Pub Quiz

JG · Post by JG » Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:50 am

How many questions does this beast have within its memory banks?
I'd imagine the 'obvious' question set is around 300 questions. The not so obvious, but perfectly reasonable would be 500 questions. The rather hard would be about 3200 questions and the gamestoppers would be about 6000 questions.

How off the mark am I?

K_Oranj · Post by **K_Oranj** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:56 am

I'd say a total of 10,000 questions is off by a factor of anything from 5 to 10.

As for the 'stoppers' 60% of the total seems a bit steep. More likely around the 20-25% mark.

All conjecture of course.

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"What is the relative uncertainity value of a magnetometer?" - I don't know but I'm absolutely certain it doesn't make sense to me

cool · Post by **cool** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:39 am

anybody who can consistently get jackpots from this is a genius! and I dont mean myself I dont play it.

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:50 pm

K_Oranj wrote:I'd say a total of 10,000 questions is off by a factor of anything from 5 to 10.

As for the 'stoppers' 60% of the total seems a bit steep. More likely around the 20-25% mark.

All conjecture of course.

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"What is the relative uncertainity value of a magnetometer?" - I don't know but I'm absolutely certain it doesn't make sense to me

I don't think I'm betraying any confidence when I say that we were told on our visit to Games Warehouse that the average game has 30-35,000 questions. That might include some questions that are fundamentally pretty similar to one another, but it's still a hell of a lot. I was a bit dumbfounded as I had always assumed the average game had, say, 10-15,000 questions. Evidently not. I suspect the truth must be that the average game has reams of questions which the average player simply never sees at all.

Pub Quiz must be at the higher end I'd say - the format is too simple for it not to have to rely on reams of toughies as protection. It's very clever actually, because it doesn't have that many genuine spoilers: a lot of the later stuff is simply very tough questions with some very cleverly deceptive wrong answers. I've played many games of this and have never managed a £10JP unless it's in "gagging to pay" mode. I doubt I ever will.

Matt Vinyl · Post by **Matt Vinyl** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:18 pm

Wow, that is a huge chunk of questions! At my current rate, it'd take me 15 or so years to build up that many! (Single-handedly!)

JG · Post by JG » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:22 pm

Interesting stuff. Even if you had a decrypted question file, learning all those would be no mean feat, in fact it'd be pretty Dominic O' Brianish. Just to read the feckers would take..., hold on let me pick up a book.
I've just picked up 'This man and me' by Alison Jameson (might be a question that, so don't forget). It looks to be a girly novel for girls by a quick glance at the blurb and cover.
Average ten words per line, thirty lines per page, over 300 pages, but let's say 300 to take into account all the wiffle waffle.
300*300 = 90 000

That's 90 000 words in this novel.

Questions, what'd you say, average twelve words per Q, three words per answer set. Say 15 words per question.
15*30,000 = 450,000.

So Pub quiz about five novels of pure quizfest, maybe a few more.

I guess it's doable if you have that sort of mind, but whilst novels are interesting, distinguishing when the first scientific model of capillaries was demonstarted to the year in a set of three adjacent years, could get tedious.

In a round the houses way, I'm asking, non too subtly, if by skill and persistence one could beat Pub Quiz. The fact that much of the game is spent answering easy questions, watching bonus rounds and then the downfall comes with the questions you don't know.

No, to beat the game you'd need dedication, insider knowledge and a specialist brain. I won't push any further, I wouldn't be surprised if a top boy has the skills. Any top boy wouldn't admit it anyway in front of GW. So it ends there, I wouldn't be happy with quiz boys mentioning the latest hoohahs in the bandit world.

Out of interest, I know it is probably here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to search ATM - how many questions on the first version of Pot Black? For interest's sake.

After gaining access to a Paragon thingymy, it seems that there are 8 categories with six question sets (encrypted) to each category. Assuming 1=easy 6 = hellish.

Oh well, I'll just enjoy the game for what it is, a 30% return of my money given that I exhibit an average level of knowledge vs my competitors.

I'm impressed by some of the wrong answers btw, they show the question writers understand the subject matter and could divert someone not too au fait with the the topic, away from the correct answer.

Cheers for the feedback,

JG

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:43 pm

JG wrote:Interesting stuff. Even if you had a decrypted question file, learning all those would be no mean feat, in fact it'd be pretty Dominic O' Brianish.

That's absolutely right JG. 35,000 separate pieces of information to remember is a hell of a lot.

My gut feel is there's no reason why one couldn't, with a huge amount of skill and persistence, beat Pub Quiz. I'm no expert on it but it certainly doesn't have any obvious defence mechanisms other than asking lots and lots of difficult and tedious questions. I know that QM has said on here before that Pub Quiz is one of his staples, but I've not heard of anyone else playing it to a high standard. I suspect that for the "top boys", they may not think Pub Quiz is worth trying to get good at, as to my knowledge, the bank isn't used on any other game (at least not obviously). I think the top boys like a certain amount of portability, so if they learn a bank on one game they know it will yield rewards on another (e.g. the crossover on FFQ / Celebrity WWTBAM, or the Channel One bank used by lots of Ind:e games).

I completely agree with you re the wrong answers on Pub Quiz. In the higher levels, the "most likely educated guess" is wrong nearly every time, in my experience (maybe the secret is to pick one's most likely guess, and ignore it totally). To conclude: if I saw a pro nailing Pub Quiz, I'd be incredibly impressed.

harry2 · Post by **harry2** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:03 am

Original Give Us A Break-couldn't have been more than 200 black ball questions.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:21 am

Early JPM's were around the 2000 each mark. Very easy to learn back then.

cool · Post by **cool** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 8:08 am

thats why there were so many intellectually deficient morons making a living from machines back then-- now thats called a typical university student .The only protection a machine had back then was sheer number of questions or speed of response needed e.g supernudge quizmaster or revision of jackpots e.g fruit machine £10 to 70p in one fell swoop.

