It is a bit of mindless, inoffensive fun isn't it? Totally hinges on the dudes being sort of funny to watch, because the game is mostly just riding the rail back and forth.
It is a bit of mindless, inoffensive fun isn't it? Totally hinges on the dudes being sort of funny to watch, because the game is mostly just riding the rail back and forth.
Yesterday morning I was browsing nebula and kept seeing these as one of the main recommendations. Wasn't sure I was into the concept but decided I'd give it a try. Next thing I knew I was 8...
Yesterday morning I was browsing nebula and kept seeing these as one of the main recommendations. Wasn't sure I was into the concept but decided I'd give it a try. Next thing I knew I was 8 episodes deep.
I almost disregarded the show entirely because I didn't realize the format changed each season. The first one I saw was the New Zealand series premier. Honestly it wasn't a very appealing format....
I almost disregarded the show entirely because I didn't realize the format changed each season. The first one I saw was the New Zealand series premier. Honestly it wasn't a very appealing format. But the Japan series has me hooked.
I went through all of it and then I went back to it again. It is just such a great show and the hosts seem like great people that get along really well and they are what makes it so watchable....
I went through all of it and then I went back to it again. It is just such a great show and the hosts seem like great people that get along really well and they are what makes it so watchable. Even repeatedly.
Aww yiss. Great to see some improvements to the Hide and Seek format. The curse dice from the previous one were a neat concept, but didn't quite have the intended gameplay impact in the end (they...
Aww yiss. Great to see some improvements to the Hide and Seek format. The curse dice from the previous one were a neat concept, but didn't quite have the intended gameplay impact in the end (they talked about this on the podcast during the Switzerland season and in the game design episode for this season that was released with the trailer on Nebula).
Shipping to anywhere outside the US seems to be ridiculous from what I’ve gathered. Switzerland is 60 dollars, similar prices to anywhere else in Europe. If they can’t figure out more affordable...
Shipping to anywhere outside the US seems to be ridiculous from what I’ve gathered. Switzerland is 60 dollars, similar prices to anywhere else in Europe. If they can’t figure out more affordable logistics I think they should consider offering a print and play version.
@secret_online @Adarain would any of you be interested in doing a group order with reshipping in EU and splitting the cost of shipping? I also want to order but it’s 45 eur to ship to Belgium.
@secret_online@Adarain would any of you be interested in doing a group order with reshipping in EU and splitting the cost of shipping? I also want to order but it’s 45 eur to ship to Belgium.
If you want to be patient to save money, in the most recent podcast they talked about trying to get a warehouse in the EU for future orders to avoid those crazy costs. It wouldn't be for a few...
If you want to be patient to save money, in the most recent podcast they talked about trying to get a warehouse in the EU for future orders to avoid those crazy costs. It wouldn't be for a few months though.
I know some people who can do this. Belgium does a lot of board games so it’s easy to print and ship here. Maybe I’ll reach out to them to see if I can make it happen…
I know some people who can do this. Belgium does a lot of board games so it’s easy to print and ship here. Maybe I’ll reach out to them to see if I can make it happen…
Interesting idea, but I think I'll pass, I'm considering making my own instead. Even without shipping it's a bit much for what'll probably be a one time game
Interesting idea, but I think I'll pass, I'm considering making my own instead. Even without shipping it's a bit much for what'll probably be a one time game
I think this may be "once a year with friends" activity - annual game. I love the concept, I even have friends who would be crazy enough to play, but one thing is getting cards for 100€ (with...
I think this may be "once a year with friends" activity - annual game.
I love the concept, I even have friends who would be crazy enough to play, but one thing is getting cards for 100€ (with shipping and VAT) and other is spending likely much more in travel fees when we would actually play it. And considering we won't make any profit unlike Jet Lag team does, it could easily be like 300-500€ over a few days and by that time the price of the cards is kinda irrelevant.
Yeah I can’t figure out who the target audience is for this. I guess other established YouTuber people might be able to play it for their own channels, but then they’re just copycatting Jet Lag. A...
Yeah I can’t figure out who the target audience is for this. I guess other established YouTuber people might be able to play it for their own channels, but then they’re just copycatting Jet Lag. A better move would be for those who are inclined to license the Jet Lag brand and create their own official spin-off shows. I’d be into that. I just don’t think there are enough people with the financial and schedule flexibility to buy this game just to play it even once.
Now I absolutely would be interested in a simulated tabletop adaptation played over a board like Ticket to Ride. Not sure how to translate the complicated train schedules and travel times to that format but I’m sure some clever game mechanics could be devised. I love games with information asymmetry which would need to be worked in to support something like hide and seek. Huge plus if it incorporated educational info about different places, photos and flavor text and whatnot. Maybe even some kind of Snack Zone, lol. The more I think about it the more I love this idea.
A video game could work too. Maybe even better, but the production costs would be much higher.
I think you could play this in a single town or in a national park or within a single state. You'd have to adjust things but a lot of it is just limiting your transportation methods.
I think you could play this in a single town or in a national park or within a single state. You'd have to adjust things but a lot of it is just limiting your transportation methods.
Well, let's say real fans of them would buy it just to have memorabilia of the show. I probably would if I was in US as the cost would be kinda ok and I would be directly supporting them by doing...
Well, let's say real fans of them would buy it just to have memorabilia of the show. I probably would if I was in US as the cost would be kinda ok and I would be directly supporting them by doing that.
Tabletop version would be great, but also very demanding to make it such. These cards are just what they already have and use.
Well, I’d probably play it in a smaller area (just a city & surroundings) where all of my friends already have public transit subscriptions anyway. I’m not sure how well the game they designed...
Well, I’d probably play it in a smaller area (just a city & surroundings) where all of my friends already have public transit subscriptions anyway. I’m not sure how well the game they designed even scales down to that area, probably not very well at all.
I believe it's designed to scale down to a metro area or large city. From what I remember in the podcast, there are ruleset tweaks and suggestions for a smaller, local area. One of their playtest...
I believe it's designed to scale down to a metro area or large city. From what I remember in the podcast, there are ruleset tweaks and suggestions for a smaller, local area.
One of their playtest sessions was on Manhattan Island (NYC) which is pretty small but dense.
I'm interested in trying it for the SF bay area. There's BART, SF Muni, and Caltrain. Starting by the ferry building in SF you can get way out into the boonies east, to the ocean, or to San Jose.
I'm interested in trying it for the SF bay area. There's BART, SF Muni, and Caltrain. Starting by the ferry building in SF you can get way out into the boonies east, to the ocean, or to San Jose.
I doubt it. In the show they talk about hiding at an airport, but mention that if you're getting through security is no longer considered publicly accessible. Restaurants etc are not considered...
I doubt it. In the show they talk about hiding at an airport, but mention that if you're getting through security is no longer considered publicly accessible. Restaurants etc are not considered publicly accessible either, it needs to be a place where it's perfectly OK to loiter for several hours.
Sure thing. I just preordered a set of the cards; it looks like the first batch sold out, so they're projecting a second batch (the one I'm in) for delivery in mid-March. I'll put out the word...
Sure thing. I just preordered a set of the cards; it looks like the first batch sold out, so they're projecting a second batch (the one I'm in) for delivery in mid-March. I'll put out the word once they've arrived.
You could.probably adjust the curses to suit it better. Or adjust the questions. But by that time you are making your own game... If they made it for cities rather than countries, it would be much...
You could.probably adjust the curses to suit it better. Or adjust the questions. But by that time you are making your own game...
If they made it for cities rather than countries, it would be much better! Much more people could olay it that way.
But still - many people will likely buy it just because they are fans of the show and won't probably ever play it.
Great first episode (on Nebula)! Long and hilarious, and clearly this format is way better for Japan (I'd already appreciated hide and seek in Switzerland), lots of pretty shots instead of...
