Monday, May 18, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Lefty]

Thanks, Jeanette Littledove. You helped me out again.

[Bob78164]

This game is a win for the Weak Form of Shore's Conjecture. The second-place player bet "small." --Bob

[grindcore]

Aw man, Talking in your Sleep is one of my surefire karaoke songs. Upset that was a TS.

[barandall800]

Anyone else have Tiger Lily for FJ? No one? OK.

Pocahontas was pretty darn gettable in retrospect. Heck, I was talking with a friend about Disney movies just yesterday, and of course that one came up. (I vividly remember my 5th grade teacher's rant about its historical inaccuracy. I was shocked at the time, but knowing what I know now, I totally agree with the sentiment. It has some great music, though. )

[seaborgium]

"Little Dove" in quotation marks prevented me from making the Native American connection. I thought it was just a nickname whose words were relevant to the correct response. I got that the correct response would be a woman based on a historical figure, which is why I knew that Tinker Bell, the character closest to fitting the rest of the clue in my mind, would be wrong.

And now we've got another player winning three in a row from trailing positions.

[opusthepenguin]

That DD on Chopin seemed like a real YEKIOYD. Of course Mr. Music knew it. But if you don't know of Chopin's connection with George Sand, there wasn't a lot of TOM to go on.

There are a dozen clues/responses in the archive connecting George Sand with Chopin. It's a Pavlov.

Huh. I didn't realize that. I thought I was special for knowing something obscure.

[HostWithTheMost]

Aw man, Talking in your Sleep is one of my surefire karaoke songs. Upset that was a TS.

Yeah, I jumped all over that one. My disappointment in that category was that Rush wasn't one of the responses. You think a Canuck like Trebek would've seen to its inclusion in the category.

[soxfan99]

"Little Dove" in quotation marks prevented me from making the Native American connection. I thought it was just a nickname whose words were relevant to the correct response. I got that the correct response would be a woman based on a historical figure, which is why I knew that Tinker Bell, the character closest to fitting the rest of the clue in my mind, would be wrong.

And now we've got another player winning three in a row from trailing positions.

"Little Dove" threw me, too. I completely glossed over the "descendant" part, and didn't recognize the model's name. I was thinking, "Little Dove. Probably petite, very light skin, light hair. Looks like a model. Animated character." That description led me to "Elsa," but not with a lot of confidence.

I'd love to see the the winning percentage of contestants who take their one opportunity to tell a national audience a story about themselves, and they say, "my cat/dog does funny things," or "my cat/dog reacts when the Jeopardy think music comes on." I could be completely wrong and biased, but whenever anybody goes in that direction for the story, I instantly bet that they finish a distant third at the end of DJ.

[Volante]

I'd love to see the the winning percentage of contestants who take their one opportunity to tell a national audience a story about themselves, and they say, "my cat/dog does funny things," or "my cat/dog reacts when the Jeopardy think music comes on." I could be completely wrong and biased, but whenever anybody goes in that direction for the story, I instantly bet that they finish a distant third at the end of DJ.

Idea for a story...when the contestant says their pet likes Jeopardy and will obviously be watching the episode when it airs, they start talking to the camera, "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?! You are! YOU ARE!!" (Bonus points if they upload a reaction shot to Youtube with the pet spazzing out)

[Woppy T]

Anyone else have Tiger Lily for FJ? No one? OK.

Pocahontas was pretty darn gettable in retrospect. Heck, I was talking with a friend about Disney movies just yesterday, and of course that one came up. (I vividly remember my 5th grade teacher's rant about its historical inaccuracy. I was shocked at the time, but knowing what I know now, I totally agree with the sentiment. It has some great music, though. )

I said Tiger Lily too. Despite the "descendant" hint I never considered non-fictional characters.

[Category 13]

Is it just me, or does Andrew have a bit of a Bob Harris air about him?

Haha. I was thinking to myself as I was watching: gee, he has Bob Harris-like eyes, but thought it too creepy or something to say aloud.

I find it too creepy that people keep re-quoting the giant photo image of Matthew Morrison from Glee.

[John Boy]

Say what you will about this game, I am soooooo grateful to the champ for his perfect FJ wager. After watching umpty-eleven players lose winnable games by going all-in from second place, this was a delight to see. When his wager was revealed (and even before the leader's answer/wager were revealed) I shouted to my wife, "Perfect wager! He's gonna win by a buck!"

