Please watch the Korean game show "Genius" with me

i almost fell for that too

i learnt who the winner was but idk, i kind of enjoy knowing who to watch. if i knew when my other favourites were going to fall out i'd be sadder

zombie game: was kind of hoping someone else would be dicking people over for a change, kind of sad about that

http://blog.korea.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/kokiri-Yutpoints.png

zombie game: was kind of hoping someone else would be dicking people over for a change, kind of sad about that

― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Tuesday, January 20, 2015 11:49 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

did you see the horse race ep yet?

nah i'm only allowing myself one a night. i v much am hoping yell0w pulls off some kind of heel turn shortly

So that's S2E2 watched and oof, this really is getting brutal. In the good way.

Jinho's very fond of grabbing people's wrists, isn't he?

if nothing else i'm forever grateful to have been introduced to "the angel who lost wings" and its many live performances available on youtube

i actually screamed at one of the players (no spoilers; but you'll know who i mean if you saw it) around the 23 minute mark of "Open, Pass." WHAT A STUPID PERSON YOU ARE, PLAYER AT THE 23 MINUTE MARK

there is not enough scamming happening in this scamming horse race

no, wait, i think there is

ha, yep there is

nah idk there kind of wasn't!! tho i did enjoy mensa and starcraft playing to type by figuring out who must have lied, and then totally botching the chance to develop a strategy based on who to tell

great episode there. delicious combination of wilyness & incompetence by virtually everyone.

btw i think we should talk about our strategies... for example my strategy which would've won week 1 (for what that's worth: aka nothing)

i find one person who wants to win the week, i say "here's what we'll do: i will win 1, and you will win 8." i trade two 3's for two of their 1's. we play one match: my last 3 vs their last 1. i have remaining (11111222) and they have (22233333). They proceed to beat me 8 times. They win, get immunity, grant me immunity with their second wings.

alternatively, play dumb & get 4 wins each and cast your eyes down when the deathmatcher is picking someone, because week 1. but still

i find one person who wants to win the week, i say "here's what we'll do: i will win 1, and you will win 8." i trade two 3's for two of their 1's. we play one match: my last 3 vs their last 1. i have remaining (11111222) and they have (22233333). They proceed to beat me 8 times. They win, get immunity, grant me immunity with their second wings.

i mean, that was Jinho and Junseok's strategy, right? they just didn't go through with it for whatever reason

i thought they only planned to go 6-3 for some weird reason?

If you have the lowest win count then you're automatically in the death match (and can't get immunity). IIRC they wanted to have a safety net?

but the person who wasn't able to play all their cards went in automatically, ahead of the person with the lowest total, right?

due to the odd number of cards tho, someone is guaranteed to get 0 points; 1 point = not deathmatch

oh yeah, i forgot about that

oops xp yeah. and xp again.

i actually screamed at one of the players (no spoilers; but you'll know who i mean if you saw it) around the 23 minute mark of "Open, Pass." WHAT A STUPID PERSON YOU ARE, PLAYER AT THE 23 MINUTE MARK

― Francis Björk Morgan (Will M.), Wednesday, January 21, 2015 3:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i did the same thing and then thought "this is probably what he was talking about in that thread"

i was so disappointed in PERSON

otoh minute 44 ("YES!") was great

holy fuck if its what i think you are talking about IT WAS A STRATEGY I WONDERED ABOUT but could not determine if it was valid b/c not enough pixels on my screen. SO AWESOME.

goddamn it i run a pub quiz night and it is taking a lot of my willpower to not just turn an entire round into terrible delicious game theory nightmares for people who just want to answer questions like "which montreal canadien scored the most times" or whatever

noooooo i am talking just about a single moment of triumph

the moment will m. is talking about was the best moment on the show up to that point

damn, Hong is such a likeable fellow isn't he.

goddamn it i run a pub quiz night and it is taking a lot of my willpower to not just turn an entire round into terrible delicious game theory nightmares for people who just want to answer questions like "which montreal canadien scored the most times" or whatever

keep the rounds straight but add in a marking meta-game - teams mark each others papers, they can lie, ask for than one team to mark them, it's open to challenges, idk nail the details and CAUSE CHAOS

i wish i could try some of those snacks they always eat before the game starts

it says a lot about the show's budget that they're eating those gross fishcake-on-a-stick things

none of the foods are recognizable to me, but i'm convinced they are all good

coming to think of Sangmin as a Korean Gary Barlow.