Great first episode (on Nebula)! Long and hilarious, and clearly this format is way better for Japan (I'd already appreciated hide and seek in Switzerland), lots of pretty shots instead of spending the whole time stressing out in trains and train stations. I'm enjoying the improvements so far. I have a likely idea of how tentacles might work, though I wonder if they'll get any use.
Agreed. I think this was one of the best first episodes of any series. It did a good job of setting out the premise of the game, having some fairly straightforward gameplay, but with enough...
Agreed. I think this was one of the best first episodes of any series. It did a good job of setting out the premise of the game, having some fairly straightforward gameplay, but with enough happening to keep you on your toes.
I have a likely idea of how tentacles might work
Since you're watching on Nebula, you'll be able to listen to The Layover. They put out an episode a couple of weeks ago about the game design choices they made, including an explanation of how the tentacles work and their intention for how they'd play out. They don't spoil anything (they're pretty careful with spoilers in the podcast), so if that's something that interests you it's there.
Episode 1 spoilers
Great episode for the Snack Zone lovers. The double feature was a nice surprise. Ben's description during the first one was absolute gold.
In the podcast they mention that unlike previous seasons they gave the first hider extra time to find a spot. I think Ben (or Ben's mum as the case may be) did a good job with this one. The opening shot is in a beautiful location for introducing a travel-based game, and it ultimately served him well.
The card deck is definitely treating them better than the curse dice from Switzerland. I also like it gives the hider even more opportunities to strategize so they're not just walking around all the time. In Switzerland the hider's PoV was really just location scouting because they were discouraged from using curse dice too often. Curses having a casting cost is interesting, and does a lot to balance out the deck.
Quite a few of the curses Ben got were able to be used very effectively to stop the seekers in their tracks. The lemons limited their ability to ask questions, the travel agent curse meant they missed a train, and the cursed door meant that they then missed the next two trains, adding 4 hours to Ben's time.
And finishing the talk on curses, Ben's pull of the Gambler's Feet at the end (and making the 50/50 roll) was pretty funny. Not only that, but the seekers were at the opposite end of the town so had to move slowly even though they knew exactly where he was at that point.
A time of almost 10 hours feels so long, but since the format and location are different I don't think we really have anything to compare to. It feels like a solid start, but I'm interested to see what other times happen.
Finally had a chance to watch the first episode. You and @Protected weren't lying, that was awesome. I love the slightly modified new format and think it's much improved over previous ones. The...
Finally had a chance to watch the first episode. You and @Protected weren't lying, that was awesome. I love the slightly modified new format and think it's much improved over previous ones. The new cards are also super cool, and I love how they actually have a noticeably impact on the game. I think lots of little curses like they're doing now is way more fun than the previous seasons where they were potentially massive impediments, but also pretty hit or miss in terms of their utility.
Episode 1 spoilers
Ben played it beautifully too. His strategy and timing on the curses was impeccable, and his prediction about what the seekers would do in the town when they got there was impressively accurate too. And that Gambler's Feet pull at the end was <chef's kiss>. :P
A day early! It was a bit of surprise to see the episode in my feed. Not that I'm complaining of course. Episode 3 spoilers I've definitely noticed the editing choices in this season more so than...
A day early! It was a bit of surprise to see the episode in my feed. Not that I'm complaining of course.
Episode 3 spoilers
I've definitely noticed the editing choices in this season more so than others, and this episode was chock full of little bits of foreshadowing and cuts between viewpoints that line up to tell the story better. Good job, Adam (I think, it was a week since I listened to the podcast and made notes).
There were definitely some close moments in this episode:
Not a close moment (my list is already ruined), but I love the first question being related to airports. The seekers even mention that he could be there, but every time they consider it they rule it out.
Adam and Ben deciding to go with the street photo instead of tallest building. This led to them only choosing the tallest building photo when they were in Narita, which then affected which train they caught.
Sam almost being close enough to another Shinkansen line that would have completely ruined the seekers.
Adam and Ben nearly taking a really bad train because the risk of missing Sam on the coast was too high. They were only saved by a delay that gave them enough time to figure it out.
From the podcast, Sam mentioned his plan for this run was based on the Winterthur run in the Switzerland season: don't go the full distance, and try make a gruelling short game. I think that would have happened if Adam and Ben hadn't happened to take the one train line that goes through his hiding spot. On Adam and Ben's side that was a pure accident, with them deciding to stop in Narita because there were more train lines they thought Sam would be down. Sam first heard of this station from a random YouTube video he was recommended a few months before filming, so when the opportunity to hide at the airport came up he decided to go for it.
Adam mentioned that taking the line directly to Sam's ststion affected the editing decisions. Originally he was going to cut out the time the seekers went straight past Sam (where we get this wonderful cut between Ben looking slightly confused at the stop and Sam saying how the breeze from the train pulling in was a relief down in that station). He decided to leave that in since the two of them just happening to catch the one train line that would get Sam was a little hard to believe.
Once again the hider gets caught in their hiding spot through no real fault of their own, holding two curses of the travel agent. If I had a nickel etc. Next episode looks interesting though, on the coast with slower train lines, but somehow Ben managed to pack an entire ghillie suit on his trip and honestly I am all here for it.
I'm sure people say this is scripted and such I don't know why they think that. If it were you wouldn't make it feel like just random luck. It was a solid idea from Sam that backfired because the...
I'm sure people say this is scripted and such
I don't know why they think that. If it were you wouldn't make it feel like just random luck. It was a solid idea from Sam that backfired because the lost tourists got lost on the train line taken mostly by lost tourists.
I do think it's funny that Adam's time still got beat with all the lucky breaks they had.
Ben always seems like he's just vibing while Adam is plotting.
Yeah, the editing has been great this season. And Ep 3 was the most enjoyable episode for me so far this season, largely because of the excellent editing in it, I think. Ep 3 spoilers Sam's awful...
Yeah, the editing has been great this season. And Ep 3 was the most enjoyable episode for me so far this season, largely because of the excellent editing in it, I think.
Ep 3 spoilers
Sam's awful luck is genuinely hilarious. His hiding spot was so f'n good, and if Ben & Adam hadn't gotten lost on the train, accidentally taking them right to him, it probably would have taken them several hours to find him. Although given how thoroughly drenched in sweat Sam was already from only being down there in the dilapidated station for a very short while, I think it was actually probably better for his health that they didn't take hours to find him. :P
Click to expand minor spoiler. It's jarring to me how randomize/veto question don't permanently block the question for the current run. There isn't enough of a punishment for repeatedly asking the...
Click to expand minor spoiler.
It's jarring to me how randomize/veto question don't permanently block the question for the current run. There isn't enough of a punishment for repeatedly asking the same question after being hit with randomize question!
Click to expand minor spoiler. Randomize causes the new, random question to be marked off the board, since it was the one actually asked. It could be completely useless or still useful...
Click to expand minor spoiler.
Randomize causes the new, random question to be marked off the board, since it was the one actually asked. It could be completely useless or still useful information, depending on the selection and what phase they're in.
Veto means the hider doesn't answer, and doesn't receive the reward. That question is marked off the board normally.
Any "marked off" question can be asked again for double the cost. This seems like a brute-force safety to ensure the hider can't dodge a question forever, but at a potentially high cost (time bonuses, curses, etc).
Game mechanics discussion that is at best tangentially a spoiler In the podcast they say that they included the double cost for repeats as a mechanism to prevent stalling out the game. So, given...
Game mechanics discussion that is at best tangentially a spoiler
In the podcast they say that they included the double cost for repeats as a mechanism to prevent stalling out the game. So, given that they want to make sure that you can't get stuck, I'm not sure what a better solution would be. Either option has tradeoffs. Though, some kind of cool down period does seem like it'd be reasonable.
We Played Hide And Seek Across Japan - Ep 5 Nebula Episode 5 spoilers I'll open this comment with the very first words of this week's podcast episode: At the end of last episode we saw Ben was on...
