The ebay Rambling Game

To some it will sound pointless, to others it might appear to be exactly the same as another game they invented themselves or have been playing for years. But to me it was something that came to me late last evening. Indeed, so fresh is the idea that it doesn't have a snappy "Googlewacky" name.

The basic principle - v1.0 of the rules if you prefer - is that you start with an item which is for sale on ebay. You then use the magic of the feedback section to find something unusual that this person has either bought or sold recently. Click on that item and start the process again. See where you end up after a few rounds.

For obvious reasons I won't identify the buyers or sellers but all the items are genuine and all quotes are verbatim. Like CNPS this game is pointless to begin with so there is absolutely no point in cheating even one little tiny bit.

My first stop was a Doctor Who comic which the seller had priced so outrageously that his auction became a talking point on an unnamed DW online forum.

He claims the asking price - not a misprint btw - is due to it being his favourite comic. Why this would turn a $5 into a $1,000 is not made clear. Tom Baker looks like a pot smoking hippy on the cover.

The guy is obviously not a professional comic dealer if he thinks his recommendation would boost the price. Looking at a recent sale he might instead be a bit of a nutter. Unlike the comic, this one sold.

The buyer of this rather nasty looking set of knives would obviously need something to carry them around in. That would explain their purchase of this equally nasty looking handbag.

The handbag was sold by a company who obviously specialise in natty baggage as they also sold this extremely class celebration of the two great American institutions - the Presidency and silly looking dogs.

Everyone who is anyone will tell you that there is no point buying a handbag if you don't have the outfit to wear it with. The buyer of this bag was obviously a someone and understood the golden rule, hence the purchase of headgear which surely compliments it perfectly.

The description reads thus - "The tall, pointed top of the Medieval Sugarloaf Great Helmet offered a much better glancing surface than the older flat-tops, allowing blows from sword, mace, or axe to be harmlessly deflected." Which is good to know. Although it wouldn't really matter so much if you'd glanced at the seller's list of items and also purchased this genuine antique Chinese opium pipe.

You're thinking "He must be a collector of ancient Chinese artefacts". He's certainly not some disreputable hoodlum who enjoys an evening of the drugs... There must be an innocent explanation for one of his/her other purchases.

"1000 poppy pods" and none of them suitable for use on Remembrance Sunday due to their rather pale appearance.  Naturally, a site specialising in flowers can expect to sell a lot of flowers (though I've never quite understood buying flowers online as I would've thought that choosing them in person and being ripped off by a florist were essential ingredients in the romantic process).

And so we near the end of our journey with the buyer of this rather picturesque collection of dried flowers. The seller helpfully offers a choice of five different colours - simply email them with your requirements - so winning the auction is only the beginning of the fun.

The final jaunt is to look through the dried-flower-buyer's recent purchases and we find this extremely disturbing sounding item.

A pack of 100 "Heat Shrink Butt Connectors". I don't know what they are, I don't know what they do but I am sure they are the perfect end to this debut (some say premiere) ramble through the things people buy and sell on the 'bay.

So, to sum up...

The seller of    also sold  to the buyer who bought

from the people that sold  to the buyer of who sold

to someone who also bought from a company which sold to the

buyer of which, in case you had forgotten, are "Heat Shrink Butt Connectors"

It's a crap game isn't it. Oh well, at least it won't get me a fatwa from Ian Levine or his posse.