This Balderdash episode is 15 years old. So you’ve seen it once. Let’s see if it helps you get any more correct this time.

It’s the new version of Balderdash. The old Balderdash gave you words—which most people have never heard of—and expected each player to write down the meaning of that word. One player in turn is in charge of reading the word to the group, writing down the correct version on a slip of paper, and then collecting from the rest of the group their individual written meanings of the word. These are then read aloud by the person in charge, and each player votes on which of the meanings is correct.

If you vote for your own, you don’t get any points but maybe you coax someone else into believing that, since one person voted for it, it’s the correct version. You don’t get a point for your vote, but you do get one if someone else votes for it.

If you vote for what turns out to be the correct version, you get two points. It’s a board game, and the goal is to get your piece to the end first.

This new version not only has words to give meanings to, but also abbreviations and movie titles. If a movie title is read, you have to provide enough about the content of the movie to suck someone in. 

The word is “scarpology.” Let’s see whether or not you can select the correct meaning from the following entries: (The answers are at the end.)

The geological study of cliffs. The study of South Afican rodents. The study of insults.  The science of deducing information from the sole of a shoe. The geological dating of superficial stone layers. The study of the seasonal movements of trout. Predicting the future from tea leaves.

Which is it?

Next, let’s go with an abbreviation: The abbreviation is “BHPH.”

BHPH. Big Horn Protected Hunting. Bureau of Hotels and Public Housing. Blessed Heirophants of Prophet Hill. Better Husbands’ Prayer House. Bureau of Hydroponic Horticulture.  Board of Honorary Philanthropists and Heuristics. Brotherhood of Hen Pecked Husbands.

Which is it?

The name of the movie is: “Operation Camel.” Which of the following best describes what this movie is about:

Operation Camel. Two brothers vow to find and kill all the camels in the state of Nebraska. Four brainy high school students invite John Wayne to their high school prom. A man named Simon Legree begins a camel farm in Los Angeles, California. A dancer is rescued by U.N. soldiers in the Gaza Strip. John Wayne plays a French foreign legionnaire in this movie about Arabian warfare. Several camels are parachuted onto a Saharan oasis so that the children of an orphanage stranded there can escape.

Which is it?

Next, let’s do another word: “Glabrescent.” Here we go.

Glabrescent. A chemical property exhibited by the hooves of cows and horses. A forked battle sword. The scientific term for the mirage effect. Seamless and smooth. Hairy when young, hairless when old. A person who becomes excited at the sound of running water. An odorous emanation supposedly given off by ghostly apparitions.

Which is it?

This time you get the name of a person. Choose which of the following most likely describes this person. The name is: Harry Williams.

Harry Williams. The Olympic official who was impaled by a javelin. The builder of the South Dakota Corn Palace. The man who offered to go up into space before even monkeys had been sent up. The man who invented the pinball machine. The lesser known brother of songwriter Hank Williams. The man who first invented croquet. The first recipient of a heart transplant.

Which is it?

Finally, another title of a movie: “Don’t let your meat loaf.”

A cooking video released by General Electric to promote the first electric range. Three unemployed actors try to make money by doing stand-up comedy. In this comedy, Dom Deluise stars as a vegetarian who wins a recipe competition. A documentary about Emeril’s early culinary adventures. A comedy about a city boy who tries to start a cattle farm in Montana.  A 1950’s housewife hypnotizes her couch-potato husband into humorous servitude. A rock opera starring Meat Loaf, the singer. 

First answer: Scarpology—the science of deducting information from the sole of a shoe.

BHPH: Bureau of Hen Pecked Husbands.

Operation Camel: A dancer is rescued in the Gaza Strip.

Glabrescent: Hairy when young; hairless when old.

Harry Williams: The man who invented the pinball machine.

“Don’t let your meat loaf”: Three unemployed actors doing stand-up comedy.

How did you do?