Episode 7 Challenges

Challenge 7.1: Wall Street

Objective: Earn as much money for the pot as possible.

It's no secret that the group's performance up to this point has been less than spectacular. So I'm giving you an opportunity to redeem yourself and earn some of your lost money back.

In order to do this, you will be investing in the stock market in real time. I am giving each player an imaginary $100,000 with which to invest. If you do not know how the stock market works, then I suggest you look into it online. On the most basic level, you buy what are known as shares of a corporation. The values of these shares rise and fall due to the basic premise of supply and demand in the market. The object is to sell your shares at a higher value than what you bought, hence earning money.

You will have four full trading days to play with for this challenge. Beginning Tuesday, March 27, each player will use their allotted imaginary $100,000 to buy shares of at least one company (no more than ten at any given time). Each player must have all, or at least $95,000, of their money invested at all times. At no time may a player have more than $100,000 invested. You may invest in any stock on a US market. If a player does not meet these requirements when the trading floor opens on any given day, that player may no longer participate in the challenge, all of their money is lost, in addition to a $1.00 penalty from the pot.

You may buy and sell shares once per day, when the market is not open. Trading hours are from 9:30 AM EST until 4:00 PM EST. Therefore, all buying of shares will be conducted using that day's opening price and all selling of shares will be conducted using that day's closing price. To buy or sell a number of shares make a post in the forums in the following format:
I would like to buy/sell ## shares of ABCD at $###.## per share.
Where ABCD is the stock symbol. You may buy any stock that trades on the US market.

After close Friday afternoon, this challenge is over. I will take whatever money you earned or lost and divide it by 100,000 and that amount will be added or deducted from the pot. If you earn more than $50,000 you will be compensated by an additional $0.10 for every additional 50% increase. (For example, if you have $300,000 at the end of the challenge you will have increased your money by 200%. You would earn $1.5 + $0.30 = $1.80).

Deadline: 03/30 @ 4:00 PM Eastern

Worth: Unlimited

Reward: None

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Challenge 7.2: Minesweeper

Objective: Successfully Uncover 10 Mines

For this challenge, you will be playing a turn based game of Minesweeper. If you are unfamiliar with the game, you can find it installed on almost any PC. The game consists of a grid of unlabeled squares, in this challenge a 10x10 grid. "Mines" are hidden randomly throughout the grid. The object is to flag all of the mines without uncovering any of them.

The game is played by selecting a square on the grid. If a mine is hidden in that square, it is uncovered and the game is over. If no mines are hidden in the selected square but one or more mines are located in a square that borders (including diagonally adjacent) the selected square, the number of mines that border that square is displayed in the selected square. If no mines are hidden in the selected square or any bordering square, the square is simply cleared, and all adjoining squares that don't have mines hidden in them are also cleared.

When you think you know where a mine is hidden, you can "flag" that square. You can also unflag a square at any time. If all ten mines are uncovered without any being uncovered, the challenge is a success and $3.50 will be added to the pot. If a mine is uncovered, no money will be earned. If the deadline is reached before all ten mines are flagged, but no mines have been uncovered, $0.10 will be added to the pot for every successfully flagged mine. However, $0.10 will be deducted for every flagged square that does not have a mine hidden in it.

Select and flag squares using the appropriate thread on the forums. You can find the gameboard, which I will update as often as possible, here. You are allowed to select or flag up to two squares in a row. You must wait for two other players to take a turn before making additional selections or flags of your own.

Deadline: 03/31 @ 11:59 PM Eastern

Worth: $3.50

Reward: None

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Challenge 7.3: In the Dark

Objective: Gather keys to unlock a vault filled with money.

The agency has received intel regarding a suspicious research facility that is believed to be a threat to national security. The CIA has assigned our taskforce to investigate and retrieve a significant sum of cash from the operation's headquarters. We have found a note with some information about the location of a few things inside the building. We know there are four entrances to the building, and that there is some kind of safe area in the building. In this safe area no player can be attacked by a guard or other player (more on that later), but only one player may be in this space at one time and a player can only occupy this space for one turn (more on that later also). However, there is some bad news. We were unable to retrieve the pinch and it has unfortunately been activated, disabling all electronics in the area, including this headquarters. The entire building will be in pitch black during the mission. Also, due to the agency's recent lack of success, has only enough funding to bring along a box of 16 matches to illuminate the area.

