Get a kick creating a story with Baffle Gab

This is part of an occasional series profiling local family or kid products during the holiday season.

Baffle Gab, a new family game by a Port Townsend-based company, is like a reverse Mad Lib. Instead of inserting adverbs and adjectives into a prefabricated tale, the game provides five random words players must use as part of their own story.

Each turn, someone draws five cards; our family got the biggest kick from reading the unrelated words: "Stump, grumble, morbid, plankton, delicious," for example. Players can add any words of their own choosing, but even so, it seems impossible at first to write anything coherent, much less in a minute's time.

It takes a couple rounds to get into the quick-writing mindset, but it's interesting to see how family members compose such different stories with the same words. Players receive points for using the most words and score double points for stuffing them all into one sentence. However, stories get dinged for not making sense or using words improperly.

Although the game is recommended for ages 8 "to 108," parents might need to adapt the game for younger folks (under 10 or so), selecting easy words and offering more time. For teens, strip the game down to just the cards; my 13-year-old got the concept but balked at the kid-oriented packaging, which includes a cartoon dog and "bone bucks."

In development since 2001, the $29.95 game officially launched in July. It's available at local Borders stores, Elliot Bay Book Co., a few independent retailers or www.bafflegab.com.

Stephanie Dunnewind, Seattle Times staff reporter