Veizla

[jack]

And we have seating riddle objects. It's annoying when I form a fixed idea of what I want, and then can't get it, and am too tempted to waste ages looking. But in only a couple of hours today I'm satisfied.

Background, at the veizla there's some simple riddles to solve to find your seat. Eg. a seating plan with crossword clues one of which solves to your name. Last year, which I liked very much and decided to copy, Clare had 30 alphabet blocks with little pictures on them, and handed each person a pair of clues to the block on the left or right. There's a lot of variation as sun could be "yellow" or "big" or "hot" or whatever the clue demands.

I wanted to copy this with different blocks. I didn't actually have this conversation, but it represents the problem:

CartesianD: Hi!
Storekeeper: How can I help you?
CartesianD: Can I get 30, that are smallish, have a different picture on each, and cost about £10 for the lot?
Storekeeper: Thirty what?
CartesianD: Well, exactly.

Substituting "google" or "froogle" for "storekeeper" doesn't help either. I had a few ideas: alphabet blocks, flash cards, illustrated playing cards, tarot cards. But I wanted something really shiny and nothing was. There were some nice novelty card sets (I got a nature one from borders, it's bound to be useful sometime), but all too specific (animals, or even african animals) or way too specific (german declensions, or parts of anatomy) :)

Here are a few of the runners up, the last two were the nearest to shiny but I wasn't sure if they'd do:

National geographic: Nature
Bold but not shiny flash cards
Alphabet blocks, attatched to a wooden frame. Nearly right, but I didn't like some of the pictures.
One of several animal playing card decks with nice art
A more recent (as in, 1800s) Tarot-like deck, with 36 numbered cards not from the tarot. Nice art, but a bit wishy-washy (literally) for my feelings at that time.
Children's snap cards. The photos of objects were beautiful, you could nearly taste the apple, and the objects appropriate (clue for red pepper: "Mars"), but I wasn't sure how many there'd be.

But finally something clicked with me. It was a modern tarot set, and shiny, and illustrated all 78 cards, each then having a picture and a name or number/suit, so more chance to make good clues.

I'm glad I don't have to worry -- I wanted to choose something nice, and had a day to spend at home recuperating, but didn't want it becoming a major job or to be paniced at the last minute.

Comments

[stephdairy.livejournal.com]

I wonder why the trend is for the seating plan clues to get more complicated over time. When I were a lad (and, for that matter, a Reeve) simple anagrams sufficed...

(S)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I suspect many things suffer from inflation like that, perhaps if no-one wants to do a worse puzzle they end up doing something slightly more complicated as they try to fit a new idea.

I don't really know what was normal more than four years ago -- were they all anagrams? Were there any other ideas? I will gleefully add it to my handover document (which I'm writing since it's good to get all this down so future Reeves will know what's normal and not just do whatever the previous one did, even if atypical).

I liked having something shiny, I liked the little blocks, and also easy. I thought Clare's was an ingenious idea, and also that my efforts at crossword clues, anagrams, or anything would be tedious.

[stephdairy.livejournal.com]

In my early Veizlas I only remember anagrams, which were placed on the table rather than handed out in advance at the reception. It was a case of milling for a moment, going "aha", and then sitting down once you'd found your place.

I think the first variation of this that I remember was crossword clues, which were presumably distributed at the reception because they'd take slightly longer to figure out.

The other distinctive one I remember was again distributed beforehand at the reception; clues told you where you would be sitting relative to other people.

(S)

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, thank you! I think I still like Clare's idea this year, but will stress to the next Reeve the unimportance of being too complicated, and that something on the place cards is sufficient, and quite possibly desirable.

If you've any other comments or suggestions they will be very gratefully received as well, (though I obviously will choose myself what to do).

[atreic.livejournal.com]

Of course, it depends what you think of as complicated. I remember getting very upset at my first veizla, because I didn't know anyone's names (especially surnames) and so couldn't solve the clues, so felt all left out and lonely. Having clues to random wooden things / cards is a lot friendlier / easier from that point of view, because everyone can see what an apple / sun / star is, and not everyone would know my surname is Vernon...

[(Anonymous)]

Yes. I'm perhaps biased by having had *my* first Veizla fairly recently, so thinking too much about what's easy for newcomers. (Eg. having an itinery in the announcement so they know what's going to happen!)

because I didn't know anyone's names (especially surnames) and so couldn't solve the clues

Which was puzzle was that?

Having clues to random wooden things / cards is a lot friendlier / easier from that point of view

Yes. Also, I like the shiny. And it's easier on me because I can make up two or three clues for each block in the back of my head whenever I like, independent of arranging a seating plan, and even of assigning blocks to people, and then use a spreadhseet to print off all the appropriate clues at the last minute, I don't need to know who's who, or what who might know about who.

not everyone would know my surname is Vernon...

LOL. Yes, I'd forgotten reading the first half of that sentence, and then gone "Ooh! Weddingshiny." :)

Susan would be great fun here, all three clues could be anagrams to different words :)

Of course, it depends what you think of as complicated.

Yeah. How intricate do you want it to be, and how hard? I'd say not hard at all, just an excuse to get people talking, and be pretty, but take from none to ten minutes of thinking time, allowing much mixing. So mine is probably about the right hardness but maybe slightly too intricate.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

(You're logged out, BTW)

Which was puzzle was that?

In the Old Days, they would just be an A4 page of straight, slightly amusing anagrams (eg "a clog lushly") or clues about names (eg "final rush into a ravine"). Can't remember whose viezla it was though.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah, of course. I was going to say "But surely, you just need to be able to find your own name", but I remember that not being the case at my first Veizla. (I think Naath spelled "Vickeridge" right, though :))

"final rush into a ravine"

LOL, that's good. (Was it an actual clue?) It's actually quite hard, because you tend never to think of your name in terms of homonyms, just as your name, so when people start talking about vicars at me I'm always completely baffled :)