Just noticed the trailer for this on nebula (haven't had much time to watch nebula recently, I still haven't watched most of scav yet) and I just want to say I'm glad they recognize their Hide and...
Just noticed the trailer for this on nebula (haven't had much time to watch nebula recently, I still haven't watched most of scav yet) and I just want to say I'm glad they recognize their Hide and Seek is a winning formula. I don't mind them experimenting with various designs but seeing how some are pretty weak from a gameplay perspective, It's good to have them regularly return to some of the better ones.
I was a bit disappointed in the last couple of seasons, but no spoilers, after seeing episode 1 on Nebula, I really like this one. Hide and Seek is probably their strongest format, both from a...
I was a bit disappointed in the last couple of seasons, but no spoilers, after seeing episode 1 on Nebula, I really like this one. Hide and Seek is probably their strongest format, both from a game design and a "travel show" perspective.
This felt very much like a "peak" Jet Lag episode, I agree. I've spent a lot of time in the UK, so it was fun hearing them mangle the names (which are a nightmare, to be fair) and see them show...
This felt very much like a "peak" Jet Lag episode, I agree. I've spent a lot of time in the UK, so it was fun hearing them mangle the names (which are a nightmare, to be fair) and see them show off a bunch of different locations.
On the game design episode of the podcast there were a couple of changes noted. There wasn't anything too spoilery that won't be covered naturally in the first couple of episodes, but I'll still...
On the game design episode of the podcast there were a couple of changes noted. There wasn't anything too spoilery that won't be covered naturally in the first couple of episodes, but I'll still put them in a details section just in case.
Game design notes
The hiding period has been increased to 4.5 hours. They don't really go into why, but I assume this is due to train frequency. They should be able to move pretty far with that, so it'll be interesting to see what kinds of spots they end up in.
There is a change to the veto rules: vetoing a question now completely blocks it. The seekers can no longer ask again for double the cost. This was a pretty common comment on the game design, and they've been pretty resistant to audience suggestions in the past (probably for the better). They do briefly explain why it was there in the first place, which is to prevent situations where it would be literally impossible to find someone, but this hasn't happened in practice.
But probably the most impactful change is what they're calling "time traps". They're something in the hider deck like everything else, and have a time value associated with them. When you play a time trap, you choose a station to lay it on. It doesn't have to be nearby, it can be across the country. If the seekers decide to go through a station with a time trap, then the time gets added to the hider's run length. The time also increases by 10 minutes every hour.
They discuss some interesting strategy from the hider's side (which I was thinking of as I was listening), where the hider could use the traps to try and block the seekers, or even fake them out by placing the traps in a different direction. They could even place it on their home station to get a guaranteed time bonus. There's also some decision making as a seeker, as you have to judge what information you're getting from the placement, but also whether you go straight through or go around a particularly large trap.
There are also some new curses. They are joined with a few others in the expansion for the home game, which is available for purchase on the Nebula store. Any cards in the expansion that refer to distances are doubled, with one in each of correct and customary units. Most of the episode is spent going over a selection of their favourites and putting them on a tier list of sorts. There are a couple mentioned that appear in the season, so I won't be commenting on them here. You can either listen to the podcast yourself, or wait to see them being used.
Ah, I've been wondering for a fair part of this year what television programme I'd show up in after some people sprinted past me near my house chased by huge cameras! I live in a pretty touristy...
Ah, I've been wondering for a fair part of this year what television programme I'd show up in after some people sprinted past me near my house chased by huge cameras! I live in a pretty touristy village in the North so we get a fair few things shooting here, had presumed I'd missed whatever it was. Spotted them in the trailer here (at the very end with the disappointingly vulgar child), though! Can't wait for this!
Whoops, I forgot to do my commentary and podcast comment for episode 1, so I guess I'm doing a double feature. Episode 1 spoilers This is one of the best Jet Lag episodes created so far. It does...
Whoops, I forgot to do my commentary and podcast comment for episode 1, so I guess I'm doing a double feature.
Episode 1 spoilers
This is one of the best Jet Lag episodes created so far. It does an excellent job of explaining the concept of the game and introducing things as they come up. This is one to use to introduce people to the show at large.
