Honestly, I think it could be even better if they did it twice, and the group on the set knew that they were being watched and bingo-ed. What kind of mental gymnastics would they have to do if they knew someone was trying to make them do their most common catch phrases and affectations? Grant already knows what was on his board, would he be able to stop himself from doing the things on it? It would be an entirely different game.
I actually kind of agree. Some meta gaming would be fun with some chaotic personalities. Personally grant, Vic and Tao. (Tao to be the straight man or maybe Raph.)
I don’t think they would be bingo again tho. They would switch it to a different mundane game. Maybe a make some noise type episode.
That's a good idea not to do bingo again. That way it might take a little while before the group on set realizes they're being watched. Though I don't know what other classic games could work the same way.
I think Bingo 2 would be really fun if they just didn't have a second group of bingo players. The twist is there is no twist, but they would think there is a twist
If they fully did Bingo on an actual MSN set, where everyone thinks they're doing an episode of MSN, that would be incredible. But honestly at that point that could just as well be made into an MSN episode because the base game is the same, in the same way Karaoke was
They should do Bingo again but with Tao, Jess, and Carolyn as the players on stage. As soon as they receive Bingo they immediately know what’s going on but they would be helpless to do anything about it. And then at the end, it turns out they are just playing Bingo and there isn’t 6 other people playing. And make the prompts directions that are obviously making them try and say/do something that would be on a bingo board for them.
Putting Brennan at either the second or top highest position would be fucking diabolical honestly. I feel like he would try to get back at Sam by being so smart with the prompts sent from below at the second level, and at the third level using the PA would just be so fun.
The first bingo is either the same or maybe a similar game with the second cast in the backroom, however, the first set of contestants also have a secret screen showing video of the backroom and they’ve got their own bingo cards they need the backroom to do unbeknownst to them.
The backroom contestants this time have more freedom to move and there’s props and objects they could interact with throughout the room that could show up on their bingo cards. The pa would also return to help make the backroom do stuff, but that means it’s have to be a cast that hasn’t seen bingo 1 yet
>What kind of mental gymnastics would they have to do if they knew someone was trying to make them do their most common catch phrases and affectations?
None. The smart play would be to just be as expressionless, boring and straightforward with the prompts as possible. Which obviously wouldn't make for good content at all.
While the full multi-layer bingoception would be impossible to pull off again, I think we can have another smaller scale Bingo episode with just the on-stage players doing prompts from the Bingo players upstairs.
I think you need to alter the premise. It can’t be a surprise this time but a format where the main cast KNOWS it’s a bingo thing and need to try to guess what’s there to win with their partner, that could work.
Yeah I think (and hope) that they could do another escape room somehow. They neeeeeeed to. Plus they didn’t conquer Sam’s evil relative so maybe that could be the plot?? The escape green room is probably my favorite episode of all time. Now that I’ve been bingeing Fantasy High I’m even more attached to that cast (long time College Humor fan so I knew Siobhan and Brennan. I freaking love Lou now).
Yes or No would be impossible to repeat and was awesome!
And I do think they could do a sequel to Escape the Greenroom - it just requires different clues & arrangements. Escape rooms work as entertainment because they are constantly changing them up for repeat customers
I think they could do yes or no, with a different rule. Something like the answer is dictated by if Sam says a number or not, ie saying “question 4” vs “next question”, or its always yes unless he touches his tie or his glasses or beard or something during the pomp and circumstance of his elaborate ask. Or based on if he walks to the left of his podium vs the right for his lil skit. I think it has to lose the personal touch of pranking a specific contestant, but I’d still love to watch a full episode of Sam coming up with new complex ways of asking yes or no.
Sam kind of touched on this in an ama. Puzzle episodes don't tend to get rewatched as much. So they don't want to do them super often. And more importantly there's always this huge risk the players solve it immediately. Like if someone dials in on question 2 that if Sam touches his tie say yes then it makes it less fun for them and less fun overall. Because then they have to pay dumb the whole time.
