Thursday, March 12, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[TenPoundHammer]

I thought Presidential Secrets was very obscure. What led to Wilson at $200?

It's well known that Edith Wilson basically ran the Executive Branch due to Woodrow's stroke.

Plus, didn't the clue mention something about the Treaty of Versailles?

I barely even knew that Edith Wilson was a person, definitely didn't know that Woodrow had a stroke, and wouldn't have been within 1000 years if you'd ask me when the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

[cosmos]

Did you need to know anything besides Texas and president to get LBJ? (W. didn't drink when he was in the office.)

In case it comes up, Nixon liked Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

I was impressed that someone knew doxing/doxxing, which I later learned comes from docs.

[MiloTheMayor]

The clue had me do the math to get to the year 1935. That year meant SSA to me and if it was something else so be it. I was not going to change my response.

For me the tipoff was the inclusion of the number 59 in the clue.

Just watched the game with my wife. We thought the clue for copy and paste was a little misleading. I wouldn't consider copying "craftsy" or whatever that adjective was.

[Bamaman]

When they didn't finish the baseball category, I said I hoped it would be a triple zero game. Well, I got 2/3 of my wish.

Seriously, congrats to Kristin on a second win and joining the rare group of single player FJ contestants, giving her bragging rights at her house.

I think any New Deal organization would have been a good guess. I joined seaborgium in saying just Social Security and I think it would have counted.

I ran presidential secrets, loved the "he was president in year X" DD. Kristin was just one president off, though.

Wagering in FJ would have taken some thought. Kristin, did you ask what would happen if you bet it all and got it wrong? I assume we'd have three newbies tomorrow, but you never know.

That is a strong category for me and I would have been tempted to be all but a dollar. But with only one game in the bank, I might be taking a closer look at the bottom line and would never fault anyone if they bet zero in that situation when it really is their money they are playing with.

Retro good luck in going for #3 tomorrow. I liked you got the Springsteen bit in you hinted at last week.

[zakharov]

I thought Presidential Secrets was very obscure. What led to Wilson at $200?

It's well known that Edith Wilson basically ran the Executive Branch due to Woodrow's stroke.

Plus, didn't the clue mention something about the Treaty of Versailles?

I barely even knew that Edith Wilson was a person, definitely didn't know that Woodrow had a stroke, and wouldn't have been within 1000 years if you'd ask me when the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

Well now you know. Go read up on Wilson's stroke and the aftermath, it's quite a story. Also World War I is important. Isn't learning fun?

[dhkendall]

I thought Presidential Secrets was very obscure. What led to Wilson at $200?

It's well known that Edith Wilson basically ran the Executive Branch due to Woodrow's stroke.

It was the year here. ("In 1914 Woodrow Willllllllllllllson takes us into World War One.")

[Golf]

Technically, in this situation there's only two valid wagers. Nothing or everything but a dollar. Any other wager is just giving away value.

[MiloTheMayor]

Wagering in FJ would have taken some thought. Kristin, did you ask what would happen if you bet it all and got it wrong? I assume we'd have three newbies tomorrow, but you never know.

Per Vermonter, aka @TheFinalWager on twitter, if all contestants finish with no money or a negative score, three new contestants come in on the next episode. Probably one of the reasons why they have an alternate in the bullpen, just in case.

Agreed with what someone else said, the only two wagers are everything less $1 or zero, and use the clue to give a shoutout to a family member.

[dhkendall]

Wagering in FJ would have taken some thought. Kristin, did you ask what would happen if you bet it all and got it wrong? I assume we'd have three newbies tomorrow, but you never know.

I'm surprised boardies are asking this (Bamaman wasn't the only one), I thought the rule that you need money to win was well known. We've had triple $0 games before (the most recent a couple years ago), they don't have any winners. The same would be here.

I would like to know how Kristen got to her wager too. I am reminded of my daily J! calendar which asks you to wager some of your "winnings" over the week in Subday's FJ! and every week I say "making a wager is pointless, I'm not wagering against anyone! (I appreciate the chance the calendar gives me to practice my trivia for The Call, but I really need somewhere to practice actual wagering for The Call). I just wind up betting a percentage based on my strength in the category and ever week cursing the completely inaccurate method of doing so. (Maybe the should say on the calendars "Final Jeopardy wager given that your opponents have $X and $Y.)

[Bamaman]

Well, I am pretty certain you can't win with zero, but we've never had anyone crap out in a single player FJ before.

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: $15,800
34 R/5 W
DD: 3/3; Another serendipitous Daytime J!/J! combo, as Daytime J! had a zodiac category that mentioned that Pisces covers (most of) March
FJ: Instaget; entitlements are a pet policy interest area for me, so I knew that the Social Security Act was enacted in 1935
LT: John Tyler (DD), Los Angeles Dodgers (unforgivable!), Pisces (DD), symbolically (I assume this to be an acceptable alternative for "figuratively")
C: Woodrow Wilson

Wow. In the words of Kenneth Parcell, this was quite the clusterwhoops. Losing a potential $5800 worth of baseball and long words makes me want to punch someone in the throat. Figuratively Symbolically, of course.