This is such a long run, big congratulations to Adam. I would say I don't know how this compares to others in the season, but by the point I'm writing this comment I've already seen episode 2 and will be watching episode 3 in an hour. Obviously transit connections are less frequent than the main lines in Japan, but even accounting for that this feels long. I wouldn't immediately say it's game winning, but it certainly feels like a contender.
Since Adam's was the first run, he actually had more time to choose his hiding spot. He reached out to Tom Scott for some recommendations, and then continued looking around. He narrowed it down to Scarborough and a small town near the Welsh border that he could use to border hop for the same country question. Funnily enough, it ended up being in one of the small gaps left by the other questions pretty late into the game, so if he had gone there then the seekers would have needed to double back and he'd have had even more time. There were two major factors that made Adam choose Scarborough: the fact that it'd just be too obvious for Adam to go to Wales, and that message to Tom Scott. Initially Adam didn't see it, but it was listed in Tom's recommendations.
The seekers didn't make too many mistakes in this one, mostly just the detour through Hull. They did explain the reasoning for this on the podcast. Adam couldn't have reached most of the stations along the back half of that loop during his hiding period, and there were very few on the Scarborough end that he could have gone to. So it made more sense to the seekers that they go anti-clockwise in order to cover more stations. The curse of the jammed door struck again, leading to a bit more lost time.
Episode 2 spoilers
Oh Ben, my precious Ben. I don't have much to say about this one, it's all rather self-evident unfortunately.
Ben's hope was that by putting himself between two major transport hubs, the seekers would eliminate one of them and stop looking along that line. Unfortunately, it also happened to place him right in the middle of some rather effective radar questions.
Side anecdote: apparently Hebden Bridge is the lesbian capital of England with a higher-than-average proportion of lesbians living there. They came to the conclusion that it's likely because it was an accepting place to be out during the 70s, which then led to people moving there. My watching buddy pointed out a rather prominent rainbow flag as Ben was walking down the street, so it seem like that legacy is continuing.
The endgame for this one was apparently quite painful, especially with the curse. That curse was designed to be an even more annoying Gambler's Feet, and it was incredibly effective at that. There was a lot of cut footage of Adam and Sam walking around because it just wasn't interesting and the round was effectively already over as there was no way Ben was going to survive another 5 hours or so.
As a Hebden Bridge lifelong local who spent most of that episode getting giddy about everything little thing they passed in that episode (and cringing at the unpleasant and unrepresentative child...
As a Hebden Bridge lifelong local who spent most of that episode getting giddy about everything little thing they passed in that episode (and cringing at the unpleasant and unrepresentative child on the canal), and who also coincidentally happens to be a lesbian, I can definitely confirm your assessment of that legacy! The reputation at some point definitely started to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and by 2026 you’ll definitely struggle to walk through the centre for more than a few minutes at a time without encountering a happy couple or two.
Woo! Jet Lag was my top channel on YouTube Wrapped or whatever they're calling it. I did binge their whole back catalog this year. I blame everyone who has ever posted about it.
Woo!
Jet Lag was my top channel on YouTube Wrapped or whatever they're calling it. I did binge their whole back catalog this year. I blame everyone who has ever posted about it.
Ep. 3 (Nebula) Sam is absolutely right, I would have been dismayed if he hadn't thought of duplicating the 10 minute bonus. I figured he was too set on duplicating the curse instead. That said,...
Ep. 3 (Nebula)
Sam is absolutely right, I would have been dismayed if he hadn't thought of duplicating the 10 minute bonus. I figured he was too set on duplicating the curse instead.
That said, it's unfortunate that he couldn't duplicate the curse! Forcing the seekers to pass by Milton Keynes again would have been the ultimate Jet Lag troll.
Episode 3 YouTube Nebula Extra videos (Nebula only, light spoilers in link text) Sam films a swan Ben films a pigeon Episode 3 spoilers This was so close to being a winning run. Had Sam pulled...
This was so close to being a winning run. Had Sam pulled more time bonuses (and not played the 5 Minute King), or if Adam and Ben not been next to pigeons trying to get out of the rain, this would have been very different.
