Twenty Questions on Wednesday aka tomorrow

[Sharktopus]

Someone (Compound maybe?) suggested that all questions must be submitted with Simpsons quotes last week. I heartily second that suggestion.

But I won't be herer tomorrow. Hmm... maybe you should shelve that one for a while.

[Pak-Man]

I think every question should be as useless as possible. That way the game ends up with something like, "Well we know there are no wombats in the movie, it doesn't begin with a Q, nobody ate mashed potatoes during the movie, and there were at least 3 but no more than 8 buzzards. :^)

[Steve-O]

I think every question should be as useless as possible. That way the game ends up with something like, "Well we know there are no wombats in the movie, it doesn't begin with a Q, nobody ate mashed potatoes during the movie, and there were at least 3 but no more than 8 buzzards. :^)

That would be fun.

I was thinking 20 Questions in general would be more amusing if they just banned any questions that are specifically aimed at narrowing a PowerSearch on IMDB.  They'd have to give the genre and decade up front so we'd have at least a fighting chance, but the questions themselves would have to be about the content of the movie -- e.g., contains an explosive car crash, isn't set in an Ethiopian restaurant, stars at least one transvestite -- instead of the incidental crap like its rating and title.

Guess we could test it in one of the long-dormant 20 Questions practice threads to see how it works out.

[Conor]

I was thinking 20 Questions in general would be more amusing if they just banned any questions that are specifically aimed at narrowing a PowerSearch on IMDB.  They'd have to give the genre and decade up front so we'd have at least a fighting chance, but the questions themselves would have to be about the content of the movie -- e.g., contains an explosive car crash, isn't set in an Ethiopian restaurant, stars at least one transvestite -- instead of the incidental crap like its rating and title.

How do we make this happen?  Like how do we phrase the rules?

That's what we're doing today.  Just tell me how.

[Pak-Man]

Maybe "All questions must be releated to the content of the movie, not to the production, title, or actors?"

[David]

That is a refreshing change. I think we definitely need some up-front info for it to work.
"Must be about the content of the movie" might be enough. To clarify, you could categorically forbid types of questions about year, words in the title (besides a final title itself), rating, IMDB rating.

It would leave us mostly with plot questions I guess. Much like traditional lateral thinking puzzles.

[Steve-O]

That's what we're doing today.  Just tell me how.

First, convince the rest of the forum users that failing to guess the answer to a 20 Questions game is not a sign of the apocalypse.

Second, prepare yourself for the inevitable tsunami of whining that is sure to follow.

But yeah, as far as the rules are concerned, I'd go with:

1. All questions must be related to the content of the film.
2. The mods will determine whether a question meets rule #1.
3. No bitching about rule #2.

The information you hand out up front should be sufficient to give us a reasonable shot of guessing.  What that means is dependent on the film itself, but I'd think primary genre(s) and decade would do the trick for most movies.

You can be more or less lenient about the questions depending on how well the game is going.

[Sharktopus]

I'm all in favor of a 20Q that's as much fun for the players as it is for the Mods.

Guess we could test it in one of the long-dormant 20 Questions practice threads to see how it works out.

I don't think anybody guessed my last one. I wonder what it was...

[melman]

1. All questions must be related to the content of the film.
2. The mods will determine whether a question meets rule #1.
3. No bitching about rule #2.

Can we bitch about rule #3?

[Steve-O]

1. All questions must be related to the content of the film.
2. The mods will determine whether a question meets rule #1.
3. No bitching about rule #2.

Can we bitch about rule #3?

I'm willing to bet you can.

[SaucyRossy]

I like Steve-O's idear....should make the game far more interesting.

[PlayMSTie]

I like it too. Good change of pace.

[RVR II]

Game Today (August 15)??
YEA
or
NAE

[Conor]

No.  We said we'd keep you guys posted about the next one.

[RVR II]

Ahh..
Noted.