I'll open this comment with the very first words of this week's podcast episode:
Hello and welcome back to the... Adam and Sam explain why it's not our fault podcast.
At the end of last episode we saw Ben was on the peninsula, and the seekers had eliminated his area. What happened this episode was a bunch of panic moves (especially the second tentacles) to try and figure out where they went wrong.Apart from that and re-asking the same line question, I don't really disagree with their reasoning.
A good portion of the podcast was spent explaining why the seekers eliminated the peninsula. It turns out that Google's transport routing tries to keep cost in mind, and will try and use local lines over Shinkansens.
When the seekers were seeing how far Ben could get, this optimisation would kick in and give them a slightly slower route to save cost. Of course, this wasn't important as they were using JR passes and could just jump on and off. They eventually looked at some routes in Apple Maps, which didn't do the cost optimisation, and realised Ben could have gone further down.
The thing is, Sam had noticed this behaviour twice already. The first time was when he was in London and ended up getting a really weird route that was cheaper but took longer. The second time was when he went to hide in Narita Airport. He knew he could just take the Shinkansen and express train to get there, but when putting it into Google Maps it would put him on a bunch of more direct local lines to get there. He thought it was weird, took the Shinkansen, and didn't think about it until after catching Ben this episode.
When Ben was going to his hiding zone he was planning the route stage by stage, just taking a train somewhere new and coming up with the next stage as he went. That meant he never came up against the cost optimisation.
Some quick notes:
Ben's curse of the jammed door really pulled through, and definitely won the round for him.
They thought about adding the start of Adam's run at the end of this episode, but there wasn't really a good point to split it.
Sam and Ben had a really weird night. First they had to find a hotel in another town, and it ended up being a pretty strange experience.
I have two (maybe three?) guest passes for Nebula. Anyone who wants one to see the finale whenever it is released on Nebula, reply here. I'll send them out in a PM when I notice the finale is...
I have two (maybe three?) guest passes for Nebula. Anyone who wants one to see the finale whenever it is released on Nebula, reply here. I'll send them out in a PM when I notice the finale is available. If there's more takers than available passes, I will select people at random.
Early-access Nebula discussion for episode 4: Episode 4 spoilers After two thirds of the runtime it seemed pretty clear to me that they weren't going to find Ben by the end of this episode. I...
After two thirds of the runtime it seemed pretty clear to me that they weren't going to find Ben by the end of this episode. I actually went back and watched the trailer and there's a few seconds where he's wearing the ghillie suit and it's night time. So they're going into the night on this run. I honestly expect this one to end not because they find Ben, but because Ben won't want to spend the night sitting outside and he'll just reveal his location with like 14+ hours on the clock.
Also, they totally had me fooled into thinking they were on the right line until it was revealed they should not have excluded the peninsula.
Edit:
In the podcast they seem to indicate that they only play during daylight hours? So I guess if it gets to night they'll start again at 7:30am the next day.
Episode 4 spoilers This episode was such a wild swing. From the start I was worried that Ben wouldn't last long at all, especially with the airport question narrowing it down so much, but from my...
Episode 4 spoilers
This episode was such a wild swing. From the start I was worried that Ben wouldn't last long at all, especially with the airport question narrowing it down so much, but from my estimations it's almost guaranteed that Ben would be getting a 1st place time here even if the seekers knew his location right now. His time bonuses take him to ~8h40m, which leaves just over an hour for the seekers to get there and find him. So the question now becomes: how good of a time does he get?
I'm also just going to posit that Adam either gets a really short time or a really long time in his next run, it won't be another mid-length one. They've already said this was a 6 day game and we're on day 4 with probably two (possibly three if things pan out) episodes left in the season.
The seekers just kept going the wrong way, and I don't think it was really their fault. They've stated before that this game is about risk mitigation, and that's exactly what we see in their seeking strategy. They first went the direction with the largest area, they kept asking questions to eliminate/confirm large areas of the map, but still there was just enough optionality for there to be a wrong way to go.
I think the "Randomise Question" card has a pretty big flaw in that it doesn't mark the original question as used. The seekers could have asked the question again right after. They argue that it's effectively being bought for double the cost, but that's really only because the thing it randomised to was pretty much useless for them. If the random question has given them information then the randomise would have very little downside. It also felt the same way the last time a randomise was used, so maybe that'll change if they ever do another season of hide and seek.
I noticed in the edit they left in that tiny clip of them excluding the peninsula because "he couldn't have got there in time", and thought it felt a bit out of place. It was fairly clear to me at that point that Ben was down there (yay for having more information as a viewer than a player), but that weird edit sealed the deal for me.
A couple of notes for the non-podcast listeners:
Ben was originally planning on using the ghillie suit in his first run so that he could remove it from his pack. He didn't find a good enough spot to hide in, so kept it for this run.
The thermometer question ended up being at an angle that Sam and Adam didn't expect. This ended up being good for both parties: for Ben it meant he was near the edge of the line, and for the seekers it meant that they ended up narrowing down to a much smaller area based on the answer.
The tentacles question was pretty close to hitting Ben, as the radius actually slightly overlapped with his hiding zone. If Ben had been in the northern part of his zone then he might not have been able to escape it (he has 5 minutes to answer the question, and it's a hit/miss at the point he answers and not when he receives the question). That miss saved him so hard, as it would have been obvious he was down that line.
So I guess if it gets to night they'll start again at 7:30am the next day.
Correct. This hasn't happened yet on this season, but in other seasons (and other formats of the game) it's fairly common for there to be a pause overnight and they resume the next morning at the same locations. This has led to some strategizing around the rest periods in the Tag seasons. It's just happened that people have been caught late enough in the day that the hiding period has overlapped with the rest periods so the seekers start in the next morning.
Ep 4 spoilers I think one mistake they are all making is not following the 50% rule from Guess Who? though, where you try to eliminate 50% of the remaining possibility with each question. They...
Ep 4 spoilers
The seekers just kept going the wrong way, and I don't think it was really their fault. They've stated before that this game is about risk mitigation, and that's exactly what we see in their seeking strategy.
I think one mistake they are all making is not following the 50% rule from Guess Who? though, where you try to eliminate 50% of the remaining possibility with each question. They waste a lot of questions by not trying to narrow things down by as much as possible in the early game. Like, in this episode the "are you close to a major city" and "are you close to a high speed line" questions were a complete waste of time, since they didn't narrow things down all that much... and even their hotter/colder left such a huge range of possibilities north and south of the Atami line which contributed to them screwing up later when they were in Atami.
I absolutely agree about the Randomise Question though. I think that given you know how important the question is now that it's been intentionally avoided, it should cost more to re-ask it. Since, no shit, everyone is almost always just going to re-ask it immediately again after that!
p.s. Thanks again for providing some info from the podcast. :)
Episode 4 spoilers Being the madman that I am, between posting my comment and now I've seen the two preceding seasons of the show and am now more familiar with how it works. I could still see Ben...
Episode 4 spoilers
Correct. This hasn't happened yet on this season, but in other seasons (and other formats of the game) it's fairly common for there to be a pause overnight and they resume the next morning at the same locations.
Being the madman that I am, between posting my comment and now I've seen the two preceding seasons of the show and am now more familiar with how it works.
I could still see Ben opting to not sit in the woods for 10 hours on the next day if his suit works really well. I'm curious how that works exactly if both hider and seekers are in the same town at the end of the day. What if there's only one hotel? That could be funny.
Really enjoyed this one! Ben is just really good at strategic gameplay when left to his own devices. I feel like Adam drives whoever he's paired with for better or worse.
Really enjoyed this one! Ben is just really good at strategic gameplay when left to his own devices. I feel like Adam drives whoever he's paired with for better or worse.
Ep 4 spoilers I personally didn't get that sense at all... When they originally got hit with the veto on the "largest body of water" picture request, they literally said "I bet he did that because...
