Downtown Cleveland is deserted during the weekend, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has plenty of visitors.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame serves two main functions: choosing the people who have made a substantial contribution to the development of rock and roll and documenting the history of rock and roll.. As a consequence, the exhibits consist mostly of the music and paraphernalia from the dawn of rock and roll up to 15 years ago (so in 2007, up to about 1992). Although this gives the attraction a dated feeling, it gives the arbiters of worthiness sufficient time to assess the influence of inductees’ contributions.

The museum, which the Hall of Fame building essentially is, gives strong emphasis to those artists most popular with the Baby Boomers: namely, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones. Still, all eras are fairly well-represented and the contribution of seminal talents is noted in video, print, and exhibits.

I was most astonished by the number of artists inducted in the HoF with whom I was only vaguely familiar or that I did not know at all. Because of this unfamiliarity, which others may share, some may dispute whether some inductees deserve inclusion in the Hall of Fame. (LaVern Baker? The Drifters? The Ronettes?) But their candidacies did survive the inspection of a discerning committee.

Triviaworthiness: 5 out of 5 stars. An excellent way to shore up deficiencies in one’s knowledge of popular music of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. It names names and gives plenty of context.

One thing I learned: “Please, Mr. Postman” is sung by the Marvelettes.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, rock and roll, audition, preparation, hall of fame, cleveland

Thus a game show pro may audition, but not be offered an opportunity to be a contestant. Thus rejection is common. The most frustrating aspect of a rejection is not knowing why. Certainly the unknown foibles of a casting producer’s mind determines who will be a contestant, but surely there must be qualities a game show pro can exhibit to maximize the likelihood of being asked to appear on a game show.

Written by a self-proclaimed, anonymous casting producer, Game Show Secrets explains what producers look for when seeking contestants for their show. The author offers specific tips and wisely divides games shows into three types: talent shows, reality shows, and (traditional) game shows. Traditional game shows are further divided into trivia shows, intelligence shows, and personality-only shows.

I do not know whether the author is legitimate, but I found the author’s observations to be credible and, more importantly, useful. While many of the ideas presented were familiar to me, after having spoken with casting producers and former contestants at auditions, I thought its suggestions helpful, discovered a couple of great tips (one of which I had always suspected, but was not sure was true), and well worth a read. I recommend this book to any aspiring Game Show Pro, and believe the book delivers great value for its price.

Game Show Secrets is a PDF download and runs 30 pages. At the time of this writing, it is offered for US $9.99.

Disclosure: I do not know the author, publisher, or anyone associated with the production of this book, nor do I receive (or plan to receive), any financial compensation for reviewing the book.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, book review, audition, preparation

1) A screening test
In most game shows, having contestants that evidently can play the game engages the audience’s interest. You are tested on the core skill of the game. For example, Jeopardy! auditioners are shown a series of blue screens, each containing a clue that they must answer, much like the actual game show. The screening test serves the purpose of reducing the number of people the casting producers will interview.

2) An application
All the applications to which I have exposed (in the USA) want to make sure that you have legitimate legal status. Since you may appear on the game show and may win some money, they need the typical information that any employer requests, e.g., Social Security number, street address, etc. Also, on the typical application, there are several questions that assess your likability as a contestant and your fitness for the game. The answers to these questions are used by interviewers as grist for their questioning.

3) Interview(s) with casting coordinators
These are often videotaped, and you may be asked to speak into a microphone. Casting coordinators want to draw out your personality to see if the viewers at home will identify with you. The coordinators will ask you questions based on what you wrote on your application and also “random” questions to see how well you spontaneously react to unexpected questions.

4) Playing a mock game
These are also often videotaped. This activity is useful for the coordinators, especially if the gameplay is a little tricky. Being a good contestant requires more than ability in the core skill of the game. It also requires an understanding of how to play the game. For example, in Jeopardy! the correct answererquestioner must also pick the next category and dollar amount.

In a later post, I will review the major activities of an audition and propose strategies to maximize your chance of being selected to appear on the show.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, preparation, audition

Before each remaining guess, you will be in one of three situations:
Situation 1: you know four or five letters in the solution,
Situation 2: you know two or three letters in the solution, or
Situation 3: you know only the first letter of the solution.

The Third Guess
To review, as discussed in part 1 of this post, good strategy is to use 8 of the 10 most common letters in the first two guesses.

The third word you guess is all-important. It often determines whether you will fail or succeed in solving the puzzle.

How you should guess the third word depends on which situation you are in.

