(O)PTIMIZE Reloaded: StrangerCoug's game!

[yabbaguy]

StrangerCoug

Only one golden sphere in the whole game right now is worth a significant cash amount. StrangerCoug, however, now has a chance to start red up towards $50,000.

Next stop is $2,000 - StrangerCoug, just don't hit a 0.

[yabbaguy]

Meaning since Coug is asking for a 4...

StrangerCoug

...he's gonna hope to receive it from sphere 4. That was NS' logic, but it didn't work at all for him. Will it work for Coug?

*StrangerCoug opens up...*

StrangerCoug

That's good too!

*cheers, set flashes red*

Yeah! Only a 4/0 would've been better than that!

StrangerCoug

StrangerCoug almost gets them all right with that 1-2-3-4-0 prediction! If the 4 and 1 were switched, he would've become the first person to jump the queue (except that swyellowtail still has my blessing to play next no matter what, but still)!

Although, missing that 4 does have this consequence...

*spotlights shine on golden spheres as I point at them*

(6)

(4)

(2)

(1)

...which could prove pretty significant depending on what emerges. Let's see what does...

*unlatches the golden sphere*

*lifts the lid*

*applause*

Halfway through, and you've lost half the greens, half the blues, and half the violets.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

JerryArr
Xalxe

bird1111
JasonWazza
swyellowtail

As we reach the middle of your game, it looks as though this game is losing its middle ground in two ways. One, as you can see, your middle two colors have lost all their big money and are down to $10K and $6K at best. Two, less obviously, nobody's opened a 2-sphere

at all

so far!

In fact, we're in the market for deuces with this target! Who will produce the first 2?

[yabbaguy]

Xalxekoopa

*audience laughs when they see it*

Xalxe, looks like Feirei's trying to take out an insurance possibility. If you can beat this 1, the $0 fate is avoided.

[yabbaguy]

Xalxe

*lifting of lid*

Xalxe

*such fail. so gray. much groaning. wow.*

Ugh, blue, you're driving us crazy right now! That's the fourth 1 they've squandered over yonder.

Xalxe

*spotlights shine on golden spheres*

(6)

(3)

(2)

(1)

Welllll, at least blue's only got 2 left. Maybe just 1 after this. We're still keeping our eye on that last ultraviolet sphere which has yet to fall out.

*unlocks*

*and up comes...*

*applause*

Green AGAIN! Well then. Now it's level pegging with blue and red's starting to run away here.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

JerryArr

bird1111
JasonWazza
swyellowtail

Between your game and jmj's, blue's now lost the past

nine

picks. EVERY single time, they get a low target of 0 or 1. And they whiffed them all.

(I think one was your fault, incidentally.)

Meanwhile, that target of 1 is back to taunt you some more. Where's it going THIS time?

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

Amazingly, Jerry, it's all up to you to get blue out of the $0 doldrums. This is the fifth and final chance we get this game at getting blue to beat that target of 1. Can you be the first to succeed?

[yabbaguy]

I misspoke, blue's gone dry on the past

eight

picks. THIS could be nine.

JerryArr

*JerryArr flicks up the lid...*

JerryArr

YEAH!

*audience cheers in relief, blue lights flash for the first time today*

It actually breaks two other streaks: Jerry's trend of opening 3 or better (sorry ), and our drought of 2s this game!

JerryArr

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres*

(6)

(2)

(2)

(1)

Red's running away right now. If this isn't red, the color that DOES appear is either down or out.

*click*

*here it comes!*

*awws*

Tames the red supply a bit. :\

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

bird1111
JasonWazza
swyellowtail

Curtains for the blue sector. That was a lot of effort to make $600! But it paid off, you can't go away with a doughnut.

You've got some tantalizing possibilites in red and violet, but a target of 2. However, six of your eight remaining players are in those two colors. You may want to keep that in mind as you progress forward.

[yabbaguy]

DiplomatDC

Diplomat, all your neighbors are pulling nothing but 4s and 0s out of green spheres. We wonder if you'll be the first person to be different.

[yabbaguy]

*studio lights sputter on now that the MS world's power grid is momentarily restored*

Quick! Before the power is cut again!

DiplomatDC

*DiplomatDC hastily opens up the sphere*

DiplomatDC

*audience awws, set loses color, but not power*

Well that was none of the results we were speculating about. If green is not our destiny, that's going to simplify matters as we pursue the money that

is

in reach.

DiplomatDC

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I rush over in a needless frenzy, audience laughs*

(5)

(2)

(2)

(1)

Red's been wavering about the 50% mark all game. If it misses red, this sphere's doing serious damage to the odds of one of the other sectors!

*unlocks the next sphere*

*quickly bends back the lid*

*groans*

Goodness! Red's flying out of these things like crazy!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

D3f3nd3r

bird1111
JasonWazza
swyellowtail

The target's into the optimistic range, but is it good enough? Where's it going to go?

[yabbaguy]

/in

Oh my goodness, you JUST showed up in time to keep your queue spot. You're in right after swyellowtail's game.

[yabbaguy]

swyellowtail

$25,000 at stake for that solitary ultraviolet golden sphere, which has been resilient ever since its mate dropped in round 6. Let's see...

swyellowtail

*swyellowtail reveals the sphere's contents*

swyellowtail

*everyone groans loudly, Feirei looks to the heavens, set turns colorless*

Aw man! Those last three games, the $500K discussion was over by the halfway point. Here, that's a bit of a bummer, Feirei. Sorry.

swyellowtail

Backwards would've been more helpful, as it were. Heh.

*spotlights illuminate the golden spheres, I walk over*

(4)

(2)

(2)

(1)

The odds are starting to level out a bit with all these reds plummeting. Will it be another red here?

*places finger on latch, lets it rest there, then snaps the latch in*

*with a tentative feeling, I open up...*

*gasps from all*

MORE red! Look out, that's three in a row!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

D3f3nd3r

bird1111
JasonWazza

That ultraviolet STILL hasn't gone anywhere. Suddenly I'm wondering if you might actually end up with it AGAIN. How incredible a fluke that would be! Still 7:1 against that happening though.

The 1s continue to be a headache. Where does THIS one (1) end up?

[yabbaguy]

FEIREI, DON'T!

*Bird is the Word plays momentarily as some dance along and some cover their ears*

*laughter*

Anyway...

bird1111

bird, now YOU get a crack at opening up the color sphere that gets us to $25,000. I know last time you were faced with a 1, you duplicated it. Hopefully not this time!

[yabbaguy]

bird1111

*bird bends open the lid*

bird1111

*everyone cheers, set flashes violet*

A big cheer! Ultraviolet now one step away from a monstrous six-figure sum of cash!

bird1111

...that is, if it stays put...

*groans as the spotlights shine on the golden spheres and I walk over*

(3)

(2)

(2)

(1)

Yep, that ultraviolet has been wobbling up there the whole time. It hasn't fallen yet, but if it does, that $25,000 you just earned will be proven to be counterfeit.

If not though... the odds come back to 1 in 7 of getting that cash.

*click*

*flips the lid*

*gasps, groans,

$25,000

chyron shatters on screen as Feirei shakes his head*

...

My goodness. These spheres! GAH!

*does some flustered arm motion, audience laughs*

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

D3f3nd3r

JasonWazza

Turns out bird needed a 4 to have a chance of winning you some cash, whaddaya know.

Your target's also skyrocketed to 3, but now... we're going to Jason, right?

[yabbaguy]

JasonWazza

Third straight visit to ultraviolet, but for a very different reason this time. Jason, knock this big bad target over so we can go to the red sector in confidence.

UV has shown up with three 3s so far. We don't want another of those now.

[yabbaguy]

JasonWazza

*Jason nonchalantly opens up the almighty sphere*

JasonWazza

*groans from all*

Ultraviolet was in full-force payout mode today, 3s from everyone except swyellowtail! But unfortunately, that's not gonna do us a whole bunch of good.

JasonWazza

*spotlights turn to the golden spheres, as do we all*

(3)

(2)

(2)

We are left with these colors three. Hopefully a red it shall not be.

*unlocks another golden sphere*

*lifts the hatch*

*cheers*

Good stuff! Red's back to its 50% perch!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

D3f3nd3r

Is there enough to steam to power this Red Line train to $20K or $50K? We shall see.

In the event you conclude D3f3nd3r will be your next choice, you may set the remaining order of the Red Army so that we may conclude this game promptly, yet dramatically. With a bit of "oomph", shall we say.

[yabbaguy]

the remaining reds go in the order they post their choices, chronologically.

I can't accept that. You've gotta do the hard part yourself and commit to a precise order.

[yabbaguy]

D3f3nd3r

However, Feirei wishes to make this final detour before

finally

attacking the red column. We've got a target that desperately needs to be reduced.

D3f3nd3r, that said, if you can nail the 4 on your first pick, the ubiquitous green golden sphere will get its ubiquitous $4,000 figure to go along with it! Insurance never hurts!

[yabbaguy]

It's pretty interesting even when 'tis not the season for the low two colors to be such a big focus!

D3f3nd3r

*D3f3nd3r opens up...*

D3f3nd3r

*crowd stirs a bit, everything flashes gray*

Ack. There's one of those rare 2s we haven't been seeing all game, but we didn't really want to see it. It does help a bit...

D3f3nd3r

...as we see D3f3nd3r going down the line with his sphere assortment. Meanwhile...

*the golden spheres are illuminated amidst surrounding darkness*

(3)

(1)

(2)

...it may actually have resulted in green's expulsion from the game. We'll see if missing that 4, which we have been sorely missing for quite a few turns now, has done that.

*disengages the lock*

*the top lid comes up to reveal...*

*groans*

Oh no! We absolutely don't want red to take any more damage!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

Just red left, and Feirei wants go down the line. And the guy on deck also is on the ball... stand by...

[yabbaguy]

NoWhammies11

It's not the ideal target we were after, but if NoWhammies upturns a 4, then a 0...

*graphic lights up*

{$2,000}

[$5,000] [$20,000] [$50,000]

...we're possibly in position to make a flying run up towards those gigantic figures at the top of the line...



NW, first of all welcome aboard. Let's see what you've got...

*NoWhammies11, per his 0-2-1-3-4 premonition, opts for the far right sphere*

NoWhammies11

*and then abruptly and dramatically lifts up the lid*

NoWhammies11

*loud cheers, set flashes red, Feirei celebrates*

WHAT A DANDY!

*more cheering*

Now...



...there now is the matter of your other sphere. The 4's a brilliant pick, but a 0, heck, maybe a 1 wouldn't be so bad. But why sell ourselves short? Go for the gusto and prove that you in fact have nailed your sphere configuration perfectly!

NoWhammies11

Do we have the 0 here?

*flip*

NoWhammies11

*dejected awws from the crowd*

Darn. :\

*supportive cheers for Feirei as the monitor updates the information*

This also means the golden spheres remain untouched. You've got 3 locked up, so for sure this game will have to be resolved with a grand Finale. How grand, we shall see soon.

NoWhammies11

An EXTREMELY close prediction, what a debut!

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

It will be Cheery Dog and KingdomAces in that order. I will prod them straightaway, then be back shortly to continue the last chapter of this exciting game!

[yabbaguy]

Cheery Dog

KingdomAces

There are the spheres for you to mull over. Go ahead and pick. But we shall resolve Cheery Dog's spheres before KingdomAces per the order set by Feirei.

[yabbaguy]

(I have not forgotten, I will attend to this tomorrow I believe.)

[yabbaguy]

Cheery Dog

You need to find a 3 or a 4.


If so, it's worth $20,000.


Let's see it Cheery Dog.

*CD flips the lid*

Cheery Dog

*loud groans, everything turns colorless*

OHHHHHHHHHH NO! $50,000 is gone. Sorry man.

Cheery Dog

This happens though...

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over a bit slower than usual*

(2)

(1)

(2)

One, that pick just dropped the target. Your chances of ending up with $20,000 on red are now at 60%.

Two, that pick may have just dropped a non-red golden sphere. Odds are that it just did. If so, we're back up to a 50% chance of winning that same big figure. We've still got a lot to fight our way through, but it's quite possible you're on your way to the big money yet.

Let's see though before we speculate any further...

*skips a sphere, then unlocks the next one*

Skipping that golden sphere thanks to the 4 you got last pick. Instead, this will be removed from the game...

*flips lid*

*cheers from everyone,

$400

chyron shatters on the monitor*

This will very much define the challenge now. You're either hot or you're cold...

KingdomAces

...and we're hoping that hot color is gonna become even hotter now. We take a trip over to one last player, and it's you KingdomAces. Let's see if his selection has worked out...

[yabbaguy]

KingdomAces

Inventive or otherwise, we're hoping KingdomAces' forecast that he's got the most mundane sequencing of the spheres possible is correct. If so, not only has he won the (second-)next game, but Feirei's going to possibly conclude his game with a $20,000 grand payday.


I really hope at least that we can set up this possibility before we ultimately confront the golden spheres.


If this misses, the maximum will be only $5,000. Still will be a significant swing though. $5,000 does a lot for quite a few people.


But the odds are with us at this moment.


KingdomAces, hope you haven't produced an ace. We need a deuce or better.

*KingdomAces lifts the lid*

KingdomAces

*explosive cheer, set turns red as everyone in the red sector is seen beaming*

Yes, we got there! Red will be playing for a magnificent sum of cash, and it could very easily be yours at this stage Feirei!

*more cheering as KA reveals the rest*

KingdomAces

But not so fast.

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, gasps*

The penultimate chapter of this game has not been completed yet.

(2)

(2)

That sphere, having not been a 4, has just removed one final golden sphere before you finally get to get your hands on one yourself.

We know for sure you'll have at least a red and a blue, but what's the third one going to be? The one that tips the scales?


We want this to be blue. I really hope it is.


...

*snaps the lock on the final golden sphere*

*whisks open the sphere*

*everyone in the Arena continues cheering*

Feirei, you may well have done it! Every other sector wasn't working, but you piled so much of your attention on red and it looks very poised to pay you dividends this time!



You literally have ONE final sphere standing in your way of $20,000. Here comes your final confrontation with it.

[yabbaguy]

*metallic doors swing open as the adjudicator stands there defiantly in the doorway, illuminated by a red spotlight at his back, and no light at all in the front. The golden spheres start to migrate in its direction, sliding along the track towards him and stopping eventually in front of them as they shudder, albeit from the sudden stop, but rather symbolic of how tense the moment is*

*the doors shut again and the lighting turns normal*

Here we go. One more sphere to beat as I mentioned...



...and it's this one. It's worth just

$600

. I guess that'll nicely pay for your hotel and airfare on the way here, so you can say at least you were famous on an Internet game show for free.

But these two...



...you know already.

$20,000!

!

*audience cheers*

Here they come...

*the doors to the secret vault open once again with the golden spheres arranged and loaded up with all their cash. They then approach and come all the way down to center stage as they stop just short and Feirei and me, with everyone looking on in the shadows. The doors swing shut and center stage is illuminated*

[$20,000] x2

[$600] x1

Pick one golden sphere, and you've got all the cash inside. Good luck.

They're in the same order as they were at the beginning of your game.

[yabbaguy]

[$20,000] x2

[$600] x1

*walks behind*

*places golden sphere on stand*

Just one sphere you had to dodge. I hope this isn't it.


Instead, you've got four smiling faces over there in that red sector who helped you to amass that gigantic sum of cash. One of them is including Tragedy.


...y'know...


...that left-hand sphere was the one Tragedy locked up for you at the beginning of your game. I didn't want to draw too much attention to it, but funnily enough, I wonder which color she saved for you.


But you picked the far right one...

*unlocks latch*

Which means this result is the one you saved at the very last moment.


