FED PHRASE GAME (Early Edition)
Wednesday May 2
by Gwaptiva
Everyone knows the wheel used in the Fed Phrase Game Roadshow is fickle. Not that it is any more or less so than the old wheel that still serves well in Studio 1, but I cannot escape the feeling that the portable version has a knack of targetting new players to the Phrase Game more than others. Obviously, this could all just be perception.
But take this week's game: Cloudbase, Supermayman, Garioso, and Sephorin are all regular, dyed-in-the-wool players. Yes, they too suffered the occasional wheel-induced setback, but it was first-timer Browneyes who suffered worst. Not particularly in the number of unlucky spins of the wheel, but about the impact one specific result had on the game and on her score. But more of that later.
After having gone over the rules of the Phrase Game, and clarified some of the idiosyncrasies of the Roadshow edition -- no passing, once you spin the wheel you must guess a consonant, no advanced arithmetic for the host to handle -- the Pump'n'Munch on Paradise went quiet for the first phrase: Cloudbase started the search for a four-word phrase in the category Places. He did really well, finding three different consonants and two vowels before spinning a Bankrupt. Mayman continued with the traditional choice of H, which saw the game turn over to Sephorin immediately. She then showed how to spin 1000s, finding two on her first two spins, and in the end scoring 2250 points by discovering the place to be New Wall Street Station.
Supermayman, the defending champion, started the second round, trying to discover the solution to a four-word phrase in the category "Objects... or was it Institutions". Every player contributed one or two letters to the phrase, but then lost their turns through spinning unluckily, or by guessing poorly. Browneyes had her first ever go at solving a phrase, and scored a creditable number of points, but she couldn't finish the job. That was left to Cloudbase who, after Garioso had set him up with almost the entire phrase, solved "Screen of Death Blue" for 800 points.
The third phrase was in the ever-popular category of Fed Songs, of which there seem to be quite a number. After Sephorin had kicked things off, Browneyes got her chance to twinkle [oh, that's bad - ed.]. Even though the points the wheel gave her weren't always brilliant, she did keep adding consonants to the phrase, buying the occasional vowel and managing to build up the phrase to where only one consonant and one vowel were left to be revealed. And then, as alluded to earlier, with her score up at 2850 points, fate struck. The wheel spun and landed on Lose a Turn. Enough to make anyone's eyes water [ok, that's even worse; stop with the eye puns - ed.] Garioso then had no problems to find that the solution was Rocket Man by Elton John, picking up a Free Spin and the minimum score for a solution of 750 points. Yes, others had spun Bankrupts too, Cloudbase even getting multiples, but to see someone get so close to a solution and then lose it all is just painful. Or perhaps a lesson in the effects of greed....?
Nevertheless, the games must go on, and Browneyes put a brave face on things, but never got much going. Garioso and Cloudbase similarly couldn't catch their strides, after which Supermayman cleverly found that the Institution under discussion was Naibol's Rainy Nights, Inc., but only managing to squeeze into second place with 1000 points. As so often, the final round would bring the decision.
And there would be plenty of chance of a big swing in the fortunes of someone, as the phrase, in the category Institutions, consisted of a whopping six words. Garioso guessed wrong twice, using up his Free Spin, then Cloudbase started to find consonants, one or two at a time. After five consonants and one vowel, still three-quarters of the letters were still unrevealed, but then Cloudbase bought the A, and the six As that were revealed did much to make things a lot more obvious, and it wasn't long ere he got Galactic Alliance for Peace and Justice as the correct solution, scoring 3400 points and taking the overall victory. Sephorin came second, followed by the others, and despite the disappointment of some, all appeared to have had a great time.
If you wish to have a great hour or so, then join me, Gwaptiva, on Wednesdays, somewhere in Sol, at 4.00pm eastern (9pm UK, 22:00 CET), for another game of consonants, vowels, and Bankrupts as we play the Fed Phrase Game.
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