Monday, December 18, 2017 Game Recap and Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #7656, 2017-12-18

CONTESTANTS
Kate O’Connor, an insurance salesperson from Florence, New Jersey
Ben Cosman, a research consultant from Rochester, New York
Denise Littlejohn, a project manager from West Hollywood, California (whose 1-day cash winnings total $21,601)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, everyone. One week to go. Time to start shopping. Denise, as you just heard, earned enough money to do a lot of shopping on last Friday's program. Ben and Kate, welcome aboard. Good luck to the three of you. Let's go to work in the Jeopardy! Round, shall we? One Daily Double awaiting you three in one of these categories...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
ALLITERATION ALL AROUND (5/5)
SPORT'S STUFF (4/5)
COMPLETES THE NONFICTION TITLE (4/5)
THE PERKS OF BEING A WILDFLOWER (2/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
MISCELLANY (4/5)
GDANSK (3/5) (Sarah: A tour of a Polish city with deep German influence that made its mark on European history.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Denise: 11 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W (including 1 DD)
Kate: 4 R, 0 W
Ben: 7 R, 4 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 7
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $6,400



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Denise: $2,000
Kate: $1,800
Ben: $1,000

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Kate O'Connor is from Florence, New Jersey. She is an insurance salesperson who has had only one athletic win over your husband. What was it?

Kate: Athletic win of any type over anyone, and it just happened to be against my husband. My husband and I were attending a local minor league baseball team. We're big fans of the Trenton Thunder. And we were selected to go on the field as part of the Dizzy Bat Race. And for those who don't know what a Dizzy Bat Race is, you hold up a bat on the ground and you put your forehead to it. You turn around in a circle and then you run a race. Maybe 30 yards or so. And I started running, you know, we started spinning. I started running. He fell into the dugout.

Alex: Good for you.

Kate: Yes.

Alex: Weird competition.




Alex: Ben Cosman, research consultant from Rochester, New York, who--just after graduation, what did you do?

Ben: I went looking for the best pie in New England.

Alex: And did you find it?

Ben: I did. Pretty good.

Alex: What kind of pie are we talking about?

Ben: This was a blueberry pie.

Alex: Ooh.

Ben: In Maine. Portland, Maine.

Alex: Portland, Maine.

Ben: They have good blueberries there.

Alex: Okay. Are they known for that?

Ben: I think so, yeah.

Alex: They are now.

Ben: They are now, yeah.

Alex: All right, good.




Alex: Denise Littlejohn is our champion. She's a project manager from West Hollywood who is also an avid poker player, I understand.

Denise: Yes.

Alex: What are we talking about in poker? Texas Hold 'Em? Stud?

Denise: Texas Hold 'Em. Texas Hold 'Em, that's my favorite.

Alex: Really?

Denise: Yes.

Alex: That's very popular now. Have you entered any of the tournaments? Because when I look at those tournaments on television, I don't see that many women competing.

Denise: That's true. I have not entered any tournaments. I just like playing with my friends, and I especially like taking their money.

[Laughter]

Alex: That's a good attitude. Good attitude.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Denise found the Daily Double on the 26th clue. Denise had $4,000, Ben had $1,800, and Kate was at $2,600. Denise wagered $600.

THE PERKS OF BEING A WILDFLOWER $600: Being one of these long-lived types that survive from season to season, like some species of aster
(Denise: What is an evergreen?)
(Alex: No, be more specific.)
(Denise: Sorry.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
COMPLETES THE NONFICTION TITLE $1000: A neurosurgeon's bestselling memoir of his battle with lung cancer:
"When Breath Becomes ____"

SPORT'S STUFF $1000: The pocket,
5-step approach,
hook
(Ben: What is wrestling?)

MISCELLANY $1000: Launched in 1973, this first U.S. space station fell from orbit & broke apart 6 years later

GDANSK $600: (Sarah of the Clue Crew gives the clue from Gdansk.) Hitler demanded the cession of Gdansk and its shipyards, but it was a free city due to this treaty named for a French locale; Poland refused, and the Nazis attacked, precipitating World War II
(Ben: What is Ghent?)

THE PERKS OF BEING A WILDFLOWER $800: The perks of being a wildflower: just being so beautiful, like a field of California these
(Ben: What are buttercups?)

THE PERKS OF BEING A WILDFLOWER $1000: Inspiring poets like this Romantic whose heart filled with pleasure at the sight of daffodils

GDANSK $1000: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew gives the clue from Gdansk.) Born in Gdansk in 1927, he's shown here, next to his most famous character, Oscar, who's playing the tin drum

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Denise: $4,200
Kate: $2,600
Ben: $1,000

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
VICE PRESIDENTS (3/5)
CAMERAS (3/4)
STATE FLAGS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THEIR CONCERT TOUR (5/5)
PHILIP K. DICK (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
"ELECTRIC" DREAMS (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Ben: 13 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Denise: 6 R (including 2 rebounds), 0 W
Kate: 7 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 1 W

Clues revealed: 29
Triple Stumpers: 3
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $5,200



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Kate snagged the next Daily Double on the 8th clue. Denise had $5,000, Ben had $200, and Kate was at $5,400. Kate wagered $3,000.

