In the Snapping Game, player 1 is told a name by a spectator and communicates it to player 2 by snapping...
magic/snapping.game New
New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.
Problem
In the Snapping Game, player 1 is told a name by a spectator and communicates it to player 2 by snapping and short game-related phrases. How is it done? I recently heard of, and saw, a game called the Snapping Game. While the game itself isn't exactly a puzzle, how it's done certainly is. The game is a two player game in which Player #1 is told, by a spectator, the name of a person. Player #1 then somehow (this is the puzzle part) communicates the name given to him to Player #2 by a process of snapping and short game-related phrases. The amazing part about this is that any name can be guessed in 5-20 seconds. The guys I saw playing this never snapped more than about 4 times, and said only things like "This is/is not the snapping game," "Do you have it?," "I don't think you have it" etc. I don't believe Player #2 ever said anything. In between phrases Player #1 is snapping. I watched closely, and never saw him mouthing a name or anything. In the three or four names they did, they averaged about 4 groups of snapping and 5-10 phrases. Apparently a couple other people with me had heard of this game before, but it's a new one on me. How the heck do they do this? [ Editor: the first paragraph is the editor's summary; the rest is the original rec.puzzles posting, whose author is not named in the collected material. ]
Show solution
[ Editor: compiled by Sergio Martino for the Puzzle Oracle in November
1993, from the rec.puzzles discussion, with his notes; followed by
Steve Biederman's examples. ]
The puzzle is to catch the hidden word (or sentence) cracking the code
used to encipher the message. Obviously many codes are possible so
does not exist a general answer to this puzzle. Here follow some
examples with explanation.
-- Sergio Martino <martino@rob.csata.it>
The name of the game is snaps...
Be sure and concentrate. Ready? <SNAP> <SNAP> <PAUSE> <SNAP>
Know it know? Tell me! How can't you know it by now?
<SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> Surely you have it now!
<SNAP> Now? Don't tell me you still don't know.
You surely know it now. <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> <PAUSE>
<SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> Go ahead and take a guess.
<SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> Try to take a guess. <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP>
Tada, you got it.
That was snaps. What was my code? If you can't get it, give me a
few days, and I'll tell you the answer. But try. It took me four
hours. Granted I was drunk, but it still took me four hours.
Here the code is quite simple. Just take the first letter of each
sentence: they supply the consonants of the hidden sentence. Then the
snapping code: the number of snaps corresponds to the position of the
missing vowel in the natural series a e i o u. For example
<SNAP> <SNAP> <PAUSE> <SNAP>
means e (2) a (1)
The sentence is
BREAK THIS AND YOU GOT IT.
as pointed out in a successive posting.
Games like this can be so irritating! <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP>
Took me a little while, but I had fun! <SNAP> <SNAP> <SNAP> Thanks!
Here the same code is used; the sentence is:
GOT IT
-- Sergio Martino <martino@rob.csata.it>
First, how about a few examples?
"Servants play snaps in the kitchen. Left-wing intellectuals play, but
only in a politically correct manner. Snap-Snap. Snap-Snap.
Politicians play Snaps while shaking hands and kissing babies. Samoan
hula dancers actually play it with their hips. Why would anyone go on
a cruise when they could play Snaps instead? Snap-Snap-Snap. TV
evangelists do it in motel rooms with women not their wife. Hubert
Humphrey once read an entire session of Snaps into the Congressional
Record. Macon, Georgia, is the Snaps playing capitol of the South.
Snap. Republicans play Snaps in their limousines. Little do we know
who is listening in when we play Snaps. Snap."
Donald Trump.
"Home run kings play Snaps on-deck. Snap-Snap-Snap-Snap. Speaking
clearly is a requirement to be a good Snaps player. Thinking quickly
doesn't hurt either. Snaps tournaments will be the next big thing.
No one has ever played Snaps after dark. Snap-Snap-Snap. Gorbachev
played snaps in the Kremlin on his last day in office. History repeats
itself for those who are unaware of Snaps. Twins can sometimes play
Snaps telepathically. Liberals play Snaps in their Volvos.
Snap-Snap-Snap. Neville Chamberlain [Editor: spelled "Chamberlin" in
the original] played Snaps in Our Time. Snap-Snap."
Ted Koppel.
"From Texas to Florida, boys and girls play Snaps together.
Snap-Snap-Snap. Rarely do poets play without having wondrous
insights. Some people say Snaps was first played by Adam and Eve.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from Snap
to Snap. Many are called but few are chosen to Snap.
Snap-Snap-Snap-Snap. Snap-Snap-Snap-Snap. Noah played Snaps on the
Ark with the zebras. Miracles happen everyday to those who play.
