qepHommaj

[Qov <qov@direct.ca>]

DaHjaj ram qepHom wItIvqu'.  mI'mey DIqelmeH <bIngo'> 
wIQuj.  Qapbejqu'.  qep'a'vaD vIchup.
mI'mey DIwIvmeH, cha' *dice* wIlo'(*).  Hoch *die*Daq wa'maH Dop tu'lu', 
vaj DuH wa'vatlh mI'.

*dice* jIrmoH wIvwI', 'ej mevDI' jatlh mI'.

bIngo' is definitely a Klingon game.  Consider:

For each number, you say <letter> bIngDaq:  ____, for example:
When someone wins, they say: bIngo'!
And everyone else yells: bIngor!
(Actually, we yelled "bIngor" pretty much any time the caller rolled a 
number he needed, didn't roll a number we needed, dropped the dice on the 
floor, or just looked at the dice funny).

It's also more fun calling in Klingon, as the letters are funnier
<'I' bIngDaq: cha'maH cha'>
<' bIngDaq: SochmaH wa'>
<ng bIngDaq: loSmaH Soch>

cha'logh Qap tomaS.  ngorba'.

By the end of the second game we were rolling the dice in a box so only the 
caller could see them, and no longer had the cheat sheet for numbers 
visible, but no one had any trouble calling or understanding the 
numbers.  majQa'!

There were just four of us there tonight, but we rocked.
jeyD, after asking for help in saying, "do you know what I have?" 
spontaneously came up with the sentence <Doch vIghajbogh bongu'laHchugh 
bowaHlaH>.  That's two type nines in one *spoken* Klingon sentence, 
folks.  Qov qepHom yIHaj.  chen mangghom.
I was impressed that tomaS called <Qapla'Hom!> to indicate he almost had a 
line.
I won't quickly forget the spectacle of 'alISon counting her teeth out loud 
in Klingon, using her tongue.
Allison was not content to give her telephone number in digits and as a 
decimal number, like everyone else did, but converted it into binary on the 
fly.  <wa' wa' pagh wa' pagh pagh wa' pagh ....>

An interesting realization, while giving our telephone numbers as decimal 
numbers: while in English I would say
688-7749 as 6,887,749 -- six million, eight hundred eighty-seven thousand, 
seven hundred forty-nine, in Klingon it would appear that I don't speak of 
more than nine thousand.  So: jav 'uy', chorghbIp, chorghnetlh, SochSaD, 
Sochvatlh, loSmaH, Hut.  vIparHa'.

If you're in the Vancouver area, PLEASE come out to the qepHom.  It does 
not matter if you can speak NO Klingon right now.  Pretty much everything 
gets translated, we have lots of fun, and there are always Oreos.  Allison 
spoke not a word when she started and was flawlessly calling bingo tonight 
in Klingon.

* I used wI- not DI- because the English is an intrinsic plural!