STATE FLAGS $1600: On its flag, an elk & a moose stand beside a shield depicting a lake & a peninsula

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Ben who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 17th clue. Denise had $7,000, Ben had $2,200, and Kate was at $10,000. Ben wagered $800.

PHILIP K. DICK $1600: Psychics called precogs can see future crimes before they happen in this PKD short story

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
VICE PRESIDENTS $1600: This former New York governor was funky enough to be veep under 2 presidents, Jefferson & Madison

VICE PRESIDENTS $2000: This three-named vice president for FDR, who didn't think much of the job, lived to be 98, the oldest ex-veep ever

CAMERAS $1600: For centuries this "camera" was just a box with a pinhole, but in the early 1800s it began to record images
[The end-of-round signal sounds.]

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Ben: $12,200
Kate: $11,200
Denise: $10,600

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
ART

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Four-fifths for first place. Stratton's Dilemma.
Ben: Wager $10,201 to cover Kate.
Kate: You ought to wager to cover Denise, but since you cannot win on a Triple Stumper if you do so, you ought to choose between wagering $0 or maximizing your winnings with a bet of all $11,200. You are in Stratton's Dilemma, calling for a wager of more than $10,000 (to shut out Denise) or less than $9,200 (risking the possibility of being passed from behind by Denise). Go with the smaller bet if you believe a Triple Stumper is more likely than a singleton miss by Ben.
Denise: You ought to try wagering between $601 and $8,600. This will top a $0 wager by Kate while still beating Ben and Kate on the Triple Stumper (should Ben wager to cover Kate's doubled score and Kate wager to cover your doubled score).

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Perhaps bought from a Sears catalog, a window for an 1880s farmhouse inspired the name of this 1930 painting

FINAL SCORES
Denise: $10,600 + $7,000 = $17,600 (What is American Gothic?) (2nd place: $2,000)
Kate: $11,200 + $9,800 = $21,000 (What is American Gothic?) (New champion: $21,000)
Ben: $12,200 - $0 = $12,200 (What is Guernica?) (3rd place: $1,000)
(Alex: [To Denise] Grant Wood's famous work.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $11,600

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Ben: $13,000, 20 R (including 1 DD), 6 W
Denise: $11,200, 17 R, 1 W (including 1 DD)
Kate: $9,800, 11 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Combined Coryat: $34,000

BATTING AVERAGES
Ben: 20/59 = .339
Denise: 18/59 = .305
Kate: 12/59 = .203
Team: 50/63 = .794

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
SPORT'S STUFF $200: Hook,
cauliflower ear,
peek-a-boo defense
(Ben: What is wrestling?)

MISCELLANY $400: Inside the memorial seen here, you'll find a 19-foot-tall statue of this man

MISCELLANY $800: The board game has evolved into a video game that plays you in the 2017 "Welcome to the Jungle" sequel to this 1990s film
(Alex: And Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle opens this week.)

GDANSK $200: (Sarah of the Clue Crew gives the clue from Gdansk.) Originally designed to house royalty, Zielona Brama, also known as Green Gate, once served as offices for Lech Walesa, who formed this first Polish independent trade union

GDANSK $400: (Sarah of the Clue Crew gives the clue from Gdansk.) Legend says this Roman god, a symbol of Gdansk's ties to the sea, was angered by coins in his fountain, so he lashed out, and shards from the coins are now part of the local beverage Goldwasser

ALLITERATION ALL AROUND $800: This type of contest is seen here

THE PERKS OF BEING A WILDFLOWER $400: Getting to live in Hawaii, like a Vanda sanderiana one of these

GDANSK $800: (Sarah of the Clue Crew gives the clue from Gdansk.) Found in 40-million-year-old Baltic sands, this Baltic gold is used to make treasures for which Gdansk is famous

STATE FLAGS $1200: The Maryland flag displays the symbols of 2 families: the Crosslands & this one
(Ben: What is Baltimore?)

STATE FLAGS $800: Seen here is the designer of what became this state's flag
(Ben: What is Hawaii?)

PHILIP K. DICK $1200: Both PKD & Ursula K. Le Guin were class of 1947 at the same high school in this university city near Oakland
(Kate: What is Palo Alto?)