Snap. Never will I see the day when Snaps is no longer played."
Neil Armstrong.
"When crossing the border, one shouldn't play Snaps too loudly for
fear of arousing the authorities. Snap-Snap-Snap. Loyalists during
the American Revolution never played Snaps with revolutionaries. Dogs
play Snaps with horses and birds, which is a strange sight, cause none
of them have thumbs. Tomorrow is another day, and as God is my
witness, I'll live to Snap again! Heroes play Snaps with their adoring
fans. Snap-Snap-Snap. No one should ever play Snaps next to a pile of
dynamite. Gesturing with one hand while Snapping with another is
considered a grave insult by Eskimos."
Mitch Williams
-- Steve Biederman <sbied@wv.mentorg.com>, "The Snapping Game: Hints:
Part 1"
[ Editor: Biederman's code is not Martino's: the sentence initials of
the Donald Trump example (S L P S W T H M R L) do not spell its
consonants. His explanation, promised in later "hints" postings, is
not in the collected material. ]
[ Editor: from a May 1995 thread about the daily puzzles on the
"Riddler" web site. ]
The "snap, snap" puzzle is an old game... just take the first letter
of each sentence and mix in vowels for the snaps... one snap for 'A',
two for 'E', and so forth.
The one that was the actual puzzle went something like this:
Get it. <snap> <snap> <snap> <snap> <snap> Make it happen. Please get
it.
The five snaps translate to 'U', and the whole sentence translates to
'GUMP'... the answer was 'Tom Hanks'.
-- Jonathan Haas <positron@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>
[ Editor: a reply in the same code to Christine Park's message quoted
above. ]
Had to say... <SNAP> Heck of a puzzle. <SNAP>
-- Jim Hsu <jimhsu@athena.mit.edu>
[ Editor: in Martino's code this reads H-A-H-A. ]
[ Editor: further postings on snaps, from rec.puzzles, 1993 and 1994. ]
Hint: Snaps clue you to vowels. How many vowels are there, and what
are the most snaps you have seen together?
-- Josh Lehrer <jsl@cs.brown.edu>, October 1993, of his own "The name
of the game is snaps..." puzzle (quoted above)
There was a time in my life when I tortured my friends with "Snaps".
But you're making it FAR too easy. First off, DON'T snap out the
actual answer. Snap out some clue. This keeps the folks who are
trying to break the code from thinking back and figuring it out.
Sometimes your confederate won't get the answer from the clue; that's
okay, just think of another clue and keep going. Only in desperation
should you resort to snapping out the actual answer.
Secondly, select the sentences you say in between the snaps with care.
The best stuff to say in between the snaps should be tantalizingly
close to actually clueing in your confederate. Now, we know that most
of the text is meaningless. But to the folks trying to figure out what
you're up to, you can keep them off the correct trail for a long time.
When you're in practise, you can come up with these as fast as you need
to. I'm way out of practise, but, oh, let's say we're trying to get
across "Dustin Hoffman":
Religious Jews don't play Snaps on the Sabbath.
Snap
Snap-Snap-Snap
No one has ever won an Oscar for playing Snaps.
My cousin thinks playing Snaps is a waste of time.
Snap
New Yorkers play Snaps on the subway.
Then, assuming this was enough clue for your confederate to say "Dustin
Hoffman", the poor folks trying to figure things out are spending their
time asking themselves "Jews, an Oscar, his cousin, New Yorkers ?? How
could he possibly have gotten 'Dustin Hoffman' from that ??"
-- Steve Biederman <sbied@wv.mentorg.com>, October 1993
patrick malloy (malloy@husc8.harvard.edu) wrote:
: I'm curious to see if anyone can figure out this puzzle. It is a code
: that allows two people to communicate the name of a famous person by
: saying semi-random words or phrases accompanied by a specific number
: of snaps.
: Other examples of this code include:
: Steven Spielberg:
: <snap snap> "The movie E.T. was directed by Steven Spielberg"
: Stephen King:
: <snap snap snap> "The book IT was written by Stephen King"
: Also, I think the maximum number of snaps is 6.
: So put on your thinking caps, and tell me what you think!
The number of snaps refers to the number of a vowel in the sequence
AEIOUY. It seems you use the first letter of the sentence for
consonants. This was a popular parlor game in the sixties (when there
were still parlors?). I remember the first time someone challenged us
to figure out the code. It works best if you use the first letter of
the second word in the sentence for the consonants and if the
contextual references are rather obscure.
Thanks for the memories...
-- Peter M. Layde <playde@post.its.mcw.edu>, July 1994