Each player will be equipped with four matches, because that’s how the 16 matches are equally shared.

In order to navigate through this dark space, the group will use the floor plan which depicts a 4x4 grid:

As the group makes their final preparations to enter the building, another note is found. This note is not smudged and is easy to read. It talks of 4 keys obtained by accessing 4 combination safes located around the building which are needed to unlock a vault and gain access to the cash. The location of these safes are unknown. The note also tells the group the safes can be accessed using some 3-letter combination of the letters O, M and C. (Letters will not be used more than once in a combination.) Inside of each safe is a key that will be used to unlock the vault. Once all four keys are acquired by a single player, the vault panel must be found and all four keys must be put into it.

In addition, the notes tells the players that there will be a guard patrolling this building to foil any plans to retrieve the cash. If a player encounters him, you must fend off this guard. If you defeat the guard they will be forced to immediately retreat to the safety area specified on the map, and they will be forced to surrender everything in their inventory (if any) so they can make a quick get away. If you encounter the guard and lose the battle with them, they will take all of the items in your inventory and you will be forced to return to the entry point you came in at. But if you are defeated by the guard three times, you will be unable to continue to try and retrieve the cash.

Turn order will be selected by the order that players enter the live challenge. The players will be able to choose their entry point, but it will be first come first serve. Players get 1 turn each per round. Every two turns, the guard gets a turn (unless there is only one player left in the game, in which case that player and the guard will alternate turns back-and-forth).

At the beginning of your turn, you may perform ONE of the following actions:

• Strike a match and see everything bordering your space
• Move one space N, E, S or W (no moving diagonally)
• Stay put and do nothing
  

After that, I will tell you whether you are able to perform one or more context-sensitive actions. If a context-sensitive action is available to you, you may perform that context-sensitive action at that time. If more than one context-sensitive action is available, you may only perform one of those actions, but you get to choose which one.

• If you are in a space with a safe, guess the safe combination
• If you are in a space with another player, exchange matches and/or keys with that player (both players must agree to the terms of the exchange)
• If you are in a space with another player, throw one of your matches into that player's face, forcing that player to surrender to you all of the KEYS (not matches) in his inventory and forcing him to run back to his original entrance point to receive medical attention
• If you are in a space with the vault panel & have all 4 keys, open the vault
• If you are in a space with the guard, you must engage in combat. This combat is in the form of Rock, Paper, Scissors. If a RPS tie occurs, another round of RPS will commence until there is a winner.

NOTES:

• Whenever you enter a space with a safe, fellow player, guard, safety sink and/or vault panel, Ryan will immediately inform you.
• At any time, you may ask Ryan the coordinates of the space you are in.
• If a player is not present at the challenge except for emergency or other good reason (since everyone agreed on the time), or players are not trying their very best for any reason, they will be punished in a way I'll decide later.
• I recommend copying down the floor plan and adding stuff to it as we go along so you can keep track of where you, other players, the guard, safes, and vault are located as you learn their locations. Also keeping track of tried combinations would be helpful. There will be a task tracker on the site for your convenience, but there may be other things you may want to take note of that aren't on the tracker.

The guard will be a third party that has absolutely no inside information relating to the game, players, or special roles, in fact their knowledge of the game as a whole will be minimal at best.

The mission is a success if a player can acquire all 4 keys and open the vault. It is a failure if all of the players are eliminated before the vault is opened. The player who opens the vault will win the last exemption of the game.

Time: To be decided, please check forums or emailed schedule for details.

Worth: $4.00

Reward: Exemption

Episode 6 Execution Results

The execution interface has been updated, click the link in the sidebar to discover the sixth agent to be executed!

Episode 6 Challenge Debriefing

Challenge 6.1: Mole Idol 2

Objective: Create an original music video.

Evin was the first to post claiming the role of producer. Evin then assigned the rest of the roles as follows:

• Writer: Fred
• Band: Andy
• Director: Ryan
• Editor: Padraig

As the writer, Fred chose the song "Believe Me" by Fort Minor to use for the video, but made no plans for the premise of the video. Andy, the band, was able to track down a copy of the song. Meanwhile, Ryan found a video of a band screaming some song, I can only assume its a version of the same song.

