Game $how Convention 12!
June 19, 2004
A Summary of the Events!
Your co-hosts!: Bob Staub & Andrew Kudey
The attendees!:
Chuck Donegan, Matt Kaiser, Aaron Sica, Mark Sinsabaugh, Michael Clifford, Joe & Jerry Raygor, and Brian & Joan Schwartz!
When?: Thursday June 3 — Saturday June 5, 2004
Wednesday, June 2 -
On Wednesday night, Chuck and Joe & Jerry Raygor were the first to arrive. At about 8:45, Bob and I departed from his house to pick them up. Bob chose to go to the airport for Joe and Jerry, and I drove to Scranton to meet Chuck. The Raygor's had a pleasant flight, they said, and had already arrived at 9:15 before Chuck, who arrived at 9:55. The five of us had a late supper at Perkins, just up the road from the Knight's Inn where Joe and Jerry were staying, and called it a night shortly after. Bob and Chuck headed back to his house, and I left for my home.
Thursday, June 3 -
A beautiful day in the neighborhood, I arrived at Bob's about 10:00 in the morning. Today the Schwartz's, Matt Kaiser, and Aaron Sica were arriving. With me were the Raygor's and Michael Clifford, who I picked up from the Knight's Inn shortly before. Throughout the morning, the six, or so, of us watched tapes. Chuck brought a lot of great stuff with him--that combined with Joe Raygor's few things and of course our collection--and there were so many things to watch. Among the programs viewed were NYSI '89 with Chuck Henry (duck for the Mark Goodson logo!), Pitfall, and others.
Brian & Joan Schwartz were arriving by bus at about 1:45, so Bob's dad was gracious to pick them up at the station. They arrived back and noted a pleasant and uneventful trip. This was Brian's first time meeting any of us, but we all talked as if we were old friends. The rest of the afternoon went pretty much the same as the morning, watching tapes and what not.
From background to foreground: Jerry Raygor, Brian Schwartz (having just arrived), and myself.
In the early evening, Aaron Sica arrived. He had a little difficulty finding Bob's house, which is to be expected being unfamiliar with the area, but arrived just fine. At about 6:30 we decided to start the games. Matt Kaiser would be arriving by bus around 7:30, but we had to at least start a few matches of Card Sharks. When Matt arrived later, he immediately joined in.
That's Matt Kaiser and myself on the couch, with the cards dealt on the coffee table in the foreground. I'm laughing probably because we had problems getting the theme music to play on Bob's DVD player. We'd hit the play button on the remote for the Card Sharks theme, and get the painful sound of "All Star Blitz", the first song on the CD, instead! We played all matches tournament style, with the winner advancing. During gameplay, freeze bars were replaced by "Bernischke bars." Joe, a huge fan of Rolf, made small, trading card-sized pictures of Mr. Benirschke which we used as freeze bars. The top four winners went on to the semi's and the final two faced off for the championship. I ended up winning my match, but dollar wise came in fifth place, so I just missed it. The championship round didn't happen until the next morning (because it got too late Thursday night), but in the final round it was Brian and Chuck. Chuck won the match and broke the bank on the money cards! That's right, he won the big $32,000! For the car round, we laid 10 cards out on the table instead of the usual 7, and made the bonus prize $50,000! We gave Chuck 2 jokers to start this time, but he didn't find any additional during the money cards. Sure enough, he finds the bonus card and wins the $50,000! His winnings totaled over $103,000 for the night! What a finish to an exciting tournament! Thursday night at 11:30, Bob and I assist in transporting the Raygors, Schwartzs, Matt, and Michael back to Knight's Inn. An excellent first day.
That's Joe Raygor sitting next to the Card Sharks credits...but whose thumb is that?!
Friday, June 3 -
Another beautiful day in Northeast PA, Bob and I, along with Chuck and Aaron, made plans to meet at Knight's Inn to pick everyone up. We headed over to Perkins, just up the road for an early lunch. Bob sat with Chuck, Aaron, Jerry and Joe, and I with the Schwartzs and Michael. Brian and I talked and reminisced about old Nick shows among other things. When we all got back to Bob's house, we finished up the final Card Sharks match from the night before (as mentioned above). Then more tape watching to keep us busy. Everyone had so many requests for shows they wanted to see that we easily lost track of time! Tonight was the final episode of H2, Hollywood Squares, and we all watched the end of a great show. Chuck cried as the show faded to black for the last time just before 8:00.
Shortly after, we began our second game of the tournament, High Rollers. Our method of play was actually suggested by Brian's mom, Joan. She recommended that we lay the hosting podium flat on the floor and roll the dice into it. It actually worked great. Take a look...
Joe Raygor rolling the dice in his match.
For the buzz-in method, we decided to move beyond the 3rd grade method of hand-raising, and use my Quizzard from the Sale of the Century game. For the numbers board, we used the dry erase, which really came in handy for all games we played. The Benirschke bars came in handy once again, as we used them as High Rollers insurance markers. We called them, you guessed it, "Rolf markers." In the prize columns, to make it fair for all players, we decided on a standard $1000, $3000, and $5000 respectively in the three columns.
Chuck was the board operator this time around. For all games, everyone took turns hosting, announcing, keeping score, and playing...and watching of course!