And this golden sphere is the one that tipped the scales either in your favor or against.


...


Feirei... you have...






...

*flips lid*

*everyone gasps, set turns blue*

OHHHHHHH, how sick!!! The spheres robbed you at the last possible moment! ._.

*some are chuckling at almost how humorous the whole ordeal is, most are shaking their heads or not moving at all or what have you*

...

Well, you never know what's coming in this game. Let's prove the others were there...

*opens other two*

FEIREI
[$600]

Hey, hardly your fault. You put 1s in blue's corner the entire time, and they gave you a helluva lot of 1s back. On most days, that sort of faith in blue, ESPECIALLY after two of its golden spheres plummet straightaway, is getting rewarded with a lot more than 600 bucks. Hope you had fun at least?

We'll start a new game tomorrow.

[yabbaguy]

[yabbaguy]

Hang on, our stagehands are hung over. We'll get started shortly.

[yabbaguy]

*hic*

"Okay, uhh.... roll film, I guess."

*hic*

---

$500,000 is on the line.



But this isn't just luck.

This... is Optimize!

*Intro Theme, camera spins around with a quick glance at 20 virtual sets of spheres. It zooms in one set which spontaneously opens to show the innards of the spheres. A golden sphere flies in, spins around while it's opening, and shows a red $0 sign inside. It shuts, spins and opens again, and this time shows an ultraviolet $500,000 (where 0,01 euro and 1 000 000 euros are shown). The sphere closes and opens again, now showing all sorts of game components flying around on screen, with amounts of money on different colored backgrounds flying into the monitor and all the spheres are flying about. An ultraviolet sphere then flies in where it should be in the logo as its button turns red and the other letters fly in as the theme concludes.*

*main theme, out I come from under the monitor, which lifts up "magically" so that I can come through the walkway onto the stage*

Hello, hello! Welcome!

*audience applauds, players are seen clapping as I come on out, theme dies down after I make my long walk out to the center of the Arena*

So yes, Optimize. What a funny game this has been. When I created this monster a few years ago, I had no idea just how much torment and how much insanity was going to result from these spheres I brought to life. After a first episode where they fell asleep on the job and allowed someone to take away $200K, ever since they've been up to their usual nefarious pranks.

But this time they may have gone too far. Feirei, having demonstrated great faith in both red and blue, the two colors left in his game, was not justly rewarded for such. He got $20,000 on red, but despite putting 1s on blue the entire time, he only scraped together $600, thanks to the fact that, somehow, JerryArr continues to demonstrate some weird immunity to the spheres' devilish ways.

*everyone chuckles, JerryArr grins a bit*

And unfortunately, Feirei got tripped up by that last devious blue golden sphere and cruelly ended up only with a consolation prize.

But maybe today one of the most prolific analysts of the game from the wings will show that there is a way for these spheres to be beaten. You've heard him often in other games, and now at last, he takes his rightful place at the center of the Arena.

Everyone please welcome,

swyellowtail

!

*everyone cheers, the lift platform ascends and brings swyellowtail up with it. Spotlights swirl around, as do chase lights as the lift platform completes its ascent all the way to the top, bringing all the lighting back to normal*

At last, here you are. I don't know how long it's been that you've waited, but I'm assuming it was quite a lengthy amount of time. Happy to be here at last?

[yabbaguy]

I don't see any wood anywhere. Did you bring some? /:|

Here we go!

*audience cheers, monitor descends and loads in the information, all the players' spheres ascend out of the desks in front of them and are illuminated*

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza
CJMiller

Thanks to CJMiller's later arrival though, we find ourselves with a lot of the same people in a lot of the same places. That's how it is, we'll see how that turns out!

You picked up a 3 with that silver sphere draw. Everyone's spheres range from 0-4 as you know, so you'll have to find someone with the

only

number higher than a 3 to make some money. That's one space up their correspondingly-colored ladder every time you can beat the target. Then the subsequent numbers become the subsequent targets.

You're making money in each of those four colorful sectors, but you only get one, and that's determined by picking one of those twenty golden spheres (thanks 7676 for returning 7 & 6 ) to see which color that is. Watch out, that 8-6-4-2 distribution of the colors you see beneath the money ladders is going to shift as we play. Keep your eye on that!

So, all you have to do is pick a player, and they'll open a sphere of their color. Who's gonna start with that tough 3?

[yabbaguy]

Nobody Special

Fidgets spastically? We'll see. He sure as hell has been fidgeting impatiently in recent days as his climb to the top continues. Or may be accelerated, as ever, with a perfect selection of the spheres provided he remains conscious throughout.

But as for this game, Nobody Special, a good start is needed. Knock that target down and maybe get green off to a good start if you can manage a 4.

[yabbaguy]

Nobody Special

*NS exerts himself once more to lift up the lid on the sphere*

Nobody Special

*cheers from the lively crowd, NS amazingly stays upright as all the lights turn green*

Wow! That advances green up its first step of the game AND still permits us to drop the target.

As ever, a target of 4 would be palpably unfair to our contender, so we now permit Nobody Special to open another of his green spheres. There's no money to be gained, this is just to set the target. Now we want as low a figure as possible to make it as easy as possible.

Nobody Special

*Nobody Special clambers onto his feet one more time to open this sphere*

Nobody Special

*applause*

Good pick! Just like Feirei's game, we're off to a great start on the first pick!

Nobody Special

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza
CJMiller

Twice in a row now we've had a 4 be the first sphere out of the gate!

Now we can get rolling with a 1. We've had to be

really

cautiously optimistic with this target in recent games, be careful!

[yabbaguy]

Tragedy

...we all know what direction

that

remark was headed in.

Tragedy's also someone who's gotten a really warm welcome back, she's never been picked later than second ever since she returned!

Pick away.

[yabbaguy]

We'll randomize...

Original Roll String: 5d5

5 5-Sided Dice: (2, 3, 2, 3, 4) = 14

[yabbaguy]

closed my damn tab as I wrote this post, ugh!

Tragedy

*Tragedy lifts the lid*

Tragedy

*audience applauds, set flashes red*

The 1 is beaten and red is off and away! Maybe now we won't have to be as skeptical of that target. Maybe.

Tragedy

Now in each round we open two spheres. When Nobody Special picked his 4, the second sphere was another one from his rack. But since Tragedy didn't get a 4, the second sphere...

*spotlights shine on golden spheres*

...is gonna come from over here.

*walks over*

(8)

(6)

(4)

(2)

And there they are. Twenty golden spheres containing one of the four colors in this game. You only get the cash on one of those four colors, and the golden sphere you pick at the end will tell you which one that is.

But we're now going to open and remove one from the game. NS picked the 4 on the first round, so we'll open the second one...

*pushes the button in to unlock the sphere*

*lifts the lid*

*a delay, then applause*

Green takes its first chink in the armor. Not a big one though, still down to 5.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza
CJMiller

You are on a roll. Where's this 2 going to?

[yabbaguy]

Drench

Perhaps poetry will be the theme today.

Meanwhile Drench, pick away.

[yabbaguy]

He's picking the fourth from the left.
Against a 2 with a fair bet of heft.
He's lost 4 in a row,
An all time low!
But perhaps the streak's now bereft!

*collects golf claps and a tomato to the face and the ensuing laughter*

Drench

*Drench opens up...*

Drench

*audience groans, everything flashes gray*

That's four times now Drench has run into that pesky 1. Guess the curse hasn't totally lifted yet.

Drench

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, over I go*

(8)

(5)

(4)

(2)

At last, a loss, and it came from blue. Will the golden spheres cooperate or will it abuse that fact? Let's find out...

*unlocks another sphere*

*annnnnnd iiiiiit's...*

*oohs*

Twice now green's taken a hit! Then again, you did put that 3 on green.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza
CJMiller

Back to a 1. Don't find another one of those 1s.

[yabbaguy]

*through gritted teeth*

again... we don't want him to make it a one...

CJMiller

...oh hi, CJ!

This is likely but not guaranteed to be your only sphere you pick in our new edition of Optimize. Make it count!

[yabbaguy]

CJMiller

*SPHEREISOPENED*

CJMiller

*cheers, set turns violet*

There we are! Ultraviolet goes right up to $1,000 on its way to the big one!

CJMiller

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(8)

(4)

(4)

(2)

Green and green so far. Let's see if we continue the trend with this golden sphere...

*click*

*reveals*

*applause*

Nope, first red of the game appears. All lower colors so far, this is encouraging!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

You're winning more than you're not, see if you can beat this 2 and really keep this trend going!

[yabbaguy]

Xalxe

Ah yes, the "zal-ZAY" debate we had.

Xalxe's appeared with two duplicates and two 4s previously. This ought to be interesting as we wait to see if blue will get off the launch pad.

[yabbaguy]

Original Roll String: 5d5

5 5-Sided Dice: (2, 1, 5, 5, 1) = 14

[yabbaguy]

Xalxe

*sphere opens up to reveal...*

Xalxe

*loud groans, everything goes grayscale*

Make that three duplicates, and make that two blue losses. Although if we'd put either optimistic target on blue, we would've had liftoff.

Xalxe

*golden spheres light up, I walk behind them*

(7)

(4)

(4)

(2)

Well, blue's maximum has dwindled to $15K, so I think we have a new target in mind for these golden spheres. Let's see if we can get one to drop here...

*unlocks*

*flips lid*

*cheers*

Right on cue! These golden spheres are really doing their job right, they're knocking out colors as they're more or less the lowest figure on the board. Hopefully they keep cooperating!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

We're gonna have to reattempt that 2 now.

[yabbaguy]

D3f3nd3r

D3f3nd3r, a win here gets us to the ubiquitous $4,000. Can you beat the odds on this pick?

[yabbaguy]

He picked mid-left first two games, deviated two games and lost both times, and now he's gone back to mid-left. I wonder...

D3f3nd3r

*D3f3nd3r lifts the hatch*

D3f3nd3r

*awws, set flashes gray*

Nope, the mojo's left the middle-left sphere.

D3f3nd3r

Six picks, and the 4's been far left 4x so far.

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over*

(7)

(4)

(3)

(2)

So green's a little weak too. Two colors we wouldn't mind seeing as this golden sphere goes down the tube...

*unlocks the next sphere*

*here it comes!*

*cheers*

That's half the green delegation out of the game! It starts every game at 30%, but it's down to 20% now.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

Losing strategically is (on average) half the game. It

seems

like that's the case. We'll find out shortly!

But now we're looking to make some money with this 1.

[yabbaguy]

StrangerCoug

Whilst swyellowtail bets on red, I (and presumably Coug) would like to remind you to come on down and join us over in World B for a good game of

Roulette

hosted by me, along with other Mish Mash Casino games hosted by some of your favorite mods! Maybe today's your lucky day.

Meanwhile, red's 1 for 1, and now it's got a 1. Let's see if Southpaw does the job for StrangerCoug.

StrangerCoug

*Coug lifts the lid*

StrangerCoug

*cheers, set flashes red*

Make that 2 for 2 as it advances to $2,000! But 4 didn't appear in the far left sphere, this wasn't to plan!

StrangerCoug

*golden spheres light up, I walk towards them*

(7)

(3)

(3)

(2)

Three of these five spheres have been green, which I'm guessing we're happy with since that hasn't got the most money on it right now. Let's see what's next to go away.

*clicks the latch*

*lifts the hatch*

*gasps*

That's the third time in a row the golden spheres mirrored your choice of color for that round! Quirky.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

Only your second 3. Remember, your first 3 was defeated by Nobody Special. If you squish this high target as well, we could be in for a very interesting game!

But nobody's revealed a 0

at all

yet. If there's a brick looming out there somewhere, now would be the best time to run into it.

[yabbaguy]

puzzledan

*audience laughs*

At least you have shame and modesty, unlike me.

dan's on a hat-trick right now with two 4s in the previous games. Now he's being tasked with the hardest target in the game as green's golden spheres are withering away. Here we go!

[yabbaguy]

...AND with sphere 3!

puzzledan

*sphere opens*

puzzledan

*loud groans, everything loses color*

Ooh, a sizzler of a sphere, but it's no good here! We really didn't want to do that, because that 3's gonna come back at us now. Bah.

puzzledan

*spotlights dawn on the golden spheres, over I go*

(6)

(3)

(3)

(2)

These golden spheres are steadily droppping until or unless we find another 4. Let's see what goes next though...

*snaps the lock*

*pries up the lid*

*cheers*

FOUR greens gone! It's looking more and more like you've trashed the right sector. But... we still don't know.

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

...let's try that 3 again, shall we?

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

Jerry, you've been crushing 1s the past four games, but now's your toughest ask yet. Can you go 5 for 5 against the hardest target in the game?

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

*Jerry cautiously opens up...*

JerryArr

Oh no!

*louder groans, everything including swyellowtail's face loses color*

Well, surely it's gotta go down eventually, but we've gotta get out of this rut before the 3s start annoying the colors we actually care about!

JerryArr

Well, if it'd been reversed, maybe that $600 might have mattered, but most likely the same target would've been just as annoying. xD

*spotlights on golden spheres*

(6)

(2)

(3)

(2)

Green had six, now it's only got two. We're looking at those two middle colors and hoping they'll fall away though. For the past four picks, they've mimicked your color choice earlier. Will it strike blue and do it five times in a row?

*click*

*lifts the lid*

*cheers*

YES it will!!! And the golden spheres, again, appear to be vindicating you!

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676
animorpherv1

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

Red's got a coin flip's chance of showing, green, blue, and ultraviolet have a die roll's chance of showing. I have a feeling once we get our freedom back, we're gonna start genuinely making some big bucks. But we need to get past this cycle and then we can start doing serious business.

Who gets tapped with the 3 now?

[yabbaguy]

NoWhammies11

Might as well step in with the assist on your color tags.

NoWhammies11, you picked a 4 last game, you might be a prime candidate for helping us out here! Plus, that would put red up to $5K and keep it perfect!

[yabbaguy]

We're running out of places to put bad targets though, may be an inevitability.

Let's see how the Backwards Boston selection turns out...

NoWhammies11

*NoWhammies11 lifts up the lid*

NoWhammies11

Ooooooooooh....

*no distinct reaction, set abruptly turns gray*

We were expecting the loss, which dispenses with red's $50,000. But we're a little perplexed on whether that target's low enough. I don't know about this.

NoWhammies11

Not a zip code in this country. I think you may have landed in Mexico.

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over*

(6)

(2)

(2)

(2)

Well, you picked red. I have to wonder...

*clack*

*annnnnnnnd...*

*loud groans*

OH NO! We did NOT want ultraviolet to appear there! x_x

You still have one left though. Maybe it's the one you locked up earlier. Speaking of... that golden sphere's looking a bit lonely; we could use another 4, eh?

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676
animorpherv1

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

Well, that risky gamble with red has cost it the $50K, but the bottom fell out of a different sector for a change. And what a way to break that trend!

You've now gone half the game without finding a single 0. You haven't had the best target at all so far.

Who takes on the 2?

[yabbaguy]

orcinus_theoriginal

Then again, although you've obviously reacted to the fact it's far less likely, that $500K hasn't gone yet...

orc, there's a lot of interesting ways this pick can go. What are you going to produce from your spheres?

[yabbaguy]

orcinus_theoriginal

*flip*

orcinus_theoriginal

*everything turns colorless*

Classic orcinus, gives us minimal effort.

orcinus_theoriginal

*I walk over to the lit-up golden spheres*

(6)

(2)

(2)

(1)

Now every time this happens, that could signify the end of that ultraviolet golden sphere. But red now holds a majority proportion of the golden spheres. If anything other than red shows up, its odds skyrocket to 60%!

*undoes the lock*

*reveals the contents*

*awws*

...but it is red. It's, and I'm chuckling a bit using this word,

only

50% likely now to be your destiny.

