Monday, May 27, 2019 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #8001, 2019-05-27

James Holzhauer game 28.

CONTESTANTS
Scott Swartz, a medical student from Berkeley, California
Monica Foy, a financial planner from San Francisco, California
James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, Nevada (whose 27-day cash winnings total $2,065,535)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our show. By now, word has gotten out about our champion, James. If you're going to beat him and replace him as Jeopardy! champion, you had better bring your A-game. So I'm hoping that applies to Monica and Scott today. Welcome. Good luck, players. Let's go to work in the Jeopardy! Round. Here are the categories for you...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (5/5)
THE YEAR'S BIGGEST HIT SONG (5/5)
NATIONAL FLAGS OF THE AMERICAS (5/5)
VERB: ATE 'EM (5/5)
SOME TIMES (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
1 LETTER IS ALL YOU NEED (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
James: 21 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Scott: 6 R, 0 W
Monica: 3 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 0
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $0



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
James found the Daily Double on the 12th clue. James had $8,200, Monica was scoreless, and Scott was at $1,000. James made it a True Daily Double, wagering $8,200.

SOME TIMES $800: Though this era is associated with Monroe, the joy began in Madison's administration as the War of 1812 ended

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
James: $18,600
Scott: $1,000
Monica: $0

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Scott Swartz is a medical student from Berkeley, California. We have a category up there called THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, but I understand you spent some time collecting butterflies?

Scott: I did, yes. I had a job one summer in college working with a professor who had spent decades at the biological research station in the Rocky Mountains. So every morning at 9:00 a.m., we'd go out and grab our nets and go to the fields and see how many we could catch.

Alex: And you're dealing with such beautiful creatures. It must have been a wonderfully pleasant job.

Scott: It was magical.

Alex: Okay, good.




Alex: Monica Foy, financial planner from San Francisco. And you danced in San Francisco's Carnaval Parade. What carnaval are we talking about?

Monica: Well, San Francisco has a Carnaval parade just like Rio does. It's a little smaller, and they have it on Memorial Day weekend. So for a couple years in a row, I joined a samba school and paraded up in a tropical costume, replete with feather headdress on.

Alex: Okay, good for you.




Alex: James Holzhauer is our champion, ladies and gentlemen. In addition to being a great Jeopardy! player, I assume you're a good bridge player, because you're really into that. Have you participated in bridge tournaments?

James: I have. And you know, I'm often half the age of the second-youngest player in the room, but you know, I really hope that a new generation picks up on it. It's a great game.

Alex: Now, bridge tournaments, do you compete alone or as a member of team usually?

James: It's better if you have a regular partner. You understand each other better.

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
James: $21,800
Scott: $3,000
Monica: $600

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
MY CABINET JOB (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
16-LETTER WORDS (5/5)
POETIC GEOGRAPHY (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
IMPERIAL-ISM (5/5)
ACTRESSES (3/5)
FEELING ART "C" (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
James: 19 R (including 2 DDs), 0 W
Monica: 5 R, 0 W
Scott: 4 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,600



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
James snagged the next Daily Double on the 4th clue. James had $24,200, Monica had $2,200, and Scott was at $3,000. James wagered $11,022.

POETIC GEOGRAPHY $2000: "Harlem", sometimes called "A Dream Deferred", is probably the most famous poem by this man

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was James who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 14th clue. James had $41,622, Monica had $4,600, and Scott was at $3,000. James wagered $20,000.

MY CABINET JOB $2000: A few names, if one isn't enough:
Albert Fall (who very much did), James Watt, Sally Jewell

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
ACTRESSES $1600: On "The Handmaid's Tale", Ann Dowd plays this imposing & authoritarian aunt

ACTRESSES $2000: This singer & actress honors her roots with her signature black & white fashion choices

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
James: $72,022 (lock game)
Monica: $6,600
Scott: $6,200

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
GAMES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Lock for first place; three-quarters for second place.
James: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $58,821 (martian), and enjoy your victory.
Monica: Wager $5,801 to cover Scott.
Scott: Risk between $401 and $5,400, covering Monica's $0 bet.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
When this game was introduced in 1860, it had squares like Intemperance & Poverty & if you hit the Suicide square your game was over

