April 25, 2013 recap (for Jonathan)

Not a bad game. Bit of different spin patterns and it could have been really good.

BR was a bit dumb... FOOD & DRINK, anyone?

I returned from my viewing party about an hour ago, and fielded calls from friends and family. Thanks for going easy on me! Allow me to make some comments on the game, which was somewhat different from what I thought had happened.

- Beth's last name is actually WROBLESKI.  She had to spell it out for the contestant coordinators before we went on stage.
- I was ready to answer Pat for the second toss-up because Beth and I rang in at almost the same time. That was a long one and the right letters weren't appearing.
- I couldn't believe my luck on the first spin of the game. At the party, my friends were cheering pretty well, and when the closed captioning showed Pat acknowledging FOUR Ts, there were big cheers, and a nice celebration for solving the first puzzle.
- I should NOT have said "one more time" in Round Two. I actually knew what the puzzle was at that point, but was going for the Rs. I'm almost certain some more spins got edited from that round, and there may have been a dud N. The "STOP THAT!" was darn funny, and you may have seen me crack up at that. I also thought Pat's "neigh sayer" joke was a stinker - you probably saw me make a face at that joke.
- I almost chose to spin again for the P in SHOP during the Prize Puzzle, not knowing that it was a triple. I was perplexed by the first two words, though, so I thought of buying a vowel to fill in the gaps - wrong vowel. Once Katie picked off 3 Ps, I knew I was done and my friends knew that I'd be staying home.
- I froze during the third Toss-Up because I wasn't watching the third word. I thought the answer was THE INVISIBLE MAN, but I realized that it was going to be wrong, so I stayed quiet.
- It was a miracle that the turn got back to me during Round Four. My strategy was to keep the round going as long as possible, building up my score and hoping that it was still my turn, and that I knew the puzzle when it was my turn. I took extra precautions to make sure I called the best multiple on the Final Spin, because I had just witnessed Keisha (from the 3/1 episode) miss the victory by $150 when she should've called a multiple to win.
- You did see me shake Beth's hand, but they didn't show me shaking Katie's hand. Likewise, they didn't show Beth and Katie hugging it out with me as Jim threw it to commercial.
- For the Bonus, I seriously thought that the last word was either JACKET, BUCKET, or POCKET - hence my calls of C and K. I did need extra letters on the bottom row.

I should mention, though, that despite my venue's best efforts to crank up the sound, we couldn't hear it all that well. We had to rely on closed captioning and running commentary, but everyone had a great time! They were chanting, cheering, and clapping when it was my turn, and taunting and bantering when it was Beth or Katie's turn. Also, I was so busy watching the game, I didn't bother to get many screenshots. A friend did take several, and I hope to see the video online soon (after my enthusiastic antics, why wouldn't I be online?). I don't have a DVR, I'm afraid, but I'm sure someone might be able to post some pics or video of my show.

More to come!

R1: Great job there, Jonathan!

R2: So...many...penalty hits. I felt bad when you hit that Bankrupt the first time, Jonathan. You were doing so well until that Bankrupt stopped you. Well, even though Katie could've gone for more, at least she now has money under her name.

I thought the "Stop that!" moment was funny, too.

R3: Not that often that U is the first vowel to be bought in the round; but I also thought of SURF SHOP at the time. Katie did a good job finishing the round. Congrats to her on winning the Hawaii trip too!

TU3: Sorry to see you freeze up like that.

R4: Nice comeback you made there!

BR: Well, I was just as stumped as you were. With the RSTLNE I also thought the last word would be either JACKET or POCKET, and with your picks I thought the first word would be GUMMY. I don't blame you for not getting the puzzle; that was a pretty tricky puzzle. Sorry you couldn't add the $40,000 to your winnings.

Aside from the BR, you did a really good job, Jonathan. Congratulations on winning over 17 grand! And as long as you had fun, I think that's the most important thing.

Thanks for the kind words, Mario!  I'm glad I came across as a great contestant.  My parents had a party reserved for about 50 people (where did you hear that?), my party had one reserved for about 30, and about 22 came.  I was aware that my blog photo had the pointer pointing to $2,500, but thought that was a "Wheel is set at that space" picture.  But, I realized that the border on my scoreboard was flashing.  As for the crowd, that's strange.  In studio, I remember hearing people clap for the $2500 (I really need to see it again) and AWWW for the loss.  Either that, or the show did a darn good job dubbing it in.

For the null cycle, if there was one, it was probably before Katie's $550 spin.  Everything up to the first Bankrupt happened exactly as it appeared.  I don't remember much about Katie's Spingle, but I did think it was unusual, as Katie seemed to me to look like she knew what the puzzle was and was going for a multiple.  No one really said anything about it.

For the Bonus, I was hoping to fill in letters on the top and bottom.  That was really the only chance I had at it.  My hope was that I would fill in enough letters on the top row to come up with a logical guess for the bottom word, then stick 'em together.  I was questioning myself for picking K as I was riding back to my hotel with Leticia (one of my guests).  Now you know why I dislike those adjective + noun combos.  A few people at my party thought that puzzle stunk.  Others said that I just had a tough break.

All in all, though, I thought I played the game as intelligently as I could.  I do want to see if you have any screenshots you might be able to send me.

I honestly made the same Jimmy Buffet joke during the bonus round before Pat did. Weird to see that I was only two letters off.

Anyway Jonathan, you did a great job and I was cheering for you all the way. When you called those B's during R4, I knew you knew it and I was excited that you solved and took the lead to win the game.

Good game all around and congrats on your winnings.

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words! Even though the game was far from perfect, and I cringed at a couple of moments, everyone at the party and everyone here has been really supportive. I have a lot more stories to share, and I'll bring them to you over time.

Mario, I'll PM you with screenshots I'd like.

^ Once again, thank you for the good words! I thought I played intelligently, but had a couple runs of bad luck. Oh, TPH, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I think you misspelled Beth's last name. Before we went on stage, we were each shown our Pat Chat cards. I clearly remember Beth having to tell the coordinators how to spell and pronounce her last name. It's WROBLESKI (no U).

Since I don't remember if I asked someone before -- Jonathan, are contestants allowed to question the puzzle writing or category said puzzles are put in? I think you had a good case for saying YUMMY BUFFET should've been Food & Drink.


When Pat Sajak pretty much goes "Dafuq?" at your decision, you're doing something really dumb. Unfortunately, his incredibly-lame pun cancelled that out.

Hey, look, the Trip Puzzle sucks.

Your optimal Bonus Round strategies for April 25, 2013:
* Modern (2013): MFYU(B) -- although you're likely not going to call that because hey, wrong category
* Classic (1998): DKBO -- and get your snarking in the past, too

In the battle of CDMA versus BGHO (modern only), tonight's winner is CDMA and the "take a third option" FGHI with two letters each versus BGHO's one.

Gotcha.

(And please, call me Dan. Most people do.)