These elements were sent to the editor, Padraig, who was supposed to assemble them into a single music video file. There appeared to be some file type issues and the pieces gathered by Andy and Ryan were not assembled in any single file that I am aware of. Evin, the producer ended up sending me only the video file that Ryan found.

Three of the five tasks were completed, earning $0.60 to be added to the pot. However, the final product submitted to me was lacking the band's audio file, and since Fred made no video premise specifications, the video could not follow any premise. These offenses deduct $0.25 each for a total penalty of $0.50.

Earned: $0.10

Reward: None

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Challenge 6.2: Ryan's Funhouse

Objective: Have all players escape the maniacal funhouse.

Four players dared to enter my funhouse, Evin, Fred, Padraig, and Ryan. Andy mistakenly showed up at 6 PM EST not realizing that US DST threw off the time differential.

After some further details about the intricate workings of the challenge, the front door of the funhouse was opened. Ryan and Fred were able to answer riddles correctly and got out of the first room and proceeded throughout the funhouse. Ryan was the first to get out of the funhouse, Ryan got the chest at the exit. While in the funhouse, Fred found a chest as well. Fred then managed to get out of the funhouse as well. Meanwhile, Evin and Padraig found two of the doors out of the first room locked when they tried to get through them. Not long thereafter, the third door was locked by an incorrect answer and the two were stuck. This meant the entire group could not escape the funhouse and no money was won.

However, the challenge was not over. Prior to starting the challenge, I told the group that one of the chests held something special, but did not disclose any details. Following the challenge, I informed the players that one of the chests held an exemption (remember that there were three chests, one was not found by the players and remained in the funhouse). The catch, however, was that I would not tell Ryan and Fred (the players with chests) if their chest had the exemption. I told them that they would have to pay $0.50 from the pot money in order to open their chest and see if they had exemption, if they left their chest closed they couldn't earn exemption even if they did have it. Both Fred and Ryan took this offer and opened their chest. Fred's chest was empty. Ryan's chest was also empty. The exemption lied in the chest left inside the funhouse.

Earned: $1.00 Deducted

Reward: None

Episode 6 Challenges

Challenge 6.1: Mole Idol 2

Objective: Create an original music video.

Coming off of the enormous success of the hit single produced in the original OMC Mole Idol (we can imagine...) the agency has opted to follow up with a music video edition for OMC 5.

It is up to the group to put this 2 minute, or longer, music video together. Each player will have a special role for the task at hand, each role is described below:

Writer: The idea man, comes up with the premise for the video. The writer can choose to write original lyrics or choose an existing song to use for the music video, keeping in mind it should represent OMC 5 in some way. In addition, the writer lays out a basic plan for the visual element of the video, perhaps a storyboard sketched in paint or listing scenes.

The Band: The band is in charge of the music for the video. If the writer opts to write original lyrics, the band must record these lyrics using their own voice and a computer mic of some kind, and then send it to the editor (preferably with some kind of background music, Audacity is a good free audio editor downloadable online). If the writer picks out an existing song, it is the band's duty to track down a copy of that song and get it to the editor.

Director: It is the director's duty to get the video together. Staying as close as possible to the premise laid out by the writer, as well as having the video line up somewhat reasonably with the lyrics, the director can splice together photos and/or videos to make the video. Windows Movie Maker works excellently here.

Editor: Puts all of the pieces of the project together. This basically consists of putting the song's audio with the video in one file and making everything lines up and looks and sounds good. This can be easily accomplished with Windows Movie Maker (standard on pretty much all PC's) or any assortment of downloadable programs. The editor must send the final product to the producer.

Producer: In charge of the group's progress. The producer organizes the group by assigning all of the other roles, overseeing everyone is doing their job, and releasing the final product. The role of producer will go to the first player who posts saying that they would like to be producer in the challenge thread on the forums. As said before, the producer assigns the rest of the players their roles as they see fit. Players can request roles, but the producer has the final say and players must carry out the role assigned. The producer should keep in mind that certain roles require certain hardware/software when assigning roles.

