Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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TenPoundHammer

Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by TenPoundHammer »

NHO Black Swan.

Totally spaced on Greenland at $200. Couldn't think of a big island close to us, or what the biggest island actually was.

Recognized only the first two Shakespeare quotes.

WLT Cher in Been Her at $400? Didn't recognize any of the birth names at all.

Also WLT scientology or eye at $400?

Environment for $400 was negbait for "vulnerable". I was never going to get to "threatened", and the contestants didn't either.

I have never seen a car wash with a conveyor belt.

Lach Trash: Empire State Building, bullion.

African Geography? Yeah, I'm boned. There are 40 billion countries there, and I've never even heard of about 90% of them. And even looking at a map I'm a terrible judge of size. Put down Egypt because nothing else came to mind.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by jsterlacci »

TenPoundHammer wrote: Environment for $400 was negbait for "vulnerable". I was never going to get to "threatened", and the contestants didn't either.

I have never seen a car wash with a conveyor belt.
Don't get me started on that 'vulnerable' thing!

And I've never NOT seen a car was with a conveyor belt.
TenPoundHammer

Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by TenPoundHammer »

jsterlacci wrote:And I've never NOT seen a car was with a conveyor belt.
Every car wash around here is just a little garage where you drive in and pick up the hose yourself.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by sarisson »

Econgator used to work at the nuclear plant in my hometown, so I trust his judgment on that clue. However, I was very glad to get $3200 back while playing from the fourth.
I got FJ, but it was a coin flip between The Country Formerly Known As Zaire and Algeria. Just "Congo" would not have been accepted, had the DRC been the correct answer. I've gotten 8 of 9 FJ's, including the last seven, but they definitely weren't all gimmes.
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Volante
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Volante »

ron wrote:I guessed Algeria but I'm really not a fan of that question. Even looking at a map it's not immediately obvious that DRC is smaller.
Even looking at a map it's not immediately obvious Greenland is smaller than Africa! :D

Instafinal, but I didn't deduce it. I remembered it, probably from all the S. Sudan independence stories.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by seaborgium »

Aaron Schroeder won his first game on an FJ that asked for the two of the ten biggest countries in the world whose names begin and end with A; the clue added that Algeria was #11. My immediate picturing of Africa on reading tonight's clue had Angola as the biggest, but then I remembered that Darryl Tahirali lost that game because Angola was one of his answers. I wasn't sure Algeria was correct, but I knew it's now #10, so it was the best guess I had. I think it's ridiculous when I get trivia questions right because I remember old FJs, but right is right.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by BigDaddyMatty »

Coryat: $36,000
44 R/2 W
DD: 3/3
FJ: :mrgreen:
LT: Great Britain, Empire State Building, Rihanna, threatened, precycling, The Elements of Style (DD), bullion

A well-played game by all three contestants. I was trying to will The Elements of Style out of you there, Jill. Sorry it didn't work. Also, the birth names category reminded me of the four of us huddled around Clint's phone (or was it yours?) in the hallway at the Tropicana waiting for our quiz bowl slaughter match to start.

I was having a pretty strong game until I negged out on the final two clues of DJ! Thankfully, Kaberi's reversal on "cooling rod," warranted or not, applied to me as well.
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kaberi
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by kaberi »

econgator wrote:No offense, Kaberi, but I'm not sure why cooling rods was accepted. They're called control rods -- that's it.
I waited a couple of seconds before I rang in with that response, and my tone of voice clearly indicates that I myself didn't think they would accept it.

Having said that, my skepticism wasn't due to any idea that I had that it was completely the wrong answer. I had recently read a reference somewhere to "cooling rods" in reference to some nuclear accident (Three Mile Island, maybe?) It was due more to the fact that it was one of the more difficult clues in the category, that made specific reference to temperature, so I thought "cooling rods" would have been too obvious in that circumstance.

Also, although I wasn't entirely surprised that they ultimately decided to give me credit, I was surprised that the explanation was that they realized belatedly that I said "cooling rods" instead of "cool rods". I thought I had myself pretty clear, and it was more a question of them having researched and found some reference similar to the one that had prompted me to give that answer. I don't know why those chose to say that they had misheard me.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by jsterlacci »

seaborgium wrote:Aaron Schroeder won his first game on an FJ that asked for the two of the ten biggest countries in the world whose names begin and end with A; the clue added that Algeria was #11. My immediate picturing of Africa on reading tonight's clue had Angola as the biggest, but then I remembered that Darryl Tahirali lost that game because Angola was one of his answers. I wasn't sure Algeria was correct, but I knew it's now #10, so it was the best guess I had. I think it's ridiculous when I get trivia questions right because I remember old FJs, but right is right.
Australia and Argentina?
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by kaberi »

skullturf wrote:
Elijah Baley wrote:Kind of a sneaky FJ.

My guess was what turns out to be the second largest - and it's only about 15,000 square miles less than the largest (the difference is smaller than West Virginia and bigger than Maryland).
And 15,000 square miles is a small difference, relative to the size of these countries.

Algeria's land area: 2,381,741 sq km, or 919,595 sq mi
DRC's land area: 2,344,858 sq km, or 905,355 sq mi

So the DRC is only about one and a half percent smaller.

For me, this was one of those rare FJs where I got it right but didn't love the clue.

