FED PHRASE GAME (Early Edition)
Wednesday 29 November
by Gwaptiva
Four players joined Gwaptiva and his new sparkly suit to challenge each other and the wheel to another game of Fed Phrases. After a brief explanation of the Crooner rules in operation during the early edition of the game, the order of play was settled as Bourbon, Oddball, with Rowewar third. Then Mythic awoke from his slumbers and it was determined he would go fourth.
Bourbon started his quest to discover which four-word Place was the solution to the first puzzle, but after only one letter correct he lost his turn through a wrong guess. Oddball added two letters before guessing a letter not in the phrase, letting Rowewar show everyone that he is by now an experienced phrasegamer, easing to the solution and scoring 2400 points with Selena City Sports Complex.
Oddball picked up a Free Spin with his first guess at the second puzzle, and quickly revealed the first two words of this three-word object, but the third word caused a great deal of scratching of head. With the backup of a Free Spin he had essentially two guesses to find the final consonant available, and he, by his own admission, luckily guessed correctly the first time, scoring 2600 points by finding the solution to be Mars Climate Orbiter.
Only 200 points behind Oddball now, Rowewar went in search for a four-word Institution, but his first guess of a consonant was mistaken. Mythic revealed the S, T, and N, then asked for the absent P. Bourbon found a C, but then failed. Oddball seemed to head straight for the solution, but tried to buy the A that wasn't in the phrase. Only his Free Spin kept him alive and after guessing one more consonant came up with the solution: Used Chewing Gum Unlimited. The points scored on this puzzle brought his total to 3400, a full thousand points ahead of Rowewar with only one phrase left. Rowewar didn't think he'd have much of a chance of making up for that as three others would have to fail to solve the puzzle before he might get the opportunity.
Mythic set out to find the Object of four words, and after getting one letter found that the wheel is an unforgiving mistress, spinning up a Bankrupt. Bourbon made good progress, revealing six more letters. But then the wheel turned to "Lose a Turn". This started to get Rowewar interested again, because only Oddball would stand between himself and his chance at a win. And he got truly excited when Oddball's first turn was Lose a Turn as well. The wheel decided to make it a bit exciting. Despite guessing correct letters, the wheel wasn't helping Rowewar, even if it could have been less so. Being 1000 points behind Oddball, he spun 150, 150 and 300 points, each time finding another letter. Still 400 points behind and quickly running out of letters, the luck of the wheel smiled on Rowewar and showed 750 points. If Rowewar could now guess a letter correctly and solve the puzzle, victory would be his.
He guessed F, a single square lit up on the board, and Rowewar quickly called State Class Freight Liner. To acclamation of all, Rowewar took victory with 3750 points against Oddball's 3400, a worthy runner-up. Bourbon and Mythic consoled each other by claiming a shared third place.
Congratulations to the victor, commiserations to those not quite victorious. You will have a chance to test your own skill and luck every Wednesday at 3.00pm eastern (conveniently 8pm UK time, 21:00 Central European Time). Just come to Studio 1 on The Lattice and spend a fun hour challenging the Wheel.
|