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

*audience laughs at the Mega Monitor's sense of humor*

We'll get that changed back.

Now for the first time in a while, we've got mathematics on our side with this next pick of the spheres. Choose wisely.

[yabbaguy]

JasonWazza

Even though he's from the same sector, interesting! Then again, that ultraviolet sector is back to its standard 10%. You never know.

Jason, far from being collapsed, now we need you to pick a genuinely useful sphere for the ultraviolet sector. Keep that $100K around in case that's actually the cash that swyellowtail is playing for!

[yabbaguy]

Jason is taking a liking to that middle sphere...

JasonWazza

*JasonWazza reveals the sphere*

JasonWazza

*groans, set flashes gray*

...and the descent is complete; we went 3-2-1-0 the previous four picks. We're off of the mountain at last.

JasonWazza

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, over I walk*

(5)

(2)

(2)

(1)

Half the batch of golden spheres gone. Although the 4s aren't showing up, I'm hoping the end result might be some collapses so you know where to go after the money. We've still got sizable figures left on the other sectors, let's see if we get a hint which one to go after.

*unlocks*

*lid rises*

*awws from the crowd*

Red again. Just 4 left.

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

That's five losses in a row, but now at last you have the best target in the game!

You've got two people left in every sector.

[yabbaguy]

xtopherusD

xtopherusD, sorry to make this painfully boring for you, but you've got yourself another pansy target to deal with here.

No "straight-up bricks" please so that we can get at least one of those golden spheres stuffed with cash!

[yabbaguy]

xtopherusD

*xtopherusD unveils the contents...*

xtopherusD

*cheers from everyone, swyellowtail celebrates, set turns violet*

Oh man, where the hell has that sphere been this whole time??? Wow!!!

*cheering continues, then subsides*

Well... we know what this means. Instead of a golden sphere, we've gotta crack the lock on another UV sphere to see what our new target is. It's a little disappointing because we can't reduce it, but a 4/0 would sure be fun!

xtoph? Can you find the 0?

xtopherusD

*xtopherusD opens the sphere*

xtopherusD

*awws, applause*

Not to be. But of course, that leading 4 isn't a waste of time anymore, now we've locked up another golden sphere, making two. Hmmmmm...

xtopherusD

Hey, you got the sphere that matters most right, that's what we care about.

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676
animorpherv1

bird1111

At last, some cash!

But you've got a 2. Proceed with some caution again, hopefully the slope isn't so long and windy this time. Who's gonna get the 2?

Cheery

goes next.

Okay, then.

*walks over to Cheery's spheres*

[yabbaguy]

Cheery Dog

Cheery Dog, between you and KingdomAces, you can take the red sector up to $20,000. You've got a 2 again though.

You hit a 1 last game against it, what are you gonna do this time?

[yabbaguy]

Cheery Dog

*Cheery Dog lifts the lid*

Cheery Dog

*everyone cheers as the surroundings turn red*

Wowie! Red's one step away from the big $20K!

Cheery Dog, the 4 has returned for you at long last, the same can be said about 4s in general in this game! Now make the opportunity count!

Cheery Dog

*lid rises*

Cheery Dog

*siren goes off, everyone cheers*

There we are! You were bummed at missing the opportunity the first time, but now you have a chance to jump the queue and get in the next game of Optimize!

Cheery Dog

Just state where you think the 1, 2, and 3 are from what remains and you're on your way up! (I can't tell from your post what you meant to say if you were trying to before.) You have 24 hours to do this.

KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676
animorpherv1

bird1111

That's the surge we needed! Who gets the 0 now?

Send it to

ani

.

swyellowtail wants to make sure he gets something out of this game. Let's go over to ani...but Cheery Dog, you chime in whenever you can with your prediction as soon as you can!

[yabbaguy]

Whilst we await Cheery Dog's big moment...

animorpherv1

...animorpherv1 now has a chance to secure some cash in the blue sector. swyellowtail does not want to get shut out by these devious spheres today, and blue has been up to nothing but shenanigans in recent games!

What worries me is that ani and his spheres absolutely aren't getting along. He's bricked out 3 times in a row, so here's hoping no funny business occurs from his spheres this time!

ani, whaddaya say? Can you get blue on the board and make it three wins in a row for us?

[yabbaguy]

First, Cheery Dog says it's 3-1-2 in order... let's see!

Cheery Dog

*spheres open*

Cheery Dog

*buzzer, gasps*

Close, the 2 was a step to the ri-i-i-i-i-ight after all!

(please tell me your "jump to the left" was trying to reference Rocky Horror Picture Show so I don't look silly)

ani's selection on the way...

[yabbaguy]

animorpherv1

*ani promptly opens the sphere*

animorpherv1

OH MY!!!

*audience either groans or laughs, everything turns grayscale*

Oh my goodness, make that four in a row! The spheres are all random and it's obviously not his fault at all, but ani keeps crashing into that damned zero!

animorpherv1

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I almost get startled by that, then walk over*

Boy, it's been a while since we've done this.

(4)

(2)

(2)

(1)

That's how the golden spheres have looked for three rounds. Now at last we get to make a dent in the distribution.

*counts off two, punches in the lock on the 15th golden sphere*

*and lifts the lid*

*applause*

Yeah, that's good. Green's been bottom priority the whole time, good to have that a little more out of the way!

KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

Mist7676

bird1111

Final five players, you've still got a player left in every sector. Try that 0 again and try to make some more money!

Mist

will finish this sector off.

Trying once more to avoid $0, Mist, it's over to you...

[yabbaguy]

Mist7676

You've wound up with a lot of 1s that have lost out for contenders, but now that you've finally been given a target of 0, we really want you to find a 1 now! swyellowtail wants to win something out of this game, anything, PLEASE! We beg you!

[yabbaguy]

Yes, that would be preferable.

Mist7676

*Mist raises the lid*

Mist7676

*"hooray!" cheers the crowd, everything goes blue*

Fifth time lucky, it seems! Mist absolutely demolishes that target, and blue will have some money on it!

Mist7676

*golden spheres are illuminated, I walk over*

(4)

(1)

(2)

(1)

Two colors in danger of going out of the game. Red maintains a 50% proportion as it has off-and-on the whole time. Let's see what happens now!

*reaches all the way down to the fourth row and unlocks the next sphere*

*reveals*

*awws,

$10,000

chyron shatters on screen beneath swyellowtail*

And there goes violet and its $25,000 promise. But by contrast, look at red, now up to a 57% chance of appearing at the end!

KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

bird1111

It's a target of 3 and a sector just collapsed, so I think we know where the worst target in the game is going, yeah?

[yabbaguy]

At least you've got the glaring favorite of red which could be $20,000 depending on KingdomAces! But first...

bird1111

We learned the bad news in time to send this bad target bird's way.

bird, you're on the demolition crew today. Wreck that target with a low number!

[yabbaguy]

Yeah, instead of chiseling out the color tags, which is such a pain (I have to actually click and drag my mouse? Ugh!), I just turn it black.

[yabbaguy]

bird1111

*bird pries up the lid*

bird1111

*everyone groans, target graphic on the Mega Monitor "updates" itself to a 3*

Opportunity lost!

And the UV sector bats for the cycle with a 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 this game!

bird1111

...and from most recent to least, left to right, that's the order they hit those five numbers in!

*golden spheres illuminate, I dawdle across*

(4)

(1)

(2)

A familiar absence of the ultraviolet contingent, as we see. swyellowtail does not want the $10K opportunity to fizzle out. Only a severe fluke can wipe red out of the game entirely now.

*reaches down and clicks the lock*

*hesitates*

*then reveals*

*audience groans*

Cue part 1 of said severe fluke.

KingdomAces

DiplomatDC
IceGuy

That target went nowhere in a hurry, so now you're gonna have to plan for a loss unfortunately.

As always I say this neutrally, but should that player be KingdomAces, you may set the order of DiplomatDC and IceGuy in that same post. Hopefully you will only need BASIC programming to do so if that's the case.

[yabbaguy]

DiplomatDC

Green came out flying out of the gate when Nobody Special overcame a target of 3, and now we need DiplomatDC to do the same so that it keeps moving up!

Sorry DC that we keep sticking you with bad targets, but if you can come over the top of this one, that'd be dandy.

[yabbaguy]

I like opportunists, but you'll have to ask swyellowtail if he'll give you any.

DiplomatDC

*Diplomat flips up the sphere's lid*

DiplomatDC

OOH!

*audience murmurs, everything becomes devoid of color for an instant*

Now this becomes interesting! Green misses again and can only wind up with $4K at most, but now red's in prime position to land in big money territory!

DiplomatDC

But now, we have to drop another golden sphere...

*golden spheres light up*

(3)

(1)

(2)

You see the odds. It's most likely we hit red, but if we don't, it rockets to a 2 in 3 chance of showing up later.

*slowly reaches down...


...and unlocks the golden sphere*

*pauses again...

...then reveals the contents*

*everyone groans*

Uh oh. At least you didn't let blue go completely valueless at the last moment, so there's that, but now it's equally likely to show as the big prize. :\

KingdomAces

IceGuy

There is that nagging green golden sphere which I'm worried about, we've seen it leap out unexpectedly at the end too in less likely situations. But I imagine your focus is on red...

It goes to

KA

.

...and indeed it is. Here we go!

[yabbaguy]

KingdomAces

KingdomAces...

{$5,000}

[$20,000]

...you're the man in command now. You've got four spheres to aim at, and all we need is just one of them to get red into big money levels. What a huge victory that's gonna be if we get there!

Fire away!

[yabbaguy]

*audience laughs*

I would like to take this time to advertise my

yGDB

so that you can see me go on berserk rants when I lose badly.

*more laughter*

KingdomAces

It's for $20K, let's see it!


...

*dramatic reveal*

KingdomAces

*eruption of cheers, lights turn red as the excitement enters the Arena*

You had the $20K all along, sw!

*cheering continues*

KA, hey, we've still got money left to go after. Pick another sphere and let's see if we're well positioned for a run at green!

KingdomAces

...the middle sphere symbolizing my one futile effort as Serial Killer. >_>



Let's see it!

*KA shows us the contents*

KingdomAces

*gasps*

Whoops. Now JDGA might be eating his words over there, I'm not so sure green's gonna be worth it's usual today!

KingdomAces

IceGuy

Now let's find out how resilient that green $4K really is! If red doesn't show up, we've gotta have a backup plan!

*walks over to IceGuy's spheres*

[yabbaguy]

IceGuy

Will IceGuy win and will it be significant? There's only a 20% chance this 20%... chance

of winning money

... matters, but if it does, it's the difference between peanuts and... well,

that

cash figure. The one everyone keeps getting against all odds.

IceGuy, far from breaking the ice, you're bringing it on home. What's in your spheres?

[yabbaguy]

IceGuy

*IceGuy, after concluding his endless monologue, lifts the lid*

IceGuy

*awws, everything turns colorless*

The inevitable green result is anything but, today. It instead remains on $400.

IceGuy

Hey, your neighbor D3f3nd3r had the same set of spheres!

But waitwaitwait, not so fast. We still have to open two spheres every round.

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, everyone groans, I walk over*

This has to happen again.

(2)

(1)

(2)

Huge ramifications here. Red's worth $20K, the other colors aren't even close. We just don't want a red!

*unlocks one final golden sphere*

*lifts up the hatch*

It's blue!!! Excellent!



Once again, we've got a scary configuration for the Finale. That will be coming shortly, either later tonight or tomorrow, stand by until then...

[yabbaguy]

*metallic doors behind the golden spheres swing open, adjudicator stands there cross-armed in the shadow of a bright spotlight and fog swirling about in the doorway. The golden spheres start sliding back towards him, then stop in front of him. The metal doors then swing shut*

Your situation is as follows...



You've got a solitary green golden sphere, worth

$400

.



You've got a solitary

blue

golden sphere, worth

$600

.



But the color you have two of is red, and I'm pleased to say that they're both worth

$20,000

!

It's a coin flip at either $20K or a lot less: you pick one of the remaining four golden spheres, and you get all the money attached to it. Hope you can make heads or tails of these golden spheres, because here they come again!

*spotlights start swirling around as the doorway opens one more time, this time with the golden spheres sliding all the way out towards center stage in a tidy formation. They eventually stop short of me and swyellowtail as the doors swing shut, then the spotlights shine on the golden spheres brightly, with everything else in the background dim*

]

[$20,000] x2

[$400] x1

[$600] x1

Good luck swyellowtail. You've got two to hit and two to avoid.

Please make your final decision of the game now.

[yabbaguy]

[$20,000] x2

[$400] x1

[$600] x1

Yep, that's what I said about it being a coin flip. In the context of this game (although I certainly like a $200 bonus in real life!), green and blue are both equally tiny figures.


But there's now a 50% chance I'm about to flip the lid on a whole lot more than that.


Again, there's that theme that blue maybe should've been worth a bit more. Although your faith wasn't as unwavering as Feirei's was, I'm a little surprised it too stopped on just $600. Hopefully you will not be duplicating that result.


Any of those three colors could've been worth a massive amount of money. But you wound up stashing it on the cheapest, but most frequent color in the game. Will it pay off?


Let's see...


...

*clicks the latch*

*everyone looks on*

Here it is, swyellowtail.


I'm sure it was worth it just to play the game.


Hopefully it will be worth it financially...











You have...

*flips lid*

*everyone cheers, players rush out to congratulate swyellowtail*

$20,000!!! You did it!!!

*theme plays, mob scene at the center of the Arena continues, everyone jumping about happily*

C'mon, let's see the rest of them!

[SWYELLOWTAIL]
{$20,000}

Well, congratulations to you swyellowtail! I got worried this game wasn't going anywhere, but aside from NoWhammies11 unable to beat that 3, everything else in red went perfectly and you're walking away with a lot of cash!

The scoresheet and another game coming soon!

[yabbaguy]

And there it is. Again in a rush, but be back soon to start another spherical adventure soon!

[yabbaguy]

CJMiller's game (and cake) coming soon!

[yabbaguy]

"C'mon, you're days late with that cake! All right, now we've got it, let's go!"

---

$500,000 is on the line.



But this isn't just luck.

This... is Optimize!

*Intro Theme, camera spins around with a quick glance at 20 virtual sets of spheres. It zooms in one set which spontaneously opens to show the innards of the spheres. A golden sphere flies in, spins around while it's opening, and shows a red $0 sign inside. It shuts, spins and opens again, and this time shows an ultraviolet $500,000 (where 0,01 euro and 1 000 000 euros are shown). The sphere closes and opens again, now showing all sorts of game components flying around on screen, with amounts of money on different colored backgrounds flying into the monitor and all the spheres are flying about. An ultraviolet sphere then flies in where it should be in the logo as its button turns red and the other letters fly in as the theme concludes.*

*main theme, out I come from under the monitor, which lifts up "magically" so that I can come through the walkway onto the stage*

Heyo! Good to see all y'all!

*audience applauds, players are seen clapping as I come on out, theme dies down after I make my long walk out to the center of the Arena*

Well, last game, swyellowtail took the same approach Feirei did, and for a moment, I thought it would be the same sort of result. He cranked up the volume on the red and ultraviolet sectors as best he could, but the UV sector dropped out, and immediately we got worried that this game was going to be another one that ended up in the waste bin.

However, we wound up with a sensational end though. swyellowtail loaded up 2 of the 4 golden spheres with $20K, found a glimmer of red, and we have another big winner on Optimize. I still wonder if maybe $50K was possible in that one, but nonetheless, it's a fantastic result.

Meanwhile, this contender made it just in the nick of time, just last game! Now after a long wait, he's got his chance at last to take on the spheres. Taking center stage now in the Arena, everyone please welcome...

