Holiday games to play with your academic writing

Pin the nominalization affix on the verb
The transformation of verbs into nouns has as a result the complication of the interpreting of your writing.

The syllable-to-word ratio game
My top score (averaged over a sentence of more than 10 words) is currently 3.2. You might think that doesn't look very high, but just wait until you challenge it.

The footnote-to-body-text ratio game
I haven't played this one myself yet, but it was highly recommended by a friend.

The octopus game
Find a passage where from the number of times you use the phrase "on the other hand" the reader can only infer that you have at least eight arms.

Hide the full-stop
See how many clauses you can jam into one sentence before you have to come up for air. (Warning: never play this one against a German.)

And my all-time favourite: Pass the whisky.
(If you tell me that doesn't have anything to do with academic writing, I'll bet you've never written a dissertation.)

What games are you treating your writing to a round of this Christmas?