Every year, dozens of highly-respected experts serve as
LifeSmarts judges. They come from all over the country, and bring a strong
knowledge of business, consumer, and government policy to our tournaments. This
year, in addition to their traditional duties behind the judges’ table, they'll
also be “working the room” during our new competition. It’s a fast-paced event
we're calling “Speed Dating the Experts.”
So here’s how LifeSmarts speed-dating works: each expert
will be at a table, and teams will have exactly seven minutes to complete the
activity before them, earning as many points as possible. Though each team will
meet ten of the experts, there are only five game formats. The game you play
depends on the expert you’re with at the time.
These are the five games:
- Just Say It: It’s just like “Password.” Remember that game? Me neither. Look it up online, Betty White used to play it all the time.
- Take A Spin: Players use a spinner to determine which topic they will tackle.
- Jolt to the Brain: Just like the popular Lightning Rounds: ten rapid-fire questions in a row.
- Slam: Teams are given very short clues (very short--like three letters) and have to identify the concept.
- Picture This: Teams have to decipher pictures and explain the concept of six image sets--like this one:
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| Get it? War and tea = warranty! Don't forget to explain what it is. |
As a kicker, some of the experts will have a “Super
Seven” bonus. The team will have to guess a word or phrase, and the expert
can give them clues...for a price. For each clue, the bonus goes down by one
point. Since teams will only have one chance to guess at a Super Seven,
strategy will be crucial.
The highest possible score teams can earn (without bonuses)
in this competition is 120 points, but hopefully teams will get more from it
than mere points. This is an opportunity for teams to better know the people
who make LifeSmarts possible every year, and who knows? One may make some new
friends along the way.
