Friday, June 21, 2019 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Archivists]

J! Round

[Archivists]

DJ! Round

[theFJguy]

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
COMPOUND WORDS

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
This 8-letter word can follow nuclear to refer to a dangerous accident, or mean a total loss of emotional control

Avi Gupta: 14200+11399=25599 (Semi-Finalist)
Hannah Nekritz: 16200+2000=18200 (Wildcard)
Shriya Yarlagadda: 17600+5400=23000 (Wildcard)

Correct response:

Spoiler

meltdown (Avi – s/o to my bball team)

Daily Doubles
Shriya: 2000+1600
Shriya: 7200+2000
Shriya: 15600+2000

Coryats
Avi: 14200
Hannah: 16200
Shriya: 15800

Combined: 46,200

Scores at the end of the Jeopardy! Round
Avi: 5400
Hannah: 6600
Shriya: 4000

[MarkBarrett]

DD3 on 9/29/05 in MATH: For a line, this is defined as the ratio of vertical to horizontal distance it covers

A S.T.E.A.M. CATEGORY $1600 today: In math the vertical “rise” of a line is divided by the horizontal “run” to calculate this measure

After nearly 14 years it was nice to get a bit of redemption in solving the 2019 version.

The FJ! clue led to one word with either the nuclear or emotional portion. Together it was pen down and 5/5 for the week.

How the wildcards played out:

Spoiler

WC1: Shriya (23000)
WC2: Eesha (19787)
WC3: Ryan (19301)
WC4: Hannah (18200)

Alternate for semis: Sreekar (18000) [14400+3600]

Eliminated: Audrey (16800) [8400+8400] Stephanie (13999), Sophia (13600), Alison (11600), and Rohit (0) [11400-11400]

This was a terrific week of contestants with not a clunker in the bunch. 5M/4F for the semis and everyone made it to next week the old fashioned way, they earned it.

[hbomb1947]

How the wildcards played out:

Spoiler

WC1: Shriya (23000)
WC2: Eesha (19787)
WC3: Ryan (19301)
WC4: Hannah (18200)

Alternate for semis: Sreekar (18000) [14400+3600]

Spoiler

What't the record for highest WC cutoff in a tournament? Is this it?

[Xu Donym]

What an interesting FJ situation. In retrospect, Shriya, the leader going into FJ, could have bet $0 and still earned a wildcard slot. The other two, to move forward, had to bet wisely and respond correctly to the clue. By betting as she did, Shriya risked losing the wildcard slot, yet she didn't wager enough to get the win. If she was going to bet anything at all, shouldn't she have bet $10,801 rather than $5,400? What am I overlooking here? No, the contestants don't know the exact cutoff for a wildcard, but has there ever been a teen tournament in which $17,600 didn't qualify as a wildcard? Avi and Hannah, to get to the semi-finals, didn't have that luxury; if they answered incorrectly they would have lost enough to miss the wildcard slots. Not so for Shriya, so why did she bet as she did? Was there good reason for her to fear that her $17,600 wasn't good enough for the semi-finals, but then for her to shoot for a wildcard spot rather than the win?

[MarkBarrett]

Three tourneys in old values where the wildcard went high:

1988 TOC:
13800
13800
10800
10400
Out - 8000

1991 TOC:
14300
10001
10001
9559
Out - 9200

1996 Teens:
15400
10000
10000
9000 (7100+1900)
Out - 9000 (5200+3800)

There are more tourneys that went high.

[SwanShadow]

Three tourneys in old values where the wildcard went high:
1988 TOC:
13800
13800
10800
10400
Out - 8000

Having barely won a quarterfinal game (with a total of 13,801) over one of the 13,800s and the 10,800, let me say for the record that the 1988 TOC field was no joke. There were some formidable players in our little group.

[TenPoundHammer]

Shriya had my rooting interest immediately. My sister lives in Grand Blanc. (No, Shriya is not my sister. My sister's 26.)