THEIR CONCERT TOUR $2000: The $400 million grossing "Black Ice" seen here

CORRECT RESPONSES
perennial
When Breath Becomes Air
bowling
Skylab
the Treaty of Versailles
California poppies
William Wordsworth
Günter Grass
Michigan
"Minority Report"
George Clinton
John Nance Garner
the camera obscura
American Gothic
boxing
Thomas Jefferson
Jumanji
Solidarity
Neptune
a demolition derby
an orchid
amber
the Calverts
Alaska
Berkeley
AC/DC

[theFJguy]

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
ART

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Perhaps bought from a Sears catalog, a window for an 1880s farmhouse inspired the name of this 1930 painting

Denise Littlejohn: 10600+7000=17600
Ben Cosman: 12200-0=12200
Kate O’Connor: 11200+9800=21000 (New Champ)

Correct response:

Spoiler

American Gothic (Ben – Guernica)

Daily Doubles
Denise: 4000-600
Kate: 5400+3000
Ben: 2200+800

Coryats
Denise: 11200
Ben: 13000
Kate: 9800

Combined: 34,000

Scores at the end of the Jeopardy! Round:
Denise: 4200
Ben: 1000
Kate: 2600

[MarkBarrett]

A J! contestant cannot study everything before going on the show. What should be on the short list is VPs as that $3600 left up for grabs could have changed things going into the FJ! round.

Nice timing by the writers to have this clue for $1000 in ALLITERATION ALL AROUND: The idea that Internet service providers should treat everyone’s data equally

The writers caught me sleeping on the category on an earlier clue as phone tag did not work. I have never said it and never heard it as the correct response required.

Ben did well in the second of the DJ! round to have the lead for the FJ! round with room to spare even after leaving money on the table with his DD3 wager of 2200+800.

I see it on Learned League sometimes when an opponent has ART as the worst category. It’s one of those areas like opera that can be a nightmare for some people. Ben’s wager of zero has me wondering if ART was the last thing he wanted to see? The response of Guernica demonstrates he at least knows a title of a famous work that is within the scope of what appears in the FJ! round. As to how it fits the wording of the clue? Well….

[goforthetie]

I see it on Learned League sometimes when an opponent has ART as the worst category. It’s one of those areas like opera that can be a nightmare for some people. Ben’s wager of zero has me wondering if ART was the last thing he wanted to see? The response of Guernica demonstrates he at least knows a title of a famous work that is within the scope of what appears in the FJ! round. As to how it fits the wording of the clue? Well….

He had the right decade at least.

[Wpwells]

A J! contestant cannot study everything before going on the show. What should be on the short list is VPs as that $3600 left up for grabs could have changed things going into the FJ! round.

Nice timing by the writers to have this clue for $1000 in ALLITERATION ALL AROUND: The idea that Internet service providers should treat everyone’s data equally

The writers caught me sleeping on the category on an earlier clue as phone tag did not work. I have never said it and never heard it as the correct response required.

Ben did well in the second of the DJ! round to have the lead for the FJ! round with room to spare even after leaving money on the table with his DD3 wager of 2200+800.

I see it on Learned League sometimes when an opponent has ART as the worst category. It’s one of those areas like opera that can be a nightmare for some people. Ben’s wager of zero has me wondering if ART was the last thing he wanted to see? The response of Guernica demonstrates he at least knows a title of a famous work that is within the scope of what appears in the FJ! round. As to how it fits the wording of the clue? Well….

One thing I've learned since I started really seriously playing trivia is that categories like Art and Opera (to use your examples) have much narrower fields for trivia fodder and are much easier to learn.

[Elijah Baley]

Poor Ben! That was some serious wrong train of thought to get from Sears window to Guernica.

[lisa0012]

I see it on Learned League sometimes when an opponent has ART as the worst category. It’s one of those areas like opera that can be a nightmare for some people. Ben’s wager of zero has me wondering if ART was the last thing he wanted to see? The response of Guernica demonstrates he at least knows a title of a famous work that is within the scope of what appears in the FJ! round. As to how it fits the wording of the clue? Well….

He had the right decade at least.

Barely. The Nazis weren't bombing anyone in 1930...

[OSXpert]

Perhaps bought from a Sears catalog, a window for an 1880s farmhouse inspired the name of this 1930 painting

This was basically what I boiled FJ down to, although I guess the rest of it helped me rule out "Christina's World", the only other titled painting I could think of that has a farm house in it.

I hope I have a Phillip K. Dick category with a DD in it if I ever get on...

[AndyTheQuizzer]

Poor Ben! That was some serious wrong train of thought to get from Sears window to Guernica.

Well, he *did* bet zero on the category, so from that perspective, I'd say that response explains the bet, for sure

[Peter the accountant]

R: 29, W: 2, costing 2000
FJ:
Coryat: 18,600
LT: bowling, poppies, (perennial)

Ran alliteration and sports in the J! round, and missed running the misc category by the same one that stumped the players. That lead to one of my better rounds. DJ! wasn't as good, whiffing completely on the concerts, and I should have clammed up on the lit category - especially since I had to figure out who P. K. Dick was from the clues.