Ep 4 spoilers
After two thirds of the runtime it seemed pretty clear to me that they weren't going to find Ben by the end of this episode
I personally didn't get that sense at all... When they originally got hit with the veto on the "largest body of water" picture request, they literally said "I bet he did that because he's close to the Ocean" which was true... and they were in Atami at the time and sitting in front of the Ito line train, which was only a few stops North of where Ben presumably is! So I figured he was doomed at at point, which is why the episode was so short. But after clearing the cairn curse and getting the amusement park question answer they completely forgot about that veto and their Strava map too, then Sam screwed up with his reasoning (assuming Ben couldn't have gone South in time) and so they headed the completely wrong direction. But if they hadn't actually screwed up, I think Ben was cooked given the Strava map and photo of the tallest building, which would have allowed them to get the exact station in no time.
I think I'll get into the habit of talking about episodes when the YouTube episode is out. That way it doesn't feel like the thread's dead by the time most people get to watch it. Episode 2...
I think I'll get into the habit of talking about episodes when the YouTube episode is out. That way it doesn't feel like the thread's dead by the time most people get to watch it.
Episode 2 spoilers
Upon reading back this comment before posting, I realise it's basically all just podcast info without much talk of the game itself. I think that's because this one was pretty straightforward. Sure, the seekers go the wrong way to start, but as soon as they know he's south they end up going straight for him without any twists or turns. Not that it's a bad episode, it's just not the best episode.
Oh Adam, I wish this spot worked out better for you. In the podcast he says he found it by scrolling around on Google Maps and just happening to see it, and didn't think about the fact that the seekers would be doing the exact same thing to find him.
I think the thing that sealesld the deal on this episode was having that tallest building near the train station also being juuuust in shot of the station's photo, which then made it possible for Sam and Ben to confirm Adam's location while still ages away from the location. This then led to Adam being unprepared and unable to go to his intended hiding spot.
Adam mentions in the episode that he chooses his final hiding spot in the forest because it's on the opposite side from the entrance that Google Maps gives you. This isn't mentioned in the episode because there wasn't a good setup for it, but Sam and Ben go directly to him for two reasons:
Ben's using Apple Maps
There's a sign at the station that says something along the lines of "Don't follow Google Maps, go this way to reach the castle", which the seekers translated.
Overall this episode felt a little lacklustre compared to others, but still a pretty good one. I'm writing this comment about an hour before I'll be watching Episode 3 on Nebula, so I'm interested to see how Sam's run goes.
Spoilers Episode 2 It didn't have to be that straightforward. Adam could've sent the seekers into a tailspin by playing his vetoes early. He squandered three of the most valuable cards in the game...
Spoilers Episode 2
It didn't have to be that straightforward. Adam could've sent the seekers into a tailspin by playing his vetoes early. He squandered three of the most valuable cards in the game by just.. not using them?
As soon as he noticed them going North rather than South, any follow up question needed to be vetoed.
Yeah Sam got lucky, but by then Adam was already losing. It only sped it up.
Episode 2 spoilers I feel like a similar problem happened in the Tag seasons where the runners would never buy the powerful to see where the chasers were. They were all so confident that they knew...
Episode 2 spoilers
I feel like a similar problem happened in the Tag seasons where the runners would never buy the powerful to see where the chasers were. They were all so confident that they knew where the chasers would be that they didn't consider double checking their assumptions.
In this game it's kind of similar, where they're more confident that the information they're giving is of low value while not working through the information they've given the seekers to see how far the area has been narrowed down.
I get that it's different when you're actually playing the game because there's pressure that we don't feel as viewers, but I wonder if just having an extra card that just lists the things you can do as a hider would prompt then to try different strategies more.
Haven't watched yet just reading spoilers because I can so no plot specifics here: I think that reminder would be a great idea, maybe as a card like in board games that tell you what you can do on...
Haven't watched yet just reading spoilers because I can so no plot specifics here: I think that reminder would be a great idea, maybe as a card like in board games that tell you what you can do on your turn? Especially since they sell the deck now!
I'm sure you're not wrong, playing a game is different than armchairing it, but they have literal hours to decide. It's not very fast paced for the players themselves.
I'm sure you're not wrong, playing a game is different than armchairing it, but they have literal hours to decide. It's not very fast paced for the players themselves.
Episode 2 Spoilers On top of not using the vetos, I found the hangman curse equally baffling. You spend three cards to stall for (at best) 50 minutes? When he drew it and the graphic was shown, I...
Episode 2 Spoilers
On top of not using the vetos, I found the hangman curse equally baffling. You spend three cards to stall for (at best) 50 minutes? When he drew it and the graphic was shown, I said "that's awful!" just as Adam said something along the lines of "oh, that's a good one!", which was a really funny disconnect.
Wasn't it three attempts with 10 minute penalties? So at most it would be 30 minutes. It can make or break a train connection but it's rather weak. The tourist card this time would detour the...
Wasn't it three attempts with 10 minute penalties? So at most it would be 30 minutes. It can make or break a train connection but it's rather weak. The tourist card this time would detour the seekers for almost twice that.
I included the time it'd take to guess the hangman. Since it's played over text and there's going to be some time spent choosing a letter/considering possible words, I assumed about 10 minutes per...
I included the time it'd take to guess the hangman. Since it's played over text and there's going to be some time spent choosing a letter/considering possible words, I assumed about 10 minutes per game. There's no time penalty noted after the third round, hence 50.
Episode 2 Spoilers
I took a look at that moment in the episode, and it looks like it took them 35 minutes to play two rounds and wait out one time penalty, so about 12.5 per game.
Episode 2 spoilers Yeah, really straightforward episode other than the seekers shaky start... but there is nothing they can really do to prevent that. Adam just got super unlucky that Sam happened...
Episode 2 spoilers
Yeah, really straightforward episode other than the seekers shaky start... but there is nothing they can really do to prevent that. Adam just got super unlucky that Sam happened to click the correct train station and noticed the building in the official google maps photo... although the station name including "castle" in it made that far more likely to be checked due to how much he gravitates towards them. So he kinda shot himself in the foot by being so predictable. :P
p.s. I personally appreciate that you talked about stuff from the podcast, since I don't listen to it and never would have heard the insights they offer had you not. :)
It was common in the previous threads and simply spoiler tag them and it's perfectly allowed, but as @secret_online mentioned you probably end up discussing in a dead thread.. or one where the...
It was common in the previous threads and simply spoiler tag them and it's perfectly allowed, but as @secret_online mentioned you probably end up discussing in a dead thread.. or one where the conversation passes you by. Most people watch on YouTube after all.
I have the opposite issue though. If the episode being discussed is no longer fresh in my mind I've forgotten a lot of the details I might want to discuss.
I have the opposite issue though. If the episode being discussed is no longer fresh in my mind I've forgotten a lot of the details I might want to discuss.
I started making notes while watching/listening to the podcast so I could refresh my memory. The notes are mostly a play-by-play, which doesn't really make for a good Tildes comment, but there's...
I started making notes while watching/listening to the podcast so I could refresh my memory. The notes are mostly a play-by-play, which doesn't really make for a good Tildes comment, but there's usually something in there that makes a decent conversation starter. It's an imperfect solution though, but I don't know what the best compromise is given that the majority of the audience doesn't watch until a week after the first people see it.
Anecdotally, seeing the spoiler comments in the threads here were what got me to finally pull the trigger on a Nebula subscription. It really bothered me I had to wait a week to see what others...
Anecdotally, seeing the spoiler comments in the threads here were what got me to finally pull the trigger on a Nebula subscription. It really bothered me I had to wait a week to see what others were talking about. The FOMO is real.
It's pretty good. I'm happy to pay like $4cdn a month for some good content. It's mostly long-form youtubers, video documentarians, etc. Surely, most of this content I could just find on youtube,...
It's pretty good. I'm happy to pay like $4cdn a month for some good content. It's mostly long-form youtubers, video documentarians, etc.
