Tuesday, December 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6972, 2014-12-30

CONTESTANTS
Dan Eling, a naval architect from Arlington, Virginia
Marcia Kuipers, an information systems analyst from Wayne, New Jersey
Vaughn Winchell, a stay-at-home dad and graduate student from Columbia, Maryland (whose 2-day cash winnings total $40,101)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Hey, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen and welcome again to our program. We're in the middle of the season of giving, and that's what Jeopardy! has been doing--giving lots of great cash prizes to our contestants. However, I must add that they have been earning that money. Case in point, Vaughn--two games, over $40,000. Marcia and Dan, good luck to you. Maybe it could happen to you as well. Here we go. The Jeopardy! Round comes first, as always. One Daily Double will show up in one of these categories...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
A CATEGORY WITH REVERENDS (5/5)
THE "OQ" CORRAL (5/5) (Alex: Not the OK Corral, but the ...)
RIBBONS (3/5)
HISTORY (4/5)
WRITTEN BY (5/5)
THE WINNERS (3/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Dan: 10 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 1 W
Marcia: 8 R, 1 W
Vaughn: 7 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 5
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,400



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Vaughn: $3,400
Dan: $2,000
Marcia: $1,800

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Dan Eling is a naval architect from Virginia who designs ships, obviously. What kind of vessels are we talking about here? Military?

Dan: Mostly for the navy, but ferries, Coast Guard cutters, anything under the sun.

Alex: Now, you have to miniaturize a lot of things like bathrooms and kitchens and stuff like that.

Dan: Yes.

Alex: What's the key? What's the trick to doing it?

Dan: You hire someone else who does just that.

Alex: Really?

Dan: Yes.

Alex: So farming out the jobs.

Dan: Well, we do the big stuff, and they do the little things.

Alex: Uh-huh. How long have you been doing this?

Dan: I've been doing that for 12 years.

Alex: Do you have a boat of your own?

Dan: No, it's good to have a friend with a boat.

Alex: Ah, okay.

[Laughter]

Alex: Farm out the work and have a friend to look after your boat.

Dan: Exactly.




Alex: Okay, Marcia Kuipers. Kuipers. Dutch?

Marcia: Yes.

Alex: Okay. Now, I understand that you have, in your history, a story very similar to the Anne Frank story in World War II.

Marcia: I do, yes.

Alex: Tell us.

Marcia: My father lived in an occupied village in the Netherlands, growing up. He was 12 when the war started. His father was a very good woodworker, and he cut a trapdoor into the kitchen floor so that it could not be seen. And there were two Jews who lived under their kitchen floor for the duration of the war.

Alex: The entire duration of the war?

Marcia: Yes.

Alex: So they survived?

Marcia: They did, yes.

Alex: And does your family still maintain contact with them?

Marcia: No, unfortunately not.

Alex: No. That's too bad, but it's a good story.

Marcia: Thank you.




Alex: Vaughn Winchell is our champion. He's into flying.

Vaughn: I am. I grew up in a family of pilots. Both of my parents were private pilots. And so when I was a teenager, I logged time in my father's Cessna Skyhawk, which is sort of the Ford Escort of the air.

Alex: Mm-hmm.

Vaughn: My mother had a 1946 Aircoupe, which is sort of the Triumph TR6 of the air. You can only fly it when the weather's nice.

Alex: Uh-huh.

Vaughn: And I also flew gliders. I logged time in a Blanik Sailplane.

Alex: Okay. Good.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Dan found the Daily Double on the 18th clue. Vaughn had $3,400, Marcia had $1,200, and Dan was at $2,400. Dan wagered $1,200.

THE WINNERS $800: It was the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
HISTORY $600: In 2013 this Brazilian president was not happy that the U.S. was listening in on her phone calls

THE WINNERS $600: With 22 & counting, this quartet has won more Grammys than any other rock group
(Marcia: Who are the Rolling Stones?)

