"Anticlimactic" game show moments...

[TLEberle]

When does this air and is a stream available? Sounds like an interesting listen.

It's on BBC Radio 4, but I grab it in podcast form from the Radio 4 General Knowledge Quizzes podcast. Unfortunately all that's left this series are the two remaining semi-finals, championship and Brain of Brains 2014, where the three previous annual winners come back to do it again, for a chance to play in the enniatic Top Brain, at which point the winner is cryogenically frozen as a tribute to their brainery. Sign up for the podcast and look for "all episodes."

[PYLdude]

When does this air and is a stream available? Sounds like an interesting listen.

It's on BBC Radio 4, but I grab it in podcast form from the Radio 4 General Knowledge Quizzes podcast. Unfortunately all that's left this series are the two remaining semi-finals, championship and Brain of Brains 2014, where the three previous annual winners come back to do it again, for a chance to play in the enniatic Top Brain, at which point the winner is cryogenically frozen as a tribute to their brainery. Sign up for the podcast and look for "all episodes."

Thanks, will take a look for it.

[Twentington]

True that they've always had some seriously hard bonus puzzles from time to time, but it seems like they've upped the lower bound on the difficulty. It's been a long time since I've seen a contestant appear to get a bonus puzzle from RSTLNE alone, and it seems like the phrases that they use are found less frequently in everyday speech than they used to be. I recall seeing a puzzle that was "QUITE A PAIR" a few weeks back, and it's a perfectly valid thing to say, but I don't really think of it as a phrase that stands alone along the lines of something like "SNACK BAR", which was the puzzle on a random Goen episode I clicked on on YouTube a moment ago.

True, but most of the 90s also had people trying to figure out a single four-letter word like SKIN or GURU or FLAG seemingly half the time. Or even worse, something like WIG, where RSTLNE doesn't even give you a head start. Personally, I think it's a toss-up (no pun intended) whether those or their recent strings of adjective-noun phrases like FLUFFY WOOL are tougher.

[TLEberle]

Or even worse, something like WIG, where RSTLNE doesn't even give you a head start.

Sure it does.

[That Don Guy]

One from overseas this week. Radio 4's Brain of Britain has been going for 61 years and the format is as simple as can be. The contestant is asked a question and scores a point for a right answer. Further right answers score more points up to five, and a bonus point is awarded for a perfect run, at which point that turn is over so six points is the maximum score for a round. If at any time a wrong answer is given the other three contestants can light their lamp (and what a glorious effect this is for a radio quiz) and steal the point. The next player in line goes and whoever has the most points at the end of the thirty minutes wins and moves up to the semi-finals or grand championship.

Plus, every three years, the champion faces the two previous champions in a Tournament of Champions (Brain of Brains)...and every nine years, that year's Brain of Brains winner faces off against the two previous Brains of Brains in a Super ToC (Top Brain).  I wonder if they have ever tried getting the three most recent Top Brains together.

I used to listen to this quite a bit when it was on BBC World Service (back in the days before streaming).  The one Top Brain I've heard was in 1999, the year Kevin Ashman won.  (I'd like to see Ashman take on Jennings and/or Rutter (although Rutter was lucky not to lose his Decades Tournament qualifier) for some sort of "world (or at least English-speaking world) championship.")

In fact, David Letterman was a fan of the show as well, and invited one of the champions on his show.

[TLEberle]

Plus, every three years, the champion faces the two previous champions in a Tournament of Champions (Brain of Brains)...and every nine years, that year's Brain of Brains winner faces off against the two previous Brains of Brains in a Super ToC (Top Brain).  I wonder if they have ever tried getting the three most recent Top Brains together.

I will note that I did mention this, and I doubt you could have a Tippy Top Brain contest as one contestant would have played his last championship nearly twenty years prior.

[That Don Guy]

How about the remake of Twenty-One, where the host pretty much did all he could to make some moments anticlimactic by telling someone that his opponent already had three strikes, so the current player, knowing that all he had to do to win was get a correct answer, chose the 1-point question?

[PYLdude]

How about the remake of Twenty-One, where the host pretty much did all he could to make some moments anticlimactic by telling someone that his opponent already had three strikes, so the current player, knowing that all he had to do to win was get a correct answer, chose the 1-point question?

Didn't that only happen once?

[TLEberle]

Didn't that only happen once?

Yes, and the likely agitators agitated over it because OMG Controversy!

The guy got a game gift-wrapped to him and it didn't happen again.

[clemon79]

Yeah, I was gonna call shenanigans because I figured if that DID happen it was a massive error. Sounds like I was right.

[PYLdude]

Yeah, I was gonna call shenanigans because I figured if that DID happen it was a massive error. Sounds like I was right.

I also seem to remember that the other times that the situation arose (I know I saw it at least once) Maury at least had the presence of mind to wait until the person chose a question value before informing the player of the potential pf a double strikeout.

[That Don Guy]

How about the remake of Twenty-One, where the host pretty much did all he could to make some moments anticlimactic by telling someone that his opponent already had three strikes, so the current player, knowing that all he had to do to win was get a correct answer, chose the 1-point question?

Didn't that only happen once?

I thought it happened a couple of times.  I may have been confusing this with the times he told a contestant that the opponent had 21, so that contestant would go for 21 and use up his "expert," although that wasn't anticlimactic.

[PYLdude]

How about the remake of Twenty-One, where the host pretty much did all he could to make some moments anticlimactic by telling someone that his opponent already had three strikes, so the current player, knowing that all he had to do to win was get a correct answer, chose the 1-point question?

Didn't that only happen once?

I thought it happened a couple of times.  I may have been confusing this with the times he told a contestant that the opponent had 21, so that contestant would go for 21 and use up his "expert," although that wasn't anticlimactic.

I think you're confusing it again. Maury would tell the player his opponent reached 21 but only after that player picked the question value. Never before. In fact, I know that there was one time where a contestant, after his opponent had already hit 21, chose a point value that would've kept him under 21 had he answered it. After he did, Maury told him that the value of the question wasn't enough to tie the opposing player and because of that the game was declared over and the other player won.

[TLEberle]

I think you're confusing it again. Maury would tell the player his opponent reached 21 but only after that player picked the question value. Never before. In fact, I know that there was one time where a contestant, after his opponent had already hit 21, chose a point value that would've kept him under 21 had he answered it. After he did, Maury told him that the value of the question wasn't enough to tie the opposing player and because of that the game was declared over and the other player won.

Given that the two contestants were always playing for a different prize except for that first bout and after Rahim won his fourth game, I maintain that the audience could comprehend something like $5,000 a point difference.

[gameboy2000]

Finders Keepers became anticlimactic when a team got at least $550 because then it was mathematically impossible for that team to not win the game. There was one game which ended with a score of $975-$25.