| con | nit | gas | sit | |
| tin | no | as | tire | |
| on | unit | roe | ort | |
| us | enter | |||
The Rules for Extractor
1. To determine who goes first, add the number of the month you were born in to the day of the month it is today. If the total is even, subtract the number of the month it is now. If the total is odd, add the number of the month it is now. If you are beginning play nearest an odd numbered hour, the player with the highest total starts first. If you are beginning play nearest an even numbered hour, the player with the lowest total starts first. In the event of a tie, each player flips a coin 10 times and the one with the most number of heads starts first.
2. The player who starts first, chooses the first mother word.
3. Players take turns naming a word as the mother word for the next round
4. Players take turns identifying a word inside the mother word.
5. Each player receives one point for each word named.
6. When a player declares that he or she cannot find any more words in the mother word, he or she can pass and allow the other players to continue.
7. When everyone agrees that the mother word is exhausted, the player with the next lowest or highest total from Rule 1 can choose another mother word.
8. Play continues until 10 mother words have been exhausted.
9. The player with the highest score wins.
10. Agree on a handy dictionary to settle disputes about what is a word.
Tips and Hints
1. It’s not always the longest word that contains the most embedded words. A word of eight letters might have substantially more embedded words than a sixteen letter word.
2. Eventually will get tired of compounded words with Latin and Greek prefixes and suffixes. See if you can reach beyond those.
3. As life itself, the longer and more carefully you search, the more riches you will find. So take your time and go back and forth.