THE WINNERS $1000: With a glam rock feel, this production won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical

RIBBONS $400: Pack your ribbons if you're competing in this sport, an Olympic medal event since 1984
(Dan: What is rhythm gymnastics?)

RIBBONS $800: The ribbon snake, which usually has 3 yellow stripes down its back, is a species of this commonest North American snake

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Dan: $5,000
Vaughn: $4,400
Marcia: $4,200

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THINGS TO DO & SEE IN ISRAEL (5/5) (Alex: You're gonna love the first one if you're a traveler...)
THE LADIES WHO LAUNCH (3/4, including 1 missed Daily Double)
NATIONALLY CLAIMED (5/5)
EARTHLY QUOTES (4/5)
11-LETTER WORDS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double) (Alex: That sounds intimidating.)
TELEVISION FOR SHORT (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Marcia: 10 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Vaughn: 9 R, 1 W (including 1 DD)
Dan: 7 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 29
Triple Stumpers: 2
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Marcia snagged the next Daily Double on the 25th clue. Vaughn had $14,800, Marcia had $9,000, and Dan was at $11,800. Marcia wagered $3,000.

11-LETTER WORDS $1200: It's the term for someone who collects pieces of eight, Venetian ducats or Confederate half-dollars

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Vaughn who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 29th clue. Vaughn had $18,400, Marcia had $13,200, and Dan was at $11,800. Vaughn wagered $200.

THE LADIES WHO LAUNCH $1600: Let's be clear-- it's the last name of Shannon, inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2014
(Alex: Vaughn?)
(Vaughn: I got nothing, Alex.)
(Alex: No? Let's be clear-- Shannon [*].)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
TELEVISION FOR SHORT $1200: This celeb-obsessed show got its name from a zone with a 30 mile radius used to monitor film shoots

EARTHLY QUOTES $1600: Genesis 45: "Ye shall eat" this "of the land"
(Marcia: What is the fruit?)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Vaughn: $18,200
Marcia: $13,200
Dan: $11,800

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
ROYALTY

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Two-thirds for first place. Stratton's Dilemma.
Vaughn: Wager $8,201 to cover Marcia.
Marcia: You ought to wager to cover Dan, but since you cannot win on a Triple Stumper if you do so, you should choose between wagering $0 and maximizing your winnings by betting all $13,200. You are in Stratton's Dilemma, calling for a wager of more than $10,400 (to shut out Dan) or less than $3,200 (risking the possibility of being passed from behind by Dan). Go with the smaller bet if you believe a Triple Stumper is more likely than a singleton miss by Vaughn.
Dan: Consider risking between $1,401 and $1,800. This will top a $0 wager by Marcia while still beating Vaughn on the Triple Stumper (should Vaughn wager to cover Marcia's doubled score).

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
He was the last English monarch to die in battle

FINAL SCORES
Dan: $11,800 + $11,798 = $23,598 (Who was Richard III?) (3rd place)
Marcia: $13,200 + $10,500 = $23,700 (Who was Richard III?) (2nd place)
Vaughn: $18,200 + $8,201 = $26,401 (Who was Richard III?) (40102-day champion: $26,401)
([After Think Music ends] Alex: And it might have been different, if he'd had a horse.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $6,200

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Vaughn: $18,400, 16 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Marcia: $11,400, 18 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Dan: $11,400, 17 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Combined Coryat: $41,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Marcia: 19/59 = .322
Dan: 18/59 = .305
Vaughn: 17/59 = .288
Team: 54/63 = .857

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
A CATEGORY WITH REVERENDS $200: "Just As I Am" is the autobiography of this evangelist

HISTORY $400: Protests in the Philippines in 1986 drove this longtime leader into exile
(Vaughn: Who is Benigno Aquino?)

