I'll explain the title later.

The last week and a half or so have been a blur for me. Six of those days were spent in the company of Game Show NewsNet correspondent Gordon Pepper and beloved Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Jeopardy! winner Jason Block. Much of this time was spent yapping about game shows, playing cards and generally laughing our balls off. Gordon's writing his own account of his and Jason's time in Los Angeles, so much of his account will mirror my own, but I will add my own thoughts, and present an account of what happened to me AFTER they left here.

(Note: if you can correct something you see wrong here, E-MAIL ME IMMEDIATELY WITH THE CORRECT INFORMATION at captvangin@aol.com.)

It all started with the last conference call before the Game Show Congress. Most of you already know about the event: Ralph Edwards and Bill Cullen were to be honored with awards for their accomplishments, Edwards for his lifetime of community service and Cullen for his career as one of the most beloved (and hilarious) emcees in history. I had already volunteered to be part of the event as a chairman of what has come to be known as the Game Challenge Tournament; Gordon had also signed for this position as well, so he and I ran it together. Much of the structure of the event was Gordon's design; my primary contributions were to come up with the details of the scoring system, and just showing up to run my games.

At the end of the call, Gordon asked me to call him on his cell-phone, and when I did he mentioned that he and Jason were in town already, looking for shit to do. They invited me to join them at Disneyland the next day. Sensing an opportunity to bond with Gordon (whom I knew little about at that point beyond his association with GSNN) and Jason (still my favorite of all the WWTBAM contestants, and the one I wanted to meet most), naturally I accepted.

Little did I know what was in store for me.

I met Gordon and Jason the next morning around 10am PDT at the main entrance of Disney's California Adventure (DCA). Jason was just as he appeared on WWTBAM, with all the exuberance and sheer joy that made him so irresistible on the show. Gordon was not quite what I expected. For some reason, I had pictured Gordon as a tall, lanky fellow, but he's actually closer to my height with red hair and glasses. They had gotten there earlier and ridden some of Disneyland's (Splash Mountain was Gordon's obvious favorite, he mentioned to me on more than one occasion that flume and water rides were his favorites). We entered DCA together and first stopped to give Gordon an opportunity to pose with a cast member wearing a "Sully" costume, as pictured to the left. (Sully being John Goodman's character from Monsters, Inc.)

Gordon and I, unable to convince Jason to join us (back problems, he said; Gordon confirmed this), then went on Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We discussed many things in line for the ride: the Tournament and the Congress, Gordon and Jason's mutual interest in gambling, The Price is Right pricing game strategies (especially for "Cover-Up," which has never been one of my favorite games, but for which Gordon - and apparently a few others- had a nifty strategy worked out), and WWTBAM-Play It! at DCA closing (more on that later). We then boarded the ride, and had a good thrill (and a few cheap laughs at the expense of the ride operators). Next, I took Gordon and Jason to Grizzly River Run, a water ride known for soaking its riders. I, not being dressed to go on it, chose not to join them. After an experience with Bigfoot Rapids at Knott's Berry Farm as a little boy, I made it a point not to go on rides like that unless I had a change of clothes; having to wear wet clothes around for any considerable length of time is not a pleasant sensation for me.

Next we visited Muppet Vision 3-D while we waited for WWTBAM-Play It! I'd seen the show before, but Gordon and Jason obviously hadn't, and they obviously got a kick out of it. Soon after, we attended our first of what would be three WWTBAM-Play It! shows (Gordon says four in his account, but I only remember three). Jason got into one of the ten seats where the Fastest Finger was traditionally played (which at the attraction were really no more than window dressing; all attendees of the show got to play). He failed to get into the Hot Seat, even with the string of early chokes. We would return later. We then went on California Screamin', the park's famed roller coaster, and found little trouble getting through the relatively small line. That was followed by a few rounds of various carnival games (Gordon and Jason played and lost) and a ride on the Golden Zephyr.

The second and third WWTBAM games followed, and during the second show, I made it into the Hot Seat and played what was to be my final run at the game. But after reaching the top tier with all my lifelines intact, I used two of them at 64,000 points (including Ask the Audience, and they surprisingly enough came through with the right answer), and ignored the correct advice of the Phone-a-Complete-Stranger and crashed at 125,000. At the third show, Jason again sat in the Fastest Finger seats, but again failed to reach the Hot Seat.

