Monday, April 23, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[dhkendall]

[Any guesses on the clues we didn't see? I got a pretty good idea at 2 of the 3: Five finger $200: "blah, blah, blah, blah, rule of this", and April 23 $400 would have as a correct response "Who is William Shakespeare?", being the most famous writer who died on that date (arguably the most famous writer ever), the clue may have included the fact that he may have also been born on that date - no one knows when he really was born, but he was baptized on April 26, and it wouldn't be unheard of to baptize at the age of 3 days.

I don't know about the clues we didn't see, but question 9 for you was played on Millionaire today: http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39556

Re: Question 9

Wait, what?...

Spoiler: show

It's not canton?

Yeah, that's what I thought too, but it turns out

Spoiler: show

Union is a term for the canton of the *US* flag. Good thing "canton" wasn't one of the choices or I would have jumped on that negbait like the American public on the Betsy Ross myth!

[heisman65]

Thanks, everyone for the kind words. We had an amazing party tonight and I was generally pleased with my performance, but I would've been happier with a win. Cindy, despite her self-deprecating demeanour, was a beast. On the buzzer and in general knowledge. She was so humble that after she won, she turned to me and apologized for winning. I wish her nothing but the best. That first BMS on appendix threw me and probably made me chunk the Paris 1944 clue. I knew that one, as Alex said, but I totally second-guessed myself.

I was crushed on the buzzer, which I think was obvious. This made the difference, IMO. I knew so much more than I was given credit for, but, hey, that's J! I knew, too, How To Make It In America, but was gun-shy. Funny, that show was cancelled the day after my taping.

I regret rien. And I appreciate all the support. Much love.

[TenPoundHammer]

That first BMS on appendix threw me

I think he should refrain from BMSing except on partial answers. If he BMSes X, then I expect the correct answer to be XY or YX, not a totally different word.

Appendix should've gotten a hesitation and a glance at the judge's table or something, but IMO that is not a BMS towards bibliography. That also threw me big time.

[alietr]

Thanks, everyone for the kind words. We had an amazing party tonight and I was generally pleased with my performance, but I would've been happier with a win. Cindy, despite her self-deprecating demeanour, was a beast.

You realize that if you used that spelling of demeanor on the 'official' board, they'd kick your butt offa there right quick.

[Sage on the Hudson]

Given his profession, the returning champ miscalculated when he went after the book category first. If he saves the DD he goes all in late in the first round and has at least a couple thousand more. In the end it didn't matter.

It would have been a miscalculation only if he'd known where the daily double was, but, of course, he couldn't and didn't. He merely went with what he liked and thought he knew best. As it is, it was simply unfortunate -- for him.

Paris was totally foreign to me. Nothing sounded remotely familiar. I didn't know Luxor was a thing outside Vegas, for one.

It's a rather major city in Egypt. The obelisk that stands in Paris originally marked the entrance to the Luxor temple.

The clue was rather misleading, as that obelisk, like the ones in New York and London are best known as "Cleopatra's Needle" (though they predate Egypt's Ptolemaic period by about twelve centuries).

[Judy5cents]

Mike, you did a great job. You pulled yourself out of the hole more than once, you finished in second place ahead of the returning champion, and you got the FJ question correct. Being Canadian, I would assume the American Revolution is not something you studied all the way through grade school, so you deserve extra credit for knowing more about American History than most of us know about Canadian history--or Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Well done. You can hold your head up high.

[Woof]

Given his profession, the returning champ miscalculated when he went after the book category first. If he saves the DD he goes all in late in the first round and has at least a couple thousand more. In the end it didn't matter.

It would have been a miscalculation only if he'd known where the daily double was, but, of course, he couldn't and didn't. He merely went with what he liked and thought he knew best. As it is, it was simply unfortunate -- for him.

AP's point is a bit more subtle than that. If you have a wheelhouse category on the board, you lose nothing by holding off on it until close to the end (you don't want to wait too long in case time runs out). If someone else picks those clues, you have the same chance to ring in as you would otherwise and if a DD lurks therein you have the opportunity to get it with more money to wager. The only risk with that strategy is that someone else hunts the DD in your wheelhouse category before you get to it. C'est la guerre.

[John Boy]

North Carolina? Really?

I've never heard it call the "Cockpit of the Revolution", but was fairly sure when the Battle of Trenton was.

I never heard of that either. Nor was I aware that any inordinate number of battles took place in N.J. But anyone who has seen the iconic "Washington Crossing the Delaware" (i.e. pretty much all of us) and took the time to learn of the Battle of Trenton that was the context for that painting should have had little trouble with this one.

Two perfect FJ wagers by the challengers. Not so much by the champ. I agree this was a tougher game (esp. 2nd round). All props to Cindy for a very solid, dominating performance.

