Solving the "ghost" word game.

[markgritter]

Ghost is played as follows: First player names a letter. Each subsequent player adds a letter to the front or back of the word fragment so far. If a player names a word of at least four letters, she loses. If a player is challenged to name a word containing the fragment he produced, and cannot, he loses (otherwise the challenger loses

Comments

[markgritter]

Wikipedia informs me that this variant is "superghost" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(game) or "Lexicant" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexicant

(and that Randall Munroe came up with a compact strategy for the original version)

[barking_iguana]

Yes, And I knew superghost as starting with two letters.