Following the last show, we decided to cross over to Disneyland and hit a few of their rides. Our initial interest there was a ride on the classic, Pirates of the Carribean (Gordon really liked the visuals on Pirates), followed by a cheap scare or two on Haunted Mansion, some old-school thrills on the Matterhorn and a quick zip through space on Star Tours.

Star Tours was the last ride we went as Gordon and Jason wanted to hit Commerce Casino. I managed to bum $100 off of my mom, and after changing my clothes at home, followed them up to Commerce Casino. Gordon's comments in his accounts are quite accurate, at least in appearance, but in truth it's actually the opposite: the casino was there first, and the hotel was added later. The interior of the facility is best described as "ghetto;" the place actually felt kind of greasy to me, but it was a lot of fun. Most of the time I watched Gordon and Jason as they played Pai-Gow Poker; when a new table was started, I sat down for a few hands and while I lost $25, I won more hands than I lost. This is also where I was introduced to Gordon and Jason's casino theme song, "Profit in My Pants." It's sung to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night," and refers to the pair's practice of placing their winnings in the pocket of their pants while playing with their original bankroll; basically an elaborate kind of stop-loss system. (The lyrics can be found with Gordon's account of the weekend.) At about 1 am after their table went cold, we decided to call it a night. I went home to Anaheim, while the boys went back to their hotel room in Burbank.

I spent most of the next day recuperating from the day before. I had originally planned to use this day to work on The Price is Right, which Gordon and I would be hosting the next evening at the reception. Unfortunately, I found myself oversleeping, and goofing off most of day. That evening, Gordon called me on my cell-phone and advised me that there was an unofficial gathering at the P.F. Chang Chinese Restaurant at the Media City Center in Burbank. After eating two chicken sandwiches (Chinese food has never been a favorite of mine), I rolled out to Burbank to hang out with Gordon and Jason and the rest of the GSC crew who had arrived. GSC mastermind G. Paul Bailey and his mom were there along with quiz bowl organizer James Dinan, WWTBAM winners Ed Toutant and Lori Bailey (the former is the #2 all-time money winner on the show, the latter won $64,000 on the syndie version and was the organizer of the Pitch Session which I was a lucky participant in), as well as Gordon and Jason. While the rest of the gang feasted (and I happily sipped on a Coke) there was much conversation and excitement over the event. It was Jason who did most of the talking, but much of it was quite profound and inspiring, reinforcing my admiration for Jason and just generally entertaining the tar out of everyone.

Midway through the evening, by a wild coincidence, I spied FremantleMedia development manager Mandel Ilagan, a gentleman who I believe was Mandel's boyfriend, and two unidentified (and very cute) young women entering the restaurant and pointed them out. Jason, being the outgoing type anyway, decided to go say hello. I sensed an opportunity to congratulate Mandel on getting his pricing game "1/2 Off" onto The Price is Right, so I naturally went with him. Mandel seemed surprised but he graciously talked to us for a few moments, and then Jason and I left him and his party to grub in peace.

After the dinner, Gordon and Jason informed me that they wanted to go to the nearby Bicycle Casino. Although at that particular moment I was broke (and I hadn't gotten any of the prize pictures for our TPIR game the next evening), I decided to go with them anyway. The Bicycle Casino (or "The Bike," as it is sometimes called) was a far nicer facility than Commerce, much cleaner and much more pleasant to play in. I mostly watched Gordon and Jason, who after playing many hands of Pai-Gow Poker, decided to give the Baccarat variant Super Pan 9 a try. They did okay (but not as well they would later in the week) and around midnight, we called it a day.

Saturday was the low point of the week: I spent most of it frantically trying to find prizes and prices to use for TPIR that evening. But a slow connection, plus countless distractions equal a LOOOOOONG day. I finally managed to get all the pix I needed for my two games, but by the time I had, I was late for the event, and I still hadn't gotten the pix that Gordon had asked for. So I collected a few stray pics I had for another project, along with the rest of the stuff I needed (including a homemade Big Wheel, used for the two Showcase Showdowns of the evening; pictured below) and drove like mad for the Burbank Airport Hilton, the site of the GSC.

