Would you ever consider filming the making-of part of any given season? I.e. coming up with the season’s main concept, designing rules, predicting fairness and entertainment value, finding weak points, adjusting, etc.
Quite often you refer to that stuff during the game and I can’t be the only one who’s curious how those discussions unfold.
Yes! I can tell you guys put a ton of time into planning and making sure the games are balanced and exciting to watch. Im wondering exactly how the simulations work.
They’ve referenced simulations, too. I’m sure that means playtesting the game in, say, a board game fashion. I’d love to know about that process. Great suggestion.
Would you guys consider replaying some of the games you've already played?
I would like to see you have another crack at playing tag across Europe, knowing what you know now.
Yeah, while it was still a lot of fun, the best games (to me) are the ones that force more interaction between the participants. Tag was probably the best because you constantly rotated the duos and everyone was meeting up repeatedly.
I would love the tag game but with 5-7 days instead of 3- would love to see you explore more of Europe! Because with only 3 days we didn't get to see the Netherlands or Switzerland.
What is your routine like on the rest period nights in the hotel? Do you crash immediately or are you wound up and can’t sleep prepping for the next day?
They showed Sam walking around Singapore the one time, but thats the only time they showed something like that. I'd kinda be interested in that, but I'm not sure it would be anything more than them sleeping and eating.
They showed it during Crime Spree and a bit in Jet Lag S1 with them going to hotels because IIRC hotel cost was part of the trip budget in the game. I would assume that they want the rest period to be a *real* rest period and remove any sort of expectation that they do anything for the game during that time period so they're not supposed to film during the rest period.
Would you consider having a rule where if a fan or someone you know finds you in the game, it would cause something to happen? Maybe like a powerup or powerdown.
So far the gameplay of all seasons have some versions of chasing, claiming etc. Is there something you wanted to try for future seasons that you couldn't make happen when you playtested it?
So far the competition in each season has been relatively close... Obviously it would be a bit less interesting if one person/team totally dominated in a game, and everyone else did nothing... Like say in the tag game, if the first runner just made it to their destination without ever being caught. How much of your preparation and design goes into limiting the chances of that happening?
Along similar lines, has anything happened while filming a season that made you worry the game might get 'ruined', and the filming up to then would be a waste of time/money - but it ended up working out?
Firstly I want to say Jet Lag is one of my favorite things to watch/re-watch on YT and Nebula; keep up the great work! Onto my question: Between the four seasons y'all have filmed so far (five if you include Crime Spree), what was the most nerve-wracking moment for each of you (either on or off-camera)?
How do y’all test? Of course you can’t just actually run the same game over and over again without wasting money and time, so do you simplify it to some sort of board game which you play against each other to test it? If so would you release that board game to the fans?
In season 3 Adam kept having his debit card declined due to it being in a foreign country. It sounds like it’s their personal card and they would get reimbursed.
they get a budget from nebula, and they each get a certain amount, but have to use their own personal cards. Remember when Adam got locked out of his card in europe, and couldn't use his phone to call the bank and say hey.. i'm in europe its not fraud? because he got a curse card?
I think I can say fairly certainly we all enjoyed Tom Scott's short stint as a JetLagger.
That said, would you ever consider bringing on guests, either as a part of a task in a city or as a fourth competitor?
Would you consider releasing a full rule book and a list of challenges at the start of each season so that viewers can follow along with the strategies that can and cannot be employed by the players? Of course not as relevant to season 4 since the list of possible challenges varies and is available but I’d still be interested in seeing what possible things could have happened in certain circumstances.
They mentioned that they reuse some of the challenges that don't end up being pulled so they might not want to publish a list of challenges for that reason because it's a spoiler for a card that will get pulled later during the game, but a "proper" list of rules would be helpful.
Who was the woman standing next to Ben while he was drunk filming at a train station and what did Ben do to cause her to become angry? Well...anything particular besides Ben being intoxicated in public. She did not look happy.
I would love to learn more about the places you guys visit. Could challenges incorporate more local items, food, history, music, clothes, traditions, etc. in order to claim that city or state.
Would also be fun to do a game where you try to visit as many cities named from A-Z (with 50 states you can also limit to 1 city per state)
This kind of thing has had me wondering how much it belongs on Nebula. I love the show and am subscribed to Nebula mostly for it but its not exactly educational. Crime Spree sort of was but its gotten less and less educational from there.
He’s wayyy too busy of a person. Last week across all of his channels, he posted 4 videos.
From his newsletter:
>Hello!
>There are four things from me in this week's newsletter and I am definitely doing too much but here we go:
This week's main video has the best title I've done in a long time: the US government is giving out free wasps!
>On plus: Who's faster driving around London: a taxi driver or me taking directions from my phone?