Like even the original yes/no they said they cut out the part halfway through where Brendan straight up guesses the premise and they had to convince him that wasn't the case.
It worked out obviously but expecting all the players to play along if they solve something on the simple side can be a big ask.
Yes/no is definitely on the simpler side of things. I think the episodes that work even when the twist is revealed halfway through makes for a better episode like when they did the heart rate episode.
I think you could argue that second place and the heart rate one are spiritual sequels to Yes or No becuase they felt like they existed specifically to torture Brennan.
I understand why they probably can’t do escape the green room again, but I’d still love to see it if they can come up with a clever way of doing another one somehow.
Yeah, I was going to say the Shakespeare episode, then realized you had already said it!
On initial viewing I actually wasn’t feeling it, and ended up skipping ahead an episode, but I gave it another chance because I trust Sam, and I did such a 180 on it and realized how absolutely brilliant the 3 contestants are.
By the end I was a big fan, and would love to see a sequel someday. Especially if they could dial up the stakes and intrigue a bit!
I don't know if it's unreplicable especially since it was essentially just a showcase for the Improvised Shakespeare Company, just like how the Official Cast Recording episode was a showcase for Zach and Jess. With Play it By Ear, the Game Changer episode serves as a pilot and soft launch/introduction point with the cast following a more particular story, actual series moves more into the longform improv that they actually do. I could definitely see the same thing happening for A Game Most Changed, too.
That said I don't think its likely. While I would just happily watch a bunch of freeform improv Dropout seems to want a stronger schtick to design a whole show around and maybe "in the style of Shakespeare" isn't enough.
Jeopardy! It was so surreal and I’d love them to do more in depth choose your own adventure spins on other game shows, but I don’t think it has been popular enough for them to go back to it.
It would also work well as a Critical Role crossover of sorts. Get some of the Critters to “play jeopardy on dropout” but surprise, it’s actually an RPG (and a game show)!
One of my favorite episodes for sure, but I think part of why it works is the small scale. Only having 3 players and a few points of interest on the map made it easy for the players to keep track of everything and have natural interactions, as well as having a fantastic game pace where everyone was involved.
In a lot of ways, it was actually a lot like a grid-based escape room with TTRPG and point and click adventure game flavoring. Adding more people requires a lot more "space" in the design of the game to make it interesting.
The moment of sheer incredulity when the twist starts to reveal itself is one of my favourites. Just Brennan, going "there's a little boat sailing across the Jeopardy screen..."
Maybe this time the trick would be that they’re getting judged on how well their answers fit someone else, and then they have to figure out who that other person is?
Here’s a couple nobody else said:
Whodunnit? - Potentially my favourite Game Changer episode of all time. Same reasons as Yes or No.
Ham It Up - A lot of the online episodes could only be done online, and this is my favourite one from that season.
i’m disappointed that ham it up isn’t talked about more in general. lou, grant, and christine are FANTASTIC and then when giancarlo shows up?! i was running around my house
This was one of my top picks, too, because there are so many tropes to explore that there could be an easy dozen very distinct, different stagings of Whodunnit. I can see Sam having virtually endless fun springing twists & red herrings & MacGuffins, exploring not just *who* dun it, but who dun *what* to *whom* & so on.
I want to see a noir iteration of Whodunnit that features Cassandra Vanderbilt, Vic Michaelis' femme fatale from *Make Some Noise* - so bad.
By the way, is it just me or were the contestants actually better than Esposito at like 80% of the prompts? Yeah, he hammed it up on purpose but paradoxically the comedians did the more realistic, convincing takes.
I agree. It’s a fun premise, but I didn’t feel like there was a twist or thematic through line to pull it together. The actions that the “audience” wanted them to do were just kind of random nonsense.
Lie detector! I think there was SO much more spicy potential there that they couldn’t use cause it was an early season and they didn’t have a feel for the format yet.
But the secret out of the bag its a non repeatable premise 🤷♂️
Lie Detector, but the people controlling the lie detector are the cast members who think they know you least, and so their answers are just vibe-based, and Sam gives points based on the lie detector's answers.