Thankfully, the crowd was fairly occupied when I got their: Travis Schario, early big winner on the 32^nd season of TPIR, and designer of the new Endless Games TPIR home-game, was showing off his latest creation, a home version of Press Your Luck. The game (coupled with the sound effects being made by the crowd) had kept most people occupied while Gordon and I set up the first go-round; I was far more frantic than Gordon was, having to cut out and sort most of my pictures on site, but after a few minutes there, I was far more relaxed as the games progressed. Jason Block served as our Randy West (Screw Rich Fields. As nice a guy he is, the TPIR gig should have been Randy's) for the game. During the first game, I ran the IFUBs, the Showcase Showdowns and the Showcase itself, while Gordon ran his six pricing games: Cover-Up, Trader Bob and four others I can't remember. During the second go round, we switched roles: my games were Golden Road (won by none other than Schario, who won another Cadillac much as he had playing Lucky Seven on the real show), Grand Game (played by It's Your Chance of a Lifetime $1 million plus winner Tim Hsieh), Clock Game (played and won by Julie Suchard; Julie's husband Jeff won the Million Point Grand Prize at WWTBAM-Play It! He also lost his pricing game (Trader Bob) during the first go-round, won the first Showcase of the evening, and even managed to spin $1.00 on the Big Wheel as well. For her part, Julie won the second Showcase), Double Prices, Game Show Man's Markers (known as Barker's Markers on the real show, I believe that was game was won by Twenty-One king David Legler), and my favorite game, Card Game (lost by only a few hundred dollars by none other than TVGameshows.net webmaster Steve Beverly).

That night, I got zero sleep as I frantically wrote questions for one of the games to be played the next day, Russian Roulette. I managed to finish writing the last of my questions, quickly showered, shaved, dressed myself in the new Botany 500 suit (yes, I said Botany 500) my family had bought me for the event, printed out the stuff I needed, and then threw my stuff for the tourney in the car at around 6 am PDT.

<- L. Greed winner Phyllis Harris and Jason Block (left) team up against Jeff and Julie Suchard for a game of Gambit, hosted by Gordon Pepper. The Quizzard unit they're using is from my Australian New Century-era edition of Sale of the Century.

I reached the hotel for the event with plenty of time to set-up. My first game was High Rollers; I brought the 1988 Parker Brothers edition and used it in combination with my standalone Quizzard unit and a set of giant "lawn-dice" for the event. During Rollers, we had the front game board cleared once (something that probably only happened once on the entire 1987 run) and a Big Numbers win (even that only happened a few times).

The four-person teams formed as the day went on. Amongst them were: the Suchards, and Tim and Elaine Hsieh as a team which came to be known as the "Flexors" (they had a nifty Latin name meaning "Fast Thumb Button Pushers," but I'll be damned if I can remember it); Travis Schario, improv comic Ben Ziek (one half of the "Lingo Brothers," the first team to guess ten words right in the Bonus Lingo endgame on the GSN version of the show), CBS Television City page Scott Robinson and David Pfeffer (sp?) as a team called the "Whammies" (their battle cry: "I cannot tell a lie: YOU LOSE!," one of the Whammy's various lines when robbing an unlucky player of their loot); Jason Block, Greed contestant Phyllis Harris, James Dinan and Warren (rackumfrackum; does anyone remember his last name?) as the "Almost Retired Game Show Veterans;" and Dave Legler, his dad (known as David W. Legler or just "W"), Street Smarts staffer Ben Tritle and Steve Beverly as the TVGameshows.net team.

In between, I ducked out of the tourney room to participate in the Pitch Session. A number of lucky folks were there to get critique on their pet formats, including veteran contestant Tom Gauer (who later played in the tourney with us, he had a nifty Sale of the Century type format), Tim "Loogaroo" Connelley (there pitching his nifty card game Luck of The Draw), Travis Schario (with Plinko: The Game Show) and the Lingo Brothers (Ben Ziek and his partner Josh Zager, there with a music trivia format). I was seventh to participate in the session and I was brought into the magic room before the panel: Aaron Solomon, veteran announcer (and my pal) Randy West, FremantleMedia development kingpin Jeff Mirkin, Your Face or Mine producer Caleb Nelson, Joe Scott and Andrea Harrt. I pitched them my format, which they liked very much and made a few constructive criticisms (nothing nasty though; I did far better than I thought I might). I was very much encouraged, and frankly, I suspect that I may yet get my format in the air (hey Jeff and Caleb, if you're reading this and you really like my show, gimme an e-mail and let's work it out, hunh?).