In situation #3, you need to go to a third word that ideally contains letters that were not guessed in the first two words. I have found that words that end in “MP” or “CK” and whose second letter is either “R” or “H” work the best.

In the example in part 1, we guessed CLEAT and COINS. If none of those letters are in the word (apart from the “C”), then the next guess should contain the two of the ten most common letters that you did not already use: namely, R and U. What words begin with C, contains R and U, and end in “MP” or “CK”? Unfortunately, none. Relaxing the criterion on the vowel is useful. CRIMP would be a reasonably good guess. If we consider using H instead of R, we see also as good guesses would be CHUMP or CHUCK.

In situation #2, you usually do not have sufficient information to solve the puzzle by the third word. Again, you should assay for extra consonants. The very same words helpful in situation #3 are the same words you should guess in situation #2. Hopefully, the third guess will give you at least four letters, putting you in situation #1 with two guesses to go.

In situation #1, you have considerable information by which to solve the puzzle. You should refine your guesses based on what you know.

The Fourth Guess
If you do not guess the puzzle by the third word, you will again be in one of the three situations above– but this time with just two guesses remaining.

If you are now in situation #1, refine your guesses.

If you are now in situation #2, you need to consider a couple of possibilities. First, it is likely that some of the letters in your puzzle are repeated. For example, you might see CRO_S. Within the blank, many letters can fit. You need to consider that a letter already in your answer is repeated. CROSS could be the answer. Then again, CROPS or CROWS could also be the answer. Nevertheless, the repeated letter is often the downfall of an attempted solve.

The second possibility is that less common letters appear in your puzzle. Letters like B, D, F, G, and K may be in the answer. I personally have found that selecting the ending that you did not use in Situation #s 2 and 3 on your third guess is a good strategy. For example, if the guess of CRIMP does not give you a sufficient number of letters, then try CHUCK.

If you are in situation #3, you should consider either proceeding as you would in situation #2 OR giving up (!). Entertaining the idea of giving up should be considered sparingly, but it may be appropriate, given the way the game works.

More on this in part 3.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, lingo, strategy

One of the best Internet sites at which to do so is FlashcardExchange. It is easy to use and, for basic flashcard use, free. Because the flashcards are electronic, you can easily share your flashcards with others. Thus, you can quiz yourself with flashcards that you or other people have created.

The site charges for premium services, like printing the flashcards, exporting them in an electronic format, and creating flashcards with images displayed (as of this date, $19.95). This pittance may well be worth it. For a budding game show pro, having the facility to quickly create flashcards can bolster your knowledge of facts, which on a trivia-based game show may be exchanged for cash and prizes.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, trivia, preparation

Although some of the material is dated, it establishes a foundation on what information is worthwhile to remember (i.e., a minimum standard of cultural literacy). Any game show pro that aspires to trivia-based game show stardom, with its commensurate winnings, should seriously consider reading this book. It has a lot of information, furnished for a reasonable price and in a handy size.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, trivia, preparation

While reading history books, the detail of description sometimes overwhelms the chronological context. The Histomap graphically displays the rise and fall of world civilizations over a period of 4000 years. Having history presented in a graphical way allows nonlinear examination of different eras and allows quick comparisons between them. The Histomap allows a game show pro interested in amassing history knowledge for trivia game show winnings a quick and satisfying way of cataloging civilizations across documented history.

Amazon.com does not have the Rand McNally Histomap of World History in stock. I include the link below so you can read the user reviews. To obtain a Histomap, you can follow the directions at the bottom of Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools post on the Histomap. I have tried those and was successful.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, trivia, preparation

Lingo is a word game. Two teams of two go head-to-head to win a usual prize of US$5,000. Nowadays there is a possibility of winning $10,000 or more, but winning those amounts is luck and has no bearing on strategy.

When your team has “control,” you have five attempts to guess a five-letter word. You are given the first letter of the word to start. With each guess, the letters in the word you guess are identified as either (a) being in the word and in the correct position, (b) being in the word but not in the correct position, or (c) not being in the word at all. In a nutshell, it’s Mastermind meets hangman.

To understand the rules of the game, I recommend you watch the show. Failing that, see either GSN’s Lingo site or the expansive description of the Lingo experience of former contestant Robert McKee. Mr. McKee is a true aficionado and even created his own Lingo game emulator (wow!). You can also play Lingo against virtual competition at GSN’s website for fun (and sometimes for money and a chance to appear on a live game).

