Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

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This Is Kirk!
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by This Is Kirk! »

BrigadierSolo13 wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:37 am
davey wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:17 am Why does making it easier make it better?
As Golf stated, it doesn't make the clue easier.
You might want to reread what he said: "It doesn't make it easier, it spoon feeds the right answer to anybody with 5 or more brain cells."

Golf was saying that Jeff's version made the clue too easy. I think it definitely makes the clue easier, but I don't really think it makes it too easy. I think it puts it right in the wheelhouse of standard FJ difficulty.

[edit: reading the posts since then it seems clear you realized Golf was, indeed, making a different point]
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Bamaman »

You still have to be aware of the Olympic boycott years so it isn’t a dead giveaway. The big help is on the other end. The Depression hint narrows it down to two possibilities and if you know Berlin is 1936 you are home free.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by This Is Kirk! »

Bamaman wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:06 pm You still have to be aware of the Olympic boycott years so it isn’t a dead giveaway. The big help is on the other end. The Depression hint narrows it down to two possibilities and if you know Berlin is 1936 you are home free.
I agree. 1984 is still 37 years ago, after all.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by jeff6286 »

I would say most any good FJ should make you think or present an interesting fact or connect two things that you never connected before. There are 60 clues in the game that require a-nearly instantaneous connection from clue to response, FJ is generally meant to be something different, at least a little bit deeper. In addition to being "you know it or you don't", this FJ they presented was dull and pointless. Why not just ask for the two years? What is the point of throwing math into the mix? And Why City of Angels and not Los Angeles? I don't necessarily blame them for 1 of 3 players misreading the clue and not answering what was asked but why this writing choice in the first place? It adds nothing.

I'm not saying my re-write is a top-tier FJ, it was just something I threw together using the premise that I still want to ask the same thing they did but attempt to put some life into it.
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jeff6286
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by jeff6286 »

Specifically to Golf's complaint that it spoon-feeds it, yes, that was kind of the point. Make it gettable for people who don't know the years off the top of their head but it's still not as easy for the masses as you're imagining. Sports FJs are pretty rare and probably play tougher than average even if they're simple and straightforward, and tough sports FJs are certainly rarer yet.

If I'm on the stage then by all means this is the Final I want, do the math and write the number and use the other 29.5 seconds to double, triple, and quadruple check it before enjoying my victory. But if I'm watching at home this is a big pile of meh. If I'm gonna solve a tough sports FJ, I'd rather have to work for it even if it's only a minimal amount. I thought in its sadly limited lifespan, Sports Jeopardy! did a great job of coming up with some tough and interesting FJs, I still got most of them but many were not gimmes and there were definitely occasions where I had to use the pause button to extend my 30 seconds and sometimes still came up empty.

But most of those just weren't ever gonna appear on the regular show. Most sports FJs are gonna be pretty accessible and gettable without deep sports knowledge or memorization of lists required. I'd rather have a 65% FJ that says something interesting than a 45% FJ that is as dull as this show's.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by tddeveryday »

davey wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:28 pm People seem to be surprised that an FJ wants you to know the dates and places of the Olympics...Seems like standard J! fare to me.
I agree. Fans don't like the YEKIOYD FJs, but they're there because the writers want them there. Some FJs require detective work, others are an instaget if you happen to know an obscure fact, others are gettable for 90% of Jeopardy-ready players. The detective-work FJs are the most satisfying, but if you're not good at those, you can hope for a different kind of FJ on another day.

I don't think Dr. Oz is going to get away with any pseudo-science because if he says anything false when he goes off-script, the writers will catch it. I also happen to think he's doing a very good job as host.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by rockyboy34 »

Blech, that was a pretty deceptive FJ! This should serve as a good moral to always read everything in the clue.

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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Golf »

jeff6286 wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:50 pm Specifically to Golf's complaint that it spoon-feeds it, yes, that was kind of the point. Make it gettable for people who don't know the years off the top of their head but it's still not as easy for the masses as you're imagining. Sports FJs are pretty rare and probably play tougher than average even if they're simple and straightforward, and tough sports FJs are certainly rarer yet.
But if the category is "The Olympics", shouldn't a contestant actually have to know something about that subject in order to derive the correct answer? I just don't think that's asking too much. My issue with the rewrite was that it was able to be solved without actually knowing either year.

And as I've said, I'm all for the sports clue difficulty level to be ramped up putting that topic on par with other staple categories.

On a macro level, we seem to be having these discussions about clues more and more often. It's becoming obvious that the writing has not been as smooth this season than in the past. Many a time I've just stared at a clue and wondered where the hell they are going with this. The awesome thing about Jeopardy has always been the material was top notch, unlike some of the junk we see on WWTBAM and The Chase both of which have multiple choice questions.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by jeff6286 »

Golf wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 5:25 pm
jeff6286 wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:50 pm Specifically to Golf's complaint that it spoon-feeds it, yes, that was kind of the point. Make it gettable for people who don't know the years off the top of their head but it's still not as easy for the masses as you're imagining. Sports FJs are pretty rare and probably play tougher than average even if they're simple and straightforward, and tough sports FJs are certainly rarer yet.
But if the category is "The Olympics", shouldn't a contestant actually have to know something about that subject in order to derive the correct answer? I just don't think that's asking too much. My issue with the rewrite was that it was able to be solved without actually knowing either year.

And as I've said, I'm all for the sports clue difficulty level to be ramped up putting that topic on par with other staple categories.
And as I said I don't think my re-write is as easy as you're making it out to be. You still need Olympic knowledge to know the major communist boycott was 1984, but I think most players/viewers are already going to know 1984 anyway from Los Angeles. On the other end the Depression should point you to 1932, but if you don't know the Berlin games are 1936 then you could land there and if you are off on when the Depression began you could go to 1928 perhaps. We'll see at the end of the week when the poll comes out but my wild guess is that their FJ will play around 30% and mine would play around 50-60. Nothing wrong with a 30% clue but I still think it was dull and would rather see a 55% clue that says something interesting.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by twelvefootboy »

I'm late getting back to this thread and most the discussion seems to agree that the math equation was gratuitous since the number 52 provides nothing to confirm your answer. I like the Depression era reference. I'm a track junkie (see avatar), but not a groupie and I didn't know the Colosseum was built for the Olympics, and as noted in my earlier post, nothing memorable happened there (France won btw) unless you consider the progress made by adding a few women's sports.

They could have just asked for the two years. They just opened up the (very slim) possibility that someone could pick TWO wrong years and still get it right.
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Re: Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

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