After the Pitch Session, I returned to the tourney room for Russian Roulette. Lots of heated competition here (including one young lady there to help demonstrate Tom Gauer's format and even famed Greed contestant Dan Avila, who wasn't in the tournament, but played a heckuva game of Russian Roulette).

 Following Russian Roulette was the luncheon. I'll let the pictures tell this story.

<- L: An overwhelmed Ann Cullen accepts the award named for her late husband, Bill Cullen.

-> R. The Whammies prepare for the elimination game. L to R, David Pfeffer, Travis Schario, Scott Robinson and Ben Ziek

My final game of the tourney was You Don't Say, selected to honor Tom Kennedy (as was Gordon's final selection, the aforementioned Split Second). Unfortunately, Tom Kennedy did not stick around, but Steve Beverly was present to play a round with his team and to help clarify the rules of the game. Even with a few screw-ups, it went off without a hitch.

After You Don't Say and Split Second (and an impromptu dinner with the GSC board of directors, including Gordon and myself; my snooze button popped up a few times, and I ended up dozing off again…Gordon kept having to wake me up and at one point thought something was wrong with me), it was determined that the Flexors, the Whammies, the Veterans and the TVGameshows.net teams were the top teams, and they competed in the elimination game, Runaround, based on the 60's kids game. The TVGameshows.net team and the Veterans played in the first game, hosted by Gordon.

Following the first eliminator, the Whammies faced the Flexors in the second eliminator, which I hosted. Unfortunately, since I hosted, I have no pictures, but the Whammies won the eliminator, 2 games to 1, just as the Veterans did. Following their win, the Whammies taunted the Flexors with their battle cry.

Paul Paquet's Smarty-Pants Quiz was the next event on the agenda. The event pitted seven of the greatest game show contestants ever in an every-man-for-himself rapid-fire quiz blast.

Unfortunately, by the time the quiz had gotten into full swing, the snooze button in the back of my skull had popped out suddenly, and I found myself dozing off again, preventing me from finding out who won. (I was later informed that Ed won.)

After the Smarty-Pants Quiz, Steve Beverly (pictured at left) gave his "State of the Games Address," a fiery, almost sermon-like speech, in which Beverly explained what he believed the reasons for the lack of traditional game shows were, why Pyramid got whacked, condemned Sony for dumping Bob Boden from GSN (here, here), further exclaimed his disdain for "reality television," proclaimed the coming of "the era of the casino game" and exclaimed a bit of hope for the future as Ken Jennings continues his reign of terror on Jeopardy!

After Steve's speech, it was time for the highlight of the evening: Mike Burger and his Game Show Machine. Two games were played, and the first was championship game of the tourney between the Veterans and the Whammies.

The Veterans would win the match though, and claim the championship of the Game Challenge Tournament for 2004! A second Game Show Round would follow however, and that drew Bob Boden (who, as Gordon would have you believe, was stinging from his defeat from the year before)…along with many other players, including Gordon and me (I literally sounded the charge to the stage for the second game). Unfortunately, since I played I have no pictures. We played a number of games against Team Boden, including Lingo (needless to say, Team Boden rolled us like a pair of dice on that game), Smush (my choice, Team Boden flattened us there too, but I got my licks in), Family Feud (our team's high point. We won on a steal, and then I scored 149 as player one for Fast Money, and Gordon as player two came THIS CLOSE to winning, but fell only a few points short) and finally Password Plus. There's a funny story about this last game, but I think Gordon tells it better, so you'll have to read it in his account. Team Boden would win this Game Show Round, but it was a great competition and Boden (a man I like to refer to as the "Original Game Show Man") was most gracious when I met and introduced myself afterward. We'd encountered each other before, but this was my first opportunity to shake his hand and say hello. He kindly proclaimed me a "great player." It's clear that he (and the rest of the attendees) really dug the Game Show Machine.