I'm six episodes in and enjoying this, but I kinda want to fast-forward through every death match.

i'm surprised anyone makes it through the series without skipping the death matches. ironically, episode six is probably the only one worth watching

Just finished watching confined scamming horse race, hilarious episode. Death match, yeah, was a bit of a drag.

watched the first series and I adore it, sangmin and his outfits most of all

they were better in the 90s

i seriously can't stop listening to this song

i did check out roo'ra and was most taken with this incredibly 90s ensemble:

http://www.oocities.org/tokyo/bay/5894/3feature03.jpg

the only time I 'beat' the contestants to a solid solution was with the 5:5 game, although not knowing how difficult the character limit is makes it a little different. the open/pass discovery was excellent though.

i think sangmin looks genuinely cool tbh

i loved his "we played to seven million people! in LA!" to sunggyu

i just got through the first few episodes of the second season - no complaints other than the noticeable lack of Sunggyu. His story arc + relationship with Sangmin was just as much fun to watch as the Jinho AHA! moments. Also, Jinho seems way less fun so far. Good games, though!

xp of course, I didn't mean to sound insincere regardless of the dated 90s pic. massive kudos to will m for this

If you can watch S2E1 and not have Sangmin as your favourite I don't know what's wrong with you tbh.

S2E3 watched last night and, well, bit of a drudge, occasional bits of Junghyun-related awesomeness notwithstanding. If you were missing tactical yutnori, just wait til you get a half-hour game of Hap, Gyul!

at least you can play along with hap gyul! especially after the first season finale where a pretty good strategy for figuring out when to call gyul is presented

How high profile are the people on the show in Korea? Are they akin to the dreck that washes ashore on Celebrity Apprentice/Big Brother/etc., or are they more famous and relevant than that?

i don't think their goal was to gather as much celebrity as possible but assemble a group of interesting people with a wide array of talents that may make them "good" at the game as the ep 1 intro details

Infinite is a big deal and i think A Pink is too? gura seems to be a pretty big personality

by wide array of talents i just mean they picked them from different areas -- poker, pool, gaming, but year def emphasis on entertainment

How high profile are the people on the show in Korea? Are they akin to the dreck that washes ashore on Celebrity Apprentice/Big Brother/etc., or are they more famous and relevant than that?

― polyphonic, Friday, January 23, 2015 12:59 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i know at least lim yo hwan in S2 is very famous in korea, he's the most famous starcraft player of all time in a country that watches the game on major network TV. i'm assuming the people they refer to as "broadcasters" are quite well known as well.

Finished Season 1, excellent is all I can say.

A bit apprehensive about S2 though, it has a lot to live up to. I think I'll take a break from it and come back at a later date.

Thanks for sharing this though Will

glad to have someone to watch it with guys :)

Watched the first ep last night and absolutely loved it, thanks a lot Will. The guy being bought with his own garnet was :-O

i had no idea David Holmes featured so highly in the music selection! but yeah this is a wild mix for triggering show memories.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuHoal-SrkIKNnqjENuBJ0nSTDPDbgHo8

filming done for s2 of devil's game

from a recent nme article, "Jung also addressed criticism over the first season’s lack of variety in games, sharing that they formed a dedicated game development team for season two, which included ex-colleagues from one of his previous projects, The Genius."

exciting!

DGS2 cast:

Celebrities/Broadcasters

Kang Jiyoung - TV Personality, Former JTBC Announcer, Glasses Goddess, Fluent In English & Chinese, Kelley School Of Business At Indiana University (Passed The CPA Exam), Previously Participated In Code: Secret Room S2, Previously Guested On You Quiz On The Block

(Cho) Kyuhyun - Idol (SUPER JUNIOR), Balladeer, TV Personality, 조정뱅이, Math Lover, Kyung Hee University, Previously Guested On The Genius & Problematic Men

Yoon Sohee - Actress (Let's Eat; Marriage, Not Dating; The Emperor: Owner Of The Mask), KAIST (Bachelor's), Catholic University Of Korea (Master's), Previously Guested On Problematic Men

Justin Min - American Actor (The Umbrella Academy; After Yang; Beef), Photographer, Cornell University

Chuu - Singer, TV/Internet Personality, Former Idol (Loona)

Influencers

Lee Seunghyun - Influencer, Miss Korea 2022/Miss Seoul 2022 Jin (Winner), Department Of Economics At Korea University, Previously Appeared On My Friends Are Smarter Than I

Jeong Hyungyu - Influencer, MENSA Member, Seoul National University Student (Department Of Physical Education), Previously Appeared On Transit Love 2

