Job Nobbin’
Bad jokes indeed!
I’ve always wanted to go on a game show but I settle for playing board games with friends. Taboo, Scattagories, Boggle and Balderdash are my favourites. The problem with some of those games, is unlike Trivial Pursuit, they don’t release more cards very often. I need more Taboo words! I have to say that TP is one of my least favourite games of all time. It’s up there with Monopoly. There should be a rule against making games that don’t invovle everyone at the table for most of the time, or pass very quickly from person to person. With TP you can quickly end your turn because you don’t know the dart champion from 1975 and then sit and wait for everyone else to hem and haw over answers that “Ohhh, I know this one, I know this one… it’s not Lichtenstein… or is it.. Wait… Okay… Shhh. Quit talking while I’m thinking… I know this one…” and then they finally get it right and you sit through it all over again as they fail to land on a pie piece place and win the game to put you out of your misery. It also rewards trivial knowledge instead of creative thinking (what normally attracts me to a game).
Speaking of game shows, I don’t get how Drew Carey got to host The Price Is Right? He looks like he could care less about being there. Even less then Dave Letterman does on his show. It’s like he doesn’t realize he’s on TV. He looks like someone’s uncle awkwardly meandering through an audition for something he doesn’t quite understand, but it seems kind of alright. TPIR is an insidiously brilliant show though. It not only showcases paying advertisers products, it gets you to memorize their value and name so that next time you know that the Turtle Wax is the right price and the Tums is not. But they do it with beautiful women and more importantly: genuinely fun games. How many people can watch Plinko and not want to drop that giant disc down that board themselves? Damn it looks fun! Too bad most of the game shows in Toronto are cancelled/lame. I had a friend who got to go onto Cash Cab but you can’t apply to be on it. You have no idea before you get in the cab that you’re going to be answering questions for cash. I just settle for watching reruns of the Mad Dash, where I get to see Montrealers from the 70s be really low key about winning dinner for two and twenty dollars cash.
March 1st, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I thought you’d be old enough to have enjoyed the classic Canadian game show, Definition. Word play, celebrity guests, (one-time) go-go dancers, Jim Perry, Dave Duvall and cheap prizes… what more could you ask for?
March 1st, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Bad pun bad pun yay! I like how the bad pun is part of a bigger joke about the qualifications of a game show host… 🙂
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
VERY clever. I like it! I keep coming back to Princess Planet for the bad puns and the light-hearted, silly fantasy. Always fun.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Thanks everyone!
Peter: A Wealthy Skunk… I’ll give away a Z…. No Z… I’ll take an R… There’s one R… Is the definition Stinking Rich?… Yes!… Ding Ding Ding… You win a toaster oven and a high five!
Jackon: I should do the same joke but with newspaper headline writers. They’ve become increasingly “clever”.
JE: I’m glad you have a reason to keep returning like the King!
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:48 am
Try “Apples to Apples” by Out of the Box Games. Everyone plays every round. They sell a small
crate version with hundreds of cards and sell blank cards to make your own. There are versions
for young children as well. I’ve seen several versions that people have made themselves out of
cut in half 3 x 5 cards.
I’m not sure what size note cards are in cm. Are they rounded up to 8 x 13? 3 x 5s are in inches.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 am
Hey Craig: I’ve tried Apples to Apples and I don’t really care for it. While they allow us to make up cards while the game is not being played, I feel like when I am playing I’m stuck only being as funny and creative as the 7 cards in my hand allow me. Balderdash and Taboo and Scattegories all allow me to come up with my own ideas and see if they are indeed clever and funny. I fall or succeed on my own merits not on the luck of the draw. It feels like I’m playing with a regular deck of cards except that when someone says “which card is the prettiest/highest in value/most diamondy” the answer is completely arbitrary. But thanks for offering it up as a suggestion!
March 2nd, 2012 at 1:20 am
Balderdash is a really really great game; however I lost my copy and had to buy a new one, and it turns out it’s REALLY hard to get a hold of an original copy. The new one is fun, but it includes all kinds of new stuff besides making up definitions. Like they’ll give you a date and you have to make up what happened then, or who a random person’s name is… Much more challenging for my creativity =D
April 23rd, 2013 at 9:51 pm
Sphinx kinda reminds me of the Sphinx from Subnormality, neh?