Sam also went down that little path down from the hill at the very start, except when he did it was nearly 7pm, getting dark, and he had a train to catch.
Milton Keynes is certainly an interesting choice from a gameplay perspective, but not really a visual one for sure. Even I know that despite Brits hating their home town no matter what, Milton Keynes is far and above the most loathed. My watching buddy and I spent like an hour on Google Maps afterwards just going around MK and the surrounding area. Our takeaway was that it really felt like a bunch of urban planners were trying out different ideas to see what worked and the result was a mess of different ideas that all didn't work for different reasons. The only part that seemed sane was Bletchley, but that's because Bletchley predates MK.
That bird curse sure felt like a sure path to victory when Sam played it. When he picked it up my mind immediately went "swans", so it was rewarding when Sam went for that same idea. I was amazed that Ben managed to film a pigeon for 15 minutes, but he really did have the best conditions for it. The rain meant that they were roosting rather than looking for scraps on the ground. If it was anything like the time this was played in Japan, then the boys would have been screwed. They did a good job in the edit, because apparently there was a McDonalds promotion happening behind them where people would spin a wheel to get a prize and every time the two poor sods running the promotion had to enthusiastically yell out "You've won.... a McDonald's voucher!!!" which had the boys scared that it would spook their quarry.
Sam missing the sign in the photo of the bank building was a real shame, though for me the major piece of information was just how developed the place was. Not many UK towns would look the way MK does from the station, if any. In the podcast Adam points out that if Sam was seeking then he'd be using the shape and size of the building to narrow it down, even if the sign had been blurred, but Adam and Ben wouldn't have done that unless the mistake was made.
I'm definitely glad Sam saw he could duplicate the 10 minute time bonus to cast the Express Route curse, but it really is a shame that he wasn't able to cast it twice. It absolutely would have won him the round.
The hiding spot in the underpass was a really good idea. Everything just looks the same, and by reducing the amount you can see as the hider you're reducing the amount of information you could give to the seekers. I have to commend Ben for noticing that the photos of Sam's cards looked like they were taken with artificial lighting, but it still took them a long time to find exactly where Sam was.
Episode 3 spoilers If Sam didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all. I was hoping he would hide on top of one of those open-air shelters but that's probably against the rules.
Episode 3 spoilers
If Sam didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all.
I was hoping he would hide on top of one of those open-air shelters but that's probably against the rules.
This was my favorite episode of the season so far. I also don't know why but I wasn't all that big of a fan of Sam until this season. I'm loving his run and I guess I really do get his vibe now...
This was my favorite episode of the season so far. I also don't know why but I wasn't all that big of a fan of Sam until this season. I'm loving his run and I guess I really do get his vibe now and that literally enhances all the previous seasons to me. I've been a huge Ben and Adam so far obviously. Now it's perfect. (Yes of course it already was.) I can't wait to see how this season continues playing out as it was a bit slow at first but now is full steam ahead and I'm here for it baby!
Episode 4 spoilers The number of times I said "Oh Ben" in this episode was too high. This has not been a good game for him. His location is, once again, really cool. But through a combination of...
Episode 4 spoilers
The number of times I said "Oh Ben" in this episode was too high. This has not been a good game for him. His location is, once again, really cool. But through a combination of good question asking and circumstance he just gets found quickly. The rain, the popup of the museum in Google Maps, it just didn't go well this time.
Adam asking if the rugby ball in Rugby was a football... Pure gold. Also Ben going through the taxidermy was pretty great.
One little nugget from the podcast is that they found the same country question quite limiting as a hider, knowing that if the answer was ever "no" that the search area would be massively decreased early on. If they do this again in the UK, then they're going to remove the country in favour of smaller large regions. Obviously at the end we see Sam has gone to Scotland, so I'm interested to see how it goes.
They do also spend a fair amount of time talking through some of the alternate names for sunshowers on Wikipedia.
I previously didn't think photo questions were underpriced, but I feel that every round this game has been solved in one way or another with photos. Strava map is known to be overpowered, body of water gets asked every time, street trace is standard for the endgame, tallest structure has been used very often, and so on. One card isn't enough of a cost anymore. I wonder if they need to have different tiers within the question categories or something.
