This game was probably invented by
Nestlé employees to while away those long,
boring hours in the
workplace. To begin with, you need to collect
at least twenty, preferably more, lids from
Smarties packets.
- Sort out the lids by colour, and assign points values to them. The colour there is most of will score one point, the next colour will score two and so on. Write this down on your score pad.
- Play progresses anti-clockwise (widdershins) until someone's score passes an agreed limit, which must be greater than 25.
- On their turn, a player should shake all the Smartie lids, and drop them on the ground. He should then select all the lids that have fallen letter-side-up, and attempt to form a word from them. Every player must take a turn in each round.
- Scoring is based on the points values assigned to the lid colours beforehand. For each letter in the word that has been formed, the points for the colour of the lid are added to the score for that turn; and for each letter not used, the points for that lid color are subtracted from the player's score for that turn. The score for the turn is added to the player's current total, even if it is negative.
Idea discovered in a mailing list archive now years ago, long since disappeared.