It was on this note that the day ended. I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to everyone, and went to home to finally get some much-needed sleep.

The next day I woke up at around 9 am and started getting read to go down to CBS Television City for what was to be a backstage tour of The Price is Right. Ordinarily, you have to get to Television City VERY EARLY to see TPIR (Gordon and Jason Block had gone to Television City to stand in the TPIR line at around 4 am). On the way, I had a brainstorm. I had been searching the K-Marts in the area looking in vain for the new Endless Games edition of the TPIR home game; K-Mart is the game's primary distributor, and its stores got the game first. A large K-Mart happens to be located directly across the street from the Farmer's Market, which is next to Television City, so it occurred to me, "Surely the K-Mart across the street from the studio where The Price is Right would have the show's homegame." Sure enough, I found the game in the store's toy section and promptly bought a copy. I showed it to Ben Ziek as he and I simultaneously pulled into the Television City lot for the tour. But we were late as the group from the Congress who had gone to see the tour had already gone in…but the tour didn't last long, as the crew did not expect us for a tour, only as a VIP group to see the show. So while I did get to lay my hands on the real Big Wheel (coolness, man. If only they'd have let me spin it…), the group (which included myself, Ben, Travis Schario (naturally), journalist Andrew Greenstein, Justin Dyer, Kevin Olmstead, David Pffefer, and various others) were herded into the Television City lobby until Karen, the Television City audience coordinator, came to get us, and seat us in the VIP row…IMMEDIATELY behind Contestant's Row. The episode was tremendously exciting, and it airs on October 26, 2004. Look for a goofy looking man in a red TPIR cap behind Contestant's Row; you can't miss me. (Gordon has his own story to tell you in his account, of course.)

Following the taping, much of the group (specifically myself, Gordon, Jason, Ben, Travis, and David) rolled to the Johnny Rockets restaurant at the Farmer's Market to hang out and have lunch. While there, we discussed the events of the day before, and brainstormed ideas for the Game Challenge Tournament for next year, as well as candidates for the Cullen and Edwards awards. After lunch, we rolled back to the hotel to hang out. I arrived first, and explored my new game while I waited. When the rest of the group arrived, Travis very graciously signed my game, and everyone rolled up to their room for some shut-eye. I went up to Gordon and Jason's room to do the same. It actually took us a while to catch a few Z's because Gordon and Jason regaled me with hilarious stories of their adventures at the last year's GSC, their various jaunts to Atlantic City to gamble, and of their friends and experiences on the East Coast. By the time we finally fell asleep, Jason Hernandez and Josh Yawn, my two associates from the PYLP, arrived to hang out with us. They had gone to the second TPIR taping, and from their reports, it obviously didn't go so well. Just after he arrived, Josh decided to take a picture of me sleeping on Gordon and Jason B.'s floor; what he didn't realize is that his arrival had woken me up already. I was just conscious enough to hear him take the picture and the obvious delight in his voice as he saw what he thought would make an embarrassing (or at least funny) photo.

It was at this point that one of the best parts of the entire week took place: the poker game, where I finally got use my new poker set that I bought in Vegas from the Gambler's General Store. Myself, Gordon, and the two Jasons all bought in for $20; Josh opted out, but ended up being our gofer as we ordered pizza. He retaliated with a "Stone Cold Salute" as he left to go to the lobby after a particularly biting joke at his expense. (A second quip on his way out prompted him to instantly return and fire off a second Stone Cold Salute, "just in case we missed it.") That night we played a lot of different games: Texas Hold' Em (natch), a bit of Gordon and Jason B.'s favorite games, Pai-Gow Poker and Super Pan 9, some Criss Cross, an Omaha Hold 'Em variant I invented called Shanghai Hold 'Em, and a bit of Baseball, among others. Jason B. got rubbed out fairly quickly, and I managed to win some phat pots, but also fell to Gordon and Jason H. who played out the last hands of the night, with Gordon the overall winner, but Jason H. did pocket some dough. It was about 11:30 when the last hand played out, so Jason H. and Josh went home so Josh could pack to go home to Texas the next day. I also left so I could get sleep for the next day's events.