"The Middle" kept me from bombing the Music category. Who the hell is Harry Styles, and what was the TOM there?

However, Young Love was entirely over my head. Other than Everdeen, I recognized nothing.

I've heard of the term Basque, but didn't know that it referred to people and "Vasconia" wasn't getting my anywhere. There they go, using that insufferable "sounds like" bullcrap.

I didn't get the theme of the "S.T.E.A.M." category.

I had a brain lock on "fallout" which isn't 7 letters and just couldn't shake it for the life of me. I knew that the answer would be a familiar word, but it just wasn't coming. Frustrating miss even for a teen week, because it means I have an embarrassing 1/5.

[Ironhorse]

I think The 1975 for $600 is the biggest misfire of the tournament so far. I remember "Love Me" being a moderate hit on alternative radio a few years ago, and apparently they're not as obscure as I thought as the album asked about did hit #1 on the US music charts in 2016 (though it is unclear how meaningful an accomplishment physical album sales still are). Still, with no pop crossover and it being 3 years ago, I think it was a clunker (though it was one of my few gets in the category).

Was the Ariana Grande one God is a Woman? I remembered that title from several LL seasons ago, but my daughter was talking when the answer was read.

[alietr]

Oh, Shriya ... you're a Geography Bee National Runner-Up and you get a DD in a Geography category. If ever there was a time to go big, this was it.

[French Rage]

Any idea what Avi and Shriya were saying to each other? Felt like a back and forth there, but it also might have been a friendly compliment.

[opusthepenguin]

What an interesting FJ situation. In retrospect, Shriya, the leader going into FJ, could have bet $0 and still earned a wildcard slot.

She would have missed by $400, no? She had $17600 going into FJ, a score that would have lost the fourth slot to Sreekar's $18000.

[opusthepenguin]

Oh, Shriya ... you're a Geography Bee National Runner-Up and you get a DD in a Geography category. If ever there was a time to go big, this was it.

I thought the same thing! And then the clue ends up being "Blah blah blah blah blah blah largest Greek island blah blah blah."

[Volante]

I didn't get the theme of the "S.T.E.A.M." category.

It used to be STEM, but they added art apparently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEAM_fields

science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics

[yclept]

Having scores like those heading into FJ of a quarterfinal match is very tricky.

Avi decided to go big, correctly assuming his score wasn’t enough for the WC. That said, maybe betting a little smaller is still the right way to go? Aim for $20,000 / leaving enough behind just in case the scores aren’t as high as you suspect?

Hannah was likely in the worst spot here - she can easily justify a $0 wager. If she would have done that, she would have been gone. In he position, making a smallish wager seems prudent - try to add a little padding to your score while a miss still puts you in strong position (not in this tourney, but most!)

If I was the leader, I bet small - I would have only bet enough to guard against a $0 wager from Hannah if you miss.

But these were not simple decisions.....

[Bamaman]

All three could have bet zero and felt reasonably safe. But all three would have been eliminated if they had while the other two still bet what they did.

Of those eliminated, only one player can regret their wager, but it is always a crapshoot.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

60 R (Second day in a row. Never before!)
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: The 1975, Zac Posen, Jane the Virgin, Palm, Edward Hopper, She

This was a very good week for me. Only missed 5 clues in total.

14/15 of the competitors finished the Quarter Final game with above $10,000 and the one who didn't had over $10,000 going into Final Jeopardy!

All five winners in the first lectern.

I still don't have any prediction of finalists at this point, but it would be pretty nice to see Tegan, Ryan, and Justin in the Final. The three youngest competitors battle it out.

[floridagator]

AT made reference to how high the scores had been all week. I wonder if that signalled to the contestants that they needed to bet High to get a wild card.

[Ironhorse]

AT made reference to how high the scores had been all week. I wonder if that signalled to the contestants that they needed to bet High to get a wild card.

That is certainly a fair question. On the other hand, early week contestants probably have a slight advantage in their getting to watch subsequent contestants before facing them in the semifinals.