FED PHRASE GAME ROADSHOW
Wednesday 27 June
by Gwaptiva
With a brand-new outfit - the old one got burnt to a crisp in a horrendous accident of which we will no longer speak - I dragged the Wheel to the Cafe on Selena for this week's episode of the Phrase Game Roadshow. Cloudbase was already waiting there and soon Butters and Laurie joined as well.
After a brief run-down of the rules of the Phrase Game and a quick reminder of the Crooner Code involved in the Roadshow edition we got underway by determining the order of play. Cloudbase would go first, followed by Butters and Laurie third. Rapier joined us a bit later during the first phrase and slotted in at the fourth position.
Cloudbase's attempt at getting a start with the first phrase, a three-word Institution, failed miserably, and Butters equally didn't manage to find a letter. Laurie, however, was inspired. She found the S, then an L which occurred five times. Then a Y, a K and a C and her total had gone up to 2550 points, and with S _ L L Y _ _ L K S L L C on the board Laurie decided to solve. Unfortunately, she hadn't quickly looked at the list of companies in Fed, and her attempt at Silly Folks Llc was incorrect. Rapier didn't hesitate to score the first 750 points of the night and solved correctly as Silly Walks Llc.
The second phrase saw the players go in search of a three-word description of a person. The second word was hyphenated so that should have given the players a point of orientation, and Butters started ok, but then lost his turn by asking for the N which wasn't in the phrase. Laurie showed how it is done properly this time. She picked up a Free Spin early on, giving her a safety valve and she was fortunate because after building up a nice total with four found consonants, the wheel showed its ugly face by turning up a Bankrupt. Using her Free Spin, Laurie could at least continue toward the solution even though she had to start back with zero points. After the shock of the bankrupt, she decided not to risk losing all again and quite early on solved correctly that the person was 'the white-coated supervisor' from Rhea's laboratories.
With 1000 points and the lead, Laurie could try to put the game away with the third phrase. Under the admiring gazes of Dennotairn and Necromancer, she got started finding the solution to an eight(!) word Fed Song. After she had found three consonants, Cloudbase's face brightened visibly and the way in which he was bouncing up and down suggested he had already figured it out. But he wasn't the only one. Laurie's talent for the Phrase Game was undeniable, even after her earlier slip-up as she too spotted the answer and she decided once again not to risk losing it all by greed for more points and solved "Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me."
After a brief discussion about the merits of said musical work, we moved to the final round. As with most Phrase Games, everything was still to play for, and even though Rapier had a bit of catching up to do, it was by no means impossible to overtake leader Laurie. The category was Objects and there would be plenty of points available in the four-word phrase that was put on the board. Rapier slowly revealed letter after letter, reducing Laurie's lead. With quite a few blanks still left, she had built up enough points to take this week's glory, but of course, the phrase had to be solved and the solution thus far escaped her. Rapier bought a few vowels to see if that would clear matters up a bit, but that lowered her score below the total needed for victory. So, a spin was taken and there was quite a bit of relief when it stopped on a number. But Rapier had obviously no idea yet as to the solution and asked for the G. With that letter not present in the phrase, Cloudbase got one final shot at the overall win. He needed three Really Big Spins (tm) to have a chance and when they failed to materialize he decided to settle for second and solved the phrase correctly as 'Martian Invasion Arcade Machine'.
So, debutante Laurie proved her talent at this game by taking the victory, beating Cloudbase into second and Rapier into third. Butters had been quite unlucky this time, but he, like everyone else has another chance to take Eternal Glory (tm) by playing the Fed Phrase Game next Wednesday when the Roadshow will stop off somewhere in Sol at 4.00pm eastern (or 9pm UK time, 22:00 Central European Time).
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