FINAL SCORES
Scott: $6,200 + $6,199 = $12,399 (What is Life?) (3rd place: $1,000)
Monica: $6,600 + $6,595 = $13,195 (What is Life?) (2nd place: $2,000)
James: $72,022 + $58,000 = $130,022 (What is The Game of Life?) (28-day champion: $2,195,557)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $3,600

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
James: $37,600, 40 R (including 3 DDs), 0 W
Monica: $6,600, 8 R, 0 W
Scott: $6,200, 10 R, 0 W
Combined Coryat: $50,400

BATTING AVERAGES
James: 41/61 = .672
Scott: 11/58 = .190
Monica: 9/58 = .155
Team: 61/63 = .968

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES $1000: (Sarah of the Clue Crew presents from Texas Beeworks in Austin, Texas.) Worker bees produce a nutritious milky substance long thought to be what made certain female larvae become queen bees, hence this name; recent research is challenging that assumption

1 LETTER IS ALL YOU NEED $1000: 2r
(Alex: Twice the radius for the diameter.)

NATIONAL FLAGS OF THE AMERICAS $1000: Swords, rifles, a scroll declaring "libertad" & a resplendent one of these birds are found on Guatemala's flag

NATIONAL FLAGS OF THE AMERICAS $600: A nutmeg seed adorns the flag of this island nation the U.S. invaded in 1983

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES $800: (Sarah of the Clue Crew presents from Texas Beeworks in Austin, Texas.) In the 1870s, beekeepers were using a smoker to calm bees; the smoke works by dulling the attack receptors of these chemical secretions

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES $600: (Sarah of the Clue Crew presents from Texas Beeworks in Austin, Texas.) In ancient Greece, this father of medicine recommended honey as a cure for everything, from thirst & pain to fevers & ulcers

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES $400: (Sarah of the Clue Crew presents from Texas Beeworks in Austin, Texas.) Karl von Frisch won a Nobel Prize for figuring out that bees communicate the distance & direction of a food supply to other members of a hive by using a series of rhythmic movements called these; a circling one means food is within 75 meters while a waggling one means a greater distance

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES $200: (Sarah of the Clue Crew presents from Texas Beeworks in Austin, Texas.) Beekeeping was practiced in ancient Egypt where honey was important not just in everyday life, but in the afterlife; the 1922 discovery of this king's tomb included jars of honey, still edible 3,000 years later
(Alex: And I must say that Sarah looked very comfortable in that outfit. It's a new style for her, perhaps.)

NATIONAL FLAGS OF THE AMERICAS $200: Seen here is the flag of this Central American country where the U.S. once held some valuable real estate

FEELING ART "C" $1200: Botticelli painted Athena with this type of mythic creature

FEELING ART "C" $2000: He was a master of chiaroscuro, the use of light & shadows to add drama to his canvases, as in "The Denial of St. Peter"

FEELING ART "C" $400: This French-named technique involves sticking photos, papers or really anything onto a canvas or backing
(James: Hi, Natasha. What's [*]?)

IMPERIAL-ISM $1200: Also known as the crown of Charlemagne, the Imperial Crown was created in the 10th century for coronations of these emperors

ACTRESSES $800: This South African-born beauty won an Oscar for playing a "Monster", serial killer Aileen Wuornos
(Alex: Less than a minute now.)

CORRECT RESPONSES
the Era of Good Feelings
Langston Hughes
Secretary of the Interior
Aunt Lydia
Janelle Monáe
The Game of Life
royal jelly
D
a quetzal
Grenada
pheromones
Hippocrates
a dance
King Tut
Panama
a centaur
Caravaggio
a collage
Holy Roman
Charlize Theron

[theFJguy]

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
GAMES

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
When this game was introduced in 1860, it had squares like Intemperance & Poverty & if you hit the Suicide square your game was over

James Holzhauer: 72022+58000=130,022 (28x = $2,195,557)
Monica Foy: 6600+6595=13195
Scott Swartz: 6200+6199=12399

Correct response:

Spoiler

The Game of Life (Life is also acceptable as both challengers had just the one word name for the game.)

Daily Doubles
James: 8200+8200
James: 24000+11022
James: 41622+20000

Coryats
James: 37600
Monica: 6600
Scott: 6200

Combined: 50,400

Scores at the end of the Jeopardy! Round
James: 21800
Monica: 600
Scott: 3000

[MarkBarrett]

18600 for James at the first break. Not bad for 15 clues.

