Interview With the Champ

Players and lurkers, I'd like to take this oportunity to introduce you to the current reigning World Champion of Whud Is It?. "The Champ" of Toronto, Canada scored huge in the final rounds of last years contest to seal the deal. Whud3 was her first time playing, yet she managed to defeat even seasoned veterans by a considerable number of points. We recently hunted her down for a short, non-sensical interview...

Gamemasta (cutting straight to the chase):
Are you hung over?

The Champ:
Not this morning.... just a bit groggy... I figured I'd give my body a break to rest up for the big night [New Year's Eve]. The coffee is brewing though, so all is good.

Gamemasta: Early in last years contest, what you correctly identified as whole grain mustard was mistakenly identified as Red River cereal by a number of other players. Can you smell what you see?

The Champ: Not smell, I just have an intense love of mustard... I frequently hang out at the mustard stand at the St. Lawrence market....I always hated red river as a kid too...it was simple really.

Gamemasta:
Other than hanging out at mustard stands, what else do you like to do when not playing Whud Is It?

The Champ:
Is there anything else? Hehe... I enjoy my fair share of media (films, music, tv box sets that suck away 10 hours of my life at a time)... but it guess that's the holidays for you. Taking pictures is also up there. Drinking coffee too.

Gamemasta:
How about being fabulous?

The Champ:
Being fabulous is well... fabulous really. I've really enjoyed the perks and luxuries that being the reigning Whud Is It? champ has afforded me.

Gamemasta:
Did you know that my neighbour has two rabbits?

The Champ says:
Rabbits? I hear rabbits smell a lot... good thing this is a virtual interview.

Gamemasta:
When you were a little champion, did you have a subscription to OWL Magazine?

The Champ:
Yes! I loved that magazine... I had Chicadee too.

Gamemasta:
The champion of the inagural whud (back in 2001) happened to be the gamemastah's live-in luvah and her champion status was subject to a lot of criticism and doubt. Hypothetically speaking, how would you respond to accusations that your performance in whud3 was enhanced by the help of Gary?

The Champ:
Well, I don't think anyone would seriously consider Gary's suggestions help. He liked to keep them to himself anyways....but he's a bit senstive about his Whud is it? history. But this is a new year and a new competition and i look forward to having some new competitors to test me. Even if it turns out to be Gary.

Gamemasta:
Let's talk a little about strategy. Looking back to last year... what was your thought process after seeing this:



The Champ:
Ahh.... I remember this one fondly... I believe it was the final or near final one...I won't lie, this was a tough one... I looked at it a lot before I really had a firm idea. I noticed the dye dots of the printing (I'm not sure the technical terms sorry) so I thought maybe Bazooka Joe gum comics... I even went as far as picking some up...but as soon as that was in front of me I knew it was wrong... back to the drawing board and I was running out of time...I had a feeling it was a map but wasn't sure if you would need a specific location... I started looking for maps of Japan and finally just went with map and hoped it would be enough.

Gamemasta:
Looking at the present, what is your thought process after seeing this:



The Champ:
Hehe.... I think people (myself included) have too much time to waste on the internet

Gamemasta:
Is Whud Is It? a waste of time?

The Champ:
No, I think that promotes creative thought and problem solving...along with some good old fashioned competition.

Gamemasta:
Great to hear, especially coming from someone of your stature. Well, we want to thank you for your time this morning, but before we go.....Without giving up your secrets, what advice would you give new or crappy players to help them improve their game (but not enough to beat you)?

The Champ:
Well... I guess just start looking at everything around you as a possible Whud Is It?... that way, when you see it in front of you... you just know! That's all I can really say without giving up my secrets.

Gamemasta:
Last year you scored an incredible 27.5 out of 35 possible points. Do you think you can top that?

The Champ:
It might be tough, but I will try my best... that's the idea right?

Gamemasta:
Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here... The Champ says, "Try your best" because only your best will be enough to challenge a true champ.

Stay tuned for the launch of Whud4, coming soon.

Introduction

Whud is it? It's the 4th annual online game that'll sometimes find you with your nose pressed against your monitor, or looking around the house for a rubber band, or scratching your head all week. Some people have admitted to doing all of the above simultaneously. Sounds like FUN, doesn't it?!


Whole Grain Mustard

Great, it's mustard. But whud is "whud is it"?

A brief history...
Some years ago, while working in an imaging/microscopy lab in Guelph, Canada I ran a contest by email for friends. Each week I'd send a magnified image of an object, people would guess what the object in the photo is, and points were awarded for correct responses. At the end of an 8 week period, the person with the highest accumulated points was the winner of a prize, which by tradition, isn't disclosed until the end (but in the past have included a home-cooked meal, and a snazzy, enlarged, framed photograph). It's evolved a little and is now here in web page format, complete with sponsorship ;)

Whud will I take photos of and how? I'll take magnified images (10X, 60X, or 200X) of various, mostly everyday items using a toy microscope, the QX3 depicted here:


The Intel QX3 USB Microscope

Anything and everything are fair game... jeans, coins, that stringy stuff that you concentrate on removing when peeling a banana - you get the picture.

The RULES

THE RULES (please read them carefully!):

1) Register to play. Send an email to: whudisit@photosapience.com requesting to be added and I'll add you to the official list of players. Please also state:

- your desired display name (real or fictional)
- your location (real or fictional)

Joining after opening week is allowed, but signing up early maximizes your chances of scoring points.

2) Visit this site regularly for 8 weeks. Each week a new image will be posted and results from the previous week discussed. The game will start in early January, and I'll send out an email to all registered players when the game is set to begin. I'd smash a champagne bottle against a ship, but that would be inappropriate and I don't have any champagne nor do I have a ship.

3) Submit your guess(es) via email. Only ONE email per image (per week) is allowed. This is where you have important options, so please read carefully... depending on how confident you are about your guess and how many points you'd like to play for, you may submit 1, 2, or 3 guesses in your single weekly email.

If you submit just 1 guess, and are correct, you score 3points.
If you submit 2 guesses and one is correct, you score 2points.
If you submit 3 guesses and one is correct, you score 1point.
If you have no idea what the photo is, send me an outlandish guess anyhow (ie. please entertain me).

Simple enough!

4) Deadlines are not flexible! You must submit your guesses before the stated deadline for each photo. If you're in a different time zone, I'll leave it up to you to know the conversion from Toronto, Canada time (which is EST or GMT-5h).

5) On the rare occassion, guesses are very close but not exactly correct. Final judgement lies with me and our sponsors (me and me). Avoid being upset by a decision going against you by being SPECIFIC in your guesses. For example, saying "food" for a strawberry will not score you any points. In addition, saying "organically grown, modern garden variety Fragaria ananassa, 3 days after harvest" will not score you extra points.

5) Please use the comments function for anything you want (trash talk, discussing the weather, celebrity gossip, whatever yanks your crank) but PLEASE DO NOT drop hints or make suggestions about the photo of the week (that would just spoil the fun!).

6) Have fun!

Examples

here are a couple more examples from last years contest:


#1


#2

scroll down for answers...



































Answers:
1) CD Jewel Case
2) Penne (Pasta)