New board game created by Richard Garfield and Ken Jennings coming soon!

[Bob Zager]

Here is a link to kickstarter.com, which is helping raise money to get game, called "Half Truth," on market:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halftruthgame/half-truth

Seeing that there is a multiple number of right/wrong answers on the question card (three right & three wrong--hence half truth), it kinda reminds of Greed.

[Joe Mello]

I'm surprised one of the stretch goals isn't to add additional levels of overcomplication to the scoring.

[JakeT]

So, if a Kickstarter was needed, does that mean Ken Jennings has blown through all the J! money?

JakeT

[MikeK]

So, if a Kickstarter was needed, does that mean Ken Jennings has blown through all the J! money?

Blown?  $2.5M after taxes isn't a ton of money to go through when you live in Seattle and have a family, and it has been 15 years.  Ken talks a bit about this on the "Lottery Winners" installment of his Omnibus podcast, posted a few days ago.

[JakeT]

So, if a Kickstarter was needed, does that mean Ken Jennings has blown through all the J! money?

Blown?  $2.5M after taxes isn't a ton of money to go through when you live in Seattle and have a family, and it has been 15 years.  Ken talks a bit about this on the "Lottery Winners" installment of his Omnibus podcast, posted a few days ago.

So, would you be more comfortable with the word "spent"?  And does your comment mean that, yes, the J! is no more?

Btw, actually, $2.5 million after taxes IS a HUGE sum of money to most, regardless of location, family situation, etc...spent and invested wisely, it should last longer than 15 years...

And one would think he would have at least enough left over not to need a Kickstarter to launch a board game...

JakeT

[clemon79]

So, would you be more comfortable with the word "spent"?  And does your comment mean that, yes, the J! is no more?

I'd be a lot more comfortable with you not making assumptions based solely on the use of an incredibly common method of funding board game production in 2019.

[jage]

Kickstarter doesn't have to be about his financial need, rather it can be used to justify demand for a product instead of sinking in a bunch of personal money for something that is not a success. Testing the waters if you will.

[JakeT]

So, would you be more comfortable with the word "spent"?  And does your comment mean that, yes, the J! is no more?

I'd be a lot more comfortable with you not making assumptions based solely on the use of an incredibly common method of funding board game production in 2019.

I made no assumptions...I asked a question...

JakeT

[BrandonFG]

Is Ken's going to Kickstarter any different than someone seeking out investors for a business venture? I don't think Ken's campaign means he blew through his winnings, considering plenty of other projects with popular names attached got off the ground because of crowdfunding. The MST3K and Veronica Mars revivals come to mind. Fans funding these things is nothing new.

[MikeK]

So, if a Kickstarter was needed, does that mean Ken Jennings has blown through all the J! money?

Blown?  $2.5M after taxes isn't a ton of money to go through when you live in Seattle and have a family, and it has been 15 years.  Ken talks a bit about this on the "Lottery Winners" installment of his Omnibus podcast, posted a few days ago.

So, would you be more comfortable with the word "spent"?  And does your comment mean that, yes, the J! is no more?

Btw, actually, $2.5 million after taxes IS a HUGE sum of money to most, regardless of location, family situation, etc...spent and invested wisely, it should last longer than 15 years...

$2.5M minus taxes is around $1.25M.  Factor in a tithing of ~$250K and you're at about an even million.  Divide that over 15 years and you're at $66K and change per year.  Given the cost of living in Pugetopia (tm Travis Eberle), raising a family, and putting aside at least a portion in a retirement fund or two, I can definitely see how just through daily life that the Jeopardy money has been spent, especially since Ken said he’s technically still an employee at the company he was at in 2004 though he hasn't been in his cubicle in 15 years.  It's all in the podcast mentioned earlier.

[TLEberle]

Not for nothing but Richard Garfield ain’t hay. Between a Magic:TG, King of Tokyo and Keyforge he is a known quantity in the board game community. His reputation is worth just as much as KJ.

[BillCullen1]

The Kickstarter funding is a huge success since they hit their $10,000 goal in three hours. About a dozen years ago, Ken was the subject of University Games' Can You Beat Ken. You had to try to beat him around the board to reach the goal of $2.5 million. Ken was asked all the questions in the game. He did miss a few. One question was to complete the Volkswagen slogan "Think ____." The answer was BIG. Ken's answer was Hitler.

[clemon79]

His reputation is worth just as much as KJ.

If not more, since this is a board game and Richard Garfield is really successful at making board games, where Ken is successful at answering trivia questions.

[jjman920]

Also pointing out that Ken Jennings hasn't sat around on his ass since Nancy Zerg took him down. He appeared on J! *four* additional times, if my count is correct; each one netting him some nice consolation money, even though he wasn't ultimately victorious in any of them. He's also written books and made numerous appearances in public and on TV that I'm sure got him some appearance fees. And he's currently apart of a daily show on the air (though he doesn't appear daily).

I'd say he's probably properly invested his money and his brand for the most part over the last 15 years and ain't hurting for any cash.

[TLEberle]

Also pointing out that Ken Jennings hasn't sat around on his ass since Nancy Zerg took him down. He appeared on J! *four* additional times, if my count is correct; each one netting him some nice consolation money, even though he wasn't ultimately victorious in any of them.

Plus $500k from Fifth Grader and $100k for each of Grand Slam and Millionaire.