Entertainment
‘Half Truth’ Is Just One Of Many Recent Ken Jennings Achievements
Ken Jennings has had a busy year. Who can forget the prime time January 2020 television event “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time,” which pitted Jennings against James “Jeopardy James” Holzhauer and Brad Rutter? The show was so popular the three Jeopardy champions plan to reunite in a remade version of the show “The Chase.” Perhaps a little more under the radar, in April, Jennings debuted on a Game Show Network quiz show called “Master Minds,” hosted by “The Chase” vet Brooke Burns. (The next season of “Master Minds” is set to premiere on GSN on December 7, so they must have continued to film throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.) More recently, Ken Jennings narrated the audiobook version of Alex Trebek’s memoir, “The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life.” And at the beginning of this newest season of Jeopardy, Trebek announced on-air that Jennings officially joined the show as a “consulting producer.”
The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life Audible Logo Audible Audiobook – Unabridged — $14.69
Oh, and to cap it all off, it was announced last week that Ken Jennings would officially take over as host of “Jeopardy!”, at least on an “interim” basis. That news sparked a bit of a media frenzy, as online denizens from all corners of the internet rushed to cancel the GOAT for an ill-thought-out tweet from 2014. It remains to be seen if Jennings will actually get to host any “Jeopardy!” episodes (filming was set to resume on November 30), and if so how many.
In addition to building his brand as a bourgeoning television personality, Ken Jennings had another, perhaps overlooked accomplishment in 2020. This summer, he came out with a board game. It is called “Half Truth,” and it bills itself as the “trivia game that makes you feel smart.”
“Half Truth Game” by Ken Jennings & Richard Garfield — $29.99
Trivia is more popular than ever right now, and Half Truth is the perfect game that lets you scratch the itch while getting your less enthused friends and family involved. The questions cover a wide range of topics from academia to pop culture, with the best part being that you do not need to know all the answers to win. For each question, there are six multiple choice options. Three are correct, and three are incorrect. Many are so obscure that you have to use some deductive logic to make an educated guess.
The latest editions of Trivial Pursuit have alternatively been accused of either being too easy or too hard. Since the pandemic started, they have been mostly sold out anyway. Half Truth is a way to get your trivia fix in, and it actually IS available on Amazon. My family and I decided to crack it open on Black Friday and ended up playing for five hours. Not many board games (especially new board games!) can offer that amount of entertainment.
We Know Products readers know that we love games. Over the years titles we have recommended include …I Should Have Known That, 5 Second Rule, Half Truth, and Trivillenial. Now it is time to add another to our list—Chronology. I received it as a Christmas gift, and we have already played it so many times that we may be close to exhausting every card in the set.
CHRONOLOGY – The Game Where You Make History – 20th Anniversary Edition — $19.99
I had never heard of Chronology until the week before Christmas. I was at a holiday party, and several guests referred to the game as a recent favorite of theirs. They described the rules: Each player starts out with an historical event, complete with the year it occurred. As the game progresses, they are dealt additional cards and challenged to place the date of its happening in the timeline in front of them. In the beginning, this task comes easy. It does not take a history buff to know that Kelly Clarkson winning the first season of American Idol took place after the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.
But as your timeline grows, so does the level of reasoning required. Even if you have a sense that the NASA launch of Apollo 17, the debut concert of the rock band Kiss, and the the invention of the Rubik’s cube all took place in the 1970s, would you be able to correctly slot them in that order?
The best part of this game is that anyone can excel at it. The events tackle a wide range of topics, including not only history but also sports and pop culture. When I played over a dozen times with family over the break, I think every player won at least one time. It is also a great springboard for conversation. For example, the elder statesmen in the group will be unable to resist the urge of telling about how they remember when their households first got color TV.
There is only one issue with the game, and it is a minor one because it does not affect very many cards. For some reason, the B.C. dates are not affixed with that information. Ergo, Julius Caesar’s death is listed as “44” instead of “44 B.C.” and the first Hanukkah as “164” instead of “164 B.C.” In other words, if you didn’t know better, you would think that the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire somehow happened after it was already in the dominion of Rome. (Chronology makers, if you are reading this, please fix this for future editions!)
With sometime like 99% of the dates being after the birth of Christ, this small error hardly diminishes one’s enjoyment with the game. Chronology gets the WKP seal of approval and a “strong recommend” for your next family game night.
Are you sick of all the pop-its accumulating around your house? Are you skeptical of the claims that the colorful fidget toys are anything more than an educational distraction? A new bestselling toy might help. The “Flashing Cube” (or “Flashdash”) is basically an electronic fidget. Yes, it does light up and make noise, so on the surface it may seem more annoying than its analogue counterparts. On the other hand, it offers actual built-in games to help children develop important skills like memory and dexterity.
Flashing Cube Electronic Memory & Brain Game | 4-in-1 Handheld Game for Kids — $39.99
The Flashing Cube offers four games, called “Chase Me,” “Catch Me,” “Follow Me,” and “Remember Me.” The latter two are essentially an update of the classic Simon, though obviously with more buttons to press there are many more combinations. The abundance of gameplay possibilities is a huge selling point of this toy, since in theory it should take longer for your child to become bored of it and demand something new.
As you can see from the image above, it is possible to mute the volume, though ideally there would be some parental control option so your young one can’t just crank it up as soon as it is in his or her possession. Still, the Flashing Cube is shaping up to be one of the most popular stocking stuffers for Christmas 2021—Amazon is selling out of them fast, so you (or Santa!) would be well advised to act fast.
Like the retail stores that already have Christmas trees on display, it is true that we have begun the transition from Halloween to holiday season content. But Halloween is still more than a week away, and though you may not be able to buy your dream costume if you haven’t already, there is still Halloween paraphernalia out there that can be delivered to you in no time. One such item that caught our eye was this cute set of skeleton statuettes.
As you can see from the above image, this 4-pack comes with stickers so that you can award winners of “Funniest Costume,” “Coolest Costume,” “Sparkiest Costume” (whatever that means), and of course “Scariest Costume.” However, since these titles are stickers that can be applied, you can give them as prizes for all sorts of Halloween-related contests. Do you work at a school or apartment building and want to give out a prize for best door decorations? Here is the trophy you need. Or perhaps you are throwing a Halloween party for your child that will feature classic games like wrap the mummy or find the hidden pumpkins. Sadly, bobbing for apples is probably a no-go this year for sanitary reasons, but to be honest that is one COVID casualty that we could probably continue to go without.
These cool trophies measure 6.7 inches high, so they are about half as tall as an Oscar statuette. There is no doubt that the winners will give them pride of place in their bedrooms or wherever they choose to display their accomplishments. And at just $18, these plastic figurines are cheap enough that you can buy several packs if you are one of those “everybody gets a trophy” families.
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