Nothing can be worked on until the producer assigns the roles. The writer must post their plans for the video before work on those elements can begin. The editor must wait for the band and the director to finish their tasks in order to begin assembling the music video. The editor sends the finished video to the producer, who will then submit it to me. The group may elect to have the producer send in an incomplete finished product for partial credit (outlined later on).

The writer should complete their task by posting in the challenge thread. The band and director should email their completed tasks both to the editor and to myself in order to receive credit. The editor should also send me their assembled video when they finish (so I can give credit to them for completing their task). The producer must email the final file to me. I will consider the finished product to be what I receive as a submission from the producer.

Each credited individual task completed adds $0.20 to the pot.
(Assigning roles, drafting premise, recording/finding song, making video, assembling video)

If the entire project is completed as specified in this briefing $3.00 will be added to the pot.

If the finished product is missing audio and/or video, and/or strays considerably from the writer's premise, or these elements were done improperly, $0.25 will be deducted from the pot for each offense. The individual elements and the finished product must work on my computer in order to receive credit. I have a PC running Windows XP with all standard players and plugins, so unless you do something funky this shouldn't be a problem.


Deadline: 03/17 @ 11:59 PM Eastern

Worth: $3.00

Reward: None

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Challenge 6.2: Ryan's Funhouse

Objective: Have all players escape the maniacal funhouse.

I have created a funhouse full of crazy corridors, locking doors, chests of booty, and of course riddles. I'm going to toss you guys in and see who can come out.

You can see a diagram of my funhouse above. It has nine rooms arranged in a grid. Each room has a door on each interior side that connects it to adjacent rooms. The green door represents the entrance, the red represents the exit. Your goal is to pass from room to room, starting at the entrance door, and get to the exit door. Each door is guarded by a riddle. In order to pass through the door you must answer the riddle correctly. If you answer it correctly you will pass into the corresponding room. If you answer it incorrectly, however, the door will become permanently locked for all players. To add to the fun, I have hidden three bonus chests inside the funhouse. Two are located in rooms and the third awaits the first player to leave the funhouse at the exit. These chests represent $1.00 each. When a player comes across a chest in the funhouse they can take it with them. In order for the chest money to be won, the chest must be found and the player who found it must exit the funhouse. Also, all players must exit the funhouse otherwise all money will be lost. Some rooms will be "illuminated", meaning the diagram on the page will notify you of your location, but all other rooms will not tell you where you are at, that is up to you to keep your bearings. But that's not all! You only have 30 minutes to escape! Muah hahaha! There will be some AIM chat room stuff going on, I'll explain that more at the task.

Time: 03/17 @ 5 PM EST (AIM)
Estimated to last 45 mins.

Worth: $3.00

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Mole Points Challenge 6: OMC Inventor

Your task this week is to come up with an original invention. Give a description of what your invention does and a little about how it works and why it should be developed. You may draw an image of your invention by hand or on the computer in addition to your explanation. The Mini Moles will judge the entries based on creativity and effort.

Episode 5 Execution Results

The execution interface has been updated, click the link in the sidebar to discover the fifth agent to be executed!

Episode 5 Challenge Debriefing

Challenge 5.1: Liar's Dice

Objective: Bluff your way to an exemption.

In the first round, Evin challenged Andy's bid of six 6's. However, Andy's bid was valid. Evin was ousted.

In the second round, Andy called Ryan on a bluff. Ryan was ousted.

In the third round, Andy called Padraig on a bluff and Padraig was ousted.

In the fourth round, Fred called Andy on a bluff and Andy was ousted.

In the fifth round, Fred and Mike went heads up. Mike opened with a bid of one 6. After some deliberation, Fred decided to challenge Mike's bid. Mike's bid was, in fact, invalid and Mike was ousted.

Fred was the last remaining player and was awarded an exemption, his second in a row and third of the game.

Earned: $0.00

Reward: Fred earned exemption.

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Challenge 5.2: Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Gather and take pictures of 20 various items.

Below is a list of the items as Padraig assigned them. Valid submissions have been bolded.

