Wednesday, July 29, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[MitchO]

$1 – Darryl Scott, 1/19/93

I'm assuming you weren't old enough to (legally) drink when this game aired ... and that's probably a good thing for your overall health.

[opusthepenguin]

It also happened in this game, which I will never forget because my optometrist was one of the contestants.
http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=396

Brutal. Not your classic three-way $0 since one contestant finished in the red and didn't play FJ. But still a game where nobody gets to come back. Another interesting thing is that usually, when this happens, it's because at least one player did something stupid. That's not the case here. The guys were in a lock-tie. All-in was a perfectly reasonable decision.

[opusthepenguin]

No one comes back, three new challengers. That happened the second episode of the first season.
Also happed 2/7/2013 during a teen tournament semifinal. No one advanced from that group.

ISTR it was reported again they'll do a tiebreaker clue if a three way tie on zero happens again during a tourney semis. Which of course shouldn't happen again.

I guess I can see an argument for that in the semis as long as they don't do it in the quarterfinals.

[alietr]

It also happened in this game, which I will never forget because my optometrist was one of the contestants.
http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=396

Brutal. Not your classic three-way $0 since one contestant finished in the red and didn't play FJ. But still a game where nobody gets to come back. Another interesting thing is that usually, when this happens, it's because at least one player did something stupid. That's not the case here. The guys were in a lock-tie. All-in was a perfectly reasonable decision.

Wow. Steve and Robert both missed it and ended up with $0. Steve got a trip to Portugal. Robert got ... a DVD player.

[brick]

Thanks Vermonter ($1? Wow ).
What happens if all 3 tie at $0?

Then they're all gone and the next game starts with three fresh contestants. This happened in the second Trebek episode in 1984 when all three bombed FJ! with all-in bets.

"Zero Is Never A Winning Score."

I kind of remember that in the first games in the 80's FJ was often a triple stumper. The questions were a lot harder than the contestants were prepared for. I also have the vague recollection that the first 5 day champ was the first person who caught on and bet zero on FJ, and then crossed his fingers while his opponents tanked.

[legendneverdies]

I kind of remember that in the first games in the 80's FJ was often a triple stumper. The questions were a lot harder than the contestants were prepared for. I also have the vague recollection that the first 5 day champ was the first person who caught on and bet zero on FJ, and then crossed his fingers while his opponents tanked.

It was a she, ELyse Beraru, who was the first five time champion. Her next game show appearance was Love COnnection in the 1988-89 season.

[brick]

I kind of remember that in the first games in the 80's FJ was often a triple stumper. The questions were a lot harder than the contestants were prepared for. I also have the vague recollection that the first 5 day champ was the first person who caught on and bet zero on FJ, and then crossed his fingers while his opponents tanked.

It was a she, ELyse Beraru, who was the first five time champion. Her next game show appearance was Love COnnection in the 1988-89 season.

Huh... I'm gonna stroll through the archives of the first season later and try to figure out what this phantom memory is. Thank you.

[Winchell Factor]

I kind of remember that in the first games in the 80's FJ was often a triple stumper. The questions were a lot harder than the contestants were prepared for. I also have the vague recollection that the first 5 day champ was the first person who caught on and bet zero on FJ, and then crossed his fingers while his opponents tanked.

It was a she, ELyse Beraru, who was the first five time champion. Her next game show appearance was Love COnnection in the 1988-89 season.

From the sublime....

[harrumph]

That reminds me, tangentially, about when they announced that the new team would be called the Nationals. I thought then and think now that the Washington Insiders would have been the perfect choice. And they could have had a mascot called the Wonk.

My suggestion would have been The Fat Cats of Washington.

Mine would have been the Washington Lobbyists.

[buckeyebrain]

That reminds me, tangentially, about when they announced that the new team would be called the Nationals. I thought then and think now that the Washington Insiders would have been the perfect choice. And they could have had a mascot called the Wonk.

My suggestion would have been The Fat Cats of Washington.

Mine would have been the Washington Lobbyists.

One suggestion bandied about would have been more fitting in the parts of Washington that I lived in for college: "The D.C. Bling Bling."

[willwoodlen]

Here are winning totals ≤$1,000

$1 – Darryl Scott, 1/19/93
$100 – Larry Thompson, 12/23/97
$200 – Dan Pawson, 1/4/08
$200 – Colby Potter, 7/29/15
$255 – Murtaza Sutarwalla, 1/24/08
$300 – Bea Cottrell, 12/25/87
$399 – Melizza Zygmunt, 10/13/98
$400 – Anne Reynolds, 9/3/01
$599 – Pam Wells, 4/23/86
$599 – Susan Mitchell, 6/8/07
$599 – Jean Cui, 4/30/09
$600 – Steve Cunningham, 5/27/96
$600 – Christine Black, 3/15/06
$700 – Jeff Grimes, 3/18/99
$799 – Deborah Hummel, 3/1/90
$799 – Anna Rodriguez, 1/10/08
$800 – Patrick McGeehan, 10/6/95
$800 – Marc Hirsh, 1/5/00
$800 – Paul Glaser, 10/31/07
$800 – Baltazar Pinedo, 6/8/09
$900 – Lynn Strather, 9/20/84
$1,000 – Daniel Elias, 12/4/84
$1,000 – Christian Stallsmith, 4/1/97

Interesting distribution.

Decade 1: 6
Decade 2: 8
Decade 3: 8
Decade 4: 1

You might've thought there'd be more from the pre-double era.

The pre-double era is more sparsely represented in the Archive. Here are a few ToCers who have done it in unarchived games.

Steve Rogitz game 5: $800
Stephen Lebowitz game 4: $100*
Cathy Boggs game 4: $100

*Stephen Lebovitz won his $100 tied with Jimmie Bucci. They both lost the following game, so Jimmie's $100 is the lowest amount ever taken home by a J! champion.

edit: two more non-ToC low winners. Steven Rapkin has been cited as a champ who won $101 (I vaguely remember seeing this, I think). And last year, in the "new old" thread, rmfromfla helped confirm a memory I had of a man named Addison who had dreadlocks and won small: Addison Goodson won $700 in 1993.[/quote


Sorry for the late reply - I've been away. Yes, Addison went into FJ with only $800, but his two opponents, with much higher scores and very close to each other, left themselves with $100 each. Addison played considerably better his second day but didn't win.

I know we don't usually discuss ancient history (as in the Art Fleming version of the show), but a 1971 champ won his first game with $70 and then ended up minus in his second game. I hope he at least had fun.

[MarkBarrett]

Craig Campbell won $999 in his debut on 3/24/89 as Alex mentioned in both games 3 & 4 of Craig's that I recently archived.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

Manny Abel