After a late dinner from the bar/restaurant down the street, we played the semi-finals, and then the final match. This time it was Chuck vs. myself. I was the second or third highest money winner in the main game--Chuck was the highest, I believe. He and I faced off, and he came through in game 3 to win the title. I needed a 3 or a 6, or a 9 to clear the board and win the match, but couldn't get it. Chuck went on the play the big numbers, this time for $25,000 for winning the final match. Clearing the big numbers is not easy, both on and off the real show. No one was able to do it this time.
The golden dice. I made these special for the event!
Saturday, June 5 -
The worst of the three days weather-wise. It was rainy and cool, but that didn't stop us from having fun. After the usual round-up at Knight's Inn, we headed back to Bob's and had breakfast. Chuck informed us that he would be leaving at 3:00 to catch his bus at 3:30. Mark Sinsabaugh would also be coming today around 1:00 to spend the last day with us. The grand finale game was Sale of the Century. We began playing a few rounds in the late morning so Chuck could have his turn before he had to leave.
Chuck, Joe, and Matt getting ready to play the game. On the coffee table in front of them is Quizzard and the 9 Fame Game cards.
This out of the three games was the one everyone was looking forward to playing. It was also my favorite one to host. We used the 1986 home game, complete with working Quizzard, as we also used during High Rollers play the day before. The only difficult part about hosting, for everyone that did, was, you guessed it, the speed round! The question book for the game is not set up in the same fashion as the order of show, so we had to skip around and rapid-fire the questions as fast as possible. We had three matches, whose winners were Chuck, Bob, and Brian. Chuck found the $25 money card on the last Fame Game board pick to bolt into the lead. Joe was actually leading the match by a significant amount throughout because he refused every Instant Bargain I offered him! In the end, Chuck dominated the speed round to win $90-$85 over Joe! Bob won the second match by $4, and Brian the third. Let's just say I was better at hosting the game than playing! (I believe I finished with only $20!)
At 1:00, it was time...time for the call.
"Who's got the Count Chocula? Okay, you're on!!!
"Who's got the Lay's potato chips? Okay, you're on!!!
"And who's got the Bounty paper towels? Okay, and you're on!!!"
That's right, Randy West himself was very kind in allowing us a telephone conversation! Bob had made the arrangements a few weeks prior, and Randy was more than happy to talk with us! Mark arrived from Elmira, NY about 1:30 and took the picture below...
That's Bob entertaining the group with his questions to Randy.
After the one-hour conversation with Randy, it was almost time for Chuck to leave, so we finished the final round of Sale of the Century. It was Chuck, Bob, and Brian in the final round. In a relatively close match, it was Bob who was triumphant. Chuck almost had the sweep winning all three games! Bob came away with a diamond ring and several thousands of dollars in cash.
Chuck vs. Bob vs. Brian in the final round. Matt hosted and I kept score and drew the Fame Game board.
At 3:00, Chuck said his good-byes, and he and I departed for the Scranton bus terminal. He had a great three days with us. When I arrived back, we watched a few more tapes, including the horrible hosting jobs of Michael Carrington and the unpredictable and clueless Skip Lackey on Think Fast. Dinner that night was at Johnny Rockets, a 50's style diner, if you've ever heard of the chain. I live only miles from it had never been there before, but it was a great time. Since the offical games were over because Chuck had gone, we decided for fun to play a few rounds of Knockout, which Matt Kaiser made, and Super Password's "Alphabetics."
I'm the board operator this time. Each of us took turns thinking the words for Alphabetics. Many of the words thought of were nearly impossible to get! At this point the pot is already up to $65,000!
Most of us were actually more interesting in giving the clues rather than receiving. Equally, it was just as fun to think of the hardest words possible for the players! What kind of clues would you give for E-"Echocardiogram", X-"Xanadu", T-"Tungsten", or O-"Opulent"?!!! By 11:00, very tired, the pot at $100,000, yes that much, Aaron and I won the dough. Joe made the words for us--much easier words than before--Aaron gave, I received, and we finally ended this thing! It was a great time though.
Michael is giving the clues and Brian receiving. Brian is either in a brain freeze or praying that this thing be over with soon!
We called it a night after the big win as tomorrow would be an early day for most of us.
Sunday, June 6 -
The convention is now officially over, and everyone had a blast. The Raygor's flight left at 7:00 that morning, so they were up very early. The remaining, Bob, Aaron, Matt, Michael, Brian and Joan, went out for breakfast. (I went to church that morning). Brian and Joan left around 1:30 in the afternoon, so I didn't get to see them one last time. But I did stop over Bob's around 3:00 to see Matt, Aaron, and Mark one last time before they left. Then by 6:00 that evening, everyone was gone and Bob and I gave ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done. What a great time we had; I know everyone who attended had a blast. I hope this convention will go down as one of the best ever.
--Andrew Kudey, 6/19/04
From the home page. Again it's Michael Clifford, Brian Schwartz, Joe Raygor (holding Jeopardy!), Bob Staub (tallest in the center), Chuck Donegan, Aaron Sica, and myself. This picture was taken Thursday evening, just before Matt arrived.
Special thanks to Brian and Joan Schwartz who took the first seven and the last pictures seen on this page. Mark Sinsabaugh took pictures 8-11 on Saturday.
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