The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: October 22, 2006

Event Reports - page 4

FED PHRASE GAME (Early Edition)

Wednesday 18 October
by Gwaptiva

A wildly enthusiastic crowd came to Studio 1 on The Lattice this afternoon to see an
especially exciting installment of the Fed Phrase Game. Five contestants, Brookerf, Liakell, Emie, Stirling, and Gilar, all decided to have a go - even if the host had to use some frightfully modern technology to wake up the last of that list.

After the host had reminded the players of the rules (or, as some critics have said, "His" rules), Brookerf got off to a lightning start, spinning one 1000 after another. The first puzzle saw the players look for a three-word person, each word precisely nine letters long. Brookerf scored 1950 points before asking for the W, which turned control to Emie. She only managed to guess 1 letter for 100 points before choosing a wrong letter.

Stirling, in his first go at the Phrase Game, showed he is a natural, cannily choosing letters, to work his way to the solution "Professor Catherine Shoemaker", the famous scientist and inhabitant of Cathy's Castle on Phobos, and scoring 2350 points in the process.

Emie would start the second round, looking for a five-word place. However, despite Brookerf's best efforts to influence the wheel, it suddenly showed it is, and always will be, a fickle mistress. Emie bankrupted, Stirling lost his turn, Gilar got one letter then lost his turn. With trepidation, Liakell set to finding the solution, gaining in confidence as the wheel continued to give points and she managed to unveil more and more of the phrase. With the memory of Akaturi jobs still fresh, she quickly spotted the answer was "Raiders of the Lost Art", and gained 1850 points, to go into second place.

The wheel struck again when Stirling started the third round, losing his turn on the first spin. Gilar too didn't get a chance to identify the five-word foodstuff we were looking for. He bankrupted on his first spin. Some intrepid investigation by Liakell revealed a certain kitty's litter tray underneath the wheel, explaining to all why it stank.

Having resolved that little mystery, she started to solve the phrase. As so often before, when given half a chance, even if it is with the use of a Free Spin, Liakell marched straight at the solution, and solved "An Ostrich-sized Chicken Drumstick" to take the lead with 3350 points.

Unfortunately, at this point Emie remembered she had to leave to fulfil an educational requirement, so without her "support", Gilar started to look for a three-word person. He managed to find the first word quite quickly, but even with "Technician" solved the name of the person remained elusive. After finding the vast majority of the remaining letters, Gilar stalled. Liakell added a G to the phrase, then bought an O to get to:

T E C H N I C I A N _ L A N A R I O _ A S P I R I O L I G I C O N

but then the real trouble started. No B. Brookerf made the fatal mistake of guessing the G again, Stirling failed with X, Gilar found the F for Flanario, but then went with D, Liakell tried Z, and then, finally, Brookerf finally solved it by gambling for J. Apparently, Technician Flanario Jaspirioligicon is only a legend in his own lunchtime.

With that, Brookerf was off the mark, in third behind Liakell and Stirling, going into the last puzzle, a five-word phrase. Liakell found a few Ts, a bunch of Ss, then bought a load of Es, but lost her turn by thinking there might be an N. There wasn't, and Brookerf got the chance to go for the win. This time, the wheel wasn't as helpful to her as it had been earlier, and despite solving the phrase, she was left just 100 points short of tying with Liakell, but leaving Stirling in third.

Liakell was deservedly crowned the champion of this week's edition. Next Wednesday, at 3.00pm eastern (aka 8pm BST/21:00 CET), she, and everybody else will have the chance to do it all over again, and spend a nice hour or so playing the one, the only, Fed Phrase Game.


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