Nice timing for Monica with her Carnival in S.F. story since the 2019 coverage was on the local news yesterday.

Good thing I solved the FJ! clue since my LL of .733 in Games/Sports indicates GAMES is a favorable category. I played the later version of the game enough growing up that a miss would have bugged me all week.

Like James I went for the full title to have show off points above the challengers. Nice contest for second place with it close at the end.

A little more by James on the DDs and he could have taken a shot at his 1-day record. Today he could not do it without risking his lock.

[Ironhorse]

I just said "Life". Judges?

[Caboom]

Too bad Alex misheard the last DD bet from James, as it would have been a new one day record otherwise. James quite clearly said "twenty two thousand", then Alex replied with "twenty thousand even?" and James nodded. Guess he didn't bother correcting Alex for a measly two grand.

[Caboom]

I just said "Life". Judges?

Ooo, sorry, you forgot to phrase it in the form of a question.
"What is Life", however, would have been acceptable, as 2/3 of the contestants demonstrated.

[MarkBarrett]

I just said "Life". Judges?

Ooo, sorry, you forgot to phrase it in the form of a question.
"What is Life", however, would have been acceptable, as 2/3 of the contestants demonstrated.

I put it in parentheses above in the hope of indicating both are fine. I'll add a little more to make sure it's clear.

[Le Master]

Too bad Alex misheard the last DD bet from James, as it would have been a new one day record otherwise. James quite clearly said "twenty two thousand", then Alex replied with "twenty thousand even?" and James nodded. Guess he didn't bother correcting Alex for a measly two grand.

Just rewatched that part. James clearly says "twenty thousand." All is good.

[Caboom]

Too bad Alex misheard the last DD bet from James, as it would have been a new one day record otherwise. James quite clearly said "twenty two thousand", then Alex replied with "twenty thousand even?" and James nodded. Guess he didn't bother correcting Alex for a measly two grand.

Just rewatched that part. James clearly says "twenty thousand." All is good.

After rewatching it a few dozen times, I believe you're right. Initially I couldn't hear it as twenty thousand, even when I tried to, but now it seems clear.

[ACW]

Huh, today I learned "Life" had a Suicide square

[Ironhorse]

The bee category was fascinating. Definitely a good use of the Clue Crew.

[TenPoundHammer]

Overthought "Biggest Hit Song" for $1,000. Blondie + telephone led me to "Hanging on the Telephone" instead of the far more obvious "Call Me". Seems like an easy miss to make. Got the other four with no trouble, though.

All but bottom in 1 Letter and 16 Letters, as well.

No idea how I knew "Era of Good Feelings". Must have been Dave Barry Slept Here.

Intemperance, poverty, suicide? Those sound like they could be in the Game of Life.

[xxaaaxx]

Instaget FJ. The Game of Life had a suicide square!? Things were hardcore back then...

The beat goes on? More like the beatings. First commercial break and he has 18k and the game is over already. I no longer know what I'm watching. It'd be like watching an NFL team average 90 points a game, with the occasional 175.

[harrumph]

By sheer coincidence I had a chat with an ecology professor today who specializes in bees.

[Bamaman]

Were the only two answers not questioned correctly the two stand and stares in the actresses category?

I will be the idiot who missed it with mahjong.

[gnash]

Were the only two answers not questioned correctly the two stand and stares in the actresses category?

I think so.

Aunt Lydia was a surprising TS. Are the players not up on current events?

Is there anything Janelle Monae doesn't do?

[DBear]

Hmm, I had learned the post-War of 1812 era as The Era of Good Feeling, in the singular.
Yeah, TGoL was more into moral instruction than entertainment in the 19thC.
A good TS on the Handmaid's Tale actress. I hope the writers can take the hint...

[gnash]

18600 for James at the first break. Not bad for 15 clues.

Is that a record?

[opusthepenguin]

Instaguessed Life and then talked myself out of it in favor of Monopoly. I just didn't see how the game with the plastic spinner, 3D board, and little automobiles could go back to 1860. Mrs Penguin also ruled out Life and went with Monopoly. Grrrr.....

However, I suspect there will be a high get rate on the board, and all three contestants got it. They've got to start making these things more difficult in Season 36 or James will go on forever. Same with DDs. All three of them were fairly easy: Era of Good Feelings, Langston Hughes, and Secretary of the Interior.