Key Game

The Key Game is a specific form of challenge designed to include two authors per story. Due to origin and nature of the challenge the resulting stories are slavefics and m/m. The Chain Game uses similar challenge structures, however at least one part of the pairing has to be female (the chain).The Chain Game Information Desk Accessed May 8th 2011.
==Origins==
The game originated from the YSML (Yaoi Slash Mailing List).The Palace of the Keys Accessed May 8th 2011.
==English Fandom==
==German Fandom==
In 2003 members of the YaoiGermany ML retrieved permission to host their own Key Games. Some aspects were slightly changed. The terms Trainer and Owner were dropped and instead the game revolved around the Key and its Holder, both fictional characters. The German Key Games derived from the original game rules,The Palace, 2002 Accessed May 8th 2011 via Wayback Machine. meaning that for example the Author of the story (i.e. the Owner) could take a look at the Key's description before deciding, if they should claim it or not. Additionally there was no common time frame for all Key Games, each challenge had its own rules. Unfortunately, that resulted in many unfinished works. A Key Game was called palace, with the challenge theme as name of the palace (e.g. Palace of Jewels, in which case the Keys had names of gems).
The Key Games were highly popular, even with fans who weren't part of the German Original Yaoi Fandom. The key_fiction ML was created as well as Der Palast, the game's central website. However, it was not mandatory to archive key stories in the palace. Anyone could create a new Key Game and many also put their own websites online. In such cases the palace provided a link to the game's website.
A German version of the Chain Game, Die Burg der Waffen, was also created.
Aside from the traditional Key and Chain Game, a third group of games emerged based on similar premises, but with aspects that excluded them from the original challenges, such as m/f pairings or played as RPGs. These were called Spezialpalast.
===Key Challenges===
Classic Key Games:
* Palast des Äthers
* Palast der Blüten
* Palast der Edelsteine
* Palast der einsamen Keys
* Palast der Engel
* Palast der Erde
* Palast der Fabeltiere
* Palast des Feuers
* Palast des Gewitters
* Gothic Palast
* Palast der Götter
* Holz Palast
* Palast der Insekten
* Palast der Jahre
* Palast der Lüfte
* Palast der Märchen
* Palast der Metalle
* Mythik Palast
* Palast der Nacht
* Palast der Natur
* Palast des Obstes
* Palast der Planeten
* Palast der Raubtiere (seme x seme)
* Palast der Runen
* Palast der Sinne
* Palast der Stoffe
* Palast der Töne
* Palast der Vögel
* Palast des Wassers
* Palast der Welten
* Palast der Widersprüchlichen
* Palast der Winde
* Zodiac Palast
* Zuckerpalast
Spezialpaläste:
* Palast der Farben (m/m, f/m, f/f - RPG, fandom characters as well)
* Palast der Gewürze (RPG)
* Palast der Historie (f/m)
* Höhlenpalast
* Palast des Meeres (RPG)
* Palast der Sehnsüchte (RPG)
* Palast der Tränen (RPG, classical)Der Palast - Archiv Accessed May 8th 2011.
==Resources==
* YSML on YahooGroups
==References==
Category:German-Speaking Fandom
Category:Slash Challenges
Category:Fiction Writing
Category:Challenge Glossary