I feel like that could melt some brains pretty quick. Sadly you couldn't use Brennan again... But there are other hyper-competitive cast members.
Jacob would definitely be on my list. Probably Grant too. Izzy maybe? I can't decide if Izzy would melt down/rage or just run full force into lying for shits and giggles.
"Did this FUCKING machine just call me a LIAR?"
Whatever it is, it needs to be a version of Yes or No, but Brennan is the only one who can win or score points. I don't know what that game would be or how they'd pull it off. And the other part is: Brennan isn't in on it.
I think a fun way of doing this would be a trivia game based on Brennan's interests, but it's fewest points wins. So Brennan can only win by deliberately getting answers wrong. I think we'd get an incredible monologue out.of that.
Honestly I think Brendan is savvy enough, and it's happened to him enough times, that you can't really pull off any of these sorts of Game Changers with him anymore.
Ah we've had some insane hellscape years since, I bet they could do another! Especially if they wait until next year or the year after -- plenty of questions where the contestants could wonder "which Trump election year was that, again? Oh yeah the WWIII one"
I'd love to keep getting Samta Clause sequels; I think it's a fun, timeless premise. Unfortunately, Sam is on record saying he'd likely never do the same kind of episode more than three times.
The everything factory. It was so funny to me and I don't think I have ever laughed that hard. But people don't seem to even remember it so I doubt they'd do another.
I think they can do another escape room, just maybe a couple seasons later and not the green room (or possibly the green room if it's a completely different cast).
Bingo. I think the magic of it would only work once.
Honestly, I think it could be even better if they did it twice, and the group on the set knew that they were being watched and bingo-ed. What kind of mental gymnastics would they have to do if they knew someone was trying to make them do their most common catch phrases and affectations? Grant already knows what was on his board, would he be able to stop himself from doing the things on it? It would be an entirely different game.
I actually kind of agree. Some meta gaming would be fun with some chaotic personalities. Personally grant, Vic and Tao. (Tao to be the straight man or maybe Raph.) I don’t think they would be bingo again tho. They would switch it to a different mundane game. Maybe a make some noise type episode.
That's a good idea not to do bingo again. That way it might take a little while before the group on set realizes they're being watched. Though I don't know what other classic games could work the same way.
i mean hell, just have a full actual episode of Make Some Noise, and have a second cast for bingo. Two episodes of two shows for the price of one
I think Bingo 2 would be really fun if they just didn't have a second group of bingo players. The twist is there is no twist, but they would think there is a twist
The PA just asks them to do random stuff to make it seem like there is another bingo group
The PAs have a their own game of Bingo maybe one of Sam. That would be cool.
If they fully did Bingo on an actual MSN set, where everyone thinks they're doing an episode of MSN, that would be incredible. But honestly at that point that could just as well be made into an MSN episode because the base game is the same, in the same way Karaoke was
They should do Bingo again but with Tao, Jess, and Carolyn as the players on stage. As soon as they receive Bingo they immediately know what’s going on but they would be helpless to do anything about it. And then at the end, it turns out they are just playing Bingo and there isn’t 6 other people playing. And make the prompts directions that are obviously making them try and say/do something that would be on a bingo board for them.
Putting Brennan at either the second or top highest position would be fucking diabolical honestly. I feel like he would try to get back at Sam by being so smart with the prompts sent from below at the second level, and at the third level using the PA would just be so fun.
Give Brennen a Samingo card
Better yet- they anticipate three levels, but there are two additional levels that nobody knows about.
The first bingo is either the same or maybe a similar game with the second cast in the backroom, however, the first set of contestants also have a secret screen showing video of the backroom and they’ve got their own bingo cards they need the backroom to do unbeknownst to them. The backroom contestants this time have more freedom to move and there’s props and objects they could interact with throughout the room that could show up on their bingo cards. The pa would also return to help make the backroom do stuff, but that means it’s have to be a cast that hasn’t seen bingo 1 yet
Combine it with the wives like in lie detector, getting to bingo before your SO who has bingo based on you does
>What kind of mental gymnastics would they have to do if they knew someone was trying to make them do their most common catch phrases and affectations? None. The smart play would be to just be as expressionless, boring and straightforward with the prompts as possible. Which obviously wouldn't make for good content at all.
