The 08 show was a huge success!

We had a great Otakon and the game show was a lot of fun.

It started off very smoothly, Otakon Staffer Chris (previous quiz-sensei) double checked we would have the equipment we needed in the room and Otakon Staffer Mike wrangled up some awesome prizes for us. Otakon Translator Lillian got a special favor from two of the guests to add to the prize pool. Kazuko Tadano drew the Otakon Mascots for the first place winner and Masao Maruyama signed a pencil board for the second place contestant. We spread 400 quarter-cards around the ledges in the convention space to get the word out, above and beyond the information already on the schedule and in the program guide.

At 4pm on Saturday we had the qualification quiz. A record number of people showed up to take it, and we ran out of quizzes despite having a hundred of them. A dozen otaku had to write the answers on blank paper as James read out the questions to them. Good thing they perservered because one of them made it onto the show. The quiz was a bit harder than I had hoped it would be, with a top score of 5 out of 15, and most players getting only one point. It will be a little bit easier next year.

When it came time for the main game show to start we ran into trouble. The previous occupants of the panel room were still in there and we didn't get to start until thirty minutes later. Otakon Staffer Omar took extra steps to reduce any further delay by having the crew ready to move the necessary equipment around right away. Our technical team set up fast, but had some unexpected problems synching up the wiimotes. Even after that was solved one of the projectors wasn't configured right. In addition one of the cables wasn't the right type, causing us to have greatly reduced resolution to the projectors.

To save time and keep the audience entertained, I went through the quiz answers and brought up our contestants. Amanda, Doug, Rand, and Yan were the top four present scorers on the quiz. Lexy and Suzanne you should have been there, you qualified!

With everything ready we began the show. This year, for the first time, the entire audience could play along using their cell phones. Players registered their handles and answered questions by sending text messages. We had over one-hundered people registered and playing along!

After two rounds and twelve categories totaling sixty questions Doug had a sizable lead going into the final question. He bet half his score and was the only player to get the answer right. He finished with a huge score and is the 2008 Otakon Game Show Champion!

Congratulations to Doug and all of our contestants. The first and second place play-by-text players, "Bigthumbs," and "Jedite333" also got great prizes.

We'll be back next year, don't miss it!