Surely, most of this content I could just find on youtube, but on Nebula it seems more curated. There's less clickbait and more well thought out video essays.
That said I don't believe in it enough to recommend the lifetime membership. It's really not much more than a curated youtube. I'm paying more out of principle than anything. I get great content, sometimes early, and I don't have to feel guilt from using an adblocker.
On a technical note I'll say it really seems like Nebula has lower compression, so their 1080p streams always look really sharp. An annoying thing though is they seem to use fewer keyframes than youtube, so rewinding and fast-forwarding is jankier.
So, basically, I'm happy paying like four bucks a month to support the creators that publish on nebula. I enjoy watching Jet Lag a week early. Other than that though, there's not a huge benefit from subscribing.
Is she doing better? Pretty much since she shut down her YouTube, and even before that, I was enjoying her content less and less, probably because she was enjoying making it less and less. But I...
Is she doing better? Pretty much since she shut down her YouTube, and even before that, I was enjoying her content less and less, probably because she was enjoying making it less and less.
But I was even listening to her podcast and felt like she was excessively jaded and bitter about some of the shows she covered. (I'd watched her for years before so it was definitely a notable change but I don't know if it was temporary)
As far as I can tell she's only released one nebula exclusive video since the last time she posted on youtube. It's called Trying to Make Sense of the X-Men Cinematic Universe Timeline and while...
As far as I can tell she's only released one nebula exclusive video since the last time she posted on youtube. It's called Trying to Make Sense of the X-Men Cinematic Universe Timeline and while it's jaded and cynical, that seems pretty common in Marvel universe reviews these days. It's a loose, casual, podcastey video of her and her editor bantering.
Not up to her usual standards of scripted, tightly edited commentary, but she seems to be enjoying it, for whatever that's worth. It was released on Sept 26, 2024.
Fair enough. I was under the impression she was posting more regularly from the previous post. Sounds like she's doing better. I don't really blame someone for cynicism on the current X-Men...
Fair enough. I was under the impression she was posting more regularly from the previous post. Sounds like she's doing better. I don't really blame someone for cynicism on the current X-Men timeline, it was more that it was pervasive and a pivot from her and, well idk
I hadn't seen her Yoko and the Beatles YouTube video from about 5 months ago, and I'm not sure I will now. Before that her last post was basically a mandated marketing one and then zilch for 3 years. I'll probably give it a miss.
The beatles video is actually very good. To be honest I never really followed Lindsay's youtube channel. I saw one or two of her videos on youtube then later on binged her channel on nebula after...
The beatles video is actually very good.
To be honest I never really followed Lindsay's youtube channel. I saw one or two of her videos on youtube then later on binged her channel on nebula after all the drama more or less subsided I guess?
I understand she's been cancelled at one point, sued by furry erotica writers, and picked on by 4chan trolls but she seems unfazed mostly?
Edit before posting: I just compared her youtube page to her nebula on and noticed the three year gap. In that time she's also posted nebula exclusives about LOTR, E.T., Guy Fieri, Jurassic Park, and Family-frinendly Las Vegas.
(please flag this comment as off-topic so it doesn't bump the thread)
She pretty much shut down from her YouTube and her podcast due to the harassment and her emotional response from it. Hence just hoping she's doing better. She's not enough for me to subscribe to a...
She pretty much shut down from her YouTube and her podcast due to the harassment and her emotional response from it. Hence just hoping she's doing better. She's not enough for me to subscribe to a service for, she burnt me a bit with her burnout, but I broadly wish her well
I think Nebula is my only active subscription at the moment. It's extremely rare that I want to watch media megacorp-produced TV shows. For movies I mostly see them in the theater.
I think Nebula is my only active subscription at the moment. It's extremely rare that I want to watch media megacorp-produced TV shows. For movies I mostly see them in the theater.
My partner is home all day every day and while dropout is my only real subscription service, he watches a lot of media. We might drop some to save money, but we probably wouldn't add one, unless...
My partner is home all day every day and while dropout is my only real subscription service, he watches a lot of media. We might drop some to save money, but we probably wouldn't add one, unless we added YouTube as part of dropping Spotify (because he listens to music like that and I don't)
I think I'll post with a spoiler tag. That's how every other episode is being handled. Maybe there's an element of rudeness in that myself and other Nebula subscribers will be publicly reminding...
I think I'll post with a spoiler tag. That's how every other episode is being handled. Maybe there's an element of rudeness in that myself and other Nebula subscribers will be publicly reminding non-subscribers that we're a week ahead. But I don't feel bad about that.
I finally watched my first Jet Lag video. And then I watched the entire first European Tag game.
Now I'm on the North to South USA race
It is a bit of mindless, inoffensive fun isn't it? Totally hinges on the dudes being sort of funny to watch, because the game is mostly just riding the rail back and forth.
Yeah though the stress from potential death by monkey or polar bear.... Or sweating through a disguise. It's been fun ʘ‿ʘ
Yesterday morning I was browsing nebula and kept seeing these as one of the main recommendations. Wasn't sure I was into the concept but decided I'd give it a try. Next thing I knew I was 8 episodes deep.
I did it just like you. I was like "What's this thing people talk about?" and two weeks later I saw it all.
I almost disregarded the show entirely because I didn't realize the format changed each season. The first one I saw was the New Zealand series premier. Honestly it wasn't a very appealing format. But the Japan series has me hooked.
I've been trying not to get though all of it so I have stuff for later. But yeah I've been running through it.
I went through all of it and then I went back to it again. It is just such a great show and the hosts seem like great people that get along really well and they are what makes it so watchable. Even repeatedly.
Hah, nice. And yeah, its definitely binge-worthy so I am not surprised that once you got hooked you immediately tore through a full season. :P
Almost 2!
Aww yiss. Great to see some improvements to the Hide and Seek format. The curse dice from the previous one were a neat concept, but didn't quite have the intended gameplay impact in the end (they talked about this on the podcast during the Switzerland season and in the game design episode for this season that was released with the trailer on Nebula).
Oh, in case you hadn't heard they've released these rules as a physical set of cards you can buy. Shipping to my country is pretty pricey at the best of times, unfortunately.
Shipping to anywhere outside the US seems to be ridiculous from what I’ve gathered. Switzerland is 60 dollars, similar prices to anywhere else in Europe. If they can’t figure out more affordable logistics I think they should consider offering a print and play version.
@secret_online @Adarain would any of you be interested in doing a group order with reshipping in EU and splitting the cost of shipping? I also want to order but it’s 45 eur to ship to Belgium.
If you want to be patient to save money, in the most recent podcast they talked about trying to get a warehouse in the EU for future orders to avoid those crazy costs. It wouldn't be for a few months though.
I know some people who can do this. Belgium does a lot of board games so it’s easy to print and ship here. Maybe I’ll reach out to them to see if I can make it happen…
Interesting idea, but I think I'll pass, I'm considering making my own instead. Even without shipping it's a bit much for what'll probably be a one time game
I think this may be "once a year with friends" activity - annual game.
I love the concept, I even have friends who would be crazy enough to play, but one thing is getting cards for 100€ (with shipping and VAT) and other is spending likely much more in travel fees when we would actually play it. And considering we won't make any profit unlike Jet Lag team does, it could easily be like 300-500€ over a few days and by that time the price of the cards is kinda irrelevant.
Yeah I can’t figure out who the target audience is for this. I guess other established YouTuber people might be able to play it for their own channels, but then they’re just copycatting Jet Lag. A better move would be for those who are inclined to license the Jet Lag brand and create their own official spin-off shows. I’d be into that. I just don’t think there are enough people with the financial and schedule flexibility to buy this game just to play it even once.
Now I absolutely would be interested in a simulated tabletop adaptation played over a board like Ticket to Ride. Not sure how to translate the complicated train schedules and travel times to that format but I’m sure some clever game mechanics could be devised. I love games with information asymmetry which would need to be worked in to support something like hide and seek. Huge plus if it incorporated educational info about different places, photos and flavor text and whatnot. Maybe even some kind of Snack Zone, lol. The more I think about it the more I love this idea.