THE "OQ" CORRAL $800: This style got high in art, like the work seen here

NATIONALLY CLAIMED $800: It's the brass instrument heard here

CORRECT RESPONSES
The Godfather Part II
Dilma Rousseff
U2
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
rhythmic gymnastics
garter snake
numismatist
Lucid
TMZ
the fat
Richard III
Billy Graham
(Ferdinand) Marcos
Baroque
French horn

[jeff6286]

Royalty
He was the last English monarch to die in battle.

Spoiler

Who is Richard III?

Vaughn Winchell: $18,200+$8,201=$26,401...now a 3-day champion with $66,502
Marcia Kuipers: $13,200+$10,500=$23,700
Dan Eling: $11,800+$11,798=$23,598

[dhkendall]

In ISRAEL $800, the response was given "miracle of the loaves and fishes". Would "feeding of the 5,000" work? (I know feeding of the 5,000 and feeding of the 4,000 were different things, and I'm afraid that I picked the wrong one.)

[TheyCallMeMrKid]

In ISRAEL $800, the response was given "miracle of the loaves and fishes". Would "feeding of the 5,000" work? (I know feeding of the 5,000 and feeding of the 4,000 were different things, and I'm afraid that I picked the wrong one.)

Pretty sure the reference was Matthew 14, so 5000 is the correct one and I would say yes, you were correct. The feeding of the 4000 is in Matthew 15.

[dhkendall]

Question for Vaughan (or anyone else that has been on the show when such a situation arises). Alex made a scoring change when they came back from commercial (between J! and DJ! I believe), was this a surprise when announced or was the player affected (or all three) informed during the break?

[xxaaaxx]

Instaget but....am I crazy, or have they used this FJ before? ETA: Only semi-crazy, but that time they were asking for his successor.

[TenPoundHammer]

Worst game ever for me, and that's saying something. I had zero right answers and FIVE FREAKING NEGS (Doberman for German Shepherd, Bethlehem for Jerusalem, American Horror Stories for Story, "water into wine" for "loaves and fishes", and "fruit of the land" instead of fat). My Coryat? MINUS FREAKING 3,600.

I also had a whopping 14 clams. So many right answers were on the tip of my tongue, but a combination of brain sluggishness, tongue-tiedness, gunshyness after negs, and later on, apathy were keeping them from coming out of my mouth.

I thought $800 was by far the hardest in TV Initials.

U2 have the most Grammys? I could've taken 1,000 guesses and not gotten that one.

How should I know that Ribbons for $200 was Staples and not OfficeMax or Office Depot? Is this my retail geekery causing me to know too much and overthink the clue, instead of just going with the most obvious?

My IRC client is called Colloquy, but I didn't know that was an actual word.

At least for a change, my terrible Coryat isn't capped by an instaget on FJ!, because I threw down my pen as soon as the category came up. How do you know this without tripping over the 847 other Richards?! HOW WAS THIS A TRIPLE GET?!?

[Abraxas]

Congratulations to Vaughn on another great win. This was a fantastic game, very enjoyable to watch! I got 36 clues correct including garter snake, Lucid (DD), and FJ.

[Winchell Factor]

In ISRAEL $800, the response was given "miracle of the loaves and fishes". Would "feeding of the 5,000" work? (I know feeding of the 5,000 and feeding of the 4,000 were different things, and I'm afraid that I picked the wrong one.)

Nobody asked this, but I can't see why not.

[Winchell Factor]

Question for Vaughan (or anyone else that has been on the show when such a situation arises). Alex made a scoring change when they came back from commercial (between J! and DJ! I believe), was this a surprise when announced or was the player affected (or all three) informed during the break?

We all learn about it during the break, yes. Which is good, because...how much would it suck to have the camera on you when you learn they're taking away $3200 you thought you had! And how bad would you look if the camera recorded your schadenfreude when your opponent gets bad news?

[Ryno]

I think that the Beatles deserved more Grammys than U2, oh well . I remembered Shannon Lucid from the J! App game.

Lach Trash: rhythmic gymnastics, TMZ, Shannon Lucid (DD)

I'm sure in not alone here, Instaget FJ.