I just happened to remember the fact from reading it before (and I don't think "largest country on a given continent" is super obscure as far as facts go), but it still is very much "you know it or you don't", and second in this case is very close to first.
I must confess. As part of my preparation, I had spent some time looking at maps of Africa. So, when the category came up, I had some (misplaced?) confidence in my answer. What I hadn't done, and what I clearly should have done, is look up some basic facts, i.e. largest country, longest river, largest cities, etc. In the end, my mental map got me to DRC, so I didn't embarrass myself quite as badly as I could have, but I did feel stupid for having spent time learning the details without having mastered the basics.

Of course, all of this assumes that even if I had gotten it right, that Jason could have been caught. Which is very much an open question.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by seaborgium »

jsterlacci wrote:
seaborgium wrote:Aaron Schroeder won his first game on an FJ that asked for the two of the ten biggest countries in the world whose names begin and end with A; the clue added that Algeria was #11. My immediate picturing of Africa on reading tonight's clue had Angola as the biggest, but then I remembered that Darryl Tahirali lost that game because Angola was one of his answers. I wasn't sure Algeria was correct, but I knew it's now #10, so it was the best guess I had. I think it's ridiculous when I get trivia questions right because I remember old FJs, but right is right.
Australia and Argentina?
Yeah. Aaron almost cost himself the game by not realizing he had to name both until he had seconds left (and by betting everything but $100). But he pulled it out, and thus he avenged my father's defeat at the hands of Darryl. (Who knew that two years later, we both would be ToC second runners-up?!)
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by MarkBarrett »

[Just teasing] Kaberi, you were trouble from start to finish with Snow White (Alex had to wait for you to complete the name of the movie) to cooling rods (Alex had to adjust the scores before giving the FJ! clue.)

Thank you all three finalists for sharing your thoughts on the games here on this board.
Golf wrote:When Sudan split it was mentioned all over the place that Algeria was now the biggest. I too have run into this question during trivia since.
Same here. South Sudan changing things even reached my weak receptive geographic radar. If the clue had asked for #2 I would have guessed from 2-5 (DRC, Sudan, Libya, Chad) while having no idea which one I would have settled on for a response.

TOC spot on the line tomorrow. Good stuff for Friday the 13th.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Johnblue »

OSXpert wrote:
Bamaman wrote:A good sized lead for Jason, but by no means insurmountable.
Alex never notices this sort of thing, but oftentimes in these two day tournaments a player in a distant third place after the first day has come back to win it all.

I'll bet Alex mentions that 3rd-to-possibly-1st line that he seems to say in every tourney final. As for cooling rods, I thought she said cool rods myself but I'm half-deaf at this point. I knew it was between DRC & the correct answer & I figured they wouldn't have Democratic Republic of the Congo as a 30 second response. And also, as someone else noted above, there's that Congo-Brazzaville confusion. Lots of lach trash tonight. I knew it must be Elements of Style because what else did Strunk ever do?


Matt, it was Clint's phone. PS I haven't signed up for TCONA yet but if I do, I'm going to try to stay at the Trop of wherever they're holding it.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by IronNeck »

Missed this game because of a family engagement. Pity, since I was very much looking forward to the finals and the categories looked interesting.

Surprised that I got FJ when I looked it up, as geography is one of my weaker subjects. Amusingly, while I was considering both Algeria and Nigeria, DRC never popped into my head. Interesting to learn that it's a close second in area.

Also, as a scientist, I agree that "control rods" is the accurate term, not "cooling rods".
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by OrangeSAM »

TenPoundHammer wrote:...WLT Cher in Been Her at $400? Didn't recognize any of the birth names at all....
The first four letters of the clue were C-H-E-R.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by alietr »

I don't know if it was the audio setup at Constitution Hall or what, but it seemed like I heard a lot more reactions from the other players than I do in normal play (the laughs, 'oohs', etc.).
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by BobF »

JillyJill wrote:
I had completely forgotten my first DD bet, which was (for me) somewhat gutsy, and paid off with "byte."
Best of retroluck on tonight's show.

I've always been a big proponent of betting a lot on the DD if you find it in the first round. Clues are usually easier and you have time to make up ground if you miss it.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by IronNeck »

BobF wrote:
JillyJill wrote:
I had completely forgotten my first DD bet, which was (for me) somewhat gutsy, and paid off with "byte."
Best of retroluck on tonight's show.

I've always been a big proponent of betting a lot on the DD if you find it in the first round. Clues are usually easier and you have time to make up ground if you miss it.
Outside of exotic situations (very low confidence in a category, or having $6k versus 0 for the other two contestants) anyone finding a first-board DD should wager everything.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by JillyJill »

alietr wrote:I don't know if it was the audio setup at Constitution Hall or what, but it seemed like I heard a lot more reactions from the other players than I do in normal play (the laughs, 'oohs', etc.).
People are complaining about me on the Jeopardy! Facebook page. One lady wants to slap me! Someone on Reddit was bothered by my sounds, but another guy found them "charming and delightful." I'm not sure how I feel about that, honestly.

My brother noticed it on tv, but commented that Jason was doing it too.
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Re: Thursday, May 12, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by billiej »

Guessed Algeria, but it was only a guess. Instead of being pleased, I really feel this is something I should've known. :oops:
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