Author Topic: Pat Sajak in NR/PatSajakGames.com (Read 5414 times)

dzinkin · « **on:** December 26, 2005, 08:51:59 PM »

(FAIR WARNING: I am not looking to start a political food fight with this post. Any outpourings of adoration and/or hatred for Bush, Kerry, Frist, Pelosi, Reid, etc. will prompt us to provide shuttle buses to the TTD90 room.)

For those who might be interested, the 50th anniversary issue of National Review (December 19, 2005) has some thoughts by, and a photo of, Pat Sajak. Pat's tribute to NR starts on page 68; a photo of him speaking at the magazine's 40th anniversary dinner is on page 96.

Of broader interest... after Pat's tribute, he is described as the host not only of WoF, but of PatSajakGames.com as well. It looks pretty new; has anyone here tried the games on the site yet?

clemon79 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 26, 2005, 09:01:24 PM »

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' date=\'Dec 26 2005, 05:51 PM\']Of broader interest... after Pat's tribute, he is described as the host not only of WoF, but of PatSajakGames.com as well. It looks pretty new; has anyone here tried the games on the site yet?

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I have. The crossword game thing is reasonably neat, but I wouldn't pay to download the Deluxe version.

goongas · « **Reply #2 on:** December 26, 2005, 10:23:53 PM »

The problems with the crossword game are 1) it is too easy (at least for me), 2) some of the harder crosswords reference other numbered clues when the game does not have any numbered clues (e.g., state where 70 down is located, when there is no 70 down marked on the board).

bhall969992 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 27, 2005, 08:57:38 PM »

My problem is that the championship game is the only one really worth playing, and it's insanely hard. Not only that, if you don't win it, you have to play 5 more games to get to it.

goongas · « **Reply #4 on:** December 27, 2005, 09:35:30 PM »

[quote name=\'bhall969992\' date=\'Dec 27 2005, 09:57 PM\']My problem is that the championship game is the only one really worth playing, and it's insanely hard. Not only that, if you don't win it, you have to play 5 more games to get to it.

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I have beaten it once or twice when I have gotten vowels as my lucky letters. Otherwise it is almost impossible.

bhall969992 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 27, 2005, 09:37:14 PM »

I've only won it once.

wheelloon · « **Reply #6 on:** December 27, 2005, 10:03:49 PM »

I thought Lucky Letters, and the championship version, was a bit too easy, but it was fun! If you have a little more than just basic WoF and hangman skill down, its not too terribly difficult, you just have to be quick on your feet.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #7 on:** December 28, 2005, 07:02:03 PM »

I downloaded the trial just so I could get to a championship game. I beat it, but it was pretty close (12 seconds left). I thought it was pretty fun. Then again, I'm someone who likes hard crosswords but doesn't mind doing easy ones, so this game was probably tailor-made for me.

davemackey · « **Reply #8 on:** December 28, 2005, 08:41:29 PM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Dec 28 2005, 08:02 PM\']I downloaded the trial just so I could get to a championship game. I beat it, but it was pretty close (12 seconds left). I thought it was pretty fun. Then again, I'm someone who likes hard crosswords but doesn't mind doing easy ones, so this game was probably tailor-made for me.

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I'd have to agree, if you know your way around a typical daily crossword, you should have no trouble with the game.

So much so that one of the puzzles I did had the classic "crosswordese" word STOAS. (We constructors desperately try not to use words like that any more!)

Pat Sajak is in on this venture with uclick.com, which is the online arm of Andrews McMeel Universal, syndicator of comic strips and puzzle features; most of their puzzles are edited by Timothy Parker, who's also the editor of the USA Today crossword.

WhammyPower · « **Reply #9 on:** December 29, 2005, 08:30:31 PM »

[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Dec 28 2005, 07:41 PM\']who's also the editor of the USA Today crossword.

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Now we know where these stupid "Where 70 across is located" clues are coming from.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #10 on:** December 29, 2005, 08:35:07 PM »

[quote name=\'WhammyPower\' date=\'Dec 29 2005, 08:30 PM\']Now we know where these stupid "Where 70 across is located" clues are coming from.[/quote]

Um . . . they're not stupid when they're used in a normal crossword. The stupidity, if we are even going to call it that and not simply a mildly neglectful mistake, is on the part of whoever is importing crosswords into this game without checking for such things.