On Jan. 28 in Wygal, Lancer Productions hosted the Thinkfast Gameshow to a crowd of eager-to-win, determined students, ready to compete for the grand prize of $200 at the end of the night. The Lancer Productions website describes the game as "a combination of music videos, multiple choice trivia and survey questions."
The visual set-up on the stage for the Thinkfast Gameshow is described as having, "MTV-style staging, professional sound and Intelligent lighting," as described in the TjohnE Productions website.
More than that, the game is an experience more thrilling than could be expected. While each audience member is handed a remote control, called a Fleetwood Wireless Keypad, each guest is jolted into the experience rather than left out to focus only on the contestants on the stage. Every audience member is made a contestant this way, whether on the stage or not.
According to the TjohnE website, "ThinkFast is so popular with colleges nationwide that it has won the "Novelty Event of the Year"award for 10 years running through Cameo Magazine's Reader's Choice Entertainment Awards in addition to various other awards and nominations by A.P.C.A. (Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities) and N.A.C.A. (National Association of Campus Activities)."
Sarah Grimm, novelty chair of Lancer Productions, said the idea from the event came from the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA). "A bunch of school programming boards go to them … and that's where we get a lot of our ideas for events to do."
Grimm noted that Lauren Ginder, novelty director of Lancer Productions, planned the entirety of the event. "But I put everything together at the end, helped them [the Thinkfast Gameshow staff] set up," said Grimm.
Alan, the animated and excitable host of the gameshow, described the process of using the remotes handed to each audience member, saying, "The remote is set up for multiple choice answers, one through five … When a question comes up, the point value is 1,000 points. As soon as you see the answers come up, press any answer. The reason I say that is ‘cause you can change your answer at any time. So, increase your chances of getting a high score by pressing any answer that you think might be right."
On the screens displayed on stage with questions for the audience to answer, Alan said, "Two clues come up. The two clues tell you what? The wrong answer … The third clue is going to tell you the correct answer. You can change your answer at any time by pressing any of the other buttons."
Contestants were able to see their progress throughout the game after each question. The questions varied in topics, such as but not limited to sports, art, music, film and history.
The Thinkfast Gameshow featured two trivia rounds and two talent competitions. While the two trivia rounds would end with the top four contestants fighting it off brainiac style until only one would remain in each round, the two talent competitions were more subjective and interactive in who would continue onto the final round. The two talent competitions were named "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance."
In the "American Idol" round, five volunteers sung a song of his or her own choosing for 10 to 15 seconds, while in the "So You Think You Can Dance" round, five volunteers boogied and Dougied to Top '40s jams.
In the final round, the four winners of each round were capable of being knocked off the stage if he or she produced an incorrect answer, making room for a Wild Card, or "teams that are indiscriminately selected to take control of the game from high scoring teams," as stated in the Lancer Productions website.
While the questions to the final contestants varied in difficulty, the real challenge was beating your opponents to the buzzer. Questions included identifying candy to their slogans, children's shows to their theme songs and song titles to the artist's name and Billboard standing in the song's respective year.
Laneka Brown, junior and first place winner of the $200 grand prize, described the event as intense, exciting and awesome. "Oh, my god. My heart was pounding so bad. Even now, I'm still shaking," she said.
Brown discovered the event through friends who were interested in attending. While not expecting to win, Brown went on a whim to the Thinkfast Gameshow, saying, "I wasn't doing anything else on a Saturday night."
See if your next "Why not?" will turn into your next "Wahoo!" as it did for Brown. Find out more about future Lancer Productions events at www.lancerproductions.longwood.edu.