A video game could work too. Maybe even better, but the production costs would be much higher.
I think you could play this in a single town or in a national park or within a single state. You'd have to adjust things but a lot of it is just limiting your transportation methods.
Well, let's say real fans of them would buy it just to have memorabilia of the show. I probably would if I was in US as the cost would be kinda ok and I would be directly supporting them by doing that.
Tabletop version would be great, but also very demanding to make it such. These cards are just what they already have and use.
Well, I’d probably play it in a smaller area (just a city & surroundings) where all of my friends already have public transit subscriptions anyway. I’m not sure how well the game they designed even scales down to that area, probably not very well at all.
I believe it's designed to scale down to a metro area or large city. From what I remember in the podcast, there are ruleset tweaks and suggestions for a smaller, local area.
One of their playtest sessions was on Manhattan Island (NYC) which is pretty small but dense.
I'm interested in trying it for the SF bay area. There's BART, SF Muni, and Caltrain. Starting by the ferry building in SF you can get way out into the boonies east, to the ocean, or to San Jose.
If you can get a ticket, Alcatraz might be a little OP. Is it technically publicly accessible?
Usually you need to book those tickets a few days in advance. And it’s expensive compared to most other transit options.
I doubt it. In the show they talk about hiding at an airport, but mention that if you're getting through security is no longer considered publicly accessible. Restaurants etc are not considered publicly accessible either, it needs to be a place where it's perfectly OK to loiter for several hours.
Flashbacks to Hide and Seek in Switzerland when Ben sat under a playground slide for hours.
Well, that was perfectly OK/legal. But as Ben said, it probably shouldn’t be.
I would absolutely be interested in playing a round in the Bay Area.
Assuming that you're looking for players, I'd be interested
Sure thing. I just preordered a set of the cards; it looks like the first batch sold out, so they're projecting a second batch (the one I'm in) for delivery in mid-March. I'll put out the word once they've arrived.
Fantastic. I'll look forward to it
You could.probably adjust the curses to suit it better. Or adjust the questions. But by that time you are making your own game...
If they made it for cities rather than countries, it would be much better! Much more people could olay it that way.
But still - many people will likely buy it just because they are fans of the show and won't probably ever play it.
Not me unfortunately, I'm, uh, considerably further away than Belgium. It's a great idea though, maybe there'll be others who are tempted.
Great first episode (on Nebula)! Long and hilarious, and clearly this format is way better for Japan (I'd already appreciated hide and seek in Switzerland), lots of pretty shots instead of spending the whole time stressing out in trains and train stations. I'm enjoying the improvements so far. I have a likely idea of how tentacles might work, though I wonder if they'll get any use.
Agreed. I think this was one of the best first episodes of any series. It did a good job of setting out the premise of the game, having some fairly straightforward gameplay, but with enough happening to keep you on your toes.
Since you're watching on Nebula, you'll be able to listen to The Layover. They put out an episode a couple of weeks ago about the game design choices they made, including an explanation of how the tentacles work and their intention for how they'd play out. They don't spoil anything (they're pretty careful with spoilers in the podcast), so if that's something that interests you it's there.
Episode 1 spoilers
Great episode for the Snack Zone lovers. The double feature was a nice surprise. Ben's description during the first one was absolute gold.
In the podcast they mention that unlike previous seasons they gave the first hider extra time to find a spot. I think Ben (or Ben's mum as the case may be) did a good job with this one. The opening shot is in a beautiful location for introducing a travel-based game, and it ultimately served him well.
The card deck is definitely treating them better than the curse dice from Switzerland. I also like it gives the hider even more opportunities to strategize so they're not just walking around all the time. In Switzerland the hider's PoV was really just location scouting because they were discouraged from using curse dice too often. Curses having a casting cost is interesting, and does a lot to balance out the deck.
Quite a few of the curses Ben got were able to be used very effectively to stop the seekers in their tracks. The lemons limited their ability to ask questions, the travel agent curse meant they missed a train, and the cursed door meant that they then missed the next two trains, adding 4 hours to Ben's time.
And finishing the talk on curses, Ben's pull of the Gambler's Feet at the end (and making the 50/50 roll) was pretty funny. Not only that, but the seekers were at the opposite end of the town so had to move slowly even though they knew exactly where he was at that point.
A time of almost 10 hours feels so long, but since the format and location are different I don't think we really have anything to compare to. It feels like a solid start, but I'm interested to see what other times happen.
Finally had a chance to watch the first episode. You and @Protected weren't lying, that was awesome. I love the slightly modified new format and think it's much improved over previous ones. The new cards are also super cool, and I love how they actually have a noticeably impact on the game. I think lots of little curses like they're doing now is way more fun than the previous seasons where they were potentially massive impediments, but also pretty hit or miss in terms of their utility.
Episode 1 spoilers
Ben played it beautifully too. His strategy and timing on the curses was impeccable, and his prediction about what the seekers would do in the town when they got there was impressively accurate too. And that Gambler's Feet pull at the end was <chef's kiss>. :P
We Played Hide And Seek Across Japan - Episode 1
We Played Hide And Seek Across Japan - Ep 3
A day early! It was a bit of surprise to see the episode in my feed. Not that I'm complaining of course.
Episode 3 spoilers
I've definitely noticed the editing choices in this season more so than others, and this episode was chock full of little bits of foreshadowing and cuts between viewpoints that line up to tell the story better. Good job, Adam (I think, it was a week since I listened to the podcast and made notes).
There were definitely some close moments in this episode:
From the podcast, Sam mentioned his plan for this run was based on the Winterthur run in the Switzerland season: don't go the full distance, and try make a gruelling short game. I think that would have happened if Adam and Ben hadn't happened to take the one train line that goes through his hiding spot. On Adam and Ben's side that was a pure accident, with them deciding to stop in Narita because there were more train lines they thought Sam would be down. Sam first heard of this station from a random YouTube video he was recommended a few months before filming, so when the opportunity to hide at the airport came up he decided to go for it.
Adam mentioned that taking the line directly to Sam's ststion affected the editing decisions. Originally he was going to cut out the time the seekers went straight past Sam (where we get this wonderful cut between Ben looking slightly confused at the stop and Sam saying how the breeze from the train pulling in was a relief down in that station). He decided to leave that in since the two of them just happening to catch the one train line that would get Sam was a little hard to believe.
Once again the hider gets caught in their hiding spot through no real fault of their own, holding two curses of the travel agent. If I had a nickel etc. Next episode looks interesting though, on the coast with slower train lines, but somehow Ben managed to pack an entire ghillie suit on his trip and honestly I am all here for it.
I'm sure people say this is scripted and such
I do think it's funny that Adam's time still got beat with all the lucky breaks they had.
Ben always seems like he's just vibing while Adam is plotting.
Yeah, the editing has been great this season. And Ep 3 was the most enjoyable episode for me so far this season, largely because of the excellent editing in it, I think.
Ep 3 spoilers
Sam's awful luck is genuinely hilarious. His hiding spot was so f'n good, and if Ben & Adam hadn't gotten lost on the train, accidentally taking them right to him, it probably would have taken them several hours to find him. Although given how thoroughly drenched in sweat Sam was already from only being down there in the dilapidated station for a very short while, I think it was actually probably better for his health that they didn't take hours to find him. :P
Ep 3
I took would sit at the massage chair multiple times... maybe not talk so much about the butt action on it though 😅
Sam on the chair ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Rather compromising framing too!
Click to expand minor spoiler.
It's jarring to me how randomize/veto question don't permanently block the question for the current run. There isn't enough of a punishment for repeatedly asking the same question after being hit with randomize question!Totally agree, I was shocked when they just tried again later.
Click to expand minor spoiler.
