This weekend, I finally picked up a copy of the Jeopardy! game for the Wii. The game has three levels: easy, medium, and hard. Supposedly the material gets more difficult (so you’d have to play every level to see every clue), but it also gets more difficult to put in a correct response; that is: The easy level, which I found so easy I didn’t play that level for long, is multiple-choice, with three possible answers. On the medium level, a list of possibilities appears after you enter the first three letters of your response, and you get 45 seconds to respond. On the hard level, a list of possibilities appears after you enter the first five letters of your response, and you get 30 seconds to answer. One surprising thing – Final Jeopardy is multiple-choice, at least on “medium” on “hard,” and presumably on “easy.”
If you have designed a Mii for yourself, you can use it in this game. You can also choose a shirt, a bottom, a dress, and shoes, but at first many of the choices are “locked.” Presumably you have to play a while and probably win a few times before you can have access to those items. Here is my Mii:
Incidentally, I texted this picture to my sister “Peaches,” and she wanted to know if I was playing John Goodman! (I think she was kidding.)
The medium level of play suited me more, and I did finish the game. I still thought it was too easy, though, so I tried the “hard” level. I was quite surprised to find myself getting my butt kicked! I’m not really sure what happened, but it happened both times I played “hard.” I think it was just the problem of answering wrong too often and the opponents answering right.
One thing I noticed on all three levels is that it is too easy to ring in first, when you are playing against “the computer.” I really wanted a challenge in that area, and I don’t think I am getting it. I am eager to play with other human beings. I think it will make a difference.
Something I found irritating was that I sometimes put correct responses but was ruled wrong! Here’s a hint: If you are putting in your response and no list of option appears, you can be sure you are WRONG or are at least not answering the way they want you to. Twice I started to answer but ran out of time because I had to erase everything and couldn’t put a new answer in time. One time, I knew the answer was “Gainesborough,” and that is how I spelled it. No list of responses appeared, so I started to panic and wound up putting Rembrandt. They wanted “Gainsborough,” which is actually the only way I am finding it spelled in every book I have consulted. I put “Hanks” for “Tom Hanks” and was ruled wrong. I put “Mao” and “Ford,” correct responses, and was ruled wrong. I put “Klimt” and was ruled wrong. What, like there’s someone else named Klimt? Or Mao, for that matter? I put “Shalom,” and they were looking for “Salaam.” You get the idea.
Finally, I don’t see a way to save a game that is in progress and come back to it later (although I didn’t read the relatively lengthy manual word-for-word). That would be nice option.
Still, I’m glad I got the game, and in fact, writing about it makes me want to play right now! For me that means it was worthwhile. I hope it sells well because I love Jeopardy!, and I also think it would be nice for them to make more editions of the game! So has anyone else tried it? I’d love to hear about your experience.