Friday, November 27, 2020 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[teapot37]

Of the 54 countries that make up Africa, only like 16 of them are landlocked, and Uganda is the only one both landlocked and on the equator. (In fact, it's the only landlocked country period that the equator runs through.)

[This Is Kirk!]

I knew Zimbabwe is too far south since it borders South Africa, but wasn't sure about Zambia. Ended up picking it after considering Uganda. There are just so many countries in Africa it's difficult to keep them all straight.

[BrigadierSolo13]

For some reason Gabriel reminded me of mid 70s Dan Akyroyd.

I got a Weird Al vibe from him.

Hahaha, +1. Literally said to my wife "Wow, look at this Weird Al lookalike"

[Woof]

Another well-played game and another quality win for Ryan. He has outplayed a number of quality challengers during his run. FJ was not an instaget but I felt reasonably confident that it had to be Uganda.

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: $44,200
54 R/2 W
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: Madam, I'm Adam; Charles de Gaulle & Orly; Toni Morrison (DD); John C. Fremont; UFO clouds

Ryan survived another tough challenge and did so with a very good FJ! solve, although he turned out not to need it given Chandy's overwager. I jotted down Zimbabwe immediately, decided it was too far south, then settled on Uganda with a few seconds to spare. Like other posters, I really ought to memorize the equatorial (but not Equatorial!) countries.

I can't believe they accepted Ryan's response of Limited Liability Corporation. The correct response is Limited Liability Company. LLC formation is an alternative to incorporation; an LLC's owners are classified as members rather than shareholders. Literally the first line of the first hit on a Google search of "limited liability corporation" is "There's no such thing as a 'limited liability corporation.'" The hits that talk of "limited liability corporations" all seem to just be perpetuating this common mistake.

It's finished: http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=6880

If I polled PALINDROMES $1000 would the get rate be above 7%?

It's a NHO from me, dawg.

For some reason Gabriel reminded me of mid 70s Dan Akyroyd.

I got a Weird Al vibe from him.

I got an Alex Jacob vibe from him, but he didn't have AJ's trivia chops.

[threearruda]

Another well-played game and another quality win for Ryan. He has outplayed a number of quality challengers during his run. FJ was not an instaget but I felt reasonably confident that it had to be Uganda.

Agreed on all counts, Ryan seems to have a good feel for game strategy.

End of the alphabet got me going to Zambia/Zimbabwe, which I knew were too far south. Worked back up through the alphabet and hit on Uganda maybe 15 seconds in.

Not sure I've heard of My Gym, looks like that's a west coast thing.

[Bamaman]

Another well-played game and another quality win for Ryan. He has outplayed a number of quality challengers during his run. FJ was not an instaget but I felt reasonably confident that it had to be Uganda.

Agreed on all counts, Ryan seems to have a good feel for game strategy.

End of the alphabet got me going to Zambia/Zimbabwe, which I knew were too far south. Worked back up through the alphabet and hit on Uganda maybe 15 seconds in.

Not sure I've heard of My Gym, looks like that's a west coast thing.

That’s what I thought. But their website says they have one in Nashville and one in Columbus, Georgia. Also quite a few in Florida but there are a lot in California with 27 within 50 miles of LA.

[talkingaway]

TIL that updating my knowledge of African geography is necessary. Mrs. Murray, my fifth grade teacher, had this weird thing of calling us "budding cartographers" when we did our unit on Africa, which was mostly geography. To give you an idea of how long ago it was, we had to make travel brochures for our assigned country, and I'm pretty sure that my Peace Corps-type brochure for Ethiopia to attract volunteers help relieve the famine referenced "We Are the World".

All that to say, I'm not surprised at all that I got FJ! wrong with Zaire - TIL Zaire doesn't exist anymore. The little bit of Zaire jutting out to the west coast and touching the Atlantic also didn't help. In my defense, it's really hard to see on most (old) maps where the DCR/Zaire hit the coast, but it does.

Nice game. I loved the champ's "shoot-the-moon" DD wager near the end. I'm sure someone has done it before, but I wonder if there's any correlation between the "get rate" of DD clues and their vertical placement. To me, second-row DDs just seem easier than bottom row ones, but it's just a casual observation that's easily swayed by my prior belief. Making a near-max wager on a second-row clue seems like a solid strategy, especially if you're comfortable with the subject.