"Copy and paste" was major negbait, but not nearly so much as "not Giant." Not cool, TPTB.

Instaget FJ. Not sure why this wasn't a triple get.

You win the thread, sir.

I said optimization when the contestant said defrag. Judges?

IIRC, the clue said something about being named for the fact that it reunites pieces that had come apart or something like that, so I don't think optimization fits.

I said "Social Security" and was stuck for a third word. Is the phrase acceptable in the absence of "Administration"?

The clue specifically asked for the agency, so I'm inclined to think this is unacceptable, but then again, federal agencies are often referred to in shorthand (e.g. "State" or Veterans Affairs"), so who knows?

[Bamaman]

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm pumped about the $2 off coupon for Aleve coming in Sunday's paper.

[cosmos]

My reaction after "Giant" got negged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwQW3KW3DCc

[seaborgium]

Today's WoF played out comparably to today's J!. I mean, the final round is always a single-player affair, but the winner was the only one who had won any money when the regular rounds were completed.

[DHicton]

So did Stephanie manage to do worse than Wolf Blitzer? Because that actually takes some effort.

[ÕώÕ]

[quote="MarkBarrett" 8399 seems like a lot to risk on a U.S. Government category just to have the potential of "the moment" of only winning a buck. In Kristin's place I can see 1600 being my wager as well or I would have done the math to hit 30K on the nose with a miss.[/quote]

It doesn't matter what Kristin wagers, as long as it's 0 - 8,399. She could bet a number of things, like $8,000 or $728 or something silly.

I would go big though. Either way you win and come back.

[Golf]

It doesn't matter what Kristin wagers, as long as it's 0 - 8,399. She could bet a number of things, like $8,000 or $728 or something silly.

I would go big though. Either way you win and come back.

It doesn't matter what she wagers? Um, you do know this is real money don't you?

[kristinsausville]

Oh boy.

First I want to say that Stephanie and Brad were both great, smart people (I had just eaten lunch with them, ironically) and I'm not tolerating any trash talking of them on Twitter, FB, etc. I think our strengths and weaknesses overlapped to an unusual degree (I was in my state's geography bee too, although not until 13) and it meant no one could build a big lead. Plus, without going into too much detail, Alex Trebek himself was not crazy about the clues today.

Well, that was kind of painful/hilarious. You could kind of see Stephanie lose her composure and never really recover. I don't usually pay attention to the post-game, but I noticed Alex pretend to shake hands with the person at the second podium. I also happened to notice that Kristin is pretty tall--she was taller than Brad (who was taller than Stephanie) and nearly as tall as Alex.

I'm 5'9".

The cut/copy & paste clue is a good example of negbait.

"Negbait" is a term I found myself shouting at my TV repeatedly tonight.

I went with Tennessee Valley Authority, which was stupid I guess.

It came down to an FDIC/TVA coinflip for me. It was almost a relief for me when I found out that both were wrong.

Congratulations for Kristin for winning a second time. I wonder why she didn't wager $8,399.

Because I saw how the rest of the game went and I figured that I was unlikely to get it right under the circumstances, even though government is usually a good category for me. I spent much of DJ worried that we were all going to end up in the hole -- although I didn't realize that Brad had fallen back in at the end, hence my shocked face when the round mercifully ended.

Yes, yes, keeping clam is excellent advice. However, as the number of clues on the DJ board starts to dwindle there comes a point where a player far behind is justified in starting to swing for the fences on every clue. Sure you'll get ridiculed, but if you're really playing to win until the bitter end, it's entirely rational to start ringing in on everything and hoping for a miracle. Take it from someone who's been there.

Yes, thank you. Stephanie played it just right and from what I heard of backstage chatter when I went back to the green room, that seemed to be the prevailing sentiment. At least they didn't give up.

Who will sign my petition to make J! change the rules to force contestants to complete the damn sports categories?

I will if you sign mine that if I'm playing, the only pro sport that comes up is football.

No matter how well a player expects the J! experience to go there can always be a bit of fear about things not going well. Stephanie's appearance was the nightmare no one wants to have. Kristin: Any memories of what Stephanie had for lunch? I'll guess you had something different?

Don't remember what she ate. I was pleased with myself for putting together a fairly tasty chicken caesar salad, which is generally what I eat at home for lunch.

Technically, in this situation there's only two valid wagers. Nothing or everything but a dollar. Any other wager is just giving away value.

Thought about wagering everything but a dollar (can't come back with no money). Decided the rest of the game was a bad omen. Figured I'd take a shot at five figures and if I missed, wouldn't lose too much of what I had fought for over the course of that game.

[heelsrule1988]

...bruh.

Congrats Kristin but you made me sad by constantly switching away from the sports category.

[kristinsausville]

...bruh.

Congrats Kristin but you made me sad by constantly switching away from the sports category.

They made me sad by giving me baseball and not football.