CJMiller

!!!

*everyone cheers, the lift platform ascends and brings CJMiller up with it. Spotlights swirl around, as do chase lights as the lift platform completes its ascent all the way to the top, bringing all the lighting back to normal*

CJ, I was worried you'd never show up! Did your travel plans get delayed or something coming here?

[yabbaguy]

Faster-than-light? That concept's definitely alien to us. We need more NASA funding. ._.

Anyway, you know you've got four colors to build cash on with the colorful spheres you see around you - as ever please do watch out for those golden spheres. Only the golden sphere you wind up with at the end is the color you win the cash on, and they'll be plummeting as we go.

Let's load up the Mega Monitor and get on with it, eh?

*audience cheers, the Monitor complies with my request*

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

You see your opening target is a 2 per our backstage silver sphere draw. The spheres range from 0-4, find someone with a higher sphere, and the like-colored money ladder advances.

Good luck, CJ! Please pick one of the Earthlings around you to get us started.

[yabbaguy]

Nobody Special

NS, congratulations on that acheivement, we'll have the trophy for you shortly.

The first spheres of the day are yours.

[yabbaguy]

JDGA's right, I was wondering how long I could hold out before someone asked. ^_^

Nobody Special

*NS swings the lid back on its hinge, revealing the inside*

Nobody Special

*awws, set flashes gray lights around to turn everything colorless, then returns to normal after a second or two*

Oops. That's not higher than a 2, so blue will not win money on this turn. However, that 1 will become your target for the next pick!

Nobody Special

Now in every round, we remove two spheres. That was the first one...

*spotlights shine on golden spheres*

...now we come over here for the second one.

(8)

(6)

(4)

(2)

There's your initial distribution of the golden spheres. However, we're about to open and remove a golden sphere, changing the odds of winning each color. Only the color left standing at the end pays out all the cash you've won on it, so make sure you're winning on the right one!

Meanwhile, let's crack on.

*cracks the latch on the first golden sphere*

*and unveils the contents*

*applause*

There's a red, nice to start out hitting the cheap colors!

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
---

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

I'm not gonna keep it that way for long, I just wanted to leave that NS placeholder in so that you all at home can see how the queue rotates through now that we started discussing it.

CJ, your target's down as mentioned, now you're favored to win on this next pick of the spheres. Where to with the 1?

[yabbaguy]

CJ?

[yabbaguy]

JDGA

Yay, he's back!

*crowd: "hooray!"*

First attempt to get red off and running, go for it JDGA!

JDGA

*and out comes...*

JDGA

*gasps, set flashes gray*

Red misses its first attempt too! Nothing like a few stinky spheres to completely send your pre-conceived strategy to the shredder... maybe... ^_^

JDGA

*spotlights shine on golden spheres*

(7)

(6)

(4)

(2)

Right now anything could happen, so let's just see what happens, eh?

*unlocks the next sphere*

*flip*

*oohs, applause*

Red again! Interesting development...

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1
Xalxe

You've got a 0, go get some cash!

[yabbaguy]

Xalxe

All y'all are beating me to the punch every round.

Violet's being gifted the best chance. Seems like we're seeing a lot of this UV first, red second strategy recently! Hopefully you don't get gyp- err... screwed up on that deal.

*groans and rotten tomatoes come anyway*

Xalxe

*the sphere's lid ascends*

Xalxe

*applause, everything turns violet*

Good, we've got a color starting off right! Ultraviolet ascends up the money ladder to $1,000.

Xalxe

*golden spheres illuminate, I saunter over*

(6)

(6)

(4)

(2)

CJ, red's still tied-most likely to show up. It could very easily wind up being 3 in a row. Will it?

*click*

*flip*

*gasps from everyone*

Red AGAIN!!! There are still 5 reds left, such is the nature of the beast, but the golden spheres are screaming a very loud message at you right now!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

The problem is that since Xalxe's sphere came screaming over the top of your target, you've now got the worst target instead. ._.

Choose wisely.

[yabbaguy]

My apologies for the delay.

StrangerCoug

Coug's first in for green. High target, so we probably want to reduce it, but this could be for $400 too.

StrangerCoug

Southpaw AGAIN...

*StrangerCoug grasps the lid and pries it up*

StrangerCoug

*murmurs, everything goes gray*

Guess StrangerCoug needs to hone his

supernatural

vision now.

StrangerCoug

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over*

(5)

(6)

(4)

(2)

THREE reds have appeared. How far can this streak go?

*unlocks the subsequent sphere...*

*up comes the lid...*

*oohs*

That knocks blue down to just 3. That color could become a speculative commodity verrrry quickly. ^_^

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

A golden sphere is dropping every round, I wonder if we'll have one color left BEFORE the Finale. I thought that was going to happen often, but it's yet to so far!

Send that 2 somewhere, if you please. You might still win some money...

[yabbaguy]

We're gonna have to move on if CJMiller doesn't reply soon... but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt with one more PM.

[yabbaguy]

KingdomAces

Second crack at the money for green, slightly simplified task this time.

*KingdomAces goes on his mathematical wizardry rant, then unlocks the middle-left sphere*

KingdomAces

And yet somehow his theory is no less worse than any of the others we've had.

Let's see how this combinatorial analysis pans out then.

*KA, confident in his methods, unveils what surely must be a winner*

KingdomAces

*everyone laughs, everything turns gray*

You forgot to add the provisional "everything I do is wrong clause" to your prediction. I'm one of those people who has to make that adjustment myself - and yet I never do, hence why my Mafia record is atrocious. xD

KingdomAces

*golden spheres illuminate, I walk over*

(5)

(6)

(3)

(2)

Another blue could definitely make that color dicey. We're still wondering about red and green and how they've so quickly managed to switch places odds-wise. Let's see if it stays that way.

*disengages the next sphere's lock*

*flips up the lid*

*gasps*

They're coming in clumps! Three reds in a row, now these are both blues! And that puts blue level with ultraviolet!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

It'd be far easier if we won on more than just the 0s, but hey, you've got one now. Make the most of what you've got. ^_^

[yabbaguy]

I just realized... this queue is a bit outdated.

Thanks, fixed now and caught the very very subtle hint. ^_^

Also included jmj's name. I updated the queue in my SphereTracker-O-Matic

(Excel spreadsheet)

but not here, whoops.

[yabbaguy]

bird1111

First red sphere was a brick...if this is second red sphere is anything but that, that ladder's on the move.

bird1111

Third game in a row bird's gone dead center.

*flip*

bird1111

*everyone cheers, bird manages a grin, set flashes red*

...and boy is that center sphere working! He's churned out a 3, 3, and 4 in order during that span of time!

For this second sphere, I'll save myself the walk to the golden spheres. Instead, bird's gonna open another sphere which ONLY sets the target to whatever number that sphere contains. You've got your $200 on red, the money isn't going anywhere.

So now, we would like a 0 pretty pretty please.

bird1111

*bird a little more enthusiastically than last time flips up the lid*

bird1111

*awws from the crowd, applause*

Nope. He trounced that 0, that's about the most helpful he could've been at that point. Although I wonder what golden sphere he just saved for the end...

bird1111

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

You've got the outer colors moving like the past few contenders we've had. Hopefully they stay in motion.

Aside from the golden sphere sticking, that may as well have been a 2. Where 2?

[yabbaguy]

Drench

First a 0, but now suddenly a 2's headed ultraviolet's way.

Drench's spheres have been ice cold though...he's never gone higher than a 1 for all five games. Let's hope that doesn't stay the case!

[yabbaguy]

Drench

You are quite the...convoluted sphere picker...for want of a less convoluted term. xD

Third time lucky for another centre-right selection from Drench?

*Drench lifts up the lid in his usual weird way*

Drench

YES!!!

*everyone cheers, Drench is shocked at the sight of his unusually high number, everything turns a shade of violet*

What a way to absolutely shatter the ice on that cold streak! And now you CJMiller are on a hot streak with this pair of 4s and $10,000 on ultraviolet!

Let's see how convoluted this selection really is now. Drench, we need a new target...

Drench

...and hopefully THIS time it will prove incredibly useful.

*Drench reaches for the lid...



...and lifts it*

Drench

*audible groans*

Oh NOW he's finding high numbers, sure.

*audience laughs*

Drench

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

You know that whole "we may lose all the golden spheres before the end" thing I was going on about? Disregard that. ^_^

Careful which color this goes to - whoever you pick has an awfully high chance at missing the money thanks to this target of 3.

[yabbaguy]

animorpherv1

Well, we also thought Drench was going to skunk out like he had the past few picks and he suddenly showed up with the two highest spheres in his rack today. You never know, animorpherv1 might be on his way to reformation as well!

That said, CJ has almost surely doomed the $500K unless you can absolutely nail this selection, ani.

[yabbaguy]

animorpherv1

*ani pries up the lid*

animorpherv1

*everyone groans, set flashes gray*

And on those two occasions ani's opened up a 3, the contender stuck him with a 3! The man can't catch a break here!

animorpherv1

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

Oh wow, this part. I'd almost forgotten about it by now.

(5)

(6)

(2)

(2)

The last time this happened though, we dented a second blue golden sphere. Pay attention to this next drop of the golden spheres, perhaps this will give you a big hint as to your next move!

Skipping a couple...

*lid rises*

FOUR reds! How appealing does that $20,000 look now?

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676

Sadly, green is most likely to appear but has the lowest maximum. We're kinda back to the classic problem of the odds favoring the lower cash again. ._.

Knock over this target and maybe then we'll be "back in the black".

*an apt AC/DC song starts playing, I walk over and turn off ani's music player, audience laughs*

[yabbaguy]

Cheery Dog

Calling on the guy who's fresh off a 4/0. Green hasn't gotten on the board the past two attempts, but with all these high targets, I can't imagine that's the objective.

Still, the 4's ripe for the picking again, CD. Happy hunting!

[yabbaguy]

According to this

, the posts may be able to return shortly.

However, we can continue on from this point, allow me to just put up the Mega Monitor and names remaining...

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676

We had Cheery Dog's 1 losing to that 3, puzzledan's 2 beating that 1, then a green and ULTRAVIOLET golden sphere both plummeting down the drain!

What's your strategy at this point CJMiller? And where does that 2 fit in?

[yabbaguy]

Sorry.

JasonWazza

We've had both a 4 and a 0 appear out of red, so the fates there haven't been in CJ's control. Now JasonWazza tries to tip the scales in his favor trying to beat this 2 for $2,000.

JasonWazza

*JasonWazza flips the lid*

JasonWazza

*applause, set flashes red*

Dandy! Red showing some strong spheres here as JasonWazza beats the 2!

JasonWazza

JasonWazza came into this as a frequent picker of the center sphere, so this rack should've tripped him up. Not so!

*spotlights light up golden spheres, across I go*

(4)

(5)

(2)

(1)

UV could collapse any time from now. We do have two golden spheres stowed away, maybe it never will! We'll see.

Down to the 3rd row...

*unlocks*

*and out comes...*

*gasps*

The FIFTH red of the game! Wow!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Tragedy

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676

Really hard to know where to look now. I'm queasy about the fact that five of the golden spheres can't go above $4K, but at least they don't yet hold a majority.

Mind which color sector you pick your next player from, that 3 is going to likely lose you money. Although you are on a hat-trick (i.e.

one away

from 3 wins in a row, for those who don't watch cricket ^_^)

[yabbaguy]

More so whoever's not an American. Yes, I'm a hockey and somewhat less of a soccer fan, but we don't hear that exact phrase "on a" hat trick here. Confusing. ^_^

[yabbaguy]

Tragedy

Tragedy, you've had it easy these past three times, but now you've got the most difficult of targets to try and win CJMiller some money.

Can we find a 4 on the 4th time to green?

[yabbaguy]

(In NHL, a hat trick is 3 goals scored in a game, so this bears some resemblance)

I'm a huge Bruins fan, I definitely know that. ^_^

[yabbaguy]

Oh well, moving on.

Original Roll String: 5d5

5 5-Sided Dice: (2, 3, 4, 3, 2) = 14

[yabbaguy]

Spheres 4 & 5 selected.

Tragedy

*sphere magically opens itself*

Tragedy

*awws, all color is washed out*

Good target for the next time though. Green's pretty much dead to us now.

Tragedy

*golden spheres light up, I walk over*

(3)

(5)

(2)

(1)

Reds dropping like flies. Will they continue to do so?

*snaps the lock*

*flips the lid*

*louder audience gasps*

Oh my, yes indeed! And yikes, now green is 50% likely to appear!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

JerryArr
Mist7676

We need green golden spheres to drop or we're in trouble. But that's pretty much out of our control save $400 what we're to do about that problem either way. We have to press onwards.

Next?

[yabbaguy]

IceGuy

IceGuy's had a devil of a time trying to find a sphere higher than 2. 2 will do just fine though if you can accomplish that!

Blue goes up to $6,000 if you succeed.

[yabbaguy]

IceGuy

*flip*

IceGuy

*awws, cringes from the crowd as the 0 rolls out and the set drains of color*

Ooooooof.

Bit of a buzzkill there after that slight vote of confidence to blue. That dispenses with $60K.

IceGuy

Like Coug, you needed Southpaw in reverse for this one. What a dandy that would've been. x_x

*spotlights light up the golden spheres, I walk over*

(2)

(5)

(2)

(1)

Greens must vanish now or we're in trouble in this game. Let's see if we can chip away here...

*clack goes the lock*

*flip goes the lid*

*big cheer from the crowd*

That's better! El cheapo takes a knock and goes down to 4!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

JerryArr
Mist7676

Still an eyesore looking at all those ugly green golden spheres still in play, but hopefully we find a way. Not your problem anymore really, we're still just hoping and praying.

For just the third time this game, you've found a 0. Choose wisely!

[yabbaguy]

*chair gets thrown at puzzledan, audience gets riled up*

*I stand by idly munching a doughnut*

JerryArr

Meanwhile, Jerry has the chance to go for $25,000 here on ultraviolet. We're one step away from $100K if he gets there.

JerryArr

*lid rises*

JerryArr

*loud gasps, set flashes gray*

That's a brick in every sector. You never had any way to get to the top of any color's money ladder.

But... now the new objective is simpler at least. You've got $15K on blue, $20K on red, $25K on ultraviolet all to aim for. All decent sums of cash. There's green, but it's not really your worry anymore, it'll do what it will.

JerryArr

0/4. :\

*golden spheres illuminate, I walk over*

(2)

(4)

(2)

(1)

Though imagine if now ultraviolet drops and completely negates all the depression we had surrounding that last sphere result. Who knows. But we'd much rather see green.

*unlocks*

*lifts the lid*

*sedate murmur from the crowd, then some applause*

That cripples blue. Missing green is unfortunate, but in terms of the color we actually hit, that isn't the worst thing in the world.

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

Mist7676

Jerry and ani duplicated a 0 and a 3 respectively. If only we'd flip flopped their target delegations.

Try that 0 again. Someone's gotta break this skid we're on, surely.

[yabbaguy]

Prodding CJ...

[yabbaguy]

NoWhammies11

Fifth and final attempt to give ourselves an insurance policy in case green should the coin flip go wrong. Of course "collapse" referring to a color losing its last golden sphere which....doesn't look all that likely for green. ^_^

NoWhammies11, they seem to be giving you the oddball pick for some reason. swyellowtail made you the only red player getting a target of 3 and you missed. Now you're the only green player getting a 0 and could be the only green player to cash in.

Let's see...

*NoWhammies11 unlocks the far right sphere, where the 4's ostensibly hidden*

NoWhammies11

*and lifts the lid*

NoWhammies11

*applause from the masses, set turns green*

There you go! Green gets in at the last minute and you're guaranteed $400 now.

