One vs. 40,000
Brief recap: Sunday had another good turnout, with games being played including the new (to most of our group) Knizia game Ivanhoe, a 30-45 minute medieval tournament card game that combines suited card play (yes, Michael, like Uno) with a back-and-forth "take that" that reminded me of Blue Moon. We also got in several games of Dominion and a game of vanilla BSG that ended in a human win with the dials at 1-3-1-1 after the humans cruised along for the first half of the game (the sleeper phase arrived even before Helo got his second turn, briefly making him an admiral in absentia when Steve the sympathizer got brigged). We got in a lot of Rock Band, and finished up with several plays of 1 vs. 100 Extended Edition, where we competed against 40,000 other contestants (with names like NotoriousBONG) answering a series of 37 trivia questions. We finished in the top 10 twice (that's the top 0.025 percent, for those who are counting) in five or six attempts, which was a nice way to end the night. Supposedly we'll get chances to win Microsoft points that can be used to purchase online stuff when this game goes live--should be a lot of fun. Glad to see Brian about to finally join the XBOX crowd as well. (Now we need to work on Tiffany, Scott, and Travis.) We also watched more of the Texas first-round College World Series baseball game (which actually was a great game) than we did of the NBA Championship clinching game (which was not).
Anyway, a Monday planning post is probably moot at this point, but for lurkers, we should be there starting at 5pm. (Brian, if you see this post before you set out, can you bring Tribune? I wouldn't mind playing that again.)
posted by Anonymous @ 10:34 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
XBOX -- before Christmas. I hope.
I once played a carnival game at the midway in Disney's California Adventure park. It was the one where you roll balls up a ramp, and if they fall through certain holes, you move a horse (or in this case, a seahorse) forward on a big board. I played against five kids as the barker animatedly called the race. But as I crossed first, the barker lowered his microphone, flung a stuffed dolphin at me, and said matter-of-factly with a hint of annoyance, "Congratulations, you beat children."
(We still have the dolphin. His name is Finnegan.)
I got a whiff of that last night, especially when 80% of the participants thought Ewan MacGregor and not Sir Alec Guinness was the portrayer of Obi-Wan Kenobi who *died in 2000*. I guess they CGI'd him into the later films.
But once the questions got much harder, it was a blast, especially since we had to play perfectly to make the top 10. I have some rust to shake off (I have no excuse for missing "The Agony and the Ecstasy"; I remember Charlton Heston painting the Sistine Chapel in the movie), but we were all getting better from one game to the next. Here's to all of us getting to be the One or in the Mob once it goes live.
I'm out for games tonight (lots to prepare before going to Boston next week), but I'm sure I can spare a few minutes for 1 vs. 100 at 10pm....
out for tonight but how does one participate in 1 vs. 100 anyway?
no chance of xbox for me anytime in the near future.
I should be on at 10PM....
I saw an editorial cartoon (which I can't find online) that showed:
Trivia game research circa 1950 -- A scholarly man with an encylopedia, atlas, dictionary, etc.
Trivia game research today -- A young hipster with copies of Entertainment Weekly.
(This was probably 5-10 years ago).
1v100 had some science and history, but it was often wrong or poorly worded (at best). I'll assume the geography was right, as I didn't know any of the non-trivial type. But even the Pop Culture was often laughable. Way too much star wars, Tom Hanks, etc.
Still, the last ~10 questions of each game were tough, and getting 30 out of 37 by yourself would be a feat for most of us. Dennis with a bit of help from the rest of us averaged about 33 a game, I think. (Not counting silly skips because of a misclick or poorly worded answer). But pretty much everyone had a few sure answers that nobody else knew.
(A few of the "Sure things" turned out wrong, which was funny).
I'll be back in action next monday - the jet lag has nearly worn off. I'll have to check out 1vs100. Now that the Wii has released the motionplus addition to their controllers, i think some sports games like Tiger Woods golf and Grand Slam tennis might consume a lot of my video game time in the near future...
Three more top tens last night -- a 3rd for Chris, and a 5th and an 8th for me. Both of us had brushes with perfection. In one I was in first with four questions to go (and tied for longest streak at 29), and Chris's 3rd place came despite missing *two* anatomy questions.
A bit more geography (capital of Liechtenstein?) and science (first probe to Venus?) last night, at least until the horrendous user-generated content began. One repeat question (Method Man's real name), and one instance of poor fact-checking (the Crown Jewels are *NOT* in the White Tower). But the user questions featured some of the worst ever, particularly this beauty:
80% of Canadians live where?
X: In igloos
A: In Ontario
B: Close to the US
D: All of the above.
I mean, you can't drive around Ontario during the spring thaw without hitting a damn half melted Igloo.
1v100 seems tailor made to lower my impression of humanity. User Generated Content seems like the tailor used steroids.
Dennis Ugolini said:
"Congratulations, you beat children."
How timely.
Yeah, not feeling too proud about my anatomy performance. Pupils and mastoids...despite the fact that it's basic level anatomy, I'll just claim that it's not my area of specialty and leave it at that.
Speaking of area of specialty, congratulations to Dennis for knowing the first robotic probe to be sent to Venus (Venera 1-- launched by the Soviet Union, no less. Who knew? Besides Dennis, that is) and that the Greeks called the moon goddess Selene and NOT Luna. Insert Nelson Muntz "HA-ha!" laugh here, as about 85% of respondents missed that one.
After seeing questions in the user generated content like "Mercury, Venus, then what?", "If A=1 and Z=26, W=?", and "What letter has three syllables?", I'm probably not going to waste my time on user-generated content again. I'm never getting back that 30 minutes of my life.
A couple of no'tes from the XB Live 1 vs. 100 website:
Better performance in Extended Play increases your chances of getting selected to either the Mob or the One.
You can be in the Mob at most once per night.
You can be The One at most once per the entire beta and once per "season" after that.
So if you're the One in the Beta, DON'T TAKE THE MONEY. You're turning your 15 minutes of fame into 15 seconds and getting nothing to show for it. In much the same way that there's no spoon, there's no money.
Other important lessons we've learned include:
At the end of the game, better to guess than to protect the streak, primarily because...
Correct answers matter more than the streak.
The streak matters more than a speedy answer.
A speedy answer matters more than...not much.
Never trust my knowledge of anatomy or Human League songs.
Never trust Michael's knowledge of male prostitutes, Joe Torre's player/manager career, or the band Live.
Never trust Dennis' knowledge of major landmarks he visited two weeks ago.
Never trust The Brain.
And now that I have a few seconds to spare to try out this 1vs100 phenomena, XBL is down for maintenance. Bah.
More extended play tonight (Wednesday) starting at 6:30pm.
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