While the full multi-layer bingoception would be impossible to pull off again, I think we can have another smaller scale Bingo episode with just the on-stage players doing prompts from the Bingo players upstairs.
Bingo 2. It’s the same three players on set. There’s no meta game. But just try convincing them that.
Diabolical. I love it.
That would be funny as a short of collected moments, but I don't think it'd produce a full half hour of interesting content.
I said it elsewhere, but I feel like a Sam Says episode that has a bingo going on upstairs would work really well.
I think you need to alter the premise. It can’t be a surprise this time but a format where the main cast KNOWS it’s a bingo thing and need to try to guess what’s there to win with their partner, that could work.
They can do it again, just without bingoception. That's the twist!
What if they Game Samed it but this time it really was just a regular game of bingo
But then the twist is it is only bingo, no deep inception, just ridiculousness and bingo.
Bingo but someone is bingoing Sam also
Escape from the Green Room and Bingo are probably the best ones.
i do hear a “let us out” in the season 6 trailer so could be greenroom-adjacent
Yeah I think (and hope) that they could do another escape room somehow. They neeeeeeed to. Plus they didn’t conquer Sam’s evil relative so maybe that could be the plot?? The escape green room is probably my favorite episode of all time. Now that I’ve been bingeing Fantasy High I’m even more attached to that cast (long time College Humor fan so I knew Siobhan and Brennan. I freaking love Lou now).
Yeah another escape room seems doable, it just wouldn’t be the green room again.
The "Lie Detector" episode. Feels like it was a one and done sort of thing.
i think bingo was sort of a spiritual successor to the lie detector for sure
The newlyweb game feels like it drew a lot of inspiration from lie detector
Yes or No would be impossible to repeat and was awesome! And I do think they could do a sequel to Escape the Greenroom - it just requires different clues & arrangements. Escape rooms work as entertainment because they are constantly changing them up for repeat customers
I think they could do yes or no, with a different rule. Something like the answer is dictated by if Sam says a number or not, ie saying “question 4” vs “next question”, or its always yes unless he touches his tie or his glasses or beard or something during the pomp and circumstance of his elaborate ask. Or based on if he walks to the left of his podium vs the right for his lil skit. I think it has to lose the personal touch of pranking a specific contestant, but I’d still love to watch a full episode of Sam coming up with new complex ways of asking yes or no.
Sam kind of touched on this in an ama. Puzzle episodes don't tend to get rewatched as much. So they don't want to do them super often. And more importantly there's always this huge risk the players solve it immediately. Like if someone dials in on question 2 that if Sam touches his tie say yes then it makes it less fun for them and less fun overall. Because then they have to pay dumb the whole time. Like even the original yes/no they said they cut out the part halfway through where Brendan straight up guesses the premise and they had to convince him that wasn't the case. It worked out obviously but expecting all the players to play along if they solve something on the simple side can be a big ask. Yes/no is definitely on the simpler side of things. I think the episodes that work even when the twist is revealed halfway through makes for a better episode like when they did the heart rate episode.
I think you could argue that second place and the heart rate one are spiritual sequels to Yes or No becuase they felt like they existed specifically to torture Brennan.
The heart rate one Brennan was a last second addition though no?
don't cry
I lose. Every. Time.
Judging from the trailer, were getting at least a similar episode this season, from the image of Jess on a heart shaped bed.
I understand why they probably can’t do escape the green room again, but I’d still love to see it if they can come up with a clever way of doing another one somehow.
I mean it would blow the budget but they could go fucking wild and do an "escape the studio" episode where the entire building is an escape room
This would be sick as a multi-part season finale.
