The English language is full of words with strange, arbitrary spellings. Sure, "I before E except after C..." is a little weird, but look at the word cough some time. We're essentially using "-ugh" in place of "-f" there. The goal of this game is to establish a set of fixed rules for spelling, with no exceptions that aren't specifically explained. Being able to spell any given word at the end of the gameas one normally would isn't a priority.
Make sure everything that's going to be written down over the course of the game by someone who writes very clearly (or types quickly), and can easily seen by all players, then pick someone to take the first turn.
Players take turns defining rules of spelling and pronunciation in this format:
[letter or letters] ([real world equivolent phonetic version]): [example of usage using one or two words in quotes which follow all in-game rules.]
So for example, one might make the following declaration:
e (ps): Add an e to the word "corps" (kawr) and it becomes "corpse" (kawrps).
Any word featured in quotes must be completely consistent with all rules defined thus far within the game, and no new rule may render words previously used in quotes as incorrect spellings. So, using our current example, on further turns, any word containing the (ps) sound must spell it with an e, and no rules may be put forth which would change the spelling of either "corps" or "corpse" (which also means that at some point, we'll need to define a rule explaining what that P and S are doing in there, the most obvious being o_ps (aw): o, followed by a consonant, followed by p and s is always pronounced as a a short o, as in "corpse").
Exceptions to pre-defined rules may be defined, so long as don't conflict with anything previously established besides what's defined in the exception. For instance, with our example here, one could, later in the game, declare that while e makes the (ps) sound by itself, when followed with an a and u, they become a long O, as in "plateau."
You may also use words as examples whose normal spellings go against rules which have been established, so long as you 'correct' their spelling first. For instance, if a rule has been made that the (sh) sound is made by the letters t and i, (using "meditation" as an example), you could later establish that the (ing) sound is made by the letters eng, using English as your example, provided you write it as "Engliti" in your definition (hence the name of the game).
Players continue takung turns until nobody has any amusing new rules to propose, and the exact spelling of every quoted word is fully explained.
By the end of the game, if you followed the proper spirit, you should have a wonderfully absurd list of rules, altering the common spellings of worlds to the point of near-unrecognizability, and allowing for things like this: "Thheir tiood bi morps uetheirs." This of course derived from "There should be more upstairs" based on the spellings of corps, corpse, heir, good, ski, and attention.
Currently, there are no variants for this game.
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