King of Taboo
In the song “Putting Shame in your Game” the Beastie Boys rhyme: “I’m the king of Boggle, there is none higher, I get 11 points off the word quagmire.” Well while I’m not as good at Boggle as the Beastie Boys apparently are, one game at which I do excel is Taboo.
It started in High School, when I’d play the game with friends from my youth group. Someone would bust out the game and I’d put on my Taboo thinking cap. Next thing you knew, without fail, my team won. I have some vague memories of jokes being created from those games, something about “Hairy” Potter, and something about Oompa Loompas, but it’s too far back to recall fully. I do know that Jason and Maury were always on my team, and we’d always destroy the competition.
I was on Taboo hiatus for quite some time since then. It was only this year that I again picked up the buzzer and shouted out clues. It started at Thanksgiving. My team won. We played with a non-standard timer, so there was more time to shout out clues than usual. I broke the fourteen barrier, leaving others in the dust around twelve clues or fewer.
And again, only a few days ago, at my mother’s “Christmas party for the non-Christians,” we played Taboo. This time with the standard timer, allowing me only seven clues in one turn (my personal all-time maximum with the standard timer is eight), but twice in a row. My mother, who got a five and then a six, was the next closest competitor.
Of course, I would not have gotten to seven even once (does it surprise you that seven and even don’t rhyme?) without the invaluable help of my team. And by team I primarily mean my Aunt Suzy, who easily guessed at least 75% of the words I had. The other 25% went to my mom’s friend Andy, another valuable asset.
Nonetheless, I’m the king of Taboo, there is no higher, I move cards so fast they catch on fire.