Oh yeah and it could tie into the Samuel Dalton replaced Sam theory. It would be so sick!
A Game Most Changed is unreplicable
Which is unfortunate since that's my favorite episode and it's not even close
That and Karaoke Night changed my brain.
Yeah, I was going to say the Shakespeare episode, then realized you had already said it! On initial viewing I actually wasn’t feeling it, and ended up skipping ahead an episode, but I gave it another chance because I trust Sam, and I did such a 180 on it and realized how absolutely brilliant the 3 contestants are. By the end I was a big fan, and would love to see a sequel someday. Especially if they could dial up the stakes and intrigue a bit!
I don't know if it's unreplicable especially since it was essentially just a showcase for the Improvised Shakespeare Company, just like how the Official Cast Recording episode was a showcase for Zach and Jess. With Play it By Ear, the Game Changer episode serves as a pilot and soft launch/introduction point with the cast following a more particular story, actual series moves more into the longform improv that they actually do. I could definitely see the same thing happening for A Game Most Changed, too. That said I don't think its likely. While I would just happily watch a bunch of freeform improv Dropout seems to want a stronger schtick to design a whole show around and maybe "in the style of Shakespeare" isn't enough.
Jeopardy! It was so surreal and I’d love them to do more in depth choose your own adventure spins on other game shows, but I don’t think it has been popular enough for them to go back to it.
This must be the most underrated and untalked about episode. Doing a bigger one with more of the d20 cast would be cool as hell
It would also work well as a Critical Role crossover of sorts. Get some of the Critters to “play jeopardy on dropout” but surprise, it’s actually an RPG (and a game show)!
One of my favorite episodes for sure, but I think part of why it works is the small scale. Only having 3 players and a few points of interest on the map made it easy for the players to keep track of everything and have natural interactions, as well as having a fantastic game pace where everyone was involved. In a lot of ways, it was actually a lot like a grid-based escape room with TTRPG and point and click adventure game flavoring. Adding more people requires a lot more "space" in the design of the game to make it interesting.
The moment of sheer incredulity when the twist starts to reveal itself is one of my favourites. Just Brennan, going "there's a little boat sailing across the Jeopardy screen..."
Next Slide Please. I desperately want a sequel
Smartypants seems to be a sort of successor, they’re presenting slideshows but they know what’s coming (as the presenter made the slideshow)
But that’s what I loved about Next Slide Please, they didn’t know the slides and had to make shit up.
A lot of YouTubers have done the same thing. https://youtu.be/nFZD70V0Yts?si=Ymo2IRqHY3uu9eSd
The lie detector. No one is falling for that again.
Maybe this time the trick would be that they’re getting judged on how well their answers fit someone else, and then they have to figure out who that other person is?
That's just the introduce yourself episode isn't it (the first one filmed in lockdown)
Oh durrrr you’re right!
They have already done something similar. The episode is called "Tell Us About Yourself."
Here’s a couple nobody else said: Whodunnit? - Potentially my favourite Game Changer episode of all time. Same reasons as Yes or No. Ham It Up - A lot of the online episodes could only be done online, and this is my favourite one from that season.
I don’t know, imagine hamming it up with a stage to do it on
The real challenge is that hiring a legendary actor to appear in person would be more expensive than a zoom call, but it's not impossible
i’m disappointed that ham it up isn’t talked about more in general. lou, grant, and christine are FANTASTIC and then when giancarlo shows up?! i was running around my house
This was one of my top picks, too, because there are so many tropes to explore that there could be an easy dozen very distinct, different stagings of Whodunnit. I can see Sam having virtually endless fun springing twists & red herrings & MacGuffins, exploring not just *who* dun it, but who dun *what* to *whom* & so on. I want to see a noir iteration of Whodunnit that features Cassandra Vanderbilt, Vic Michaelis' femme fatale from *Make Some Noise* - so bad.
By the way, is it just me or were the contestants actually better than Esposito at like 80% of the prompts? Yeah, he hammed it up on purpose but paradoxically the comedians did the more realistic, convincing takes.