[Austin Powers]

Given his profession, the returning champ miscalculated when he went after the book category first. If he saves the DD he goes all in late in the first round and has at least a couple thousand more. In the end it didn't matter.

It would have been a miscalculation only if he'd known where the daily double was, but, of course, he couldn't and didn't. He merely went with what he liked and thought he knew best. As it is, it was simply unfortunate -- for him.

No one knows where the DDs are, so you should play to maximize their value. In the first round, there's little to gain by hitting it early. Since you do not know where it is, you are better off playing, and hoping, that it shows up in a category that is your strength. The counterargument would be that it's nice to get off to a hot start, but as returning champ he should know his way around the buzzer.

[alietr]

Another counterargument is that some people like to get them early as a defensive measure to remove them from the other contestants.

[Austin Powers]

Another counterargument is that some people like to get them early as a defensive measure to remove them from the other contestants.

True, but since you don't know where it is, you're best going after it in categories where your opponents might be strong. For example, if I am playing jpahk, I take out those math and physics categories early. If I am playing TPH, country music is off the board, fast!

[alietr]

AP vs. TPH ... now *there's* a mental image!

[Austin Powers]

AP vs. TPH ... now *there's* a mental image!

Not sure who I would wager my quatloos on, myself.

[harrumph]

I live in New Jersey about three miles from a Revolutionary war battlefield, so I already know how many skirmishes took place here. I'd have gotten FJ even without the December 1776 hint.

Cindy was a fun player to watch, and this game had a lot of camera shots of all three contestants furiously hitting the buzzer at the same time only to have Cindy consistently get the ring in. Wish our boardie had had a better luck of the draw.

[TenPoundHammer]

I'm surprised dhkendall hasn't said anything to me about the Pinky and the Brain reference in the clue.

Awkward moment there too. Something like: "What is Thinky?" "Yes, Pinky." [jump cut] "Oh snap, he said Thinky and I gave out the answer. Stupid me."

[davey]

I'm surprised dhkendall hasn't said anything to me about the Pinky and the Brain reference in the clue.

Awkward moment there too. Something like: "What is Thinky?" "Yes, Pinky." [jump cut] "Oh snap, he said Thinky and I gave out the answer. Stupid me."

But you can't blame Alex. Where the heck did "Thinky" come from? Going against both the TOM and the category...

Another embarrassing FJ! for me. Thought NJ immediately but I didn't know why...couldn't quite tie the date to the Battle of Trenton - changed to PA...

[Sherm]

Like someone else has just said, the majority of the revolutionary war was fought in New Jersey, that is where Washington was almost of the time. The 1776 part of the clue made it a pretty dead give away. The army had a winter in valley forge (PA) lost a major battle at Brandywine (very corner of PA with some in Delaware), but the majority of the revolutionary war was fought in New Jersey, after the British took control of NYC, and for a while Philadelphia.

I think the North Carolina answer had a lot to do with the fact that the a lot of the battles that eventually won the war for the US occured in North Carolina, but they all occured after the British took control of Charleston, and that happened in 1780

[marpocky]

That first BMS on appendix threw me

I think he should refrain from BMSing except on partial answers. If he BMSes X, then I expect the correct answer to be XY or YX, not a totally different word.

Appendix should've gotten a hesitation and a glance at the judge's table or something, but IMO that is not a BMS towards bibliography. That also threw me big time.

I think that's a flaw in your expectation, more than a fault of Alex's or the show's? A bibliography is indeed part of an appendix, so BMS was appropriate (or at least, a generous alternative to simply ruling against "appendix").

[TenPoundHammer]

I honestly can't memorize anything related to wars. I wonder if the dreadfully boring Civil War class I took back in college had anything to do with it. We had to slog through a ginormous book that felt bigger than all the Cerebus the Aardvark "phone books" combined, take notes and then get tested on it each week. And with remarkable accuracy, I managed to take notes on everything BUT what we were tested on. Every single test, I'd answer like two questions, look at the other 14 and say "where the bleep was THAT in the book?" Between that and the draconian janitor who proceeded to interrogate me for 30 minutes because he somehow got it in his head that I was stealing office supplies, t was just a dreadful class all around.

A bibliography is indeed part of an appendix

News to me. I thought they were different types of thing.

Still, I think appendix should've gotten a pause and a glance at the judges.

[marpocky]

I'm surprised dhkendall hasn't said anything to me about the Pinky and the Brain reference in the clue.

Awkward moment there too. Something like: "What is Thinky?" "Yes, Pinky." [jump cut] "Oh snap, he said Thinky and I gave out the answer. Stupid me."

There was another awkward Alex moment, going into the first break I think, he mentioned Mike was the only one in the red for the moment, but that would soon change. The (presumably unintended) implication of that particular phrasing was that other players would be joining him in the red, not that Mike would dig his way out.