ANDY

• Baseball glove
• Vinyl record
• Chocolate bar

EVIN

• Toaster
• Dog toy
• Eye glasses

FRED

• Tissue box
• Milk carton/jug
• Utensils (set of at least one spoon, fork, knife)

MIKE

• Rubik's cube
• Flashlight
• Mp3 player

PADRAIG

• Newspaper
• Toilet paper
• Banana

RYAN

• Hairbrush
• Candle
• Remote control
• Cell phone
• Handheld gaming console

The group successfully gathered 14 of the 20 total items on the list. Their submissions earned $2.10 to be added to the pot.

Worth: $2.10

Reward: None

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Challenge 5.3: Elimination Auction

Objective: Earn as much money as possible for the pot.

Andy, Evin, Fred, Mike, and Padraig attended this challenge (so close to perfect attendance...). The turn order was selected by randomly drawing playing cards. The turn order was as follows: Mike, Fred, Padraig, Andy, Evin.

Here's how things went down:

• Mike eliminated Padraig.
• Fred eliminated Evin.
• Andy eliminated Mike.
• Fred eliminated Andy.

Fred was the last remaining player in this challenge as well. Fred's token was the only one added to the pot. As his mystery reward, Fred was given a choice of either a +1 Quiz Bonus or the opportunity to neutralize another player for this episode. He chose to take the +1 Quiz Bonus.

This challenge was completed prior to the completion of Challenge 5.1. After Fred won Exemption in Challenge 5.1, he elected to pass the +1 Quiz Bonus earned in this challenge to Mike.

Earned: $0.60

Reward: Fred earned a +1 Quiz Bonus, passed to Mike.

Episode 5 Challenges

Challenge 5.1: Liar's Dice

Objective: Bluff your way to an exemption.

Each player has been emailed a several sets of five values, representing the faces of six rolled dice. Each set will be referred to as a hand. These hands are not to be shared with other players.

Each round, one player begins bidding, picking a die face value, 1 through 6 and a quantity. The quantity states the minimum number of dice on the table (in any player's hand) are showing the stated face value. In this six player game, the lowest bid is "one 1" and the highest bid is "30 6s".

In turn, each player must either raise the bid or challenge the previous bid. Raising the bid means either increasing the quantity of the previous face or selecting any quantity with an increased face. The turn order will be alphabetical starting with Andy.

If the current player thinks the previous player's bid is wrong, he can challenge it and then all dice are revealed to determine whether the bid was valid. Revealing the same number or more of the stated face makes the bid a successful bid, in which case the challenger is ousted. Otherwise the player who made the bluff is ousted. A challenge is indicated by posting "I challenge the previous bid". I will tell you if the bid being challenged is valid or not.

If a player bids out of turn, or does not raise a bid correctly, they are automatically ousted in addition to deducting $0.25 from the pot for each offense.

After a player is ousted, a new round begins. Each time a new round begins, remaining players will use a new set of face values corresponding to the round number. The last player remaining wins exemption.

If a winner has not been decided by the challenge deadline, no exemption will be awarded this episode and $0.50 will be deducted from the pot.

Deadline: 03/10 @ 11:59 PM Eastern

Worth: $0.00

Reward: Exemption to the last remaining player.

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Challenge 5.2: Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Gather and take pictures of 20 various items.

Time for a scavenger hunt! The basic premise of this task is to get a set of item together (yes, in real life) and take a photograph using the camera you all said you had. I hope you were truthful because I'm holding you to your response you gave me.

The List of Items:
- Baseball glove
- Vinyl record
- Chocolate bar
- Toaster
- Dog toy
- Eye glasses
- Tissue box
- Milk carton/jug
- Utensils (set of at least one spoon, fork, knife)
- Rubik's cube
- Flashlight
- Mp3 player
- Newspaper
- Toilet paper
- Banana
- Hairbrush
- Candle
- Remote control
- Cell phone
- Handheld gaming console

Padraig was the first to reply to a post I made about Koppel on Discovery, giving him a special role in this task. Padraig will be in charge of this task. You will notice that there are 20 items in the list above. Every item must be accounted for (photographed and submitted). Also, every player must participate, including Padraig. It is Padraig's job to assign an item or items to each player, every player must be assigned at least one item but the total number each player is responsible for is up to Padraig. Padraig will have as long as he wants to assign the items. No item photos will be valid unless they are submitted by the player Padraig assigned them to. So, until Padraig assigns the items no photos will be valid, and you won't be able to photograph other player's items.