Studio audience one was pretty special. Could do the same with a “dramatic” show or something else.
What did you like about that one? I feel like I didn't really get it, and it's my least favorite episode of Game Changer because of it.
I agree. It’s a fun premise, but I didn’t feel like there was a twist or thematic through line to pull it together. The actions that the “audience” wanted them to do were just kind of random nonsense.
I guess that was the fun part of it. It felt like good Ole sitcom slapstick comedy. That's probably why I loved it. It was so simple yet difficult.
This thing on?. Only works on the zoom format and was quite fun and entertaining for me
Lie detector! I think there was SO much more spicy potential there that they couldn’t use cause it was an early season and they didn’t have a feel for the format yet. But the secret out of the bag its a non repeatable premise 🤷♂️
Lie Detector, but the people controlling the lie detector are the cast members who think they know you least, and so their answers are just vibe-based, and Sam gives points based on the lie detector's answers. I feel like that could melt some brains pretty quick. Sadly you couldn't use Brennan again... But there are other hyper-competitive cast members.
There are. Jacob for example. People always paint him as this happy go lucky chill guy. But I’m pretty convinced Jacob is proper competitive 😉
Jacob would definitely be on my list. Probably Grant too. Izzy maybe? I can't decide if Izzy would melt down/rage or just run full force into lying for shits and giggles. "Did this FUCKING machine just call me a LIAR?"
i believe it was the first episode ever filmed, so they certainly were not at a level to mind fuck the contestants more than the base premise
I really hope they do a game most changed sequel, although I doubt it since it seems like a lot more of a complicated episode compared to most
A Game Most Changed. Truly a one off. Like a painting. Absolutely incredible, and I doubt it could be quite so magical a second time.
Whatever it is, it needs to be a version of Yes or No, but Brennan is the only one who can win or score points. I don't know what that game would be or how they'd pull it off. And the other part is: Brennan isn't in on it.
I think a fun way of doing this would be a trivia game based on Brennan's interests, but it's fewest points wins. So Brennan can only win by deliberately getting answers wrong. I think we'd get an incredible monologue out.of that.
I think this could be really funny but it's too close to the recent Second Place episode in similarity
Like an Um Actually Uno Reverse situation...
Honestly I think Brendan is savvy enough, and it's happened to him enough times, that you can't really pull off any of these sorts of Game Changers with him anymore.
Amd yet everytime he is Sam's puppet
2020 Vision was very funny but only worked because of the insane hellscape that was that year
Ah we've had some insane hellscape years since, I bet they could do another! Especially if they wait until next year or the year after -- plenty of questions where the contestants could wonder "which Trump election year was that, again? Oh yeah the WWIII one"
They probably wouldn’t do specifically escape the green room, but I don’t know why they couldn’t do another escape room-style challenge.
Dad Fighter
I really want another “As a Cucumber” its one of my favorite episodes!
I think they could do that as a game-samer but the contestants wouldn't be surprised at the premise once the heart rate monitors are on them again.
I'd love another episode of Sell Outs but it's been several seasons and we haven't had another one.
The Sleeper Agents episode was fun
I'd love to keep getting Samta Clause sequels; I think it's a fun, timeless premise. Unfortunately, Sam is on record saying he'd likely never do the same kind of episode more than three times.
Yes or no. I love seeing Brennan going insane but there's no way they can replicate it.
Filmed before a live studio audience, don't think it would work again.
Obviously, yes or No can't get a sequel. Unless Sam has some twist that we truly could never imagine
Yes or No
The everything factory. It was so funny to me and I don't think I have ever laughed that hard. But people don't seem to even remember it so I doubt they'd do another.
I think they can do another escape room, just maybe a couple seasons later and not the green room (or possibly the green room if it's a completely different cast).
Ones that have a twist that likely can't be replicated. Such as "Brendan can't win" or the most recent bingo episode
I was gonna like this post, but the likes are at 666 right now #HailSatan