Tuesday, August 17: STREET SMARTS and One Last Run at the Bike

The next morning I got up to go to the Street Smarts taping scheduled for that day. But when I awoke, I called Kevin Olmstead, who had organized the group, and he told me that the tapings were in ten minutes which since I was in Anaheim, I would never have made it to. So I missed the first set of tapings (there were two that day), and I ended up going online to check my e-mail, the first time I'd been able to do that in several days. But soon, Gordon called and invited me to take in a movie. At around 11:30, I jumped in my car and hauled ass for the Media City Center, to meet with Gordon and Jason B. to see Alien vs. Predator. The consensus among us was that it was a great movie, and managed to be as such without having to be particularly gory (the film is rated PG-13).

After the flick, we returned to the hotel to meet up with Jason H. (who had to fight traffic to get there) to go to the second taping. We found the Victory Studios where the show is taped, but were informed that the first taping ran late and the second taping would start later, long enough for the group to hit a nearby Del Taco for some lunch. While we grubbed on yummy Mexican food (although Gordon and Jason B. insisted that New York had better Mexican food), the topic of our discussion was mostly baseball, and the poker game the night before.

At around 3:30, we returned to the Victory Studios for the taping. While waiting in line, Gordon played a few California Lottery Scratcher tickets and won a few bucks. We finally were brought into the relatively small studio and met the show's warm-up man, a heavy, deep-voiced, big-hearted goofball (or is that goomba?) answering to the name of "Chunky Beef." He pointed us out to the crowd, and entertained everyone until the first show, a theme episode called "Underwater Smarts," began. The players were a bikini clad model (who it turns out was married and had several kids, which was a shock because she certainly didn't look like she had) and a goofy looking guy. After the theme show were two regular episodes (and more of Chunky's hilarious antics in between). Ben Tritle came out to see us after the second show and told us that he'd see what he could do about introducing us to the show's host, Frank Nicotero. Frank and the Street Smarts crew had actually come to the GSC on Sunday, but I had missed him due to the tourney and wanting to get to the luncheon; I'm very happy I got to see him work at the taping. Following the last show, Ben was true to his word, and Frank said hello to us all. He hung out with us for a few minutes, and gave us all question cards used on the show as souvenirs. A nice guy, I must say, and a credit to the show and to television in general.

After the taping, Ben walked us out, said goodbye to us, and we left for Gordon and Jason's last hurrah: a final visit to the Bicycle Casino. When we arrived Gordon sat down to play some $2-$4 Hold 'Em and Jason B. went off to play Pai-Gow Poker. Jason H., not quite being old enough to gamble, just watched everything (although Gordon and Jason H. did lay some bets for him). I threw in few dollars with Jason's, and I won a few bucks, but I stopped early, ahead $25. If only I knew what came next. Gordon and Jason B. sat down at the Super Pan 9 table, and on a whim, Gordon decided to play banker. Coupled with money thrown in by Jason B., Jason H. and another kibitzer, together they caught a wave of 7s, 8s and 9s which put Gordon up over $300 and Jason B. over $700! Naturally, this elicited cries of "Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!" (from the Eddie Murphy version of The Nutty Professor) and choruses of "Profit in My Pants." At around 1 am, we decided to call it a night; it would likely have lasted longer if my mom wasn't such a worrywart. I bid Gordon and Jason B. a fond farewell; they had to leave for the East Coast in the morning. Then Jason H. got in his Chevy Impala and I loaded myself up into my PT Cruiser and we rolled home, with fresh memories from what had been one of the most wonderful weekends of our lives.

Happy story, huh?

Sure it is. But that's not the end of the story…

The next two days were days of recovery. I just hung around the house, watched TV, and surfed the Net. Oh, yeah, and I got some much needed sleep too.

Friday is when the story picks up. That morning, my mom and I sold one of the four basset hound puppies our female, Rita (or "Baby Mama Rita" as I call her) had given birth to a few weeks earlier. Since I had helped take care of the little creatures for a week or so, I got a cut of the money.

