Mark K was slightly delayed this week, so while we were waiting, I took the others through the rules to this (normally) quick filler from Cwali. Mark K then arrived just in time to join in. Typo is perhaps best described as the word-game version of 6 Nimmt.

Players each have a hand of 12 cards, each of which displays a letter. Four cards are also laid on the table. Players choose a card and place this face down in front of them. All are revealed simultaneously and the player whose card is closest to the start of the alphabet gets to play first. The card is added immediately before or after one of the opening four cards and the player has to name a word beginning with those letters. The next player does likewise until everyone has had a turn. The process is then repeated until all 12 cards have been played. If you are unable to lay a card and name a word, you take the longest row of cards in play at that time and start a new row with your letter card. Each card taken is worth 1 negative point and whoever has the least negative points at the end of the game is the winner.

Our game turned out to be somewhat longer than I had expected - much longer. We don't play that many word games and it was pretty obvious our combined vocabularies was a bit limited (at least on this occasion). John had a couple of occasions where he was completely stumped and suffered accordingly. My earlier memorising of the Oxford English Dictionary ensured that I pulled through for the victory. The game allows for a second round where the order of play is reversed (nearest to 'Z' plays first), but as the first 12 turns had already taken about 45 minutes, we decided that was enough.