You could keep this up forever so long as you don't come up with a word that links back to deviation.
But you could also get to the starter word again quite easily... as long as nobody challenges. The point is, NO word links to the words before and after it.
Ignore what I said about the player reaching the starter word first winning the game - it ends the game. In the end it's the number of points that matter.
Oh dear, anyone still follow?