Randomize causes the new, random question to be marked off the board, since it was the one actually asked. It could be completely useless or still useful information, depending on the selection and what phase they're in.Veto means the hider doesn't answer, and doesn't receive the reward. That question is marked off the board normally.
Any "marked off" question can be asked again for double the cost. This seems like a brute-force safety to ensure the hider can't dodge a question forever, but at a potentially high cost (time bonuses, curses, etc).
Game mechanics discussion that is at best tangentially a spoiler
In the podcast they say that they included the double cost for repeats as a mechanism to prevent stalling out the game. So, given that they want to make sure that you can't get stuck, I'm not sure what a better solution would be. Either option has tradeoffs. Though, some kind of cool down period does seem like it'd be reasonable.We Played Hide And Seek Across Japan - Ep 5
Nebula
Episode 5 spoilers
I'll open this comment with the very first words of this week's podcast episode:
At the end of last episode we saw Ben was on the peninsula, and the seekers had eliminated his area. What happened this episode was a bunch of panic moves (especially the second tentacles) to try and figure out where they went wrong.Apart from that and re-asking the same line question, I don't really disagree with their reasoning.
A good portion of the podcast was spent explaining why the seekers eliminated the peninsula. It turns out that Google's transport routing tries to keep cost in mind, and will try and use local lines over Shinkansens.
When the seekers were seeing how far Ben could get, this optimisation would kick in and give them a slightly slower route to save cost. Of course, this wasn't important as they were using JR passes and could just jump on and off. They eventually looked at some routes in Apple Maps, which didn't do the cost optimisation, and realised Ben could have gone further down.
The thing is, Sam had noticed this behaviour twice already. The first time was when he was in London and ended up getting a really weird route that was cheaper but took longer. The second time was when he went to hide in Narita Airport. He knew he could just take the Shinkansen and express train to get there, but when putting it into Google Maps it would put him on a bunch of more direct local lines to get there. He thought it was weird, took the Shinkansen, and didn't think about it until after catching Ben this episode.
When Ben was going to his hiding zone he was planning the route stage by stage, just taking a train somewhere new and coming up with the next stage as he went. That meant he never came up against the cost optimisation.
Some quick notes:
I have two (maybe three?) guest passes for Nebula. Anyone who wants one to see the finale whenever it is released on Nebula, reply here. I'll send them out in a PM when I notice the finale is available. If there's more takers than available passes, I will select people at random.
Early-access Nebula discussion for episode 4:
Episode 4 spoilers
After two thirds of the runtime it seemed pretty clear to me that they weren't going to find Ben by the end of this episode. I actually went back and watched the trailer and there's a few seconds where he's wearing the ghillie suit and it's night time. So they're going into the night on this run. I honestly expect this one to end not because they find Ben, but because Ben won't want to spend the night sitting outside and he'll just reveal his location with like 14+ hours on the clock.
Also, they totally had me fooled into thinking they were on the right line until it was revealed they should not have excluded the peninsula.
Edit:
In the podcast they seem to indicate that they only play during daylight hours? So I guess if it gets to night they'll start again at 7:30am the next day.
@Protected
Episode 4 spoilers
This episode was such a wild swing. From the start I was worried that Ben wouldn't last long at all, especially with the airport question narrowing it down so much, but from my estimations it's almost guaranteed that Ben would be getting a 1st place time here even if the seekers knew his location right now. His time bonuses take him to ~8h40m, which leaves just over an hour for the seekers to get there and find him. So the question now becomes: how good of a time does he get?
I'm also just going to posit that Adam either gets a really short time or a really long time in his next run, it won't be another mid-length one. They've already said this was a 6 day game and we're on day 4 with probably two (possibly three if things pan out) episodes left in the season.
The seekers just kept going the wrong way, and I don't think it was really their fault. They've stated before that this game is about risk mitigation, and that's exactly what we see in their seeking strategy. They first went the direction with the largest area, they kept asking questions to eliminate/confirm large areas of the map, but still there was just enough optionality for there to be a wrong way to go.
I think the "Randomise Question" card has a pretty big flaw in that it doesn't mark the original question as used. The seekers could have asked the question again right after. They argue that it's effectively being bought for double the cost, but that's really only because the thing it randomised to was pretty much useless for them. If the random question has given them information then the randomise would have very little downside. It also felt the same way the last time a randomise was used, so maybe that'll change if they ever do another season of hide and seek.
I noticed in the edit they left in that tiny clip of them excluding the peninsula because "he couldn't have got there in time", and thought it felt a bit out of place. It was fairly clear to me at that point that Ben was down there (yay for having more information as a viewer than a player), but that weird edit sealed the deal for me.
A couple of notes for the non-podcast listeners:
Correct. This hasn't happened yet on this season, but in other seasons (and other formats of the game) it's fairly common for there to be a pause overnight and they resume the next morning at the same locations. This has led to some strategizing around the rest periods in the Tag seasons. It's just happened that people have been caught late enough in the day that the hiding period has overlapped with the rest periods so the seekers start in the next morning.
Ep 4 spoilers
I think one mistake they are all making is not following the 50% rule from Guess Who? though, where you try to eliminate 50% of the remaining possibility with each question. They waste a lot of questions by not trying to narrow things down by as much as possible in the early game. Like, in this episode the "are you close to a major city" and "are you close to a high speed line" questions were a complete waste of time, since they didn't narrow things down all that much... and even their hotter/colder left such a huge range of possibilities north and south of the Atami line which contributed to them screwing up later when they were in Atami.
I absolutely agree about the Randomise Question though. I think that given you know how important the question is now that it's been intentionally avoided, it should cost more to re-ask it. Since, no shit, everyone is almost always just going to re-ask it immediately again after that!
p.s. Thanks again for providing some info from the podcast. :)
Episode 4 spoilers
Being the madman that I am, between posting my comment and now I've seen the two preceding seasons of the show and am now more familiar with how it works.
I could still see Ben opting to not sit in the woods for 10 hours on the next day if his suit works really well. I'm curious how that works exactly if both hider and seekers are in the same town at the end of the day. What if there's only one hotel? That could be funny.
Edit: The town in fact has many lodging options.
We Played Hide And Seek Across Japan - Ep 4
Really enjoyed this one! Ben is just really good at strategic gameplay when left to his own devices. I feel like Adam drives whoever he's paired with for better or worse.
Ep 4 spoilers
I personally didn't get that sense at all... When they originally got hit with the veto on the "largest body of water" picture request, they literally said "I bet he did that because he's close to the Ocean" which was true... and they were in Atami at the time and sitting in front of the Ito line train, which was only a few stops North of where Ben presumably is! So I figured he was doomed at at point, which is why the episode was so short. But after clearing the cairn curse and getting the amusement park question answer they completely forgot about that veto and their Strava map too, then Sam screwed up with his reasoning (assuming Ben couldn't have gone South in time) and so they headed the completely wrong direction. But if they hadn't actually screwed up, I think Ben was cooked given the Strava map and photo of the tallest building, which would have allowed them to get the exact station in no time.
Might have missed if this was mentioned but the Jet Lag team showed up on Dirty Laundry on dropout (I'm behind, can you tell) in November :)
We Played Hide And Seek Across Japan - Ep 2
I think I'll get into the habit of talking about episodes when the YouTube episode is out. That way it doesn't feel like the thread's dead by the time most people get to watch it.
Episode 2 spoilers
Upon reading back this comment before posting, I realise it's basically all just podcast info without much talk of the game itself. I think that's because this one was pretty straightforward. Sure, the seekers go the wrong way to start, but as soon as they know he's south they end up going straight for him without any twists or turns. Not that it's a bad episode, it's just not the best episode.
Oh Adam, I wish this spot worked out better for you. In the podcast he says he found it by scrolling around on Google Maps and just happening to see it, and didn't think about the fact that the seekers would be doing the exact same thing to find him.
