Game 67: Literati

Literati is a game that goes way back for us.  David found it at a garage sale not long after we moved to California (so 1989 or 1990-ish).  Literari is a word game in which you make up definitions for words or guess the name of the author of a quote.  It is similar to Balderdash, but it is less varied in its categories - more word-focused and also more difficult.  We used to play it frequently with our friends Chuck and Sue, and I remember some very late nights and lots of laughter from those days!  I can still remember some of the definitions that were made up on those evenings nearly 30 years ago now!  We hadn't played it for years, probably because Balderdash is easier and more varied, which makes it the game of this sort that we normally play with guests.  Yesterday I asked Ocean, Jacob and Caleb if they would play this oldie-but-goodie with me, and they agreed.
 Jacob (white/grey pawn) took an early lead, which isn't surprising.  I don't call him "Word Nerd" for nothing.
 Jacob maintained his strong lead  .  .  .
   .  .  .  and then Caleb (black/grey pawn) zipped past and pulled out a huge win! I think all the script writing he does is paying off! Despite Caleb's writing experience and Jacob being a "word nerd," I actually thought that Ocean and I would give them a serious run for their money!  She is a poet (a spoken word artist), and I used to be the odds-on favorite to be the decisive winner in this type of game, but we got absolutely trounced yesterday.  It was fun nonetheless.  Below are some examples of cards.  Red is "general," black is "science," grey is "foreign," and white is "slang."  All of these categories require all players except the reader to make up a definition.  The final category is a quote, and players need to write down a name, guessing the author of the quote.  (One problem is that the quotes are becoming dated, so younger people are somewhat disadvantaged.  Then again, quotes are only one of five categories, and Caleb did pull off the win.)

 Our discarded papers made for a lovely mess, I thought:
 I remember being told when we first got this game that it had been a project for a marketing class at our nearby university, CSU Stanislaus, but I can't find any documentation backing that up.  Is anyone else out there familiar with this game?  If so, can you confirm or deny what I recall of its origins?
I think we need a rematch on this one!

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