That afternoon, I got a call from Gordon (who had been called by Jason H.) reminding me that this was the day WWTBAM-Play It! was performing its last show. So around 4:30, I loaded myself up, raced to DCA, but found I was too late to get into the last show. BUT, I did hang around, and ended becoming THE LAST Phone-A-Complete-Stranger EVER. The question: What is the current minimum wage for non-exempt workers in the U.S.? With only seconds to spare, I offered up the right answer: $5.15, earning the last contestant a 32,000-point winner's polo shirt. It would be the show's last.

Moments after, the exit doors opened, and the audience spilled out. Many regulars stuck around to get pictures, something they weren't allowed to do during the show; this was their - and my - only opportunity to get pictures of the place. My pictures are below.

I'm gonna miss the place, I'll tell ya that much right now.

The next morning, I got up to be part of a Game Show NewsNet regular feature, We Love To Interrupt, featuring Gordon, Chico "The Man" Alexander, GSNN contributor Aldo, Jason Hernandez, Josh Yawn and yours truly. I probably would have stuck around for the whole thing…if I didn't have tickets to see The Price is Right Live at the Harrah's Rincon Casino, near San Diego. I had to get a move on to get down there, and I even got lost once or twice. A road name had changed, and I ended up going in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes. I finally stopped to ask directions and nearly had an embolism when I was finally told which way to go. I arrived at the casino too late to see the first show, which I come to see, so I ended transferring my ticket to see the evening show.

I stuck around, and put the $100 I came with into a TPIR Plinko video slot machine, and actually was up $150 at one point. When the first show let out, I went to go say hello to host Todd Newton and announcer Randy West, who were working the show. I told them I'd see them at the second show, and they expressed much pleasure at my visit.

While I waited for the second show, I decided to try and build up my $250 into more with some more TPIR slots, but alas, I sat down at the wrong machine, and ended up giving it all back. Rackumfrackum. After that, I ended up wandering about, watching people play a bizarre but interesting version of craps (using the dice to select cards which gave the results of the contest), and others play the TPIR slots (including one woman who had inherited my particular machine and won a bunch of money, too).

At 8:30 it was at last time to enter the theater to watch the show. The stage was basically a large version of the border around the TPIR doors with the multi-colored curtain in it most of the time. When it was time to play pricing games, the curtain parted to reveal a miniature version of the TPIR set. There were also two video screens which showed the qualifier questions (electronic keypads were at every seat for every audience member to provide an answer for in order to play the games for real; I would've played along but I was unsure of my eligibility) and a variety of classic TPIR clips. Randy West came out and did his warm-up to introduce the show, and then announced the first four players for Contestant's Row (four new one were loaded in for every new pricing game). Out came Todd, and started the show. The first two games were Race Game (for a variety of small prizes) and Hole in One (for a trip to Las Vegas instead of a car). Both games were won by their players. Next came the Big Wheel, played only for money; the winner would be paid $250 in additional to any bonus money awarded. $1.00 on the initial spin was worth $100, green sections on the bonus spin were worth $500 and $1.00 on the bonus was worth $1,000. The second spinner got the dollar, but could not capitalize on the bonus spin. Two more pricing games, Cliff Hangers (make with the yodeling! Cliff Hangers' contestant won VERY handily) and It's in the Bag, only for $2,400 instead of the $16,000 from the show. The last player choked horribly, not even winning the initial $150 offering.

More classic TPIR clips preceded three final qualifying questions for the Showcase. Two new players were selected and they both made secret bids on the same Showcase, which included a trip to Lake Tahoe and a new VW New Beetle. The winner would get the trip automatically, but had to get within $100 of the ARP to claim the entire Showcase, car and all. Alas, this did not happen.

Following the show, I congratulated Todd and Randy on a great show, their 500^th sold out show. My words to Todd: "Ain't no doubt who the man is now." Both men expressed their gratitude for my visit, and we bid each other a fond farewell. I then jumped in the Cruiser and took the long treacherous road back to the freeway to go home. I'll say this right now: I am now confident that I could get to my old church camp in the mountains if I had to, which like the casino, can only be reached via a twisting, dangerous mountain road. I reached home around midnight that night, bringing my exhausting eleven-day journey to an end.

And that's it. A big thank you to all of the folks I hung with and enjoyed the company of during those eleven days, especially…

The 2005 Game Show Congress will be held in Glendale, CA on August 19-21. Hope to see you there.

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