On 21 Questions Round 50:
HINTS
I like the idea of hints, and I think we can do more than reserve a hint for a close guess. Maybe a hint every 5 questions (Question 20, 15, 10, 5, Sudden Guess-Off) or even a hint as a reward for every question answered with a 'Yes'. If we go this way, I need help defining exactly what a 'hint' means in this game. Johnny's pretty good with poetic hints. I like putting a vague hint in the title. (Last game I also called EmpJ 'junior', as in 'Luthor Jr'.) N8 doesn't believe in strictly yes-or-no answers and regularly adds hints to his answers.
At its simplest, a hint would answer an unasked question such as affiliation, power type, codename-or-lack-of, universe, etc. Eg Question: "Have they ever worn an EES ring?" Answer: NEver. (Meaning they exist in New Earth.)
The problem with hints is that it relies on the discretion of the Quizmaster, and might be an added stress on the host. And this leads to a general outline of my thinking:
AIM (Not *that* other company's A.I.M.)
In spicing up 21 Questions, I'm thinking about what excludes people from playing. A lot of it is the time involved; both for the players and the host. Especially the host. There's a certain amount of research involved; unless you have a pornographic memory like Jonny, and the time it takes to check facts and reply to questions.
Obviously, if you win, you host. So if a player knows that they can't host because of the next day's time commitment; will they play? And this is the crust 😜 of my thinking. How can we lower the time commitment?
DESIGNATED KEEPER
One small thing is to designate a 'Keeper' (I know. Prolly me.) each game who will keep a constantly updated list of the questions/answers. To avoid cluttering up the thread, we could go back and edit the same 'Where We Stand' post until, say, 7 or 10 Questions go by. This helps the players. But what about the host?
LIGHTENING ROUND
To make for a faster game, I propose a lightening round with maybe 10 characters listed; again with a keeper 'X'ing out those characters that are eliminated. Call it Multiple Guess; butter it and call it toast - but it would make for a fast game.
They would need to be similar enough that it wasn't too easy or difficult. Eg - same sex, alignment, group affiliation perhaps, race, power, planet of origin, or continuity. N8 would like this - have an "all-Titans" round; or for Jonny an "all-LoSH" round; or Echo might like an all GLC round. You get the picture frame.
I'd like to try something for round 'L' if we can.
IN GENERAL
We're looking for some innovative ways (or rip-off a few TV game shows, that works too) to spice things up and make 21Q accessible to people maybe too busy to dedicate the time to the game. Not always. I do like the long round - it just seems to be slowing down the last few weeks. Johnny's had some good suggestions - and they rely on the goodwill of fellow players. Can we also modify the gameplay so that the 'Spice' is part of the game's meta-DNA?