I'm just now watching the fifth episode on Nebula and it's great! Spoilers While Ben and Adam had their luck from the start coming to the Sam's station pretty early and Sam bad luck for not...
I'm just now watching the fifth episode on Nebula and it's great!
Spoilers
While Ben and Adam had their luck from the start coming to the Sam's station pretty early and Sam bad luck for not getting the cards he so desperately wished for, the end game completely stands out in this episode!
Sam knowing he's not doing great time on his run really screwed Ben and Adam with the curses. This end game was really hilarious! If not for winning Sam discarded time bonuses to cast curses to amuse us, viewers, and he executed on this perfectly! Sam, your run will not be the winning one, but it will be forever remembered for the end game, bravo!
British kid for the win
Just noticed the trailer for this on nebula (haven't had much time to watch nebula recently, I still haven't watched most of scav yet) and I just want to say I'm glad they recognize their Hide and Seek is a winning formula. I don't mind them experimenting with various designs but seeing how some are pretty weak from a gameplay perspective, It's good to have them regularly return to some of the better ones.
I was a bit disappointed in the last couple of seasons, but no spoilers, after seeing episode 1 on Nebula, I really like this one. Hide and Seek is probably their strongest format, both from a game design and a "travel show" perspective.
This felt very much like a "peak" Jet Lag episode, I agree. I've spent a lot of time in the UK, so it was fun hearing them mangle the names (which are a nightmare, to be fair) and see them show off a bunch of different locations.
On the game design episode of the podcast there were a couple of changes noted. There wasn't anything too spoilery that won't be covered naturally in the first couple of episodes, but I'll still put them in a details section just in case.
Game design notes
The hiding period has been increased to 4.5 hours. They don't really go into why, but I assume this is due to train frequency. They should be able to move pretty far with that, so it'll be interesting to see what kinds of spots they end up in.
There is a change to the veto rules: vetoing a question now completely blocks it. The seekers can no longer ask again for double the cost. This was a pretty common comment on the game design, and they've been pretty resistant to audience suggestions in the past (probably for the better). They do briefly explain why it was there in the first place, which is to prevent situations where it would be literally impossible to find someone, but this hasn't happened in practice.
But probably the most impactful change is what they're calling "time traps". They're something in the hider deck like everything else, and have a time value associated with them. When you play a time trap, you choose a station to lay it on. It doesn't have to be nearby, it can be across the country. If the seekers decide to go through a station with a time trap, then the time gets added to the hider's run length. The time also increases by 10 minutes every hour.
They discuss some interesting strategy from the hider's side (which I was thinking of as I was listening), where the hider could use the traps to try and block the seekers, or even fake them out by placing the traps in a different direction. They could even place it on their home station to get a guaranteed time bonus. There's also some decision making as a seeker, as you have to judge what information you're getting from the placement, but also whether you go straight through or go around a particularly large trap.
There are also some new curses. They are joined with a few others in the expansion for the home game, which is available for purchase on the Nebula store. Any cards in the expansion that refer to distances are doubled, with one in each of correct and customary units. Most of the episode is spent going over a selection of their favourites and putting them on a tier list of sorts. There are a couple mentioned that appear in the season, so I won't be commenting on them here. You can either listen to the podcast yourself, or wait to see them being used.
Ah, I've been wondering for a fair part of this year what television programme I'd show up in after some people sprinted past me near my house chased by huge cameras! I live in a pretty touristy village in the North so we get a fair few things shooting here, had presumed I'd missed whatever it was. Spotted them in the trailer here (at the very end with the disappointingly vulgar child), though! Can't wait for this!
I think they only carry some iPhones, and film themselves. They don't have a camera team chasing them.
Oh wow, must have been a different programme of similar format in exactly the same place then! What’re the odds?
Episode 1 up on Youtube
Episode 2 up on YouTube
Whoops, I forgot to do my commentary and podcast comment for episode 1, so I guess I'm doing a double feature.