JG · Post by JG » Sat Jun 13, 2009 1:49 am

Yeah, I reckon I could get up to moronic delinquent student status and clear up if it was 1987 again.
The trouble with bloody quiz machines these days is that they keep asking me questions for which I do not have the answers.

Look, if anyone asks you about Zien, I think it's a type of protein derived from corn/maize. Also I believe Jane Austen died from Addison's disease (this is contentious, a letter to The Lancet in 1968 outlines an argument for it being Hodgkin's lymphoma - fever is unusual in Addisons disease)
Jane Austen is the first recorded case of Addisons, or so goes the popular belief anyway.
Aalborg is a port in Denmark.
Stagshaw Garden is in Cumbria. It's a National Trust Property.
What does the 'A' stand for in S.W.A.T? I think it is and.
Can you or may you, no sorry, may I end a sentence like that?

I reckon I've memorised about 2,452 of those 35,000+ questions. Soon I'll be leaving those Pub Quizes so dead that the first question will be 'At what time did Jane Austen die?' If you are asked that, the answer is 4:30am.

Deceptively simple. Pure brute force in question numbers. I suppose they have more than 8k's worth of data storage available.

Questions about star signs and comics are annoying. I mean who really remembers exactly which comic Minnie the Minx was in? Does anyone know when she was born? Canadian provinces. The Joker and Steve Miller Band. Pulp Fiction, always bloody Pulp Fiction. Samuel L Jackson going on about his cheeseburger royales. Cumbria. Lots of question sets where usually one answer but a couple for the others now and then, so can't remember by answer sets alone. Republic of Island. Chihuahua. Cravat. Freddy. Scooby snacks.

Highly addictive though. I can see why people get wired into uncovering information. Broadens the horizons a lot more than knowing that the £20 box has a speck of dandruff in the bottom left corner. That's probably a question as well.

I tried £3 through this today as a diversion. Could not hit £1, despite all my practise. Bully was 701 starting as well.

With the new £70 jackpots looking bleak, it's only natural that the bum bandits like me, may look over the fence at the other side to see what the straight quiz players are up against.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:59 pm

A pleasure to read your post, as ever!

JG wrote:With the new £70 jackpots looking bleak, it's only natural that the bum bandits like me, may look over the fence at the other side to see what the straight quiz players are up against.

What is the early view from the experienced players about the new £70 JP machines? Are they set to go on even longer non-payout runs before finally splurging all that cash?

And is 'splurging' the word I mean? Not sure it looks right in that sentence...

Matt Vinyl · Post by **Matt Vinyl** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:04 pm

May not be the correct word, but it's certainly the most suitable.

Not seen one yet, although from most of the threads in the other sub-fora, I'm not overly looking forward to approaching one!

JG · Post by JG » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:03 pm

There have been a few threads about them. Briefly, they appear to be just £35 jackpot machines in £70 wolf clothing. However before, if you got the top feature, you'd expect £35,£70 or £105, now it's £70-£105 in silly increments.
No hearsay of £70+repeat yet (may look for some GMs tomorrow!!!! for the craic, may not, depends how well it goes)
My personal best is £90 off a New Hope that was giving £12.xx cashpot off a fiver. Cost me £69.
Another worthy point is that on a couple of games, features that were good for £35 jackpot are now closely guarded, very well guarded. No quick rips for £70 yet!

As for Pub Quiz, as I learn the lower question set(s) some of the questions emerging are foul. Who carries around, in their brain, the exact birthdate of lib dem leader Charles Kennedy?
Next step, learn Nobel Peace Prizes, Star Signs, birthdays of prominent figures, politicians, singers, artists etc etc
So much information out there.

There was a lad at school who learned pi to 2000 decimal places. I'm not sure how relevant that is to this, diffferent mindset, but I had this book by Tony Buzan that had it all written down. You'd say...poker on now got to go,,,,

Properpro · Post by **Properpro** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:52 pm

JG wrote:There have been a few threads about them. Briefly, they appear to be just £35 jackpot machines in £70 wolf clothing. However before, if you got the top feature, you'd expect £35,£70 or £105, now it's £70-£105 in silly increments.
No hearsay of £70+repeat yet (may look for some GMs tomorrow!!!! for the craic, may not, depends how well it goes)
My personal best is £90 off a New Hope that was giving £12.xx cashpot off a fiver. Cost me £69.
Another worthy point is that on a couple of games, features that were good for £35 jackpot are now closely guarded, very well guarded. No quick rips for £70 yet!

As for Pub Quiz, as I learn the lower question set(s) some of the questions emerging are foul. Who carries around, in their brain, the exact birthdate of lib dem leader Charles Kennedy?
Next step, learn Nobel Peace Prizes, Star Signs, birthdays of prominent figures, politicians, singers, artists etc etc
So much information out there.

There was a lad at school who learned pi to 2000 decimal places. I'm not sure how relevant that is to this, diffferent mindset, but I had this book by Tony Buzan that had it all written down. You'd say...poker on now got to go,,,,

Stop whingeing, sort out your personal panic with new play/jackpots on AWP and allow the SWP players who really know what's going on to to take their money to the bank in peace. If you can't hack it don't complain. Pub Quiz has always been a licence to print money, it obviously just doesn't suit your talents. Surely this forum is about diverse skills, the attitude that says "I can't do it, so nobody can" is so wrong, why is there so much negativity about the unknown?