Today's game will be December 23, 1988, Jeff Richmond game 1. I had 2 different people send me copies of this game on Thursday: Jeff himself and also Christopher Denault, who was digitizing the tape for Jeff! Independent of each other, even. Thanks for thinking of us, both of you.
http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=5884
The other players are Champ John Hawekotte and challenger Lisa Beach, who is still a successful casting director today. According to this link, she was scheduled to be on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston on 9/11!
This is a tough game of the "late '80s" variety. Like, the pop culture skews older, so a lot of the clues are things they wouldn't ask about any more. As opposed to the mid-'90s games, about which I've spoken before, which are full of the timeless basic general knowledge you need to be a good J! player.
Players did not get through all 5 clues in the CHRISTMAS MUSIC category, so Alex let us know what the fifth one was going to be before going into the break. That was nice.
The GOLFERS category is pretty tough today. I'd say the $500 clue is actually the easiest now, and may even have been back then. And the $300 clue requires a deeper dive than I'm prepared to give it here. Maybe in the "Reretaken Down" thread, if I feel like it. (Spoiler alert, I won't.)
Jeff fell into the trap in FARMING for $300. And I'll pick FARMING for $400 as clue of the game. I did not know it, but I'd heard of the correct response:
Possibly from Middle English for "barter", this type of farmer raises vegetables for market
Spoiler
The French named this oldest permanent settlement in Michigan in honor of the Virgin Mary
Spoiler
Christopher also provided me with partial video of Jeff's 3rd game. You can click through to see those clues. Thanks again to both of you, and have a good night.