#geniusgame — Public Fediverse posts

Not entirely sure if Ken's fluster at the start of the round was genuine or a bluff. And that's a testament to his skills.

Anyway, Ken scoops the prize of 44 garnets. Congrats to him, and chapeaux to all the players, producers and all concerned.

Until next time's #GeniusGame...

Ken's putting his big numbers down in open spaces; Charlotte seems to be floundering.

Only three points to Ken in the first round.

Charlotte gets some composure back, but Ken's jocular cross-talk might put someone off. Quite possibly himself.

Round two is a draw.

Don't think we'll see the third challenge here.

#GeniusGame

Are they solving the game, or psyching each other out? Bit of both, really.

Gentlemanly conduct, and the better player wins; this mental game fell into Ken's wheelhouse.

The Golden Triangle is a variant of Black Hole from one of Tom Scott's series: triangles, not circles, and place numbers in any order. Total score across three rounds wins.

#GeniusGame

So, the advantages help to tilt he score in your favour - know how many sets there are, or double the score for a round.

Both players are fast on the buzzer. Both make an early call of "complete".

Rather like the way they've got nine people watching in the lounge, Great Geniusbox energy.

#GeniusGame

As expected, all the defeated contestants come back.

Less expected: some outlandish outfits.

Each of the eliminated players picks an advantage and gives it to one of the finalists. They end up with five advantages each.

Moody lighting as Ken and Charlotte talk, and wish each other luck.

Match one: Same or Different, the set game from show one.

#GeniusGame

@chrisd Apparently so. It's going to be a *very* interesting episode of Dealer's Room this weekend.

[grabs popcorn]

#GeniusGame

Genius Game invites all its defeated contestants back for the finale. We will get a complete set of Benjamin's Shocked Faces!

Also a preview of Charlotte's outfit: will there be boots up to her armpits?

One last hurrah next Wednesday.

#GeniusGame

And we zoom through to the late stages. Ben is ahead on bluffs, but Bodalia reaches a deal with Charlotte to peg Ben back. Force him to call bluffs: unlike cricket, successful challenges are not returned.

It all evens out, and it's about who can roll better.

Ben spends a grand to block Charlotte, and Bodalia almost challenges a barefaced lie.

But doesn't.

By a heartbeat.

The ultimate sliding doors moment.

#GeniusGame

Triangular Death Match is bluffing dice. Roll two, declare your total, reveal one die. Mark off the total you claimed.

But you can challenge an opponent: if they're bluffing, they lose a mark they already had; if they're truthful, the challenger loses one.

Zeroes can never be removed.

Ben and Charlotte get their zero early, and spot that it's all about managing the bluff tokens.

#GeniusGame

So, it's come to this.

Ken, Charlotte, and Ben have 5 units, and three places to spend them.

Ken puts 3 into Social Media, so Charlotte goes for 4.

Ben shows his working to he camera, but may have deviated in the final moment.

Ken is the winner.

OH THAT IS ABSOLUTE GENIUS!!

Every little rule is in use, and that makes this the best main match of the series. Designed by the lovely Alex, who also writes great questions for Only Connect.

#GeniusGame #OnlyConnect

"We have to pretend e have a plan".

Bodalia offers Ken a lifeline. Ben is really narked that Bodalia has broken from the plan.

It leaves Ken, Ben, and Charlotte popping cheques to draw the game.

And successfully: Bodalia cannot win and will go to the death match.

Round three, also a draw.

"We could play it chaotically" muses Ken. "What does that mean?" whimpers Ben.

#GeniusGame

Bex says she's going all in on Radio. She's lying, as Jimmy Nail would say.

Ben proposes an equal split: 24,500 in each category, so Bex is eliminated from at least one and everyone gets a metric ton of tokens.

Ken is uneasy, because he likes Bex. Bodalia is very uneasy, and breaks ranks.

And the results: Bex is out, and Bodalia has taken a lead.

#GeniusGame

They've stopped giving individual garnet counts.

Media Moguls very simple. Deposit some cash in up to four companies, up to 100,000 currency units.

Highest score in each round for each company wins an investor token; bonus tokens for multiple wins.

Lowest score in each round is barred from that company.

Repeat for four rounds.

#GeniusGame

Has Ben stumbled across a right answer? Of course he has, it would be a very short part 4 otherwise.

And now he's able to use the same tactic back at Ali.

Only for Ali to get lucky at the last moment... and forget the next spot. One forget and you're gone.

Nobody seems to be using garnets as currency at all: apart from Char giving one to Indie in the opening ep, don't think there's been a single exchange.

#GeniusGame

Well, did Bex defect from the agreed plan? will anyone believe that she didn't understand what she was doing?

It's either master manipulation or complete airheadedness. I think the former.

Bex given the other pass to Bod, which leaves Ben and Ali in the death match.

It's a memory game, and Ali spots that she can win by repeating Ben's moves. All he has to be is unlucky...

#GeniusGame

Now, there's an upset. Ben's team won round two, but Bex's side only dropped one.

They've rather limited their options: a maximum of 12. and go all in on their next round.

"We've put in all our diamonds, our strategy has fallen apart."

Bod is tempted to defect and put nothing in. But doesn't.

This is all going far far too quickly, what are we losing in the edit?

"We've got to look confident, chipper, quietly smug."

"Am I meant to put it in?"

#GeniusGame

Rules of Diamond Dilemma very simple: convince the others on your team to pop lots of diamonds into a pot.

Teams are Ken Ben Char, versus Ali Bex Bod.

Ken goes for an all-in strategy: three players each put 3 diamonds in for each round. Bod suggests a 2-1-1 strategy.

Everyone remains faithful to the plan in round 1.

Ali suggests a zero-strat game,

And Bex jumps in on the others, which throws Ken. Did not have Bex down as a chaos agent!

#GeniusGame

Char's comment to call Bex Ali Bod "naive" is going to come back and haunt her. Ken has the group's respect.

Bex literally hiding behind a cushion.

What was Indie's penultimate move? ah.

Gotta say, I think this one-ep-a-week schedule is just right, lets us look carefully at one show before seeing the next. Two eps of this would be too much.

#GeniusGame