NoWhammies11

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over*

(2)

(4)

(1)

(1)

Two colors in immediate danger of collapse. 25% chance we're gonna lose one of those colors now. Will we?

*unlocks*

*lifts the lid*

*gasps*

Whoa!!! Green's running away right now as we've now got every other color on the ropes!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

Mist7676

Green is indeed done but very much on our minds. The remaining three colors are dead even though. We just have to play on as if green isn't your destiny and make the most money we can.

But you've got a 3. Which one's your

least

favorite?

[yabbaguy]

CJ?

[yabbaguy]

Mist7676

Interesting, not a fan of the $25K! Well, we've still got a shot at it. Mist?

Mist7676

*lid lifts*

Mist7676

*awws, set loses color*

Mmmmmmm, Mist could've won if you'd given ultraviolet the vote of confidence. Now the $25K vaporizes.

Mist7676

Clear down at the other end was the 4.

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(1)

(4)

(1)

(1)

If it's green, that $400 bugger gets a little less threatening. If it's any other color, that's the end of it. Huge ramifications here.

*click*

*flip*

*gasps,

$2,000

chyron shatters on screen*

And that's Optimize history, CJ! The first time that red has been the first color to collapse!

But that's not at a welcome time. You shed the $25K and now suddenly the $20K has crumbled away with green looming larger. But now you've got a pretty good shot at $15K because you've got 2 discards along the way!

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

So, you've got only one color to make money but you can attack it anytime you choose. Well, as long as blue sticks around. ^_^

Target of 2 - try for a better target or play it now?

[yabbaguy]

DiplomatDC

High target, but there could still be a way. He didn't keep track of his sphere tendencies like I have, he's crept across little by little - left, left, center-left, center in the past 4.

DiplomatDC

Now he finds himself clear away from his distant memories as DC tries to overcome this skid. It's for $6,000 - go for it!

*DC flips lid*

DiplomatDC

*everyone cheers, set flashes blue*

One more and we're there! Blue advances to $6,000!

DiplomatDC

But...

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, everyone groans as I walk over*

(4)

(1)

(1)

...one more blue and that very same amount of cash is gone.

Will it be after a flip of this lid? Or can we finally make a dent in this ominous clump of green?

*unlocks*

*unveils the contents*

YES!!! It is gone!

*everyone audibly gasps and groans as the

$6,000

chyron shatters beneath a stunned CJMiller*

Guess what CJ? With blue's collapse, there's now no more money left to win in the game. HOWEVER - you still have that $10K on ultraviolet. It's a 1 in 5 shot but you might just be able to do it. Here we go everyone, we really could use your support now!

*loud cheers as everyone cheers on CJ's impending decision*

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

D3f3nd3r

We'll get to you 3 stranded players in a bit. But we have a bit more important business to take care of right now...

[yabbaguy]

*metallic doors behind the golden spheres swing open, adjudicator stands there cross-armed in the shadow of a bright spotlight and fog swirling about in the doorway. The golden spheres start sliding back towards him, then stop in front of him. The metal doors then swing shut*

Well, I don't think we've had a Finale quite like this...



Four greens at a motley

$400

apiece.



And just one glimmer of hope. A

$10,000

ultraviolet golden sphere.

When the five golden spheres come back, they'll have all their cash inside. Your task is to find just the ONE golden sphere that will pay you the big bucks. But however much cash is actually inside, that's what you win. $400 is guaranteed at least no matter what.

Oddly this doesn't seem to panic me somehow. The expectations are low but on the other hand, what the heck, you never know. Nothing to lose and everything to gain now.

Bring on the spheres!

*spotlights start swirling around as the doorway opens one more time, this time with the golden spheres sliding all the way out towards center stage in a line of 5. They eventually stop short of me and CJMiller as the doors swing shut, then the spotlights shine on the golden spheres brightly, with everything else in the background dim*

[$400] x4

[$10,000] x1

Remember they're in the same order as we secured them. The first two you banked earlier with those 4s, the latter three were the ones we never touched because all your opportunities had collapsed.

Don't look away now JDGA, there's still time for one more bit of crazy. CJ...it's over to you. You've got one shot. Can you make it count?

[yabbaguy]

[$400] x4

[$10,000] x1

There's only one way for this to be a huge winner...



I hope you've found it...







We've dragged out the suspense over those few days already, so we might as well find out now if you've pulled off a huge 20% pick.


CJMiller...


You have...

*flips lid dramatically*

*everyone awws*

$400. You missed the longshot, I'm afraid.

*everyone applauds supportively*

*I walk over to reveal the rest*

[CJMILLER]
{$400}

Clear down at the other end, unlucky. That was the first golden sphere you locked up all game, heh.

Well, we have a bit of unfinished business before we wrap up this episode...

[yabbaguy]

orcinus_theoriginal

xtopherusD

D3f3nd3r

You three, if you can call out where

all five

of your spheres are located, you'll be in the next game of Optimize. Good luck!

[yabbaguy]

Since never.

Let's go for 0-4-1-3-2.

D3f3nd3r

*buzzer*

That would've been a 4 in live play!

[yabbaguy]

I think

mine

are 0-4-1-3-2!

xtopherusD

*buzzer*

Well we had two cracks at 04132, still no dice. xD

Still a few hours remaining for orcinus. Does he dare join the bandwagon?

[yabbaguy]

Holy shit, what an upgrade. We liked the old sepia-wood set, but nah, let's just go with every other modern primetime game show nowadays and just make everything black, fuck it. xD

But no seriously, awesome.

[yabbaguy]

I think mine are 0-4-1-3-2

Third time lucky?

orcinus_theoriginal

*buzzer, laughter from everyone*

Nope, nobody had 0-4-1-3-2 today! By the looks of it, Xalxe will remain our next contender! Once I get done with this bastard essay, I'll send him the details.

[yabbaguy]

PMing Xalxe now. Geez what a week. x_x

[yabbaguy]

Sorry, just didn't want to start filming on April Fool's Day. You never know with you lot...

---

$500,000 is on the line.



But this isn't just luck.

This... is Optimize!

*Intro Theme, camera spins around with a quick glance at 20 virtual sets of spheres. It zooms in one set which spontaneously opens to show the innards of the spheres. A golden sphere flies in, spins around while it's opening, and shows a red $0 sign inside. It shuts, spins and opens again, and this time shows an ultraviolet $500,000 (where 0,01 euro and 1 000 000 euros are shown). The sphere closes and opens again, now showing all sorts of game components flying around on screen, with amounts of money on different colored backgrounds flying into the monitor and all the spheres are flying about. An ultraviolet sphere then flies in where it should be in the logo as its button turns red and the other letters fly in as the theme concludes.*

*main theme, out I come from under the monitor, which lifts up "magically" so that I can come through the walkway onto the stage*

Hiiiiiii everyone!!! Hello audience!

*audience applauds, players are seen clapping as I come on out, theme dies down after I make my long walk out to the center of the Arena*

Welcome all to another game of our new season of Optimize. Well, 6 games down and we've seen 2 each of red, blue, and most recently green results. Unfortunately, for CJ, he learned the hard way just how fickle those golden spheres can be. After green had been dwindled down to $400 after just round 12, the green golden spheres, as per their tradition, just did not want to go anywhere. He had a glimmer of hope with $10K, which would've been our first UV win of the new season, but alas, $400 it would be.

Now, our next contender - our lucky seventh and coming to us from Italy nowadays, it's Xalxe!!!

*everyone cheers, the lift platform ascends and brings Xalxe up with it. Spotlights swirl around, as do chase lights as the lift platform completes its ascent all the way to the top, bringing all the lighting back to normal*

Hi Xalxe. Still remember that day you taught me it was pronounced zal-ZAY.

Well, there you are, the 100 colorful spheres and the 20 golden spheres surround you at last. How do you plan to overcome them?

[yabbaguy]

If I update any slower, he'll use his

secret mod powers

*cough cough* against me, I bet. xD

Xalxe, you've got four sectors to make money on. You, like it seems with a bunch of contenders, picked a 3 to start your game off from our silver sphere drawing backstage. Find someone who can pick a colorful sphere from 0-4 that's higher than that target, and that same color money ladder moves up one space. However, you only get the money on one of those ladders at the end, and that's determined by the color of golden sphere you pick at the end. Keep your eyes open - those odds are gonna shift as we go.

Let's go!

*monitor loads in, camera swoops around to show Xalxe's intimidating view of all the spheres that lie before him*

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

First time I get to host while on this shiny black set. At least

I

set my forum this way.

Right, whoever you pick only can win you money if they find that 4 sphere, so I'd suggest picking the color you don't really want to build up today. Buono fortuna!

[yabbaguy]

orcinus_theoriginal

Indeed an interesting choice, orcinus has yet to find his 4, but he's also yet to be in the sector that paid off at the end of the game. Let's see!

orcinus, you're first. Good luck! Those five spheres have numbers 0-4, find the only sphere that's higher than a 3 and you've got green up to $400.

[yabbaguy]

Original Roll String: 5d5

5 5-Sided Dice: (3, 2, 3, 3, 3) = 14

[yabbaguy]

Spheres 4 and 1 selected.

orcinus_theoriginal

*lid bends back on its hinge, revealing the contents inside the lid*

orcinus_theoriginal

*audience cheers explosively, set turns green*

Oh hey! Green is spared as it advances to $400 instead! Brilliant!

Now in every round we open two spheres. However, since you opened a 4, we're gonna take this time to open another one of orcinus' spheres. Otherwise you'd have a 4 for your next target. Annnnnnd...that'd suck.

So, here we go. This sphere can't affect the cash, but it becomes your next target whatever it is. Hope it's a 0...

orcinus_theoriginal

*here it comes!*

orcinus_theoriginal

*oohs, applause*

Nearly! That's a great start to the game!

orcinus_theoriginal

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

If one tries to fail and succeeds, what did they do? I have a feeling I've done that joke before on this show. I can never remember. xD

So, that went swimmingly. Target of 1 should

supposedly

be simpler.

[yabbaguy]

NoWhammies11

The only player who struck big bucks yesterday for the green sector! Let's see if 11 can beat his first target of 1.

[yabbaguy]

NoWhammies11

*flip*

NoWhammies11

*applause, everything flashes blue momentarily*

Two in a row! We could still have our first perfect 20 out of 20!

...okay, I think the eventual heat death or collision with the Andromeda galaxy would statistically be more likely to happen first. xD

NoWhammies11

You had a couple of them right!

Now for this second sphere of the round, it's gonna be a golden sphere:

*spotlights all focus on the golden spheres as the surroundings go dark, I walk over*

(8)

(6)

(4)

(2)

At the end of the game, you only get one of those amounts of money you've been building up in each of our 4 sectors. Which sector's cash you actually win is determined by the golden sphere you select, or are stuck with, at the end of the game.

But every time we don't waste our time fixing a target of 4, we drop a golden sphere instead. That's gonna mess with the odds of each amount paying off, so be careful!

*counts off the first one, unlocks the second one*

That first one is the one you saved by picking that 4.

*lid comes up to reveal...*

[gasping intensifies]

From whence you came! Blue takes a big knock and it's down to 3 golden spheres!

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

Back to that pesky target of 3, but you knocked the last one over. If you can find a 4 or a 0 here, perfect.

[yabbaguy]

puzzledan

I'm realizing there's a lot of flukes considering how this queue got a lot of names jammed in edgewise as we went. For instance, this is only dan's first time opening an ultraviolet sphere.

This time we're not terribly interested in the $500K. Although, puzzledan, if you come over the top of THIS 3, that'll be a 3-bagger to start the game.

[yabbaguy]

You last pulled a 4 in Feirei's game I believe. Well, what the heck, let's see indeed!

puzzledan

*puzzledan raises the hatch*

puzzledan

*awws, set flashes grayscale*

Xalxe, I'm afraid math finally caught up to you. In fact, dan actually needed the easiest target in fact to pay off there.

puzzledan

*spotlights light up golden spheres, I step over to them*

(8)

(6)

(3)

(2)

You did send a 3 to ultraviolet. I wonder if the golden spheres will vindicate that decision in the end. In every game of the new edition so far, they have.

*flip*

*oohs*

That's now a hit to both of the colors you've got money on already. Uh oh!

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

Started with a 3, then a 1, then a 3, now your target's on 1. The seesaw is in motion.

Who to?

[yabbaguy]

JasonWazza

Ahh the difference an early 4 makes. Now we give green a much simpler target this time as the ubiquitous $4,000 is next in line.

JasonWazza

JasonWazza plays copycat with puzzledan's picks...

*JasonWazza raises the lid*

JasonWazza

*audience applauds, set flashes green*

...and this time it works! Two for two on green after we started out with a death wish against it. How flimsy strategies can become once you're in the Arena, eh?

JasonWazza

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(8)

(5)

(3)

(2)

Of course, I spoke of green so highly, but it did lose a golden sphere last...

Ready or not, another golden sphere goes away now. Let's see...

*unlocks the latch*

*flips the hatch*

*gasps*

Uh oh, green golden spheres drop two times on the trot! That's gonna slow down the optimism considerably.

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

A lot of answers but maybe even more questions for the green sector after that sequence. Hmmmmm...

First time the 2 appears as a target. Which sector gets it?

[yabbaguy]

JDGA

I thought "fuck it" was the name of the strategy. Meh, semantics.

Due to the turbulence of the golden spheres, that's now 3 visits to the green sector all with 3 different targets. Can JDGA bring green up to $10,000? Let's see!

JDGA

*JDGA bends back the lid*

JDGA

*groans from all, set flashes grayscale*

Ouch, two bricks from JDGA ever since he's gotten back into the wings. But you put a mediocre target on that 0 so you did it pretty much right. Just got unlucky.

JDGA

First then fourth would've been a dandy, by contrast.

*across I go to the lit up golden spheres*

(8)

(4)

(3)

(2)

If red doesn't show here, it's up to a 50% chance of showing at the end of your game. If that's where the money is actually being won, that's really interesting because you've yet to make a single visit there! But let's see...

*unlocks*

*flip*

*applause*

Well, red it is indeed. Makes the bigger money colors a little more likely!

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

And that's what a target of 0 looks like. Now you've gotta really survey that Mega Monitor and figure out where you think you can do the most damage. Above all though, don't waste the 0 because you're winning more often than not against the spheres, which is awesome.

[yabbaguy]

College is almost over....hallelujah...

Kcdaspot

Sixth pick and we finally our make first stop to red. Kc, welcome back! Get the red sector rolling - and even if you don't want to, well, good luck because your target's the easy one. xD

[yabbaguy]

*laughter as Kcdaspot unlocks the selection*

Kcdaspot

*Kcdaspot lifts up the lid*

Kcdaspot

*audience applauds, everything goes red*

Far from, red starts off very strong!

Kcdaspot

*set goes dark except for the shining golden spheres, I walk over*

(7)

(4)

(3)

(2)

Let's see the next golden sphere to go.

*click*

*lid comes up*

*groans from the crowd, some look of annoyance from me*

Yikes. The home of the $200,000 just took a second hit. Not getting a whole lot of cooperation from the golden gallery.

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

Xalxe, you're playing it well but you're getting run ragged already. Golden spheres are dropping away where we don't really want them and now you've got that ugly target for the third time this game.

Meh. You'll find a way I'm sure.

[yabbaguy]

Tragedy

What's the Tragic pun counter up to now? I've lost track. xD

We've got a bad outlook on the blue sector, so the worst target goes blue's way for our second trip. Let's see what comes out of Tragedy's spheres (if you're around)!

[yabbaguy]

Only because we've been so slow anyway, I'll allow it if you're quick.

