Prolix - A word game even rednecks can enjoy

I’m posting this review of Prolix the Game (not to be confused with PrOlix the gun lubricant, or Prilox the gel which is something completely different) on behalf of my uncle’s cousin’s daughter’s sister’s adopted twin brother, Darrel Wayne Bodine McMurtry who wrote it himself on several pieces of slate with chalkstone.

Howdy, y’all. This here is Darrel Wayne Bodine McMurtry. Y’all can call me Darrel. I’m from way down in Alabama near the Taladega racetrack where them NASCAR boys do lotsa circles real fast like. How in the hell do they do so many dang circles without getting’ all dizzy-like? Beats me, but I best stay on topic. That topic is Prolix, a new game by one of them Yanks called Gil Hova. Gil seems like he’s bona fide, but ain’t no way to tell without taking him on a good ol’ fashioned weasel hunt. Gil, you up for that? Well come on down! I digress, we’re talking about Prolix. I ain’t quite sure hows to go about sayin’ that name. Is it "Pro Licks", "Prooooooolicks", or maybe even "Pro Leaks"? It don’tmatter none cuz what ya got here is a real word game for smart folks who got their edumacation done. My family sent this game down to teach us some big words. Hell, I don’t need no big words, just give me a shotgun, some moonshine, and a relative and I’m a happy boy! Ma says I need to be more better learned about my vo-cab and that this would do the trick. I’ll be danged, but Ma was right.

Let’s take a look at everything else before we have a de-scussion about how the game actually plays. To start with, that box is FUGLY. Did y’all get some blind fella to do your graphic design? My pet raccoon draws better’n that. Who’s gonna look at that and say "Dang, there’s a game I wants to play?". It reminds me of the boxes we used to bury Grandma and Grandpa in. Took about 45 of ‘em but we got it done. Second, how ‘bout them letter tokens? Woooooo, son, they big’uns!! How the hell you ‘sposed to fit ‘em all in that itty bitty little black sack? YOU CAN’T!!! Luckily I had some burlap sacks out in the shed that me and Delmer used for "borrowing" the neighbors chickens. On the plus side, them score cards is awful purty and they even work for however many folks are playin witcha. Oh, and a super big thank you to Zev for including pencils!! I been using mud and a dirty old feather to write on them score cards until we found them pencils. How can you afford to give away such luxuries? Zev, you must be one rich fella to give out free pencils! I now have a leeee-git right to run for Mayor of Hayseed City, Alabama!

Enough about all the mumbo jumbo, lets talk nitty gritty. Do I, Darrel Wayne Bodine McMurtry, like Prolix? Well, shoot! Is my cousin the prettiest girl in town? Hell yes! Oh, and I like Prolix quite a bit too. See, the thing about Prolix is that it’s easy to play and teach. I graduated from second grade at 12 years old so I’m a bit smarter than some o’ them other folks round these parts. This means I can teach alla them to play this game. It’s so simple, I can probably even teach you dumbass city slickers. All you do is make a word using letters on the board, plus any other letters you can think of. You score points for the letters on the board that you used and that’s it! Be warned, sometimes you gots to count over 20 so you’ll be needin’ to see them toes and some fingers of your friends. It ain’t too bad, ‘specially if you got six fingers on each hand like Delmer! You do need to be careful when it’s your turn ‘cause somebody can steal words on your turn. It’s okay if it happens once, but if it happens twice you lose your turn! That’s more embarrassin’ than bein’ a red-headed step-child. Y’all go on like this for about 7 turns. Once that’s over you count your points up (you’ll need those toes and then some!). You get to use them stolen words in place of other words you scored lower on if it helps. Whoever gets the highest score is the smartest person at the table and also wins. Usually it’s Delmer. That boy’s smart as a whip. I don’t recommend playing with him unless you get him silly on the moonshine. He passed the 4th grade!

So why do I like Prolix? Easy question, like the one’s on Alabama Jeopardy. You don’t need to actually know lots of big words, or memorize all them crazy little’uns like for Scrabble. You can blurt out damn near any word and you can score points! Sometimes, a word like "skool" will score more than something fancy like "Chev-ro-lay". It’s an easy game for folks who aren’t really inta word games ‘cause almost any word will work at any time! ‘Course it’s better to be match the word to the letters, but you don’t always have the right letters to spell "shotgun" or "Wal-Mart". You can say pert near anythin’ you want and it’ll prob’ly work. I love it cause my kinfolk ain’t as smart as me but this game makes ‘em feel right at home. It’s mightly likely that educated folk will do better, but I challenge alla y’all to beat my best word: squirrelhut.If y’all want an easy to play word game that makes ya want to pay attention and interact with your friends and family, then I’d say this be it! Prolix is fun and easy to play. Best of all, it don’t require a college edumacation to do well. All ya gotta do is be quick with yer words and light on your mind-feet. Most importantly, pay attention when it ain’t your go so you can steal points from other folks’ turns.I like me some Prolix and I got a feelin’ you will too. It’s fast, fun, easy to play and teach, and it makes me feel smart!

A big thanks to Darrel Wayne Bodine McMurtry for his great words. I too have played Prolix.  I'm not a huge fan of word games, but I've found one that I enjoy quite a bit. The rules are quite simple and it encourages you to think about the words you’re going to use. It’s almost like a word-puzzle game because you’ve got letters to use and you’ve got to fill in the blanks. It’s a neat combination of the 2 genres and it makes the game stand out on it’s own.There’s going to be inevitable comparisons to other word games so let me provide you with a couple short ones:

Scrabble - You’re completely confined by the letters you’ve got and what you draw as the game goes on. This can be very limiting. Also, due to the restriction of using the tiles only, most words tend to be a bit shorter. If you’ve got a big vocabulary of 3-5 letter words then you’re golden.

Boggle - Again, completely restrictive and that’s what drives the game. Also, it’s driven by 3-5 letter words. The nature of the game is that both players will have mostly the same words. I play it because my wife likes it, but I’m not a fan.

Quiddler - Similar to the other 2 because you’re restricted by cards, but this one has more of a game attached to it than any of the others.

I’ll go out and say that Prolix is my favorite word game. I love that you’re not restricted but instead that the letters are more of a guideline. To me, that’s the mark of a good game in any genre. You should never be restricted but instead should have options. Prolix does this far better than any other word game I’ve played.The bottom line is that if you like word games or if you know someone who does, Prolix is a game well worth checking out. It’s beauty is in it’s flexibility and I feel that this puts it in a separate category from games like Scrabble. I highly recommend this game and so does Darrel Wayne Bodine McMurtry, future mayor of Hayseed City, Alabama.