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Shiritori (しりとり) is a Japanese word game in which the players are required to say a word which begins with the final kana of the previous word. No distinction is made between hiragana, katakana and kanji. "Shiritori" literally means "taking the bottom" as Japanese language is written vertically.
Basic Rules
- Two or more people take turns to play.
- Only nouns are permitted.
- A player who plays a word ending in the syllable N (ん) loses the game.
- Words may not be repeated.
- Phrases connected by no (の) are permitted, but only in those cases where the phrase is sufficiently fossilized to be considered a "word".
Example: sakura (さくら)-> rajio (ラジオ/らじお)-> onigiri (おにぎり)-> risu (りす)-> sumou (すもう) -> udon (うどん)
The player who played the word udon lost this game.
There are various optional and advanced rules, which must be agreed on before the game begins.
Optional Rules
- Dakuten and handakuten may be ignored. Thus furo (ふろ) can follow suupu (すーぷ).
- A long vowel may either be ignored or considered as a vowel. Mikisaa (ミキサー/みきさー) can be followed by either sakura or aki (あき).
- A popularized pronouns and the place name may be permitted. Edo jou (えどじょう) lit.Edo castle is safe.
- Two words spelled with same kana but use different kanji may be permitted. For example Su (す) can be spelled as "巣", lit. a birdnest, and "酢", lit. vinegar.
Advanced Rules
- Words are limited to a certain genre.
- Last two kana instead of one kana must be used again. In this case, both kana may not be N.
- The length of a word must be three or more syllables.
- Only words beginning and ending in dakuten and handakuten may be used.
English Shiritori
A Shiritori game using only English words was invented to help one learn English. Most rules are the same, yet there are several original and optional rules that are used.
- For learners of English, any words including nouns, verbs, and adjectives can be used.
- Players cannot use past tenses of a verb except when a verb does not follow the standard pattern. A player may use "be", "was", "is" but not "kick" and "kicked".
- When a word ends in a vowel, like "life", one may use the preceding consonant instead.
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