The First Two Guesses
As McKee points out, one superb strategem for solving Lingo puzzles is to come prepared with a pair of words for each starting letter. The trick is to choose two words that cover the spectrum of the most common letters found in words. As every Wheel of Fortune fan knows, the five most common consonants are S, T, R, N, and L, while vowels in order of descending frequency are E, A, O, I and U. You should use as many of these 10 letters in the first two words that you guess. However, since the first letter is pre-determined, you will be able only to assess the membership of just 8 of these letters.

For example, let’s say the word begins with a “C.” The first two guesses you might use could be CLEAT and COINS. Based on what the game board shows, you then customize your guesses, hoping to nail the word by the fifth guess.

Savvy strategists like McKee have shown the utility of this strategy, but there is more that one could do. I will ruminate further about optimal strategy in part 2. To whet your appetite, note than the two suggested “C” words did not include the common letters R or U.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, Lingo, strategy

How does one demonstrate that an activity is a business? One rule of thumb is if it makes a profit in any three of five consecutive years. This is the acid test– if a business does not (or cannot) turn a profit, then it is not considered a business at all, but a hobby with tax-undeductible expenses.

Demonstrating a profit in three of five years could prove difficult for a professional game show contestant. Many game shows have proscriptions against featuring a person who has been on another game show recently. Also, getting onto a game show requires some luck; making it on is outside of one’s control. And even if you make it on, it may not be possible to control in what year you appear.

Even so, if you satisfy the 9 considerations discussed in part 1 of this post, then you stand a chance of having the IRS recognize that you are operating a legitimate business.

There is an emphasis that you must conduct the business “in a business-like manner.” People should be able to tell that you are in this particular business. Obtaining business cards, keeping careful financial accounts, maintaining a separate business bank account, obtaining required licenses and permits, and advertising one’s work are all ways of demonstrating that you are in business. Additionally, to be taken seriously, you should keep a log of what you did to make the business profitable.

But very few of these activities are worth the trouble when one is a game show pro. To whom should you give out business cards? Advertising is also a bad idea; game show recruiters generally do not want someone who has appeared on many other game shows, so announcing you are pro would be a bad strategy. Maintaining a separate business bank account would be overkill for a business that might cash one check every two years. There are no licenses or permits necessary to become a game show contestant, and advertising your services as a contestant would likely be unproductive.

What you can do: keep good books. This will be easy since each successful appearance will usually result in a check (and at the end of the tax year, a 1099-MISC). Another good idea: keep a log of your profit-seeking activities, the actions you take to become a professional contestant. This would be especially useful in the event of an audit. Otherwise, you will have little or no documentation that you have a business.

If you decide to take the plunge, here are some useful tax documents for those of you considering becoming a game show pro.

• Publication 334, “Tax Guide for Small Business”: Maximize the likelihood that your being a game show pro is recognized as a business endeavor and discover the limits of what expenses may be deducted.
• Form 5213: Allows you postpone the IRS’s determination as to whether you engage in your activity for profit. This will give you time to do the research to hone your strategy as to how to get on game shows and, once on, how to win money.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, taxes, business

Whether an activity is a business depends on whether:

1. You carry on the activity in a business-like manner,

This is possible. More on this in part 2 of this post.

2. The time and effort you put into the activity indicate you intend to make it profitable,

Absolutely, that is the intent.

3. You depend on income from the activity for your livelihood,

Problematic. Considering the difficulty of getting on a game show and then winning money while on it, no one should depend on game show winnings as a sole means of support.

4. Your losses are due to circumstances beyond your control (or are normal in the start-up phase of your type of business),

The latter part applies. It is reasonable that one must incur expenses to try to get on a game show.

5. You change your methods of operation in an attempt to improve profitability,

This certainly should apply, since the approach to appearing on a particular game show requires customization of effort.

6. You, or your advisors, have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business,

Somewhat problematic, unless you or your advisors have ever been employed as a contestant coordinator or as a contestant. Still, there are many books that proffer advice. There is also the occasional TV show.

7. You were successful in making a profit in similar activities in the past,

This depends on one’s individual situation. I personally have won money before as a game show contestant (a pittance for winning on a small-time GSN show), but did I show a profit then? Not really. The whole point of this blog is to determinedly obtain a profit.

8. The activity makes a profit in some years, and the amount of profit it makes, and

This is a critical point. One cannot simply aspire to appear on a game show, but to go beyond and strategize as to how to win money (i.e., to maximize your profit).

9. You can expect to make a future profit from the appreciation of the assets used in the activity.

Not applicable, since the assets mostly will be books, software, and perhaps a buzzer system. These will all depreciate upon purchase.

technorati tags: game show, gameshow, taxes, business