[yabbaguy]

Tragedy

*Feirei flips the lid up mid-cartwheel*

Tragedy

*cheers, set flashes blue*

Xalxe, you're getting great fortune from these colorful spheres! That's twice now you've gone 4 over 3!

Well, the good news is that when you get a 4, you don't have to deal with those pesky golden spheres. That's pretty convenient considering how much they've misbehaved this game. We'll save the trip over there and instead...

Tragedy

...we'll hope that this lovely acrobatic maneuver ends perfectly. This only sets your next target, low low low please!

*Feirei does another aerial "assault" on the sphere as its contents are revealed*

Tragedy

*audience awws, but applauds anyway*

Well hey, we put a target of 3 on that so that's still a well spent turn. Knocked the target back AND got a result.

Tragedy

End to end for the 4-0? That would've been one crazy handstand if you'd attempted that.

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy
Nobody Special

So hard to pin anything down. You try to squish blue, and BOING it springs right up to $6,000 on you. Then you try and capture blue and the golden spheres run away faster than pepper in a bowl of water when you put dish soap on your finger and then touch it.

(Seriously, try it.)

And now you've got this wibbly wobbly target of 2 which... at least you used to smash a brick the last time you saw it. What are you gonna try this time?

[yabbaguy]

I totally forgot to declare my V/LA to France. Hopefully later tonight my time I'll be able to update though.

This is just for the rest of the week.

[yabbaguy]

Nobody Special

If Nobody Special cashes in, the last 2 empty golden spheres will each get $1,000 to put you in the money for sure.

Nobody Special

*the lid trembles in NS' shaky hand as it lifts up*

Nobody Special

*loud cheers, everything flashes violet*

ANOTHER 4!!! What a run of color spheres we're getting here!

In fact, we've seen a single 0, a single 1, a single 2, two 3s, and three 4s. Wowie zowie.

Well, with those pesky golden spheres still serving a suspension right now, we've got a huge chance to blow a hole in this game if this target is lower. What's in that other sphere?

Nobody Special

*NS nearly jostles the sphere out of its holster as he unsteadily lifts the lid*

Nobody Special

*some exasperation, but applause nonetheless from the audience*

Aha, the same result! Whaddaya know!

Nobody Special

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

So, congratulations first of all, you will be taking some money out of this game.

*everyone applauds*

This is the exact same quandary you were faced with that round except now ultraviolet's up a tick. Still the same target of 2, still those same annoying array of 15 golden spheres left.

Does that change which sector gets this 2?

[yabbaguy]

Prodding Xalxe again now that I know this forum seems to be working. *crosses fingers*

[yabbaguy]

Deleting cookies does the trick. Or going into some "safe/incognito" browsing window. I suppose. ^_^

IceGuy

Third time ultraviolet's been given a difficult target to contest with. But if IceGuy beats it anyway, a $10,000 glimmer comes onto the horizon.

Also that would be the first time he's found a sphere above a 2

at all

if I'm not mistaken.

[yabbaguy]

I now have this weird temptation to change my delete key so that it's red and says those words on it.

IceGuy

*IceGuy bends back the lid*

IceGuy

*audience awws, set turns gray*

Hey, there's still always a next time.

Well, that 2 went on a 0 so that's good play. UV is the first sector to lose twice though, it's down to a $25K maximum.

IceGuy

0/4'd it. You'll get it next time, I hope.

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I get startled*

Oh yeah, this part.

*audience laughs*

It's been a while.

(7)

(4)

(2)

(2)

Staggeringly in favor of red still. If red doesn't appear in this golden sphere, it's gonna be up to a 50% of appearing. That would be really interesting because you've still got four players left over there. Hmm.

*reaches my hand into the second row, counts off two, and snaps the lock on the next golden sphere*

*flips it up*

*audience oohs*

But it is red! Ooooooh boy indeed.

JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

See, it's interesting. If red made it to $50K, green and UV couldn't possibly get that high. But it's still 4 wins away, so it's difficult to tell whether that red golden sphere dropping is a good thing or not.

That said, your only other 0 of the game did go to red. We all now wonder what you'll do this time.

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

By contrast, here's a guy who's only shown up with a sphere less than 2 once. However, that would be last game's 0 on 0.

Let's see if he gets back to his dominating ways with the spheres now. We really want that $50K to stay put as long as we can.

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

*the lid arises*

JerryArr

*groans from the crowd, set loses color*

That hurt. 0 wasted on a 0 and the $50K we were so interested in has now vanished.

...

Yikes.

JerryArr

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(6)

(4)

(2)

(2)

Maybe red's not so good anymore for us. We'll see. We lost two blue golden spheres but if the other two stick around for a while, we could have a shot at that $200K. Let's see...

*unlocks the sphere*

*turns up the lid*

*audience applause*

Red now with the lowest maximum loses another golden sphere. I like it.

Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

Well, you put a 0 on red hoping to boost it, and literally the exact opposite has happened. Such are the spheres sometimes. >_>

Halfway through. Let's get the ball rolling for the second half and get this 0 working, whaddaya say?

[yabbaguy]

animorpherv1

Undeterred by that last cycle, Xalxe presses red again. animorpherv1 also has had really bad luck trying to tame his spheres. Will they FINALLY cooperate with him today? I hope so!

[yabbaguy]

animorpherv1

*ani silently turns up the lid*

animorpherv1

*loud cheers from the crowd, ani celebrates, set flashes red*

THERE you go!

*more cheering*

ani doesn't just end the curse, he utterly tears it up. Wowie. Red advances to $2,000.

The only pity is that ani was only against a 0, so we didn't give him nearly the challenge he deserved. But here's a new one: can he keep Xalxe on this target of 0? That would be excellent news...

animorpherv1

*lid rises*

animorpherv1

*awws from crowd*

Can't win them all. Still, four 4s this early in the game is a wonderful thing to see.

animorpherv1

Drench
Mist7676

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

This 3 comes at a very interesting crossroads because every color's still quite a bit of potential. But you're gonna have to make a tough choice now.

[yabbaguy]

Where are you Xalxe?

[yabbaguy]

DiplomatDC

Y'know, if orcinus at green had done anything other than get a 4, I wonder if the 3s would be flying towards green. Instead, we now have another high target headed for ultraviolet.

DiplomatDC, if you can find the 4 by chance, it does upgrade ultraviolet to $10,000.

[yabbaguy]

DiplomatDC

*DC lifts up the lid quickly*

DiplomatDC

*everyone cheers, surprising DiplomatDC out of his pessimistic fog, everything turns violet*

THAT'S why you keep getting high targets, DC. We knew you'd get there eventually. Ultraviolet with two 4s and a 0 is almost entirely doing the work on its own as it advances to $10,000.

Well guess what DC, it matters...

DiplomatDC

This is the

fifth

4 at this point (DC was 12th to pick in fact), but we haven't turned the 4/0 yet...

...

Is this the one?

*DC turns up the lid more expectantly this time*

DiplomatDC

*audience groans the loudest it ever has after any backup pick*

Not the one, or the zero.

*rimshot...audience catches on and groans even more*

DiplomatDC

Drench
Mist7676

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

D3f3nd3r

The only way you could've been more perfect is if you made puzzledan's 1 a winner back at turn 3.

Everybody

else has shown you 0s or winners, it's near-perfection.

*oooohs, cheers from everyone*

Well, maybe we'll topple jmj3000's record of

six 4s

so far in the Reloaded era. We're very likely to tie it. You'll want to find that or a 0 with this target.

[yabbaguy]

Mist7676

Mist's in the same boat, challenged often, hasn't found a 4 yet in the Reloaded era.

Wherever that psychic energy has gone, we need it now please. That would make 3 wins and $5,000 on red.

[yabbaguy]

Thank you Prof, that means a lot! And I've added you to the list.

Mist7676

*Mist flips the lid*

Mist7676

*loud groans, set flashes gray*

Ooooooooh. That 3 would've been much better with JerryArr's 0, then red would've been played perfectly. So much for red being Xalxe's favorite color now. xD

Mist7676

Picking backwards would've yielded

another

4/3.

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres*

I forgot about you golden spheres again!

(5)

(4)

(2)

(2)

Red's now just all around bad. The $5,000 max is paling in comparison to all three of those other colors. Let's see if we can find another one in...boy I have to count these off again...this one.

*snaps the lock, the color of the latch indicates that it's been broken*

*flips the lid*

*audience cheers*

Yeah, everyone's cheering it now. We know where red stands.

Drench

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

D3f3nd3r

Nobody's invincible in this game. Sooner or later, if you get that many 3s from the spheres, you're surely gonna have a hiccup like that eventually. The fact that you're still 3 for 5 against that smelly target is astounding.

Now for the

sixth

time this game, please place that 3.

[yabbaguy]

Drench

{$2,000}

[$5,000]

Perhaps this will resuscitate him. In any event, this game needs to be revived after this deluge of bad targets. However, red has one last shot and it rests on the guy who got a 4 last game.

[yabbaguy]

And the dice will determine the ultimate fate of red, it seems...

Original Roll String: 5d5 (STATIC)

5 5-Sided Dice: (3, 1, 5, 4, 5) = 18

[yabbaguy]

I swear on my honor that was 3 then 1 selected, then I was dumb and edited the post to make it OOC. Silly yabb.

[yabbaguy]

Drench

*lid comes up*

Drench

*everyone groans, Xalxe looks exasperated, set flashes grayscale*

(meanwhile the Internet starts for calling for an investigation of the dice)

Not again! ._.

Three 3s and a 4 (and a 0) from red, but its 4 golden spheres will now only be worth $2,000.

Drench

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over*

(4)

(4)

(2)

(2)

Two pair makes a nice poker hand, but we're gonna break one of them now. Red would be great, blue not at all.

*cracks the lock*

*swings the lid up*

*audience oohs, applause*

Just as we enter a three color game, the probabilities begin to even out as green and its tricky $40,000 promise take a third hit.

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

D3f3nd3r

Three color game, which is bad news since your favorite sectors for those 3s is closed for business.

*hangs a tacky CLOSED sign on Drench's sphere rack with a Will Return clock on it*

But we have to play on as if red isn't going to be your fate. UV offers the best prize for one win, blue the best for two or maybe THREE, and green offers neither but is most likely to be your destiny at present.

Surely they can't all have 3s, right? We have to play on under that assumption too.

[yabbaguy]

D3f3nd3r

*money chyrons load in*

{$10,000}

[$25,000]

D3f3nd3r, you're the fourth person in a row to get a target of 3. You got a 4/3 after CJMiller's game

ended

last game. Now, if you hit a 4...

...and preferably NOT a 3.

*laughter from everyone*

...ultraviolet goes to $25,000, which could start a huge momentum surge.

[yabbaguy]

Well he's

picked

4/3 as you've surely seen so...well, let's see.

Let's see if the $25K longshot cashes in.

D3f3nd3r

*flip*

D3f3nd3r

*gasps from the crowd, Xalxe exhales at last, the lighting washes out all the color*

Wow! With two 4s and two 0s, UV has been destined for $10,000

since turn 3

when puzzledan's 1 turned up a loser. Xalxe has done very well to give everyone in that sector high targets in light of that fact.

D3f3nd3r

*golden spheres illuminate, I walk over*

(4)

(3)

(2)

(2)

There are only two colors left. Let's see if this golden sphere is informative or nothing but dramatic.

*click*

*here it comes!*

*audience cheers*

Categorically the best possible result now. No color is going to be cheaper than red.

xtopherusD
bird1111

Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

I'm wondering if your sub-objective has been to reduce the headache you've been facing this whole game. If so, you've handily accomplished that - you're down to 2 colors and the best target possible just with that one visit.

Big possibilities in both remaining colors. Each has beaten a target of 3 to stay on the map thus far. Which one are you going to seek out?

[yabbaguy]

Cheery Dog

{$6,000}

[$15,000] [$60,000] [$200,000]

Well, if $200K is a possibility from blue, it remains one now. If this isn't a 0, blue very likely is going to be worth a massive amount of cash.

Time to put it back to a target of 3 (evil)

You cheeky bastard. Well good luck with that because you haven't found a 3 yet.

Cheery Dog

*CD grins and lifts up the lid*

Cheery Dog

*everyone cheers, set flashes blue*

There it is!

*more cheering*

Well, maybe not

that 3

necessarily, but blue's now just 2 steps away from $200,000!

Cheery Dog

He picked the 3 second. So close.

*golden spheres illuminate, I head over*

(3)

(3)

(2)

(2)

The colors are pretty close to even as it turns out. This is a tight horse race here as we come down the stretch to the fourth row.

*unlocks the next golden sphere*

*flips the lid*

*audience groans loudly, some players headdesk, Xalxe looks to the heavens*

That slashes your chances at $200K dramatically. :\

*more chatter*

At best, blue's chances could rise back up to the 20% from whence it started. But there's a lot of cash out there - it's basically become as volatile and risky as the ultraviolet sector

usually

is. The question is, does that stop you?

xtopherusD
bird1111

KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

Not only is that a tough question, you have to give us an ambiguous answer with that target of 2.

[yabbaguy]

bird1111

*chyrons light up*

{$4,000}

[$10,000] [$40,000]

bird's picked 3, 3, and most recently 4 in the past three games. If the trend continues, green goes up to $10,000 and remains perfectly played (JDGA hit a 0).

bird1111

He

picks

4/2 just like his result last game...

*bird takes hold of the lid and pries it up*

bird1111

*audience groans, set turns gray*

Now the color spheres are just wreaking havoc. After such a nice setup in the early game, now they're just being a brutal tease with all these high numbers.

bird1111

*spotlights shine on golden spheres, I walk over*

(3)

(3)

(1)

(2)

If this happens to be the blue, what a pity it would be, but then the two discards you would gain would put you in good shape against xtopherusD's green spheres.

The aim is for a red to drop. Let's see...

*unlocks the next golden sphere*

*lid rises*

*oohs from the crowd...then supportive applause*

There goes a $10K opportunity. But cash in on green and you'll have it in three more golden spheres as well.

xtopherusD

KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

Does this 2 go back to green, or over to blue?

If the answer is green, you can set KA and Coug's order in the same post. But it is entirely your decision.

[yabbaguy]

*audience laughs*

xtopherusD

KingdomAces

StrangerCoug

There they are. You three can pick your own spheres the instant you see this, but of course we'll resolve them in order. We'll discuss the ramifications of each pick as we come to each.

[yabbaguy]

I'm pretty sure that there are better ways for you to cheat the game than to use pre-rolled dice.

*audience laughs*

True. I'll keep that in mind (jkjkjk).

xtopherusD

{$4,000}

[$10,000]

Green's gotten targets of 2 on average and it's doing rather well by it. Despite the slight pessimism, we could be looking at $10,000 now. xtopherusD's picked last, but unlike last game, this time his sphere could mean a whole lot to us.

xtopherusD

*xtoph flips up the lid*

xtopherusD

*audience gasps, set turns colorless*

Two 0s from green! Oof. We'll load their three golden spheres up with $4,000.

xtopherusD

*spotlights light up golden spheres, I walk across*

(3)

(3)

(1)

(1)

A blue here and we're done, straight on to the Finale with a slim chance at $10K. Blue is our absolute last chance to secure some big money so we really want it to stay put.

*unlocks the next golden sphere*

*turns up the lid*

*muted gasps and audible murmurs from the crowd,

$10,000

chyron shatters beneath Xalxe*

Bang-bang, and UV's gone just like that, endorsing your strategy of giving it high targets. Please please please let that blue be one of the 5 we've locked up.

KingdomAces
StrangerCoug

The situation has clarified. It's 1 golden sphere we're dealing with, but it's now got the best possible chance to go to $200,000 at this point. We go to KA first...