[Category 13]

Say what you will about this game, I am soooooo grateful to the champ for his perfect FJ wager. After watching umpty-eleven players lose winnable games by going all-in from second place, this was a delight to see. When his wager was revealed (and even before the leader's answer/wager were revealed) I shouted to my wife, "Perfect wager! He's gonna win by a buck!"

I always use the last commercial break to figure out the optimal wagers. So I was also pleasantly suprised by Andrew's wager. However, I would have recommended holding back an extra dollar (6999) in case Fritz did the unexpected and risked a tie.

Andrew's previous FJ wagers have been less impressive. He did the suicide from 2nd-place bet in his second game and could have easily lost his first game, via a strategically poor over-wager from 2nd-place.
I suspect he might have had some tutoring on his FJ wagering strategy after his initial taping session.

[Bamaman]

The whole bit about descendent flew past me an I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to mean. I did consider the Indian girl in Peter Pan, but I wasn't sue of her exact name so I switched to the correct response, even though calling a real person a "movie character" just bothers me for some reason, even though the movie is probably mostly fictional. (I've never seen it).

Andrew did have some bad guesses that cost him the lead and he erred by going to the top of the face category with very little time left. If I were Fritz, I wouldn't be thanking my biology teacher since had he not learned about those egg laying mammals, he might not have had the lead and won the game.

Andrew made the right bet to win the game, but if Fritz decides he hates the category and bets zero, he is sunk.

[Bamaman]

Elements for $1200 was a giant freakin' trap IMO. After both sodium and chlorine are negged, I let out the biggest "WHAAAAAT?!?!?" because, on top of that being a coin flip to begin with, what the hell else is in salt?!? Anyone else pick either Na or Cl on that one?

My take on it was that it was a helluva rigamaroll to find out whether or not salt has iodine added to it.
"Take some of this; then add some of that; add some of this; then stir in some salt"
Geez, I was expecting some kind of volatile foamy fountain to come spewing forth and all we got was some purple slush.

I agree. That was a huge letdown even though I got iodine.

[TenPoundHammer]

Still unanswered:

WLT… "frequent flyer miles" on Charitable for $600, or London on Literary Cities for $400?

[Volante]

Still unanswered:

WLT… "frequent flyer miles" on Charitable for $600, or London on Literary Cities for $400?

frequent flier miles are a common perk of credit cards and one that's easy to donate, relative to, say, points specific to said card.

James Bond, Ian Fleming, pure, uncut British. Go for the obvious (because no other UK city would be obvious without another clue.)

[TenPoundHammer]

frequent flier miles are a common perk of credit cards and one that's easy to donate, relative to, say, points specific to said card.

James Bond, Ian Fleming, pure, uncut British. Go for the obvious (because no other UK city would be obvious without another clue.)

As for the former, I can chalk up to having never owned a credit card (just a credit union-issued debit card with no benefits) nor having been a member of a frequent flyer program.

The other, I can chalk up to every time I HAVE gone for the obvious, only to find that they wanted the second-, third-, or 148,396th-most obvious. Also, "go for the obvious" is so horribly subjective; I hate clues that require you to just take a shot in the dark because "well, British author, could it possibly be London?!?"

[Volante]

frequent flier miles are a common perk of credit cards and one that's easy to donate, relative to, say, points specific to said card.

James Bond, Ian Fleming, pure, uncut British. Go for the obvious (because no other UK city would be obvious without another clue.)

As for the former, I can chalk up to having never owned a credit card (just a credit union-issued debit card with no benefits) nor having been a member of a frequent flyer program.

The other, I can chalk up to every time I HAVE gone for the obvious, only to find that they wanted the second-, third-, or 148,396th-most obvious. Also, "go for the obvious" is so horribly subjective; I hate clues that require you to just take a shot in the dark because "well, British author, could it possibly be London?!?"

Something something horse, something something water.

[davey]

That DD on Chopin seemed like a real YEKIOYD. Of course Mr. Music knew it. But if you don't know of Chopin's connection with George Sand, there wasn't a lot of TOM to go on.

There are a dozen clues/responses in the archive connecting George Sand with Chopin. It's a Pavlov.

Huh. I didn't realize that. I thought I was special for knowing something obscure.

If they ever have a clue about Alfred de Musset, we'll know things have changed.