Episode 206 – Reindeer Games

A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  We take some time to play an anime game and talk Christmas things.  What host will win the game?  Who is taking home the present of anime victory?

How to Play:

The purpose of the game is to guess the anime with as few hints as possible. You need at least three people to play. One person will moderate while the others participate in the round. A round should go something like this:

The two or more round participants play rock-paper-scissors. The moderator offers the winner a choice of three categories. For example, “anime featuring car racing,” “anime featuring a talking mouse,” and “anime featuring an ex-police officer character.” Let’s say the “ex-police officer” gets chosen. Then the moderator offers three release years for anime fitting the previously selected category. Let’s say the choices are 1978, 1986, and 1998, and 1998 gets selected. Now we’re ready to start the game.

The moderator will give the players hints about the anime that was selected. These hints will initially include only these two things: the first sentence of the synopsis found on MyAnimeList.net with all proper nouns removed, and the MAL rating. In this case, the moderator would say something like, “This anime’s synopsis reads, ‘Enter a world in the distant future, where bounty hunters roam the solar system.’ It’s rating is 8.83 out of 10.”

Then, the winning rock-paper-scissors player from before will make a bid on how many character names he or she thinks are necessary for him or her to correctly guess the show, starting with as many as 10. The moderator has prepared the 10 characters based on the top ten listed characters for the show and reversed them so that the least known characters will be named first and the most well-known characters will be named last. Therefore, a smaller bid will reduce the chance that the player will hear the name of one of the main characters. The safest bet would be 10, but if the player is confident he or she knows the anime, he or she may say zero. Once the player makes a bid, the next player has two options, make a smaller bid, or force the previous player to hear the number of characters he or she bid and attempt to name the anime. Here’s how the scenario might play out:

Moderator: “Player 1, what’s your bid?”

Player 1: “Four characters.”

Moderator: “Player 2?”

Player 2: “Three characters.”

Moderator: “Player 1?”

Player 1: “Name it.”

Moderator: “Player 2, your three characters are Coffee, Judy, and Punch.”

Player 2: “Cowboy Bebop.”

Moderator: “Correct.”

If a player correctly guesses the anime, they receive 1 point. If they incorrectly guess, they lose 1 point. Players can have negative scores.

In another scenario, a player may actually bid LESS than zero (i.e. a negative number), but if they are challenged to name it, they must name the anime with zero hints and name the number of characters they gave in a negative number. These characters must be in the top 10 listed characters on MAL but may be said in any order by the player (also, last names are not necessary). If the player correctly names the anime and the characters, they will receive one point for the anime and one point for each character they can name. So a bid of -5 with all correct answers will give the player 6 points. However, if the player cannot correctly guess the anime or name the number of characters he or she bid, they will instead be deducted all potential points. So, a bid of -5 with a correct anime guess and only 4 correct characters named will lose the player 6 points. Bidding negative numbers is a big risk, but it also rewards big.

The moderator must offer three categories with three release years for each category. Therefore, the moderator must prepare at least nine titles for the game. Here an example of a prepared title:

Year: 1998

Title: Cowboy Bebop

Synopsis: “Enter a world in the distant future, where bounty hunters roam the solar system.”

Rating: 8.83

Characters: Coffee, Judy, Punch, Julia, Vicious, Ein, Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, Faye Valentine, Spike Spiegel, Jet Black

Be sure to ONLY use the FIRST sentence of the MAL synopsis, and remove any proper nouns, if any. Also, be sure to take the TOP 10 listed characters under the “Characters & Staff” tab on MAL and REVERSE the order. If there are less than 10, be sure to make a note of it so that you may inform the players before bidding begins.