Games of Yesteryear

A few months ago, NTN introduced "Restore Order" to the lineup as well as new Playmaker pasttimes Poker, Bingo and Fling. However, the past few years has also seen games disappear, sometimes forever, sometimes only until resurrection under new formats. Here's a short trip down Memory Lane:

Viewer's Revue

Although VR disappeared in 1996, many veteran players still mourn its passing. NTN invited people to submit their own questions to make up the Countdown-format game appearing on Tuesdays in connection with Showdown. Participants quickly found question-writing more challenging than they'd previously thought as they struggled with space limitations (including number of characters per line) as well as content. NTN also required submitters to provide copies of their resources to ensure quality control. Despite these requirements, many enjoyed the opportunity to use their specialized fields of knowledge and wish to do so again.

Antagonist

At first it sounded like a great idea - a Thursday night Countdown game created by people who'd already made a name for themselves with their website with attitude. However the humorous questions often were accompanied by less-than-funny answers and factoids. Antagonist further provoked player antagonism when it violated the "rules of clues" with non-negative third clues pointing to wrong answers. For many, Antagonism became a source of frustration rather than enjoyment.

Zealot

Science fiction fans hailed the arrival of Zealot on Wednesday nights, even though it was produced by the Antagonist crew. While containing less misdirection than its counterpart, the question data base was riddled with erroneous questions. Even the ones likely correct went far beyond the usual level of trivia by demanding knowledge of numbers on "Star Trek" name badges and other esoterica. Repeat questions and entire games plagued the time slot from the beginning, and by the end players realized that no new material was being added. Fortunately Sci-Files eventually stepped into Zealot's place, bringing a much better question mix.

Literary Game

Unfortunately my memory fails me on the exact title of this Tuesday offering, although it was something along the lines of "Dan O'Herlihy's Amazing Literary Trivia." Book lovers adored the game for its first few months. Then Dan - a writer who created all the content - ran out of classics to use as subject matter, and apparently turned to his own obscure favorites. The questions got harder to the point even voracious readers struggled to get their bonus points. While many would welcome another literature-based specialty game, hopefully like Sci-Files it would have a broader focus.

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