[Bamaman]

This is one I probably get in LL with all day to think. I know someone who used to live in Uganda and posted a picture of herself posing at the equator marker.

[alietr]

This is one I probably get in LL with all day to think. I know someone who used to live in Uganda and posted a picture of herself posing at the equator marker.

They post one of those bogus "Oh-look-the-water-goes-a-different-direction-on-each-side" photos?

[AFRET CMS]

This is one I probably get in LL with all day to think. I know someone who used to live in Uganda and posted a picture of herself posing at the equator marker.

They post one of those bogus "Oh-look-the-water-goes-a-different-direction-on-each-side" photos?

I dimly recall a Colorado news item from the pre-internet days; someone evidently erected a bogus sign at the summit of Independence Pass next to the sign marking the continental divide. The sign invited visitors to pee on the side of the road to demonstrate that half would go to the Pacific and half would go to the Atlantic. I don't remember the article saying how many tourists actually tried it.

[Bamaman]

This is one I probably get in LL with all day to think. I know someone who used to live in Uganda and posted a picture of herself posing at the equator marker.

They post one of those bogus "Oh-look-the-water-goes-a-different-direction-on-each-side" photos?

No, but she has posted several times about bogus claims of election fraud.

[triviawayne]

This is one I probably get in LL with all day to think. I know someone who used to live in Uganda and posted a picture of herself posing at the equator marker.

They post one of those bogus "Oh-look-the-water-goes-a-different-direction-on-each-side" photos?

That’s unpossible, we all know the world is flat.

[Golf]

Nice game. I loved the champ's "shoot-the-moon" DD wager near the end. I'm sure someone has done it before, but I wonder if there's any correlation between the "get rate" of DD clues and their vertical placement. To me, second-row DDs just seem easier than bottom row ones, but it's just a casual observation that's easily swayed by my prior belief. Making a near-max wager on a second-row clue seems like a solid strategy, especially if you're comfortable with the subject.

The difficulty of a 2nd row clue doesn’t change just because there’s a DD hidden under it. It’s still a 2nd row clue.

But yeah, that’s why strategists pull their hair out when contestants wager some worthless amount on a 2nd row DD instead of making it a TDD.

Ryan is a member of the 2+2 poker forum, no real surprise he knows how to play the game.

[Bamaman]

On a related note, Chandy overbet on FJ. She wins on a TS with a smaller wager.

[TenPoundHammer]

0/5 in Sports Teams Mascots. I knew a couple of them but clammed out of uncertainty.

Also 0/5 in Small Business, but I had no guesses all the way around. That category felt YEKIOYD.

I swear I blank on Sue Grafton every time she comes up. No idea why; my mom's a huge fan of hers and I've been constantly surrounded by her books.

Can't say I've heard of Orpah or Jezebel before.

NHO "atmosphereic rivers". That was a very obtuse clue IMO.

Was also 0/5 in Actor Facts and Atmosphere.

No guess on FJ! Africa is total krpytonite to me. They have six trillion countries and I can never keep any of them straight no matter how many Sporcle quizzes I do.

[opusthepenguin]

It's nice to get a geography clue with my middling geography knowledge. I eliminated the Z's as too far south, then started thinking about what was in that area vs. countries in that part of the alphabet.

Same here. Considered Zimbabwe but it was just too far south on my mental map (and, fortunately, in reality as well). I knew Equatorial Guinea was near the equator, though not quite on it. But that gave me a good visual of a line just underneath where Africa bulges out to the west. So my next guess was Tanzania, which I liked. But then I remembered Uganda and liked that even better. Didn't even get as far as noticing that Tanzania is insufficiently landlocked.

[TenPoundHammer]

I can't even remember which of eight planets is the biggest; how will I ever memorize 54 bajillion countries?

[opusthepenguin]

If I polled PALINDROMES $1000 would the get rate be above 7%?

Once I ruled out Chuck-E-Cheese for not being a palindrome, I had nothing.

[opusthepenguin]

For some reason Gabriel reminded me of mid 70s Dan Akyroyd.

I got a Weird Al vibe from him.

+1. He needs to make his own I Lost on Jeopardy! video.