FED PHRASE GAME (Early Edition)
Wednesday 25 April
by Gwaptiva
It was a little later than usual when we gathered in Art's Bistro on Rhea for this week's edition of the Fed Phrase Game Roadshow. The wheel had been oiled, the wiring of the board had been checked, and Supermayman, Cloudbase and Cricket were ready to play the game.
Cloudbase got the first game underway, going in search of a four-word phrase in the category Objects. He set off bravely, revealing a number of Ts and Rs, but then showed to first-time player Cricket what the Lose a Turn field looks like. Supermayman added a customary H, then stalled. Cricket showed that she has quite some talent for this game, guessing well, and building up a nice solid score when she attempted a solution. Unfortunately, the solution was two letters out, and when she looked again a lot of forehead slapping went on. Cloudbase made no mistake, raised his score to 1500 points and solved the phrase as "standard plastic thermal bulb".
To Supermayman's great joy, the second phrase was in the category Fed Songs, and Mayman himself was allowed to start it. H, T, N, I and E quickly appeared on the board, then a P, an A, an S, more letters all the time, and all the while his score was building up, past 2000, past 3000, and then, with the score on a massive 4750 points, he correctly solved Send in the Clones by Stephen Sondheim. This may well have been the highest ever score for a puzzle completed without interruptions the Road Show has ever seen, and it put Supermayman well into the overall lead.
Of course, theoretically the 4800 points needed to beat Supermayman for the overall win are eminently gettable, but in practice it has proven to be tricky to say the least. Cricket wasn't deterred by this as she started the final phrase, a three-word affair in the category Famous People. She easily found the R, S and T, but then asked for a D that wasn't there, giving Cloudbase a chance. He already had 1500 points from the first phrase so "only" needed 3300 points for the victory. However, his first guess was wrong already, thereby giving Supermayman the chance to make overtaking him a good deal more difficult. He added the H to the phrase, then guessed wrong, Cricket undid all her earlier good work by Bankrupting. Cloudbase didn't do much better the second time around, Mayman bankrupted too, and Cricket scored 100 points with a letter then passed the turn to Cloudbase who didn't do much with that turn either.
Mayman found the final consonant in the phrase, scoring him 700 points for the round, which was fortunate because with vowels costing 250 points and H _ R _ C _ G _ L _ S , B _ T L _ R being on the board, he was the only one that could add some more clarity. He duly purchased two vowels and then hazarded a guess [once more a not-so-famous person in the famous person category - ed]. With victory assured well before this time, he managed to add a little more sparkle to his glory by solving Horace Giles, Butler. Under great adulation from the crowd, he was (after a little confusion) handed the crown as the reigning champion.
All those that wish to take his crown should join me, Gwaptiva, on Wednesdays at 4.00pm eastern (that's 9pm UK time and 22:00 in Central Europe), somewhere in Sol, for another episode of the Fed Phrase Game Roadshow.
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