EventShell:Pass the Buck

=Synopsis= Pass the Buck gives those with fast minds, fingers, and a good all-round general knowledge a chance to win big! =Full Description= Pass the Buck was based on a TV show I was watching one day while trying to decorate. In need of another golden ticket event, I decided to give this one a try. It didn't disappoint, but has its limitations.

Fifteen minutes before the event, an oceanwide broadcast is given out, advertising the event. People make their own way to the Estate, and wait until the event begins.

A side note about making people find their own way: Although it is less convenient for the more experienced players, and people coming over from other oceans especially for the occasion, it tends to weed out most of the complete no-brainers. If you provide a free whisk (or even worse, ask people to send you a /tell for a /job or /invite), people turn up, don't have a clue what on earth they are doing, publically declare so, moan and whine and tart about said ignorance, don't follow any forum links you give them, and generally cause far more headache than the effort required to deal with them.

A category is given out, and player have to /tell someone else 5 'answers' to a category. For instance, if the category was "Months of the Year", "/tell Piplicus january february may june july" would qualify. I used Nobooty at the estate, and Piplicus on a boat somewhere, to "lift" the winning 20 out of the place into a quiet scene. A boat is good for this.

The twenty then need to line up in a rough loop. Play starts from a designated player.

Round 1:

A category is announced, such as "YPPedia admins". Players take it in turn to announce one thing they think is an item of the category. This continues until either:
 * A player "goofs" - they repeat an item already said, say something that wouldn't be part of the list, or don't reply within 10 seconds.
 * Another player "challenges" them, calling up an earlier fault - play stops, and the host intervenes to resolve the dispute.

When the host wants the players to stop answering, either because of a challenge or a goof, he turns off a light - this serves as an easy visual aid.

One player is eliminated. Play starts from the next player along. This goes on another 9 times.

Round 2:

Play resumes as normal, except the 10 second time limit is removed, and instead the lights go out at a predetermined time (for example, 47 seconds after the category starts). It is paramount that the contestants do not know the time limit, so a contestant doesn't wait until a second beforehand before answering, compromising the game's integrity.

Five players are removed this time.

Round 3:

Play is like round 1, except the five remaining players have three lives, represented by bandanas of green-like, yellow-like and red-like color. Green to yellow to red to nothing; when a player reaches nothing, they are eliminated. Last player still wearing a bandana wins.

Optional round 4:

You can use some kind of show-down to give the 4 players that lost in round 3 a chance to win more, by pitting them up against the winners.

Materials

 * A crew
 * Merchant galleon (or larger)
 * Candles and a table
 * A list of about 40 categories
 * A house of reasonable size.
 * 15 male and 15 female bandanas, 5 red/maroon, 5 yellow/gold, 5 green/lime
 * Main prize
 * Time

Prize Precedents
Golden tickets have so far been used, although this could be any other trinket, depending on what your friendly OM offers you. PoE incentives for challenges should also be used (and remember to follow up on them!

Strong Points

 * A fun, challenging, different event
 * Fairly simple rules
 * Allows an indefinite number of people to play (though you may want to calibrate some of those numbers to adapt accordingly, although altering figures on the day results in tarting).
 * Can be quick, if people are snappy.
 * Spelling and capitalisation doesn't particularly matter
 * Cheap-ish to run

Weak Points
I won't comment on my judgements, as they are subjective, but I advise a future event runner to run it how they want to be run - just try not to get roped in to allowing "atoms, quarks, protons, electrons, nothing, something" type answers into the game's vernacular, otherwise you might be running the event for longer than you anticipate ;-)
 * Some of this is very subjective. Be sure to have rules in your mind, and remember to exercise the right that the host's decision is final. In particular, keep in mind what you would respond to the following:
 * Category: Items in the kitchen
 * Cutlery, Fork
 * Floor
 * Oxygen
 * Items
 * It's heavy on the contestant. Their brains will be fried at the end!
 * You need many categories. I came close to exhaustion with possible categories to ask. Ask in-game and out-of-game categories, and have backup questions in case contestants do manage to name all conceivable items.
 * Be very careful with out-of-game topics. Arcane topics are not a good idea.

Links to Precedents

 * Event thread
 * UK gameshows link to real-life UK adaptation of the quiz show
 * Original US run

Status
I think I'm done with hosting this event. It's really good fun most of the time, but the sheer fact that there aren't that many categories you can devise in the game means that repeats are limited. If you want to have a crack at it, feel free - but PM me (forum account: Piplicus_BNO) to let me know if you do, so I can watch and maybe take part!