Episode 1 spoilers
This is one of the best Jet Lag episodes created so far. It does an excellent job of explaining the concept of the game and introducing things as they come up. This is one to use to introduce people to the show at large.
This is such a long run, big congratulations to Adam. I would say I don't know how this compares to others in the season, but by the point I'm writing this comment I've already seen episode 2 and will be watching episode 3 in an hour. Obviously transit connections are less frequent than the main lines in Japan, but even accounting for that this feels long. I wouldn't immediately say it's game winning, but it certainly feels like a contender.
Since Adam's was the first run, he actually had more time to choose his hiding spot. He reached out to Tom Scott for some recommendations, and then continued looking around. He narrowed it down to Scarborough and a small town near the Welsh border that he could use to border hop for the same country question. Funnily enough, it ended up being in one of the small gaps left by the other questions pretty late into the game, so if he had gone there then the seekers would have needed to double back and he'd have had even more time. There were two major factors that made Adam choose Scarborough: the fact that it'd just be too obvious for Adam to go to Wales, and that message to Tom Scott. Initially Adam didn't see it, but it was listed in Tom's recommendations.
The seekers didn't make too many mistakes in this one, mostly just the detour through Hull. They did explain the reasoning for this on the podcast. Adam couldn't have reached most of the stations along the back half of that loop during his hiding period, and there were very few on the Scarborough end that he could have gone to. So it made more sense to the seekers that they go anti-clockwise in order to cover more stations. The curse of the jammed door struck again, leading to a bit more lost time.
Episode 2 spoilers
Oh Ben, my precious Ben. I don't have much to say about this one, it's all rather self-evident unfortunately.
Ben's hope was that by putting himself between two major transport hubs, the seekers would eliminate one of them and stop looking along that line. Unfortunately, it also happened to place him right in the middle of some rather effective radar questions.
Side anecdote: apparently Hebden Bridge is the lesbian capital of England with a higher-than-average proportion of lesbians living there. They came to the conclusion that it's likely because it was an accepting place to be out during the 70s, which then led to people moving there. My watching buddy pointed out a rather prominent rainbow flag as Ben was walking down the street, so it seem like that legacy is continuing.
The endgame for this one was apparently quite painful, especially with the curse. That curse was designed to be an even more annoying Gambler's Feet, and it was incredibly effective at that. There was a lot of cut footage of Adam and Sam walking around because it just wasn't interesting and the round was effectively already over as there was no way Ben was going to survive another 5 hours or so.
As a Hebden Bridge lifelong local who spent most of that episode getting giddy about everything little thing they passed in that episode (and cringing at the unpleasant and unrepresentative child on the canal), and who also coincidentally happens to be a lesbian, I can definitely confirm your assessment of that legacy! The reputation at some point definitely started to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and by 2026 you’ll definitely struggle to walk through the centre for more than a few minutes at a time without encountering a happy couple or two.
Woo!
Jet Lag was my top channel on YouTube Wrapped or whatever they're calling it. I did binge their whole back catalog this year. I blame everyone who has ever posted about it.
Gooble, gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us! :P
I take no umbrage to being blamed. This show is just unadulterated fun.
Ep. 3 (Nebula)
Sam is absolutely right, I would have been dismayed if he hadn't thought of duplicating the 10 minute bonus. I figured he was too set on duplicating the curse instead.
That said, it's unfortunate that he couldn't duplicate the curse! Forcing the seekers to pass by Milton Keynes again would have been the ultimate Jet Lag troll.
Episode 3
Extra videos (Nebula only, light spoilers in link text)
Episode 3 spoilers
This was so close to being a winning run. Had Sam pulled more time bonuses (and not played the 5 Minute King), or if Adam and Ben not been next to pigeons trying to get out of the rain, this would have been very different.
Sam also went down that little path down from the hill at the very start, except when he did it was nearly 7pm, getting dark, and he had a train to catch.
Milton Keynes is certainly an interesting choice from a gameplay perspective, but not really a visual one for sure. Even I know that despite Brits hating their home town no matter what, Milton Keynes is far and above the most loathed. My watching buddy and I spent like an hour on Google Maps afterwards just going around MK and the surrounding area. Our takeaway was that it really felt like a bunch of urban planners were trying out different ideas to see what worked and the result was a mess of different ideas that all didn't work for different reasons. The only part that seemed sane was Bletchley, but that's because Bletchley predates MK.
