I quibbled with Rebo about some of the Feuds where responses that might be the most popular are specifically excluded, i.e., name a blonde bombshell from the 50’s (not Marilyn Monroe).
Rebo quite rightly suggests that while exclusion might make the game a bit more difficult, Feudies like it that way – the responses shouldn’t be too easy. Who wants 10 conches? I agree, but on the other hand, the original Family Feud game asks for the most popular response. It’s only when the conches are taken that players really have to think.
She suggested a poll, so here it is. I could only think of two options: Keep the exclusions or do away with them.
I thought the “name who played x character” feud would have been greatly improved if it had been “name someone who played James Bond (besides Sean Connery)”.
I voted yes, for that same reason. An all-conch game would be boring. Sometimes I’m the one who modifies a submitted Feud, sometimes it’s the OP’s decision.
I sometimes think the excluded person/city/whatever would be the third or fourth most popular one in an “open” feud, but then again, I don’t always come up with the top answer regardless of whether or not there are forbidden choices!
Let the Feud designer and/or editor decide on a case-by-case basis. Of course, too many restrictions would be ridiculous – “Besides Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, or Pontiac, name a make of General Motors car.”
I think I just answered “no”, but that’s because I clicked the wrong one. The Platonic ideal of a feud wouldn’t need the exclusions, but none of us can write Platonically ideal feuds, so it’s OK to exclude what you think will be the top answer. I’d only do it when there’s one specific answer that’s head-and-shoulders above the rest, though: For instance, in the “everything except the kitchen sink” one I submitted, I had “Name something found in the bedroom (other than the bed)”, but I didn’t put an exclusion in “Name something found in the living room”, because I figured the couch and TV were both contenders.
As the accidental (and VERY surprised!) inventor of the conch, I vote we keep exclusions. If someone doesn’t like exclusions, they can just skip that particular feud.
Whenever one is tempted to base legislation on personal taste alone, one ought to think twice. And a third time. Hardly ever cool.
Besides, on Family Feud, they get to revisit the same question repeatedly, while we only get to answer once — hence the inclination towards exclusions.
This is a good point: If, on the TV show, the question were “Name something eaten at Thanksgiving”, they’d get the turkey right away, but would still have five or six other answers to uncover. Here, if we don’t say “other than turkey”, we’d never see the mashed potatoes, stuffing, or green bean casserole.
Well, no, not really…the Feud games on the board combine the original polling, plus the ‘trying to guess the crowd’s answer’ of the actual game.
So a conch in the actual show would result in an unusable question, as…well, one answer doesn’t make for much of a game. Whoever got the toss-up would win the round.