[yabbaguy]

KingdomAces

{$15,000}

[$60,000] [$200,000]

It seems like all that cash is just a dream, but let's dream as big as we can here. KingdomAces found a 0 previous game and, whaddaya know, a 4/3 the game before that. Both times he was playing for keeps as his sector paid out.

This one's for $60K so we really hope it's for keeps this game as well.

KingdomAces

*KA dramatically whisks up the lid*

KingdomAces

OH - that's fine!

*loud cheers from everyone, set flashes blue*

If that result's locked us into $60,000 on blue, so be it. That would be an absolutely spectacular result after all that's happened in this game.

KingdomAces

*laughter from everyone*

Copypasta of the OP. I think you're the first person in the new Optimize to get that arrangement.

*golden spheres illuminate, I walk over*

(3)

(3)

(1)

Could be the last trip over here - either you hit a 4 or we hit a blue right now and the game ends. Let's see...

*reaches down and unlocks the next golden sphere*

*flip*

*audience cheers*

The blue stays put! Now it's 1/6 to show up at the end!

StrangerCoug

One last hurdle on the way. Will the blue golden sphere stay put and will Coug stuff it to the brim? We'll find out after this commercial break!



It'll end later today, I believe.

[yabbaguy]

StrangerCoug

{$60,000}

[$200,000]

This is it. If StrangerCoug can provide blue's second 4 of the game along with Tragedy's, then the maximum cash amount has been achieved.

StrangerCoug has never found a 4. Or a 0 in fact. He's never been a guaranteed anything for any sector.

Let's see...

StrangerCoug

4's been in that sphere seven times this game. Will it be eight?

*Coug flips the lid left-handedly*

StrangerCoug

*audience groans, set flashes grayscale*

Not to be, if only we'd picked KA and Coug the other way around. But that's just unlucky, $60,000 would still be a wonderful result if it can be managed.

StrangerCoug

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, everyone murmurs, I walk over*

(3)

(2)

(1)

One last piece of business to take care of before the Finale. At this juncture, you have a 1/6 chance of winning $60,000. Either it increases to a 1/5 chance or it's gone. Simple as that.

*unlocks the last golden sphere*

*flip*

*audience cheers*

The blue cash survives! You had the golden sphere secured!



Stand by, let's see if we can pull this off.

[yabbaguy]

*metallic doors behind the golden spheres swing open, adjudicator stands there cross-armed in the shadow of a bright spotlight and fog swirling about in the doorway. The golden spheres start sliding back towards him, then stop in front of him. The metal doors then swing shut*

There go the 5 golden spheres you saved up. In a moment, they'll emerge with the cash you've loaded onto their sectors.

They are as follows -



Two reds worth

$2,000

, despite the sector having three 3s and a 4.



Two greens worth

$4,000

, which is great considering it had two 0s working against it.



And finally, this gleaming blue golden sphere worth

$60,000

!

*audience cheers*

The golden spheres are going to return shortly. When they do, you simply pick one of them, and you'll win all the cash attached to its sector. They're going to be arranged in the same order as they were secured earlier in the game with those 4s you got.

Here they come...

*spotlights start swirling around as the doorway opens one more time, this time with the golden spheres sliding all the way out towards center stage in a line of 5. They eventually stop short of me and Xalxe as the doors swing shut, then the spotlights shine on the golden spheres brightly, with everything else in the background dim*

[$2,000] x2

[$4,000] x2

[$60,000] x1

Just remember - you've got at least $2,000 no matter what. No consolation prizes thanks to your decision to forsake ultraviolet.

But we're hoping for a lot, lot more. You've got one crack at $60,000. Good luck, go get it.

[yabbaguy]

*takes down the golden sphere and puts it on the pedestal*

[$2,000] x2

[$4,000] x2

[$60,000] x1

First of all, it's about damn time we finally could finish this game. Sorry about that.



You've gone through a lot of headache and bewilderment in this one.



You started optimistic about red, but then that quickly waned as it suddenly started getting targets of 3 instead of 0. Is that going to be your destiny?



Green seemed uneventful, only two results were changeable, and the average target it got was a 2. Could that boring sector and its mundane $4,000 result actually be the one of interest?


Or...



Have you found yourself with the blue jackpot we're after?



As advertised at the beginning, you've got a 20% chance.



And perhaps if not for Tragedy's 4 over the 3 you gave her...perhaps you would've kept giving the blue sector your 3s. What a difference one sphere can make.

*unlocks the golden sphere*

Good luck, Xalxe.





We really hope right now that you've found the one.






You have...

*flips lid*

*everyone awws, set turns solid red*

$2,000. The minimum, but again, a great minimum.

*applause from all*

Mathematically, I'd rather put one $60K sphere into my Finale rather than two $20K spheres. You really did the best you could and could afford to gamble since this $2K result isn't at all the worst that could've happened. Sometimes the good ideas aren't the right ones.

Let's prove the rest were there...

[XALXE]
{$2,000}

Wow. Blue was safe from the very beginning of this game.

Stand by, another game starting shortly, and I believe it's Nobody Special.

*NS faints*

Or maybe not so shortly. xD

[yabbaguy]

[yabbaguy]

*spotlights dim*

*everyone fidgets nervously*

*and impatiently*

*finally one shines on me*

---

$500,000 is on the line.



But this isn't just luck.

This... is Optimize!

*Intro Theme, camera spins around with a quick glance at 20 virtual sets of spheres. It zooms in one set which spontaneously opens to show the innards of the spheres. A golden sphere flies in, spins around while it's opening, and shows a red $0 sign inside. It shuts, spins and opens again, and this time shows an ultraviolet $500,000 (where 0,01 euro and 1 000 000 euros are shown). The sphere closes and opens again, now showing all sorts of game components flying around on screen, with amounts of money on different colored backgrounds flying into the monitor and all the spheres are flying about. An ultraviolet sphere then flies in where it should be in the logo as its button turns red and the other letters fly in as the theme concludes.*

*main theme, out I come from under the rising monitor, through the walkway, and onto the stage*

Welcome all! Welcome, welcome, welcome!

*audience applauds, players are seen clapping as I come on out, theme dies down after I make my long walk out to the center of the Arena*

Welcome all. Yes, this is Optimize, the game of strategy...and although we always say at the top of every show it's not just luck, sometimes every now and then it can really trip you up anyway. Poor Xalxe, not only was he stuck on our virtual Arena for the whole of summer, not only were the spheres a headache during the game in general, but the Finale was what really broke his back. Despite all the turbulence, he managed to find his way into a 20% shot at $60,000 which gave us great hope. Not to be...but thanks to his keen sense to avoid ultraviolet, which predictably collapsed again this game, he avoided the consolation territory entirely and ended up with $2,000.

Not bad, Xalxe. Meanwhile, here comes the most fidgety contender you'll ever see. Don't let the name fool you, but here he is...

Nobody Special

!

*everyone cheers, the lift platform ascends and brings Nobody Special up with it, who looks around nervously and takes in the scenery. Spotlights swirl around, as do chase lights as the lift platform completes its ascent all the way to the top, bringing all the lighting back to normal*

Are you Nobody, too? Why, there's a pair of us!

*the few in the audience who get the reference cheer*

How are you feeling going into this game?

[yabbaguy]

We hope so too, but you only have to be lucky in the right spot to get away with some cash. Let's hope that's the case.

*100 colorful spheres rise out to greet the 20 players in the gallery*

There they are. Four colorful sectors for you to make money.

You picked a

zero

for your target which probably explains your optimism a bit.



To make money, pick a player, who will then pick a sphere of their sector's color with the numbers 0-4 randomly arranged inside.

*virtual set of color spheres seen closing*

If his or her color sphere's number is higher than your target, you step up on that same-colored cash ladder. Win 5 times on red, and red's worth $50,000. Win 5 times on ultraviolet...and you could be our first $500,000 winner.

*audience cheers*

I say "could be", because you only get to keep one color's cash. And that's determined by picking one of those 20 golden spheres over there at the Finale of your game...

(8)

(6)

(4)

(2)

...containing colors inside, in that distribution you see there. Beware...many golden spheres will drop as the game goes on, which will shift the odds. Keep an eye on them!

All right Nobody Special, the game is yours. You've been impatiently waiting for this moment and here it is at last... good luck!

*audience cheers, Mega Monitor loads in the information*

Lord Mhork
DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
KingdomAces
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

All righty, with this target of 0, you've got an 80% chance of winning on this pick of the spheres, so your opening strategy should be making itself apparent. Pick a player from the sector you want to attack and let's get started.

[yabbaguy]

KingdomAces

Well you're first in his heart it seems, KingdomAces, so congratulations.

Avoid that 0 or else Nobody Special could be in trouble...

*medics hover near the edge of the stage equally anxiously*

... in many different ways. Hmm.

*KA pushes in the button, unlocking the sphere*

KingdomAces

*KingdomAces lifts the lid back on its hinge*

KingdomAces

*everyone cheers, set flashes violet for a second, then back to normal*

Man, starting the game off with a 4 is becoming a huge trend! The only player who's never managed to do that in the leadoff spot? Drench. Thrice.

Of course I literally mean Drench's

spheres

anyway, to be fair.

We open two spheres in every round, usually it's a golden sphere second, but since you picked a 4, we're actually going to open

another

color sphere from KingdomAces' rack. This sphere can't gain or lose you any money; the number inside simply becomes your next target.

Let's see...

KingdomAces

*flip*

KingdomAces

*audience ooooohs at how close that was, then applauds*

In fact, I think every single time a 4 has started a game, the replacement target was a 1! Whaddaya know.

KingdomAces

Lord Mhork
DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
bird1111
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

Glad we're starting off easy. And with this 1, now we're going to get yet another insight into your strategy. Where to?

[yabbaguy]

*the VIP box turns out to be the stuffy room behind the audience where the techies sit, Xalxe is seen quite squished into the setup, audience laughs*

bird1111

bird1111's spheres have never been in the sector that paid off at the Finale. Perhaps today could be the day.

bird1111

*bird lifts up the lid*

bird1111

*audience applauds, set flashes blue*

Blue starts off as well! Your favorite sectors are starting off exactly as you want them too, Nobody Special, that's great.

bird1111

NOW this time for the second sphere of the round, we'll be opening up a golden sphere...

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(8)

(6)

(4)

(2)

As mentioned before, you'll get to pick one of these golden spheres at the end of the game, which will pay you whatever cash is on that same-colored money ladder. But now we're going to

remove

one of these golden spheres from the game, just to mess with the odds for the fun of it.

The first one is secure because we didn't open it on turn 1. Now on turn 2, we'll remove golden sphere #2.

*unlocks it*

*lid rises*

*audience ooooooohs a little worriedly*

Blue built up and knocked down on the same turn! So did this turn

really

win you $600? We're not so sure now.

Lord Mhork
DiplomatDC
puzzledan
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

Now the dreaded target of 3. Hopefully you can find a 4 or 0 now since a big, bad target is never going to change the outcome of those spheres.

[yabbaguy]

And I never had an opinion.

puzzledan

That's a very interesting pick to statistics extrapolaters (slash bullshitters) like me; puzzledan was the only ultraviolet player in Xalxe's game who

didn't

pick a 4 or 0.

But we're hoping for one of those results now as we break the ice on red.

[yabbaguy]

puzzledan

*puzzledan whisks up the lid*

puzzledan

*everyone groans, set flashes gray, NS looks a little woozy*

Don't like to see 3s going down the drain. Don't worry, he'll be okay! (right?)

puzzledan

*spotlights light up golden spheres, I come across*

(8)

(6)

(3)

(2)

Blue went down first time. Not so good since we're clearly swinging for the big cash here. Let's see if we can go lower this time.

*flips the lid*

*everyone gasps*

Another

blue gone! Well, well, well, that's very intriguing.

Lord Mhork
DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

The target of 3 is out in force, carryover from last game. Let's hope it doesn't stick around.

[yabbaguy]

Lord Mhork

Man, Nobody Special's straining the newbie here. Either that or he's about to become a hero on day one!

Second time giving red the hard target, will we indeed have that breakthrough from Lord Mhork?

Lord Mhork

*Mhork gingerly lifts up the lid*

Lord Mhork

*audience cheers, set flashes red*
*after taking a second to process the excitement, Lord Mhork celebrates as well*
*Nobody Special can't deal with the excitement at all*

This is why everyone lines up to apply to our posting, no experience necessary! Red is on the board.

Not to stress you out or anything, LM, but now...you've kinda gotta pick again.

This time, you've gotta aim low. Neither CJMiller nor Xalxe enjoyed the benefits of a 4/0. Nor have we seen anyone jump the queue with a perfect sphere selection. But in just this pick of the spheres, you've now got a chance to crush all the gallery's futility at once!

Let's attack that next hurdle now...

Lord Mhork

...and hope it's a 0...

*Lord Mhork opens up the sphere*

Lord Mhork

Close! But that doesn't count in horseshoes, and I'm sure as hell glad those spheres aren't hand grenades.

Dang it. I thought that was gonna be the one.

Lord Mhork

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD
JasonWazza

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

*throws Pepsi out too, it explodes in a geyser in the trash can, I couldn't care less, audience laughs*

Ugh. Not only do I hate that my school's a Pepsi school, rumor has it the president keeps her own stash of Coca-Cola in a secret refrigerator! xD

But thank you anyway.

Nobody Special, you've been gifted cash and a target of 1 now. Make the most of it!

[yabbaguy]

*Nobody Special's butt lands on the floor, audience laughs*

We usually don't have a chair there, but for you we can make an exception.

*darts backstage*

...

*emerges with a dinky off-white folding chair that clashes against the sleek set, unfolds it, and plunks it down so that Nobody Special can sit not-so-comfortably, audience cheers*

Perfect!

JasonWazza

JasonWazza, you've got a good chance to bring blue up to $6,000, 3 steps away from $200K, and Nobody Special 1 step closer to a fainting spell.

[yabbaguy]

I have a different computer at work now, still shoulda updated in evenings. Sowwy.

JasonWazza

*Jason upturns the lid*

JasonWazza

*audience applauds, set flashes blue*

Perfect placement on the 1, and blue reaches $6,000 smoothly!

JasonWazza

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres and dim elsewhere, I walk into the light*

(8)

(6)

(2)

(2)

The problem is of course that blue has taken two hits. We need desperately for that color to stick around or else that $6,000 is looking very bad.

Here goes another one...

*unlocks the last golden sphere of the row*

*up comes the lid*

*audience applauds*

First mention of the green sector tonight! Its first golden sphere drops before we make our first visit there.

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Drench
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

Well there's your first target of 2... I

think

I know what's going to happen, but it will be interesting to see if and when you deviate from the strategy you've indicated these first few turns.

[yabbaguy]

Drench

*Drench isn't standing there*

Time to try and fetch him again, I suppose.

Let's see if green can get on the board and get us in the money quickly!

[yabbaguy]

Had to give it a try.

Original Roll String: 5d5

5 5-Sided Dice: (5, 3, 5, 2, 5) = 20

[yabbaguy]

Far right, middle spheres to be opened.

Drench

*lid arises*

Drench

*everyone cheers loudly, set flashes green*

Mercy, we're 5 for 6 so far! Green starts off with a bang.

Also, half these spheres have been 4s so far. Once again we now must open a second sphere from Drench's assortment...

Drench

Let's see if he (the magic dice rather) can find a way to bust this ages-long drought of 4/0's we've been having in the Arena recently. Let's see!

*flip*

Drench

*everyone cheers, Nobody Special, at his own peril, expresses excitement*

Yes indeed! The 4/0 has appeared at last! \o/

The 4/0 must be picked manually for the Line Jump to occur, so no dice there. Sorry! Also please come back.

Drench

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy
StrangerCoug

There you go, your first $200 is in the bank. Only $499,800 to go???