That bird curse sure felt like a sure path to victory when Sam played it. When he picked it up my mind immediately went "swans", so it was rewarding when Sam went for that same idea. I was amazed that Ben managed to film a pigeon for 15 minutes, but he really did have the best conditions for it. The rain meant that they were roosting rather than looking for scraps on the ground. If it was anything like the time this was played in Japan, then the boys would have been screwed. They did a good job in the edit, because apparently there was a McDonalds promotion happening behind them where people would spin a wheel to get a prize and every time the two poor sods running the promotion had to enthusiastically yell out "You've won.... a McDonald's voucher!!!" which had the boys scared that it would spook their quarry.
Sam missing the sign in the photo of the bank building was a real shame, though for me the major piece of information was just how developed the place was. Not many UK towns would look the way MK does from the station, if any. In the podcast Adam points out that if Sam was seeking then he'd be using the shape and size of the building to narrow it down, even if the sign had been blurred, but Adam and Ben wouldn't have done that unless the mistake was made.
I'm definitely glad Sam saw he could duplicate the 10 minute time bonus to cast the Express Route curse, but it really is a shame that he wasn't able to cast it twice. It absolutely would have won him the round.
The hiding spot in the underpass was a really good idea. Everything just looks the same, and by reducing the amount you can see as the hider you're reducing the amount of information you could give to the seekers. I have to commend Ben for noticing that the photos of Sam's cards looked like they were taken with artificial lighting, but it still took them a long time to find exactly where Sam was.
Episode 3 spoilers
If Sam didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all.I was hoping he would hide on top of one of those open-air shelters but that's probably against the rules.
This was my favorite episode of the season so far. I also don't know why but I wasn't all that big of a fan of Sam until this season. I'm loving his run and I guess I really do get his vibe now and that literally enhances all the previous seasons to me. I've been a huge Ben and Adam so far obviously. Now it's perfect. (Yes of course it already was.) I can't wait to see how this season continues playing out as it was a bit slow at first but now is full steam ahead and I'm here for it baby!
Ep 4 - We Played Hide And Seek Across The U.K.
Episode 4 spoilers
The number of times I said "Oh Ben" in this episode was too high. This has not been a good game for him. His location is, once again, really cool. But through a combination of good question asking and circumstance he just gets found quickly. The rain, the popup of the museum in Google Maps, it just didn't go well this time.
Adam asking if the rugby ball in Rugby was a football... Pure gold. Also Ben going through the taxidermy was pretty great.
One little nugget from the podcast is that they found the same country question quite limiting as a hider, knowing that if the answer was ever "no" that the search area would be massively decreased early on. If they do this again in the UK, then they're going to remove the country in favour of smaller large regions. Obviously at the end we see Sam has gone to Scotland, so I'm interested to see how it goes.
They do also spend a fair amount of time talking through some of the alternate names for sunshowers on Wikipedia.
I previously didn't think photo questions were underpriced, but I feel that every round this game has been solved in one way or another with photos. Strava map is known to be overpowered, body of water gets asked every time, street trace is standard for the endgame, tallest structure has been used very often, and so on. One card isn't enough of a cost anymore. I wonder if they need to have different tiers within the question categories or something.
Trailer is now up on youtube:
Jet Lag: Hide & Seek UK [Trailer]
Ep 5 - We Played Hide And Seek Across The U.K.
I'm just now watching the fifth episode on Nebula and it's great!
Spoilers
While Ben and Adam had their luck from the start coming to the Sam's station pretty early and Sam bad luck for not getting the cards he so desperately wished for, the end game completely stands out in this episode!Sam knowing he's not doing great time on his run really screwed Ben and Adam with the curses. This end game was really hilarious! If not for winning Sam discarded time bonuses to cast curses to amuse us, viewers, and he executed on this perfectly! Sam, your run will not be the winning one, but it will be forever remembered for the end game, bravo!