Choi Hyunjoon - Model, Achieved Top 0.2% In Baccalauréat (French College Entrance Exam), KAIST Student, Previously Guested On Problematic Men & You Quiz On The Block

Specialists/Experts

7high - Pro Poker Player, Music Producer/DJ, Son Of SNU Sociology Professor Emeritus/Current Superintendent Of Seoul Metropolitan Office Of Education, Fluent In English (Based In U.S.), Previously Participated In War Of The Poker Gods S3

Lee Sedol - Board Game Developer (Wizstone Series), Author, Former Pro Go Player (9th Dan, 14-Time World Tournament Champion), Handed AlphaGo Its One Loss Ever (In 74 Matches), Previously Guested On You Quiz On The Block

Members Of The General Public Who Passed The Open Casting Call Auditions

Kim Harin - Plastic Surgeon

Park Sangyeon - Yonsei University Medical Student, 51st International Physics Olympiad Gold Medalist (11th Place), Pianist/Piano Club Member

Son Eunyu - Lawyer Specializing In Mergers & Acquisitions

Tinno - Main Host Of Board Game Youtube Channel Universe TV

stoked

any news on dates yet

just saw an advert for the uk one on itv? this review doesn't sound good
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/26/genius-game-david-tennants-brainiac-gameshow-is-even-duller-than-doing-gcse-maths

(may 6th is the date for s2 of devil's game btw)

They were both main matches in the original I think so the problem with those may be with the reviewer.

I'm worried about having an actual host rather than bandageman and think it'll just get in the way, and that our edition might play with 'teams' in the sort of way that makes the US Traitors a chore, or that ruined Million Dollar Hotel in the US version.

This was really pretty good all told and the game theory shone through. Definitely a reviewer problem.

Editing could be tighter and no obvious musical cues as yet but there's time. Tennant involvement level pretty much bang on. Also not much sign of the teaming the reviewer mentioned although a revenge mechanic might develop.

Looking forward to Zombie/Human tomorrow.

hello hap gyul my old friend <3

Still very good although I kind of want Benjamin to go as soon as possible. He's a good player but seems to be too much about the drama.

Looks very much like ITV was the wrong home for this, reviews all negative that I've seen and viewers wanting Paddy McGuinness hosting a dating show instead given far too much prominence.

e1 of s2 for devil's plan was so good
season casting looks spot on

Yeah, it was like when Jeopardy was on and they just concentrated on the people going "wah this is for clever smugs, when is Deal or No Deal back". This is the wrong country for this programme, it doesn't really have a natural home on terrestrial TV and putting it against Race Across the World is just terrible judgement.

Main channels is a terrible place for it - BBC4 feels like the best home, More4 maybe? And then you're down into the weeds with the Dave Universe or Challenge.

After match 3 we've moved from disliking Benjamin to hoping for his imminent demise from the game. He's trying to play a Sangmin final season style game and just isn't charismatic enough to carry it off (and it didn't exactly work then, did it?). Based on the 'next time' clip I suspect an Amanfi/Bex/Ken team comes up with an alternate play and/or betrayal.

I think my problem with it is either that the editing is poorer or the group just isn't reacting in the same way. We've only had one time jump edit (for contrast Devil's Plan S2 lasted all of 25 minutes before their first one) and there have been no big hidden strategy reveals or any other moments of miscounting or other failure - GIVE ME MY EXTREME WAYS MOMENTS DAMN YOU.

Devil's Plan S2 is night and day next to it and it possibly does Genius Game even worse than it being up against Race Across The World.

Got to Devil's Plan E7 and I have realised what is wrong with the UK editing (albeit based on the limited information from 3 episodes of UK Genius Game) - in both Korean shows we are watching a competition broadcast over n episodes, in the UK version we are watching a competition with n heats.

This means the Korean shows can stretch and flow for the most dramatic editing - the opening titles can come anywhere from a minute to 25 in, and a single day can be over two episodes (don't think there's been one over three, but I could be wrong) - whereas British television protocol says the opening titles are at the beginning, the host does a piece, and then we get main match, death match, outro, titles, trailer.

This lets the Korean editing raise the stakes on the right beats, and cut an awful lot more routine material, plus use flash forward and back to add to the tension. The UK one seems so far to rely on the contestants getting more committed and/or panicky as the clock runs down.

And having said all that, Devil's Plan S2 is really, really good. Not Genius S2 but then again what is?

E08 opening titles after 44 minutes must be a record.