Make the most of this powerful position - you've got a free 0 and a large realm of possibilities before you.

[yabbaguy]

Sorry I've had such a busy week, and more sorry still that I did it with what I now realize is a bit of a technical glitch we've had here.

Nobody Special, our Mega Monitor

*gasp*

IS WRONG.

*everyone gasps loudly after me, then laughs*

Sure I

said

you had a 0, and Drench's second sphere clearly showed 0, but the big, official-looking, glowing number in the gray circle said 2.

While we sack the operator who fell asleep at the wheel

*Monitor cuts to video of ostensibly him being thrown out and wriggling around in a sack, audience laughs*

, I'll let you change your decision of what player to select if your selection was indeed misinformed.

[yabbaguy]

Right, your target is 0.

[yabbaguy]

StrangerCoug

Yeah, I figured this was more consistent with the strategy.

StrangerCoug, you've got yourself a fine chance to get ultraviolet up to $10,000. Can you pull it off?

[yabbaguy]

Oh yeah, totally should declare V/LA's. I'm dumb.

StrangerCoug

*Coug upturns the lid*

StrangerCoug

*everyone cheers, set flashes violet*

Coug needed no help at all! The Southpaw Special cashes in the 4 at long last for StrangerCoug, and ultraviolet is up to $10,000!

And what's more, more than half of these picks have been 4s. We're talking seven picks into the game and they're absolutely coming out in bigger droves than a swarm of mosquitoes I had the misfortune of encountering.

*

itch

es*

Now then...

StrangerCoug

This sphere is only to determine your next target. It does not win you or los-

Producer in earpiece: Yeah, yeah, we know by now, get on with it!

- right, you know my shtick by now. Just give us a 0 already. xD

*lid flips*

StrangerCoug

*audience awws*

Oh hey, a real 2.

*audience laughs*

Not the most momentous sphere but at least these wins are coming easy today. Maybe the spheres are finally compassionate, they're taking it easy on someone where they might have to pick their final golden sphere from the cardiology ward.

But spheres are spheres and we've still got 13 turns left. Slow down there, yabb, we know nothing yet.

StrangerCoug

Like the lefty was ever gonna be able to reach our 0. xD

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
JerryArr
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

So umm... yeah. You have a 2. Really. No joke.

Is your intention the same?

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

Jerry, to remind you, you had center and center-right when NS thought he would be picking you a round ago. Now that we are legitimately picking you, you have the option to do whatever you please.

We never cracked the locks on any spheres, so they are in the same order as before. Perhaps your mind may have changed?

[yabbaguy]

JerryArr

*JerryArr lifts the lid*

JerryArr

*everyone cheers, I just walk around looking flummoxed as the set flashes from green and back*

...

*cheering still continues*

How is this happening??? Nobody Special is discovering a treasure trove of cash without much effort at all!

Well, I did say we know nothing yet, but usually a run of luck that is a prelude to disaster. Maybe for once that bounceback will never come, it sure is starting to seem that way after the

fifth

4 discovered in this game!

Jerry, can YOU find a 0 now to really continue this heavenly run of spheres?

JerryArr

*the lid rises...*

JerryArr

*audience groans, though of course they're still cheering*

But it's a 2. Just be careful, NS, those spheres can go back to normal...which is generally a very bad thing knowing them...at a moment's notice. Right now though, you're dominating this game.

JerryArr

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
Mist7676
animorpherv1

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

Well, somehow you've just run into really hot spheres to start the game off. In fact, the only blemish, the loss of the $50K on red, was from a 3! So even puzzledan can consider himself part of this really sizzling streak here.

How much longer will you maintain it? The target of 2 boomerangs back, so we're

supposed

to be feeling pessimistic about this pick winning you anything.

[yabbaguy]

animorpherv1

ani found a 4 yesterday to break his winning streak, good timing since that contributed to Xalxe's $2,000 payday yesterday.

jmj3000 had three 4s in a row in his game and we're tied with that chain right now. Can animorpherv1 beat that?

[yabbaguy]

Hell, the spheres are being that generous today. If ani wants to just ask for the 4 and 0, I don't see why that doesn't work today. xD

animorpherv1

*ani lifts up the sphere*

animorpherv1

*audience cheers, set flashes green*

Very nice! ani's finding some hot spheres now, and despite facing targets of 2 each time, the green sector now advances to $10,000!!!

animorpherv1

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, everything else goes dark, I get startled, audience laughs*

Geez, oh uhh, right, this bit. I have a peanut-sized memory sometimes.

*walks around and behind the golden spheres*

(8)

(5)

(2)

(2)

Again, the only significant shift is blue's fallen behind in the golden sphere race. Other than that, we haven't had the time to really make a dent in the original configuration.

Let's see how much that changes.

*skips quite a few, unlocks*

*flips*

*applause*

There we go, the first red to go. Only worth $200 and getting neglected so we like to see that golden sphere drop.

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r
IceGuy

Kcdaspot
Mist7676

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

Only 6% or so of the time do three targets of 2 all win. For green, that's exactly what happened. I wonder if that might become a monkey wrench in your strategy.

Meanwhile, you've got that crummy target of 3. Anyone left that can spare a 4?

[yabbaguy]

IceGuy

IceGuy probably shouldn't be flinching too much at that target of 3 considering the game's events so far. Though we'll see... can we make it $2,000 on red?

[yabbaguy]

*impersonating IceGuy*

"...I'll nominate them for the ALS ice bucket challenge!" xD

*audience laughs*

IceGuy

*IceGuy, still giving me an icy glare for that last pun, lifts the lid*

IceGuy

*audience gasps, color drains from the surroundings*

Good god, another high sphere! But the two 3s that have come out of red are both losers to the equally high targets!

IceGuy

spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(7)

(5)

(2)

(2)

That said of course, red was the previous golden sphere dropped. Lose another red here, and NS' strategy is going to look that much better.

*click*

*upturns the lid*

*oohs*

Ooh, the sector on the doorstep of the big money loses its second life.

DiplomatDC
D3f3nd3r

Kcdaspot
Mist7676

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

In fact, there was ONE sphere beneath a 3 in that first half of the game and that was JasonWazza's 2! Incredible!

But we need to

stop

finding those 3s, because they are

spherae non grata

at the moment. ^_^

[yabbaguy]

See, Nobody Special gets spoiled rotten by these spheres and he's still feeling the heat. Told you this game was fun.

D3f3nd3r

D3f3nd3r, NOBODY has picked a 1 or a 0 yet, halfway through the game. That said, we could...actually kinda use that right now since Nobody Special clearly has turned his back on your sector. Prefixing it with a 4 if there are any left would be great as well.

Hey, of course there's always a 4 left. You've got the same chance as anyone, as always. ^_^

[yabbaguy]

D3f3nd3r

*lid flips*

D3f3nd3r

*more gasps, set turns gray*

*looks around at the other, glaringly high numbers already revealed on stage*

So what's your excuse?

*audience laughs*

Oh well, there goes that streak. Make it three losses for red now.

D3f3nd3r

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I walk over*

(7)

(4)

(2)

(2)

Red's running away in the race right now. Let's see if we can take it down a peg.

*click*

*lifts up the lid*

*murmurs*

Down to 3 green now! Red is currently the runaway favorite! That's not good. x_x

DiplomatDC

Kcdaspot
Mist7676

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Cheery Dog
Tragedy

Don't panic yet - you've now got a solid target and a high chance of making money on this sphere. Who will be the one opening it?

[yabbaguy]

finally I have time.......

Cheery Dog

Ultraviolet has shown up with two 4s already, and we now come to Cheery Dog's spheres hoping that we can make it three wins and $25,000 on ultraviolet. Can we do it?

Cheery Dog

4-1-2-0-3 he says...

*here it comes!*

Cheery Dog

*cheers, set lights sputter having not been used for some time into a violet shade*

That's good! Ultraviolet flawless through three and on $25,000!

Cheery Dog

3 was right, for the rest, just look at the calendar. (Might as well get that joke in before 2015 arrives.) xD

*golden spheres illuminate, I walk over*

(7)

(3)

(2)

(2)

Red's STILL running away in the race after a green fell previously. Now which golden sphere is going to drop?

*flip*

*everyone cheers*

There we go! Red drops a second golden sphere at long last.

DiplomatDC

Kcdaspot
Mist7676

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Tragedy

Well, this is exciting, TWO colors on the doorstep of big money now, and you've got two shots to get UV moving into six figures.

Which color are you gonna try the target of 2 on?

[yabbaguy]

Kcdaspot

{$10,000}

[$40,000] [$100,000]

Can we beat this target of 2 for the fourth time? We're trust Kcdaspot here to get us to the $40,000 mark. He found a 3 in his only other pick in the new edition, after all...

Good luck.

[yabbaguy]

Kcdaspot

*Kc bends back the lid to reveal...*

Kcdaspot

*audience awws, set turns colorless*

Green's showing up with good spheres today, but that 2 is too low for Nobody Special's strategy, unfortunately!

We've still got one more shot at $40,000 still to come...

Kcdaspot

*golden spheres light up, I walk over*

(6)

(3)

(2)

(2)

Let's see which golden sphere drops next.

*with a flair, snaps the lock on the next golden sphere*

*flips up the lid*

*audience oohs, applause*

Well, well, well. Now green, blue, and ultraviolet all have 2 golden spheres each, I think your strategy of aiming for the cash is looking pretty good, Nobody Special.

DiplomatDC

Mist7676

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Tragedy

With high spheres come high targets. How long is your strategy going to keep up, I wonder...

[yabbaguy]

*all eyes on the green sector again*

Mist7676

{$10,000}

[$40,000]

Here it comes, our second and final attempt at the $40,000. Mist, we come to you to hopefully make it succeed with this target of 2. If you find another 2 though...forget that we'll have blown two shots at $40K, but worse, Nobody Special might actually have to do some thinking. Not that he isn't smart, but it'd stress him out like crazy.

Do please pick wisely.

[yabbaguy]

Computer got reimaged recently and I'm not sure I took all the graphics with me. Don't worry though, once I get that and all my stress under control, I'll be updating soon...

[yabbaguy]

Mist7676

Fourth from the left she says...


Let's see...

*Mist flips the lid*

Mist7676

*audience cheers as the set washes in green*

Ohhhhhhh my goodness.

A color that you gave consistently worse-than-average chances of success just fluked its way into $40,000. That is incredible. Three of the green players hit 4s.

Well Mist, now another chance exists to blow this game open. Can you find us that 0 that we've been waiting for a human to get us in this game?

*click*

Mist7676

*flip*

Mist7676

*applause*

Oh yes! Yes, cheer that!

*audience does cheer*

Yes, yes, yes! It's not a 0, but we'll happily accept that 1!

Mist7676

DiplomatDC

JDGA
orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Tragedy

First sector closed, but no 2s around to force you to deviate from your strategy. You've still got TWO colors left with all their potential left, but on the flipside, red with its ominous 6 golden spheres still remaining.

Where will the 1 fit in at this stage in the game?

[yabbaguy]

Welcome CultivationTheory!

JDGA

This late in the game, still only our third visit to the blue sector. JDGA has picked 0s ever since he's come back to the gallery, but on a day like today...will that change?

This would be for $15,000 en route to the $200K. How many colors are going to be worth a fortune today?

[yabbaguy]

JDGA

*JDGA exposes the "orb's" contents*

JDGA

*everyone groans, set turns grayscale, $200K is seen being dissolved from the Mega Monitor*

Okay, fine. Don't change. See if we care.

*audience laughs*

What a drag! But, Nobody Special you've still got two players in blue who could still drive it to $60,000.

*applause from everyone*

JDGA

That 4's always been on JDGA's left-hand sphere. Or right I guess, since he's standing behind them. I don't know. Imagining the set for a virtual game show is hard.

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres, I come over*

(6)

(2)

(2)

(2)

There has been this burning mystery the entire time - can we rid ourselves of these pesky reds? If we hit it, excellent. If we don't, one of your other, more valuable colors is in the danger zone. Let's find out...

*unlocks the final golden sphere of the third row*

*upturns the lid*

*abrupt, loud gasps and groans from the crowd*

...

Oh no!!! Well, that $500,000 ain't dead yet. You can still do it!!!

*gulp*

*audience cheers*

DiplomatDC

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11
Tragedy

How to make two colors look ugly in one turn. Whew.

You've got a very interesting dilemma here. Red's probability is rapidly climbing, but blue's got two golden spheres and good prospects, and ultraviolet still could go the distance.

You have the 0 to place.

[yabbaguy]

I've been making one this whole time! Will upload later.

[yabbaguy]

D'aww. <3

*audience awws, then laughs*

We're still waiting on YOUR selection though. Really. You're not waiting for me for once.

[yabbaguy]

Feirei, feel free to pick for her if she doesn't within 24 hours from now, but carefully please. It's for $100,000 after all...

[yabbaguy]

Tragedy

For $100,000 on ultraviolet...

Tragedy

...and a chance at $500,000...




...lift it.

*Tragedy jostles the rust off of the aging lid, then lifts it*

Tragedy

*groans, set loses color, NS faints after just having been awoken*

...oh man. Sorry I kept you waiting for that.

Tragedy

*spotlights illuminate golden spheres*

(6)

(2)

(2)

(1)

Down in the home stretch and ultraviolet's in trouble. Red still the runaway leader and as of a round ago, every turn that passes means 1 red golden sphere is preserved. Will that change here?

*click*

*lifts the lid*

*more groans*

Still $60,000 to pursue in blue but now that option just got less appetizing too.

DiplomatDC

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

NoWhammies11

Four to go. We're almost at the end. Really. I swear. I won't flake. Forgive me. :\

Just hope none of our other four remaining players have either.

Still a LOT of cash to pursue. Can we drive those colors up to $60K or $100K? Let's see...

[yabbaguy]

NoWhammies11

Thanks to your dominating run from earlier, you now have a second attempt at the $100,000. Let's see if we can get it now from NoW!!!

[yabbaguy]

Original Roll String: 5d5

5 5-Sided Dice: (1, 1, 2, 3, 1) = 8

[yabbaguy]

Dice going Southpaw...

NoWhammies11

Second time's the charm, hopefully?

*here it comes!*

NoWhammies11

*everyone cheers loudly, set flashes violet*

Yes!!! Two colors rise to big money!!!

*more cheering*

NoWhammies11

*spotlights dawn on golden spheres, I saunter over*

(6)

(2)

(1)

(1)

However...another golden sphere is going down the drain. You've got 3 golden spheres combined on the big money colors, but red's still sticking out like a sore thumb. Can we hit one of the reds this time?

*undoes the next latch*

*lifts the lid*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo

oooooooooo

...

*loud groans,

$100,000

chyron shatters beneath where NS is...supposed to be standing, except he's fainted*

Well, we came prepared for this...

*medics rush out*

DiplomatDC

orcinus_theoriginal
xtopherusD

Well, err.......you've got a 3. Red only has Lord Mhork's 4 to speak of, but maybe DC's spheres will cooperate and you'll have a $2,000 insurance policy on that mountain of red undiscovered in the Golden Gallery.

But then again, despite collapsing $100,000 - you've STILL got a shot at making blue worth a fortune if you can get a pair of wins there. You started out that well.

As always, this is not a suggestion of who to pick, but

if

you're picking DiplomatDC, feel free to set the order of orcinus and xtoph in the same post!

[yabbaguy]

DiplomatDC

orcinus_theoriginal

xtopherusD

He says he needs the 4 from Diplomat. Only that sphere will work. If we get it though...perhaps we can get a target low enough to really go after the big money on blue. Hope so.

All three of you please make your picks now simultaneously. We'll reveal them in NS' chosen order.