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[Sinkuu]

if you don't know what this is, you missed out on some pretty cool entertainment.

gamer versions of "The Weakest Link", and "Deal or No Deal" were performed at the con, with a TON of respect to where they came from.

as a participant in the Weakest Link, I have to give HUGE props to the guys who put that on, they did a FANATICAL, FANTASTIC job of it, staying as loyal to the real thing as they could have. I had a blast, and look forward to the next one (don't know if they'll let me try out again. )

my best hope is that this gets a glamorous treatment in the future, it's really something fun.

[Mike]

I was also in The Weakest Link. I was the guy on Bulova's right. Which one were you, Sinkuu?
I was the "strongest link" for the first round and made it through five of the ten rounds. I had
a good time, but that's a tough game, the time limit and pressure can affect your thinking,
which I found out first hand.

[Sinkuu]

Steve. I was the OTHER strongest link.

[Mike]

^Oh, so that's who you are. Now I have a face to go with your username. Yeah, you were pretty good up there with the questions. Good going. Hope to see you in February at Dreamation.

[Bulova]

Steve. I was the OTHER strongest link.

The only OTHER strongest link *I* saw (from onstage) was Randy, who wound up being THE strongest link. The Dexcon TWL people are planning some tweaks for next Dex, but currently intend to re-propose it for D12. (YAY!)

I know some things about what happened in the game...like suspected alliances...that, if I had been aware of during the game, I'd have played a little differently myself.

But I have to admit, I had a ball up there, and would do it again in a New York Minute.

P

[Sinkuu]

Paul, I'll leave it at this:

if you think I had an alliance with ANYONE up there, you're wrong. I had friends up there with me, yes, but I was objective the entire time.


to those wondering "what the..."

we hope you'll come and check out the shows at upcoming conventions, and participate!

[zorch]

As the co-creator of Dexcon 11's TWL, I really appreciate the kudos.  It makes all the work put into making TWL happen more than worthwhile.  I know Brendan (the emcee) will really get a charge out it too.

Some trivia about preparing the game:
It was my original idea.  I didn't just want to put on a game show, I wanted to create good "theater". In fact, that was a prime consideration for each step of the game (within the limits of our resources).  The fact that the originator of this thread chose "dinner theater" as its title is a really nice bit of validation. 

I knew I couldn't do it alone, and the only person I knew who could make the stage presence for "Anne Robinson" work was Brendan.  I approached him, and he bought into the idea quickly, actually taking charge.  Only fair: If he was going to be center stage, he got final word.  We set to work back in March.

We made up all the questions ourselves, researching the topics on wkki after work and during lunch hours to verify anything that might have been off.  We spend many hours going back-and-forth, arguing about the questions, grading their difficulty, setting up and balancing the question grids by topic and difficulty, scripting the show so that it would flow smoothly, creating forms, scripts, spreadsheets, a database.... We prepared over 300 questions, selected about 200 for the "show", and asked exactly 151 (including the final knockout round).  Every question asked was tested on at least 6 "volunteers", including a dry run of the whole show (we paid them with pizza instead of dealer dollars), including the qualifier process.

You get stats like this when a game is run by a couple of professional engineers . 
(You also, evidently, get volunteers who will work for pizza )

It was a labor of love. 
However.... throughout all of it, so carefully planned, we couldn't be sure that it would end up being fun...

...and in the end it was everything we hoped it could be.

The players had a great time (although we made them sweat a bit), we attracted strays during the show to the audience (a lot of last minute signups, and people wandering in to watch).  We wanted to really entertain a bunch of people, whether they were on stage or not, and I think we did that.  Being asked to return is perhaps the nicest form of compliment.

To those who read the boards:   thanks for playing, watching, and of course, all the nice words  
To Vinny:   Thanks for giving us the forum to do this.

-Bruce

[zorch]

To all (or at least those who read these posts....)

TWL will be back at Double Exposure for Dreamation....
...and it's bringing a friend.

Yes, in addition to Brendan reprising the role of Anne Robinson, another favorite gameshow will appear... One that we think deserves the title "Best... Game... Ever" (and surely in most people's top 3 or so).

Looking forward to seeing you all participate in February.

-Bruce

[Sinkuu]

/snoopydance

[Sinkuu]

THEY DID IT AGAIN!!!!!!


awesome times, while I didn't stick around for Weakest Link (more's the pity), I made time for "The $100 Pyramid" and helped, I hope, to give them one of their best shows out there.

Fantastic Finish, a hearty /salute to the winners, and again, huge anticipation to see what these guys will have planned for Dex 12!

[Mike]

I participated in both events. Quite a few "repeat staffers" for WL including myself, Lori, Bulova and Randy, the defending champ who was voted off in the first round - well hey, we wanted to spread the wealth  . Diane, who voted off her own husband in the last voting round, ended up winning against Greg. She got about $87 in redeemable spending money. And Pyramid was quite an extravaganza. My partner and I did okay, but that "Dungeons and Dragons" category killed us (neither of us were big fans of it). But I had a great time, and Bulova and his partner won the final board on "Sentimental Things."

Both events were popular and I wouldn't mind playing them again at Dexcon 12.