Monday, November 9, 2020 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Category 13]

Noticed slightly different theme music for the closing credits. Might that have been from Season 1?

[talkingaway]

Great game with strong competitors today that I'm sure Alex enjoyed filming.

Andrew seemed like Tournament of Champions material but ran into a strong competitor. $25,200 coryat yesterday and $19,800 today. As soon as it was revealed, he was kicking himself for not betting more on the first Daily Double and I'm sure he did even more so after the episode.

Is Antarctica not an island? Is there some kind of maximum size for an island? I know they gave the area, which pins the clue to Greenland, but it confused me.

Antarctica is considered a continent.

Apparently I never learned the full definition of island...and that's on me. Looking it up in in Webster, an island is "a tract of land surrounded by water..." - I remember learning that part of the definition in 3rd or 4th grade or whenever. But I never learned the last few words: "...that is smaller than a continent."

I always assumed it had to do with size - I mean, obviously, the examples of islands given in grade school were the small ones, like Hawaii, Nantucket, Puerto Rico, etc. And I always thought, "Well, if you go out far enough, everything's an island." So I assumed there was a size limit. Of course, I also knew that Greenland was an island, but I never really held those two thoughts ("huge" and "island") together.

I was also iffy on if Oceania had replaced Australia as the name of a continent, but apparently it hasn't. I'd always noted that J! generally looked for Australia as a response to a continental clue, and no one had tested the waters with Oceania.

[TenPoundHammer]

CC said "militarism" instead of "military history" in Ken Jennings for $2,000.

Three negs for me and still a massive $30,600 Coryat. I'll take it as Trebek blessing me from whatever afterlife there may or may not be.

Ran What the Blank? and M-N-Ms, all but $600 (NHOI) in Podcasts, but 0/5 in Book Case.

Also ran Acronyms and Marine Biology in DJ!

Word Origins? Mythical group of nine -> muses -> museum. Got it.

Lach Trash: stingray

[yclept]

I will just say that I hope many of Alex’s final games are as good as this one...

[kprather895]

It's in the archive: http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=6862

Another archivist added a note for the Friday show, "Last show aired before Alex Trebek's death at age 80 from pancreatic cancer."

The same archivist or another one can decide what note to add to today's game.

It wasn't me, but may I suggest "Episode begins with a tribute to Alex by Executive Producer Mike Richards."

"First episode to air after Alex's death." just strikes me as too...on the nose, maybe. Just 1 man's opinion.

Agreed.

My heart goes out to the archivist who eventually has to type the words "Alex Trebek's final episode."

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

60 R
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: Xerxes, Solomon Northup, Arctic Ocean, David Lloyd George, Stingray

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: $44,600
55 R/1 W
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: Xerxes, Arctic Ocean, David Lloyd George, stingray

Sad to see Andrew gone so soon. Who knows how long he might have lasted had he survived this one, but a clean sheet, a $4,200 advantage in Coryat, and a quick FJ! solve weren't enough to overcome Ben's aggressive DD wagering.

Misremembering Solomon Northrup Northup's name cost me a pretty penny in Coryat. Boo hiss.

Three negs for me and still a massive $30,600 Coryat.

Well done!

[triviawayne]

FJ had me start by trying to break down the Greek root for the number 9. I quickly swatted that away and jumped to the "mythical group" TOM for the correct solve. While watching Ben scramble at the end there, I though he didn't get it because it was just a 6 letter word, but I assume he didn't pre-write "What is" like most should do. In the end, a dub is a dub. Well done.

They all pre-write the "what is", "who is", etc. They are even told by staff on the show which beginning of the FJ to write. It wasn't like this originally, and I don't know when it started, but it's been the norm for a long time now.

They also get to begin writing as soon as the clue is revealed, no need to wait until the question is done being read.

[Picked Off]

The cold open left me gutted, but the game itself was great. Impossibly sad.

[opusthepenguin]

"First episode to air after Alex's death." just strikes me as too...on the nose, maybe. Just 1 man's opinion.

It doesn't strike me that way, but I get where you're coming from. Probably none of us have a good feeling for what will seem like the right wording in a year and a half or so.

EDIT: I definitely like your suggested wording as well, which appears to be where we landed.

[opusthepenguin]

I will just say that I hope many of Alex’s final games are as good as this one...

Amen. But I also hope for at least one real trainwreck so we can get some good parting quips and a few trademark "How did you guys not know this one?" looks. If you can't win, knowing you were the last contestant whose wild guess really made Alex laugh... that would be a strong consolation.

[opusthepenguin]

My heart goes out to the archivist who eventually has to type the words "Alex Trebek's final episode."

If I were that archivist, I'd just copy and paste from your post so you'd be the one who had to type it, not me.

[opusthepenguin]

FJ had me start by trying to break down the Greek root for the number 9. I quickly swatted that away and jumped to the "mythical group" TOM for the correct solve.

I floundered a little longer in those 9 waters, trying to think of a building type that starts with Non-. Nonagon? Nonadome? Nonisseum? But then I checked back with the clue and realized maybe 9 wasn't the TOM all by itself and I had to think of a mythical group that had 9 members. Thought of the Muses immediately and that of course produced the right response with the certainty that it was indeed right.

Fortunately, I didn't first detour to buildings named after the Valkyries or I might not have ended up in the right place.

[John Boy]

I watched this game all right....Didn't seem the same....poop

[lstone19]

Noticed slightly different theme music for the closing credits. Might that have been from Season 1?

I didn't notice a difference other than being much shorter. It would appear they go the minute for the announcement at the beginning my shortening the end credits and cutting the music to end at a place where it doesn't normally end.

[Caboom]

Archive playthrough:

Coryat $50,600 (55R, 1W)
DD 3/3
FJ

Broke 50k for the first time in a regular-play adult game, which I'm going to go ahead and say is in honor of Alex. Not a lot to kick myself over except forgetting the category plus misreading the clue in ACRONYMS $400 and saying "cookie".

Matched you with the personal-best 55 but came just shy of $50k. Usually not a good sign to see "word origins" in FJ, but I pieced this one together without much issue.

I also broke my regular play records for coryat, correct answers, DJ coryat, DJ correct answers, as well as records for coryat and correct answers for back to back episodes. Must have been an easy episode.

[seaborgium]

They all pre-write the "what is", "who is", etc. They are even told by staff on the show which beginning of the FJ to write. It wasn't like this originally, and I don't know when it started, but it's been the norm for a long time now.

No verb; they pre-write "Who" or "What" and nothing else.

[TriviaBug]

A few years ago, with a few words tweaked, "planetarium" would have been a plausible response for this FJ.

[triviawayne]

They all pre-write the "what is", "who is", etc. They are even told by staff on the show which beginning of the FJ to write. It wasn't like this originally, and I don't know when it started, but it's been the norm for a long time now.

No verb; they pre-write "Who" or "What" and nothing else.

I don't doubt you, makes me wonder why the show would leave open the possibility of a player forgetting to write the verb.

Has that happened and I didn't happen to notice?

Did someone's response look something like: Who Sean Connery?

[econgator]

I don't doubt you, makes me wonder why the show would leave open the possibility of a player forgetting to write the verb.

It's happened several times (and no, I'm not going to hunt for them). The verb is unnecessary.