I think the thing that sealesld the deal on this episode was having that tallest building near the train station also being juuuust in shot of the station's photo, which then made it possible for Sam and Ben to confirm Adam's location while still ages away from the location. This then led to Adam being unprepared and unable to go to his intended hiding spot.
Adam mentions in the episode that he chooses his final hiding spot in the forest because it's on the opposite side from the entrance that Google Maps gives you. This isn't mentioned in the episode because there wasn't a good setup for it, but Sam and Ben go directly to him for two reasons:
Overall this episode felt a little lacklustre compared to others, but still a pretty good one. I'm writing this comment about an hour before I'll be watching Episode 3 on Nebula, so I'm interested to see how Sam's run goes.
Spoilers Episode 2
It didn't have to be that straightforward. Adam could've sent the seekers into a tailspin by playing his vetoes early. He squandered three of the most valuable cards in the game by just.. not using them?
As soon as he noticed them going North rather than South, any follow up question needed to be vetoed.
Yeah Sam got lucky, but by then Adam was already losing. It only sped it up.
Episode 2 spoilers
I feel like a similar problem happened in the Tag seasons where the runners would never buy the powerful to see where the chasers were. They were all so confident that they knew where the chasers would be that they didn't consider double checking their assumptions.
In this game it's kind of similar, where they're more confident that the information they're giving is of low value while not working through the information they've given the seekers to see how far the area has been narrowed down.
I get that it's different when you're actually playing the game because there's pressure that we don't feel as viewers, but I wonder if just having an extra card that just lists the things you can do as a hider would prompt then to try different strategies more.
Haven't watched yet just reading spoilers because I can so no plot specifics here: I think that reminder would be a great idea, maybe as a card like in board games that tell you what you can do on your turn? Especially since they sell the deck now!
I'm sure you're not wrong, playing a game is different than armchairing it, but they have literal hours to decide. It's not very fast paced for the players themselves.
Episode 2 Spoilers
On top of not using the vetos, I found the hangman curse equally baffling. You spend three cards to stall for (at best) 50 minutes? When he drew it and the graphic was shown, I said "that's awful!" just as Adam said something along the lines of "oh, that's a good one!", which was a really funny disconnect.Wasn't it three attempts with 10 minute penalties? So at most it would be 30 minutes. It can make or break a train connection but it's rather weak. The tourist card this time would detour the seekers for almost twice that.
I included the time it'd take to guess the hangman. Since it's played over text and there's going to be some time spent choosing a letter/considering possible words, I assumed about 10 minutes per game. There's no time penalty noted after the third round, hence 50.
Episode 2 Spoilers
I took a look at that moment in the episode, and it looks like it took them 35 minutes to play two rounds and wait out one time penalty, so about 12.5 per game.Episode 2 spoilers
Yeah, really straightforward episode other than the seekers shaky start... but there is nothing they can really do to prevent that. Adam just got super unlucky that Sam happened to click the correct train station and noticed the building in the official google maps photo... although the station name including "castle" in it made that far more likely to be checked due to how much he gravitates towards them. So he kinda shot himself in the foot by being so predictable. :P
p.s. I personally appreciate that you talked about stuff from the podcast, since I don't listen to it and never would have heard the insights they offer had you not. :)
Are enough of us on Nebula to discuss episodes a week ahead of the YouTube crew?
I think it'd be a kind of dick move sadly. I loved the most recent episode, but we should wait until it's public for all so they don't get spoiled :)
It was common in the previous threads and simply spoiler tag them and it's perfectly allowed, but as @secret_online mentioned you probably end up discussing in a dead thread.. or one where the conversation passes you by. Most people watch on YouTube after all.
I have the opposite issue though. If the episode being discussed is no longer fresh in my mind I've forgotten a lot of the details I might want to discuss.
I started making notes while watching/listening to the podcast so I could refresh my memory. The notes are mostly a play-by-play, which doesn't really make for a good Tildes comment, but there's usually something in there that makes a decent conversation starter. It's an imperfect solution though, but I don't know what the best compromise is given that the majority of the audience doesn't watch until a week after the first people see it.
Anecdotally, seeing the spoiler comments in the threads here were what got me to finally pull the trigger on a Nebula subscription. It really bothered me I had to wait a week to see what others were talking about. The FOMO is real.
Then I'm happy to hear that all is well :) What are your thoughts on Nebula so far?
It's pretty good. I'm happy to pay like $4cdn a month for some good content. It's mostly long-form youtubers, video documentarians, etc.
Surely, most of this content I could just find on youtube, but on Nebula it seems more curated. There's less clickbait and more well thought out video essays.
That said I don't believe in it enough to recommend the lifetime membership. It's really not much more than a curated youtube. I'm paying more out of principle than anything. I get great content, sometimes early, and I don't have to feel guilt from using an adblocker.
On a technical note I'll say it really seems like Nebula has lower compression, so their 1080p streams always look really sharp. An annoying thing though is they seem to use fewer keyframes than youtube, so rewinding and fast-forwarding is jankier.
So, basically, I'm happy paying like four bucks a month to support the creators that publish on nebula. I enjoy watching Jet Lag a week early. Other than that though, there's not a huge benefit from subscribing.
Lindsay Ellis. Her content is exclusive to Nebula.
Is she doing better? Pretty much since she shut down her YouTube, and even before that, I was enjoying her content less and less, probably because she was enjoying making it less and less.
But I was even listening to her podcast and felt like she was excessively jaded and bitter about some of the shows she covered. (I'd watched her for years before so it was definitely a notable change but I don't know if it was temporary)
As far as I can tell she's only released one nebula exclusive video since the last time she posted on youtube. It's called Trying to Make Sense of the X-Men Cinematic Universe Timeline and while it's jaded and cynical, that seems pretty common in Marvel universe reviews these days. It's a loose, casual, podcastey video of her and her editor bantering.
Not up to her usual standards of scripted, tightly edited commentary, but she seems to be enjoying it, for whatever that's worth. It was released on Sept 26, 2024.
Fair enough. I was under the impression she was posting more regularly from the previous post. Sounds like she's doing better. I don't really blame someone for cynicism on the current X-Men timeline, it was more that it was pervasive and a pivot from her and, well idk
I hadn't seen her Yoko and the Beatles YouTube video from about 5 months ago, and I'm not sure I will now. Before that her last post was basically a mandated marketing one and then zilch for 3 years. I'll probably give it a miss.
The beatles video is actually very good.
To be honest I never really followed Lindsay's youtube channel. I saw one or two of her videos on youtube then later on binged her channel on nebula after all the drama more or less subsided I guess?
I understand she's been cancelled at one point, sued by furry erotica writers, and picked on by 4chan trolls but she seems unfazed mostly?
Edit before posting: I just compared her youtube page to her nebula on and noticed the three year gap. In that time she's also posted nebula exclusives about LOTR, E.T., Guy Fieri, Jurassic Park, and Family-frinendly Las Vegas.
(please flag this comment as off-topic so it doesn't bump the thread)
She pretty much shut down from her YouTube and her podcast due to the harassment and her emotional response from it. Hence just hoping she's doing better. She's not enough for me to subscribe to a service for, she burnt me a bit with her burnout, but I broadly wish her well
I just clicked the spoilers. I can't afford another streaming service this year
I think Nebula is my only active subscription at the moment. It's extremely rare that I want to watch media megacorp-produced TV shows. For movies I mostly see them in the theater.
My partner is home all day every day and while dropout is my only real subscription service, he watches a lot of media. We might drop some to save money, but we probably wouldn't add one, unless we added YouTube as part of dropping Spotify (because he listens to music like that and I don't)
It is what it is.
I think I'll post with a spoiler tag. That's how every other episode is being handled. Maybe there's an element of rudeness in that myself and other Nebula subscribers will be publicly reminding non-subscribers that we're a week ahead. But I don't feel bad about that.
I mean, I'm a Nebula subscriber too lol