Dear Richard Osman

Topical2009 · Post by **Topical2009** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 10:00 pm

"Asparagus" is not a fruit. That is all.

(I must admit that Pointless seems to be better than a lot of games in terms of getting the questions right, but it pained me losing a Head to Head to that answer. Even Lola and Cerys looked embarrassed).

muddle · Post by **muddle** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 11:48 pm

I wonder if he's also to blame for when there's only one correct answer available to pick and the CPU player picks it,therefore ensuring you score 100.That's happened to me three times definitely that I know about.It could be a combination of overlooking that possibility when writing the programme and a bit of bad luck.It could also be something more sinister i.e. we're shafting you if you're winning too much.

paragoon · Post by **paragoon** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:41 am

Games have always had some peculiar misinformation in them. Look at Eliminator claiming Top Of The Pops wasn't a music programme!

Topical2009 · Post by **Topical2009** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:16 am

I can't remember who it is round here who regularly quotes "Never ascribe to malice that which can be easily explained by incompetence" on the subject of dodgy games, but I suspect they'd be right in this case. As I say, Pointless is better than a lot of games, though it does seem to have a few "quirks" - pretty sure that a first round question I answered the other week had no correct answers at all in the choices (though as we all scored 100, that was at least fair).

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:28 am

Topical, referencing lola and cerys is deliciously witty, i enjoyed that very much.

and i'm sure that Nil Satis will ascribe malice as and when appropriate.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 12:06 pm

You called? ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor

The quirk I have encountered with Pointless is that it doesn't seem to give consistent points for the same answer across rounds - they seem pretty consistent in rounds 1 and 2 but, unless my mind really is going in old age, I am sure I have seen different points awarded for the same answer in round 3 - i.e. I have confidently gone for something as a low scoring answer in the Head to Head after seeing it in a recent game only to find the points awarded apparently being different.

As an aside, my trip out last night seemed to suggest that Pointless may have already been taken off the Gamesnets (those were the only machines I could find that weren't switched off or faulty). If the ones I saw last night are anything to go by, all they have done to replace it is promote a second copy of that Roobarb and Custard game to the front screen. O tempora o mores, as the young people of today would no doubt say.

djs · Post by **djs** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 6:48 pm

I know what you mean... a similar one is 'Towns in Nottingham'. And 'Matlock', despite scoring only 10 points isn't even in Nottingham.

paragoon · Post by **paragoon** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 8:51 pm

No surprise if it's gone already. Pretty huge programming mistake.

wires74 · Post by **wires74** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:00 pm

what huge programming mistake is that then?

muddle · Post by **muddle** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:10 pm

Ok,yes,I'll accept incompetence is more likely than malice.I was probably being overly cynical,but it did occur to me that the defence against pros learning the few thousand random(ish) numbers ascribed to the answers could be to make it impossible.Has that happened already I wonder,given I came across a few offering £0.50 jackpot this week.I assume the programming mistake paragoon is referring to is that on the Games Nets,the jackpot keeps bouncing back to £5 every time you return to the main menu.

David Healy · Post by **David Healy** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:53 pm

That might explain something. Played a couple on gamesnets today and each one I played had a jackpot of £5. As it was labelled as a new game on the menu I thought that perhaps I was the first person to play them. I won one and crashed and burned in the Head to Head on the other.

One question - do we know what the maximum prize is? I saw one on a paragon at £11+ today (first time i have seen over £10) which went back to £5 once won. Is it like Eggheads (i.e. top prize of £20.10)? What is the highest seen?

I have come across some strange numbers during the games. For example, things sold in a chip shop - someone (possibly Lola) picked chips and scored 94. Who were the 6 people that didn't name chips as something you could buy in a chip shop?

Or episodes from a random series of Friends. I reckoned they should all be pretty low to seem realistic, at least. The opponents score was 2 - fair enough. I scored 20 - really?

In reply to muddle, are you sure there was only one correct answer? I've not seen that myself, but haven't played that many games. However, if it was in the Head to Head, you always get to go first (or at least I always have). If it was in any of the other rounds then at least one other team is in the same position, so you could always get through.

paragoon · Post by **paragoon** » Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:12 pm

Istenem wrote:Topical, referencing lola and cerys is deliciously witty, i enjoyed that very much.

and i'm sure that Nil Satis will ascribe malice as and when appropriate.

Don't get it?
I have however enjoyed the fact that the highest answers are for Danny Dyer's ouvre. Surely that's a jest?

muddle · Post by **muddle** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 12:16 am

In reply to David Healy - yes,I am sure,and you're not right that you can always get through as I'll quickly explain.The last time it happened it was in Round 2 when after the first category,the scores were as follows: me 8,both CPU players on 7.(Sadly I can't remember which players they were to add a bit of colour.) The second category was 'US Ryder Cup players' and the available answers consisted of Tiger Woods and various British golfers.One of the CPU players went first and picked Tiger Woods.As this was the only correct answer I was doomed to score 100 and lose.Also,what Topical described with there being no correct answers has happened before.
I do agree with you about the realism of some scores,and it can also be a bit yawn-inducing when your choice of random Big Bang Theory programme scores 2 and the CPU's choice scores 1 etc.However,Pointless is a welcome addition to the quiz machine world in my opinion.

muddle · Post by **muddle** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:32 pm

I notice Pointless is disappearing from Games Nets.I assume that's because programming it so that the jackpot keeps returning to the £5 level (ok,technically £5.10) has proved to be too generous.I suppose the intention might be to replace it with the Paragon version,but that was my less preferred version as,while the jackpot could be over a fiver,it was more frequently well below that.So,a little disappointing.

HornyNick · Post by **HornyNick** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:56 am

i have had jackpots of less than £3 before now! First time won on £11.xx jackpot halved-ish to £5.xx within 2 games got it again and went to £2.xx/ Few nights later was no more than £3.00, got it and it actually stayed the same. weeks later it was about £5, got it and the machine went into meltdown. IOU and its still off 2 weks later!!!