[silverscreentest]

A couple of years ago, there was the Learned League question,"Who was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England?" The Best Wrong Answer was "Queen Elizabeth 0.9".

I did a quick search on J-Archive and didn't see this FJ as a clue in any round. I think it's just a familiar fact.

[Category 13]

The show stooped pretty low with that Reverend category.

[mxc_takeshi]

27 right.

Reverend- 4; OQ- 3; Ribbon- 2; His- 4; Write- 1; Win- 3
Israel- 3; Ladies- 3; Nation- 1; Quote- 1; Letter- 0; TV- 2

Lach trash: "Dilma Rousseff"

Instaget FJ.

[deling]

Playing against Winchell Factor was tough, having watched him in the Monday Night game from the audience. Excellent game, Vaughn, and Marcia as well!

If wishes were horses, I'd bet more on that Godfather Part II, and at least try to ring in on "viticulture."

Great to be on the show after trying for many years. Looking forward to hearing what other folks thought of the game, and poring over the J! Archive stats.

[silverscreentest]

The show stooped pretty low with that Reverend category.

Billy Graham, Cotton Mather, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Run-DMC. Why do you believe there's a race to the bottom here?

[Opal]

Question for Vaughan (or anyone else that has been on the show when such a situation arises). Alex made a scoring change when they came back from commercial (between J! and DJ! I believe), was this a surprise when announced or was the player affected (or all three) informed during the break?

We all learn about it during the break, yes. Which is good, because...how much would it suck to have the camera on you when you learn they're taking away $3200 you thought you had! And how bad would you look if the camera recorded your schadenfreude when your opponent gets bad news?

Slightly related to this, has anyone asked (or has it been mentioned already somewhere) why they don't completely revert back the scores if a response is later deemed correct when one other player gave the response for which they were looking? I don't explain things well but I'll try with an example. Player 1 provides a response to a clue that the powers that be didn't except, so it is negged. Player 2 rings in and provides the expected response and earns the money. During a break, it is determined that player 1's response was actually correct so they give them the money but don't deduct it from player 2. Shouldn't they also take away the money from player 2 since they would never have responded had player 1's response been accepted? Do the powers that be mention why such a situation is handled this way? If I ended up $200 short of the lead going into final when one of my opponents received money for a response worth more than $200 for which they should never have responded, and then I subsequently went on to lose (if I get final right, of course), I wouldn't be very happy.

[dhkendall]

The show stooped pretty low with that Reverend category.

This Christian saw nothing untowards in the category, I think it's just you.

[dhkendall]

Question for Vaughan (or anyone else that has been on the show when such a situation arises). Alex made a scoring change when they came back from commercial (between J! and DJ! I believe), was this a surprise when announced or was the player affected (or all three) informed during the break?

We all learn about it during the break, yes. Which is good, because...how much would it suck to have the camera on you when you learn they're taking away $3200 you thought you had! And how bad would you look if the camera recorded your schadenfreude when your opponent gets bad news?

Slightly related to this, has anyone asked (or has it been mentioned already somewhere) why they don't completely revert back the scores if a response is later deemed correct when one other player gave the response for which they were looking? I don't explain things well but I'll try with an example. Player 1 provides a response to a clue that the powers that be didn't except, so it is negged. Player 2 rings in and provides the expected response and earns the money. During a break, it is determined that player 1's response was actually correct so they give them the money but don't deduct it from player 2. Shouldn't they also take away the money from player 2 since they would never have responded had player 1's response been accepted? Do the powers that be mention why such a situation is handled this way? If I ended up $200 short of the lead going into final when one of my opponents received money for a response worth more than $200 for which they should never have responded, and then I subsequently went on to lose (if I get final right, of course), I wouldn't be very happy.

I think because both gave correct answers to the question (or vice versa, hey, it's J!) both should be rewarded. Why should someone be penalized for giving a correct answer?