Shiritori


Shiritori is a Japanese word game in which the players are required to say a word which begins with the final kana of the previous word. No distinction is made between hiragana, katakana or kanji. "Shiritori" literally means "taking the end" or "taking the rear".

Basic rules

Example: sakurarajioonigiririsu → sumou → udon
The player who used the word udon lost this game.
There are various optional and advanced rules, which must be agreed on before the game begins.

Music

In the Pokémon anime new series, there are two versions of the ending song, "Pokémon Shiritori ", & "Pokémon Shiritori" ". Also, there's a full ending song, "Pokémon Shiritori ". It's a brand new version of the Japanese word game sung by children. Also there are two instrumental versions of the ending song "Pokemon Shiritori ", & "Pokémon Shiritori ". In Pokémon Shiritori, The title of the song is shown. The waveform of the song appears in the background with many Poké Balls. Pokémon appear in a line, moving right-to-left as they are named, while a Poké Ball corresponding to the initial kana of the Pokémon's name in gojūon order flashes in the color of the Pokémon in the background. But if there's a "n" at the end, the shiritori chain ends in failure and a jingle plays. The background Poké Balls flip to briefly show silhouettes of various Pokémon and other Poké Balls change in size to the beat. Another line of Pokémon is shown and ends successfully. In the first version, five wheels each with five Pokémon move and rotate. In the second version, Pikachu, Raboot, Yamper, and Riolu are displayed each in chains of three, with all four as well as Mimey dancing at the end. After that, in both variations, the title of the song is shown again at the end.

Optional rules

A Shiritori game using only English words was invented to help people learn English. Most rules are the same, yet there are several original and optional rules that are used.
In English, the most similar game is Word chain.
There are Russian wordgames similar to shiritori known as "Igra v slova", where players are required to say a noun that begins with the final letter of the previous word, and "Igra v goroda", where players are required to say a name of a city or town that begins with the final letter of the previous word.
There is also a similar South Slavic game called Kalodont, in which players continue the chain by beginning with last two letters of the previous word.
In Korean there is a game called ggeut-mar-it-gi, in which players must say a word that starts with the last Hangul letter of the previous word.
In Romanian there is a game called "Fazan", in which players must say a word that starts with the last two letters of the previous word.

Examples from popular culture