How to Play FLAMES on Paper

What is the FLAMES game?

FLAMES is a pen and paper game played with two names. You cross out the letters the names share, count the letters that are left, and count that number round F, L, A, M, E and S until one letter stands. The letters stand for Friends, Lovers, Affectionate, Marriage, Enemies and Siblings. It is a Game, which is this site's label for a fixed rule on letters.

This page covers the paper version of FLAMES. The calculator runs the same steps, so you can check your working against it when you finish.

• FFriends
• LLovers
• AAffectionate
• MMarriage
• EEnemies
• SSiblings

How do you play FLAMES on paper?

Six steps, a pen and about three minutes. They work on any two names.

1. Write the two names one above the other, letters only.
2. Cross out the letters the names share, one for one: a letter in one name cancels one copy of that letter in the other.
3. Count the letters that are left in both names together.
4. Write F, L, A, M, E, S. Count that number along the letters from F, going round to F again after S, and cross out the letter you land on.
5. Start counting again from the letter after the one you crossed out, skip crossed-out letters, and repeat until one letter is left.
6. Read the last letter: Friends, Lovers, Affectionate, Marriage, Enemies or Siblings.

Here are the same six steps run on Ajay and Priya, the made-up pair GeeksforGeeks uses in its published walkthrough.

Our steps end on the same letter as the published example. That is how we checked the steps above against a published version of the rule.

How do you cross out letters in FLAMES?

One for one. A letter in one name cancels one copy of the same letter in the other name, never every copy. Take the names Anna and Nina. Each has two Ns, so both Ns go from both names. Anna has two As and Nina has one, so one A goes from each, and the second A in Anna stays. Crossing out every copy of a shared letter changes the count, and the count decides the word.

What if the FLAMES count lands on the same letter?

It cannot land on a letter that is already crossed out, because crossed-out letters are skipped. Count only the letters still standing. After each cross-out, start the next count from the letter straight after the one you removed. If your number is bigger than the letters left, keep going round: after the last letter standing, the count carries on from the first one again. The number itself never changes during a game. Only the row of letters gets shorter.

What if no letters are left in FLAMES?

Then FLAMES has no answer. Every letter cancels when the two names use exactly the same letters, such as a name played against itself. No published version of the game gives a rule for that case. Try full names instead, which gives the count more letters to work with. The calculator says the same: it shows a note instead of a letter.

Does the number of letters left decide the FLAMES result?

Yes. The six letters never change, and neither does the counting rule, so once you know how many letters are left, the last letter is already fixed. Two different pairs of names with the same count always end on the same word.

That is also why the order of the names makes no difference, and why the whole game turns on step 2. One missed cross-out changes the count, and a different count can end on a different word.

Which FLAMES variants do people play?

Not every playground plays the same FLAMES. The versions people describe fall into four groups.

• FLAME, which drops the S and plays with five letters.
• A different word for A: Affection, Attraction or Admirer instead of Affectionate.
• A different word for S: Sisters, Secret Lovers, Secret Admirer, Soul Mates or Strangers instead of Siblings.
• A count-only version, which counts along the six letters once and stops, with no crossing out.

The calculator runs the six standard words and nothing else. What each of them means is on the FLAMES calculator page.

Is FLAMES different from the love calculator?

Yes. Both are paper games played on two names, but they treat the letters in opposite ways.

If you would rather end on a number than a word, follow the steps for the love calculator on paper.

For a number from two names without the pencil, the Love Tester is another Game with a fixed formula.