Got FJ, with little confidence I had it right. Figured I was doing good just to name a painting.

I'm not going to rag on Ben's FJ! response at all. He appeared to have little confidence in the category based on his wager. (And he would have won on a triple stumper, which is quite possible in an art FJ! category.) Once he wagered nothing, I doubt he spent much time thinking about his response as it didn't matter.

FJ! wagers were tough today. I have to give Ben the pass on a zero wager (always an option in a bad category). Kate is in a difficult spot where she had to choose between locking out Denise on a right answer or staying ahead of Ben on a wrong one,

Ben's run up from his timid wager from 3rd place on the DD to finishing the round in first place was very impressive.

[opusthepenguin]

Impressive comeback by Ben after many early missteps (including not capitalizing on his DD). But it just wasn't his night. I wonder if the audience could hear his groan when the FJ category was revealed. Suddenly, from first place, he knew he needed a triple stumper to win.

FJ made me think of American Gothic immediately. But I worried about the Sears angle. Was there some painting with an obvious Sears connection that I was forgetting about? I mean, Sears didn't point AWAY from American Gothic. But it didn't really point to it either. It was just a random cool fact. Like OSXpert, I considered "Christina's World," but that seemed much less likely. Once the first correct response was revealed, I assumed this would be a triple get.

[threearruda]

Got American Gothic, but what nearly tripped me up was Grant Wood being the correct final response in Austin Rogers' fifth game just a couple months ago. I thought there was no way the writers would ask about essentially the same thing so close together, but sure enough...

I'm pleased to have gotten the way before my time electric slide clue right... but I'm really bummed the writers didn't ask about the electric glide.

[NoWhammies10]

Coryat: $26,800
DDs: 2/3
FJ!:

Count me among those that second-guessed the Sears angle to "American Gothic".

Ben seemed nervous in J!, but came alive in DJ!. Unfortunately, a 0-wager sealed his fate, right or wrong. Needed a TS and didn't get it.

[squarekara]

I'm glad the Philip A. Dick fans can rest easy tonight. Good for Ben to keep things moving forward despite a couple setbacks. (I think the Guernica-themed curtains and bedsheets were what finally killed the Sears Catalog.)

[opusthepenguin]

I'm glad the Philip A. Dick fans can rest easy tonight. Good for Ben to keep things moving forward despite a couple setbacks. (I think the Guernica-themed curtains and bedsheets were what finally killed the Sears Catalog.)

Oh, and Philip K. Dick. His mom wouldn't have been cruel enough to give him a middle name that starts with A.

[TenPoundHammer]

This was a game of very tough top boxes for me:

* Not a clue on any of those Nonfiction titles. Saw no way to pick "ISIS" in the top box over any other hate group.

* Also didn't recognize any of those sports terms.

* First anniversary = paper?!

* NHO "Solidarity" either. That whole category was miles over my head.

* Vice presidents can break a tie?!?

* What do "I Am" and "Mrs. Carter" have to do with Beyonce?

====

Also, I've only heard of it being called "phone tag" and clammed because that's not alliterative. Derp.

So "Evergreen" BMSes to "perennial"? The hell it does. When does "evergreen" ever refer to flowers?

I knew Philip K. Dick was a sci-fi author, but that descrption didn't seem to fit sci-fi at all. I was expecting something more specific.

Ran "Electric" though.

Embarrassed to admit that I didn't get the State Flag DD. I got distracted by elk and moose and totally failed to process "peninsula". Guess I was afraid they'd negbait me to Florida again.

====

I thought of "American Gothic", but it just didn't feel right. How can a window be gothic? Obviously gotta be something else entirely.

[morbeedo]

Surprised no one got poppies, especially since they were such a big deal this year. The perennial miss was another head scratcher

I was in the audience for this first 3 games of this week, and I’ll admit I was amused to hear Ben call for the Philip K. Dick clues. Twitter’s all over it tonight

Great energy from all 3 players. Wish they could all come back! But I felt pretty bad for Ben. FJ is such a crapshoot

Denise’s interview made me LOL, Ben’s made me hungry, and Kate’s went way tooooooo long

[squarekara]

I'm glad the Philip A. Dick fans can rest easy tonight. Good for Ben to keep things moving forward despite a couple setbacks. (I think the Guernica-themed curtains and bedsheets were what finally killed the Sears Catalog.)

Oh, and Philip K. Dick. His mom wouldn't have been cruel enough to give him a middle name that starts with A.

Derp. But, hey, you never know what other middle initials could be hanging on that Dick tree.

[OSXpert]

* Vice presidents can break a tie?!?

Mike Pence has done it a bunch already:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 799207001/

Also, I've only heard of it being called "phone tag" and clammed because that's not alliterative. Derp.

Same