Here is the process to take in completing this task:
(1) Padraig assigns items.
(2) Take photographs of items assigned to you. The items may be photographed individually or as a group.
(3) Write your OMC 5 password on a sheet of paper. This piece of paper MUST be next to the item(s) in each photo you submit. Putting your password into the photo using a computer does not count.
(4) Upload your photo(s) to your computer.
(5) E-Mail me the photo(s).

Each item validly photographed adds $0.15 to the pot. Make sure you follow the rules in my explanations above. I will be strict in checking for validity in your submissions. You can resubmit as many times as you want before the deadline if a photo is invalid, I will notify you if one is. A penalty of $0.15 will be issued for every photo that is invalid.

Deadline: 03/10 @ 11:59 PM EST

Worth: $3.00

Reward: None

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Challenge 5.3: Elimination Auction

Objective: Earn as much money as possible for the pot.

In this live task, players will once again gather in an AIM chat room. Each player will be given a "token" that represents a certain amount of money. The amount each token is worth will depend on how many players attend the task. The total pot money will be split into even tokens and given to each player present.

The task will go in turns. The order will be randomly selected. When it is your turn you have two options. You may either add your token to the pot (adding money), or eliminate another player from the task. If you get eliminated you are no longer part of the task and your token money is forfeited. If need be, more rounds will be played until either all tokens have been added to the pot or one player remains. The last player remaining will be awarded a mystery reward.

Time: Due: 03/10 @ 9 PM EST (AIM)
Estimated to last 30 minutes.

Worth: $3.00

Reward: Mystery reward to last player remaining.

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Mole Points Challenge 5: The Story Game

Variations on this game have always been popular on CrazyEmu.com boards and has been used in past OMC games as well. On the forums I have started a story and you guys have to continue it. You may add up to 100 words to the story per post, and you may only make one post at a time (you have to wait for someone else to post before you post again). The Mini Moles will decide who the most creative story tellers are.

Episode 4 Execution Results

The execution interface has been updated, click the link in the sidebar to discover the fourth agent to be executed!

Episode 4 Challenge Debriefing

Challenge 4.1: Tycoon

Objective: Earn as much money as possible for the pot.

Here is a summary of the market activity for this challenge:

• Padraig sold a token to the bank.
• Fred sold Ryan 3 Mole Points for one ticket.
• Evin sold a token to the bank.
• Ryan sold a token to the bank.
• Ryan gave Fred two tickets.
• Mike gave Fred one tokens.
• Evin gave Andy three tickets.
• Andy sold a token to the bank.
• Fred bought two tokens from the bank.

At the challenge deadline, here was the market status:

• Aaron: 1 Token, 1 Ticket
• Andy: 0 Tokens, 6 Tickets
• Evin: 0 Tokens, 0 Tickets
• Fred: 4 Tokens, 0 Tickets
• Mike: 0 Tokens, 1 Ticket
• Padraig: 0 Token, 3 Tickets
• Ryan: 0 Tokens, 0 Tickets

The market held a total of eleven tickets, worth $1.10 added to the pot. Fred held the most tokens, with a total of four, earning himself an Exemption. In addition, Fred lost 3 MP while Ryan gained 3 MP.

Earned: $1.10

Reward: Fred earned Exemption.

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Challenge 4.2: The Big Switcheroo

Objective: Identify two players who have switched identities.Andy, Evin, Fred, Mike, and Padraig attended this challenge (however, Mike developed computer problems making him unable to participate).

The group spent half an hour conversing with one another and asking questions attempting to discover the two players who had switched identities. Andy and Fred were the most talkative and played the blame game a little bit. Meanwhile, Evin and Padraig faded in and out of the conversation, both saying that they were watching television as an explanation for not chatting or answering questions.

After the time limit, each player privately voted for the two players they believed had switched places. Andy and Fred each received three votes, Evin and Padraig each received one.

The two players who had swapped identities were in fact Evin and Padraig, neither of which was discovered by the group. Therefore, no money was won and Evin and Padraig are both granted a +2 Quiz Bonus on the upcoming quiz.

Earned: $0.00

Reward: +2 Quiz Bonus to Evin and Padraig