WWTBAM Bored

Hannah Herbst (carryover)
Boca Raton, FL

15 years old

Whiz Kids Week

Hannah has invented a device that harvests energy from ocean currents and tested it in Boca Raton inlet.
Meanwhile Chris Harrison said he was scooping ice cream at that age.

All lifelines remain, plus there is a special "Cut the Question" similar to the Switch the Question from earlier versions of WWTBAM.

$2000 :
Though legend said he was searching for it when he happened upon Florida, most historians believed Ponce de Leon never actually tried to find what?
A: Lake of Maidens B: Waterfall of Riches
C: Fountain of Youth D: Puddle of Wisdom

Spoiler

C: Fountain of Youth

$3000 :
Centuries before “Sesame Street”'s Elmo became known for it, Julius Caesar often did what in his autobiography Gallic Wars?
A: Avoided action verbs B: Used the word “ain't”
C: Referred to himself in the third person D: Said “Yay!” a lot

50/50

Left C and D.

Spoiler

C: Referred to himself in the third person

$5000 :
Noting that by volume, ink is more expensive than perfume, teenager Suvir Mirchandani suggested the U.S. government could save $136 million a year by doing what?
A: Printing twice as fast B: Printing in a different font
C: Printing only at night D: Printing on bigger paper

Spoiler

B: Printing in a different font

$7000 :
Which of these novels would most likely be read obsessively by the self-described literary fans known as “Janeites”?
A: To Kill a Mockingbird B: Gone with the Wind
C: Little Women D: Pride and Prejudice

+1, ATA

Narrowed it to B and D, but +1 friend Lisa Jemlon could only do the same

ATA
A: 4% B: 11%
C: 16% D: 69%

Spoiler

D: Pride and Prejudice

First break

$10K :
Which of the following animals does not have a carapace?
A: Turtle B: Spider
C: Frog D: Crab

"Cut the Question" used

Spoiler

C: Frog

Substitute $10K :
Hillary Clinton might be interested to know that Thomas Jefferson and five other Presidents were elected after serving as what?
A: Senate Majority Leader B: Secretary of State
C: Speaker of the House D: Attorney General

Spoiler

B: Secretary of State

$20K :
The name of what element on the periodic table can be spelled by putting the symbols for two other elements together?
A: Zinc B: Iron
C: Gold D: Tin

Spoiler

Guess was B.
D: Tin

Hannah left with $5000

Second break

So far so good

$20K :
The name of what element on the periodic table can be spelled by putting the symbols for two other elements together?
A: Zinc B: Iron
C: Gold D: Tin

Spoiler

Guess was B.
D: Tin

Hannah left with $5000

Hm. Z for ZN, but that's still the same element. Ir -- iridium? On -- I don't think so. Go or Ld -- Nah. OK, Titanium and Nitrogen.

D, final answer.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Hannah Herbst (carryover)
Boca Raton, FL

15 years old

Whiz Kids Week

Hannah has invented a device that harvests energy from ocean currents and tested it in Boca Raton inlet.
Meanwhile Chris Harrison said he was scooping ice cream at that age.

All lifelines remain, plus there is a special "Cut the Question" similar to the Switch the Question from earlier versions of WWTBAM.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$20K :
The name of what element on the periodic table can be spelled by putting the symbols for two other elements together?
A: Zinc B: Iron
C: Gold D: Tin

Spoiler

Guess was B.
D: Tin

Hannah left with $5000

If it were 3 elements, that would work. Ir = iridium, O = oxygen, N = nitrogen. But there is no On.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$3000 :
Centuries before “Sesame Street”'s Elmo became known for it, Julius Caesar often did what in his autobiography Gallic Wars?
A: Avoided action verbs B: Used the word “ain't”
C: Referred to himself in the third person D: Said “Yay!” a lot

50/50

Left C and D.

Spoiler

C: Referred to himself in the third person

I think that this contradicts the working theory about the 50/50 keeping the correct answer and the most likely distractor.

Its not a theory. Somewhere, probably the J! Board, Lezek P. (sp?) says he was told 50/50 would leave best distractor.

I theorize that early in the game (read: the first five), they are more likely to throw you a bone with the 50:50. Heck, often in the first five, there isn't even a good second answer.

K.P. wrote:I theorize that early in the game (read: the first five), they are more likely to throw you a bone with the 50:50. Heck, often in the first five, there isn't even a good second answer.

It helped me because it eliminated one of the two kids' games I knew nothing about.

BJ: When you played, did they tell you 50/50 was really random, or set up to leave best distractor? I should remember what the rules were then, but can't.

ghostjmf wrote:BJ: When you played, did they tell you 50/50 was really random, or set up to leave best distractor? I should remember what the rules were then, but can't.

When I was on the show in 2000 we were told that the 50:50 would leave the correct answer and the one most likely to be a distractor.

I know the original show had "50/50 leaves best distractor". At some point, I think went they went to scrambling difficulty values, they turned 50/50 to "really random". At one point they did away w/ it altogether. Currently its "best distractor".