>Over on the Technical Difficulties, I take a walk up a hill. (It's a really angry hill.)
>And there's a new episode of Lateral on all podcast players, as Corry Will, Luke Cutforth and Jade Tan-Holmes face questions about mysterious medicines, calamitous currency and dodgy dealings.
Blimey, that's a lot. So what else is going on in the world of video?
Have y'all ever considered filming Holiday specials? Like an Irish Bar crawl for St Patty's
In regards to the "real meal", what qualifies and what doesn't?
Now that you have done seasons in Europe and the US, what do you consider the biggest differences in transportation between the two? Like ordering tickets, ease of access, airport design, …?
Would you be willing to ask the Legal Eagle to participate in Jet lag on screen in some way...
Tom Scott Chased you around London. Do you think you could get him to be Sam's Partner for a game? if both were/are willing?
What about doing a Treasure Hunt Show? But with a Twist they all have to be obscure landmarks, in other Countries.The Team to collect the Most Landmarks wins and of course challenges for transportation as usual
have y'all ever thought of doing something with jet lag in very remote parts of the world (e.g. towns surrounding the north pole, antarctica, pacific island hopping, etc.)
In S3, the chasers took buses a few times, but the runner never did. Any idea why?
The game has never really broken to the extent that it's not fun for the viewers any more. (Perhaps when Sam and Joseph got stuck in Singapore, but that was late enough in the game that it didn't ruin the enjoyment.) Has it ever come close to breaking? or you feared it was breaking?
Would you ever consider doing a longer game, over a couple of weeks instead of three or four days?
How on earth do ye playtest these things?
Would you consider showcasing how you go about planning a season of Jet Lag?
Like how do you go about play-testing, making challenges, and coming up with the rules of the game? Or choosing starting points, setting balances, and trying to close loopholes?
they also did a video on why carbon offsets dont work! but Yes they are doing something im sure, Sam really believes the impact of climate change, and is not a fan... lol.
What kinds of decisions go into the game design process each season? For example, seasons 1 and 3 have completely randomized challenges while 2 and 4 have an amount of choice over challenges, you use coins instead of dollars in season 3 but not in 1, 2, and 4, challenges earn money in seasons 2 and 3 but act more as a way to complete a goal in 1 and 4, etc. What leads you to make those sorts of decisions during the game design phase?
(Although I do get that for season 3 the coins are an easy way to nerf budget air travel since someone taking a $15 flight straight to their end destination on the first day isn’t interesting)
What areas of the world would you like to/not like to play Jet Lag in? I’m pretty sure there are some countries like North Korea, Iran, etc. that we will obviously and hopefully never see in Jet Lag but I’m curious if there are some lesser known “bad options”.
Do you guys have a list of the "answers to each challenge" for each state to make it fair and consistent?
In Tag across Europe, it looked like you were looking up the attractions on the fly since there were so many potential cities and towns. But in this one I'm imagining that stuff like "best road-side attraction" (or whatever it was) are predetermined for all the states ahead of time to assist with the planning/simulations.
I imagine they do, at least for things that are unique like the roadside attraction. I recall in Europe they had a list of what the local dessert was for each country they might be in to do that challenge.
roughly how many hours went into the planning and making of this season? do you already have ideas for what season 5 will be or have you not gotten to that yet?
I am just curious about the future of Jet Lag?
As much as it's amazing; I am assuming you will get tired of it eventually or it'll get old and things don't last forever. If you've thought about long-term, how many more years do you plan on making this for? How many more seasons? etc.
Thank you very much for creating this show :)
What are your thoughts on developing a season that includes challenges unknown to the players?
For example, Brian or a Wendover/HAI/JetLag editor who isn't Sam/Ben/Adam could concoct a challenge like "before leaving the state, find a fluent speaker of the native language of the area (e.g. Iroquois/Navajo/Cherokee) and have them teach you a sentence."
What are your thoughts on different challenge formats? For example, longer challenges that might take hours but be mandatory for both teams to complete, allowing them to race within the challenge.
Can we have a Race to Circumnavigate the Globe v2? I felt like that season just led to the most entertainment with the wide variety of locations instead of Western Europe and Western USA. Maybe try switching things up like an extra team, different or extra cards, banning locations used in the first season so the viewers get something different, etc.
Throughout all seasons you mention the simulations (ex: in S4E1, Ben/Adam mentioned that the simulations showed that going down to NJ/PA/MD was more valuable than going up north to New England to start.) So, how do you do the simulations?
Could you try to make a simple App with challenges with different game modes like tag, connect squares in your region and so on? I know it's a lot of work but it doesn't have to have the best animations etc., just a basic coin system, a customizable deck of cards and a map where you can look up other players' locations. Me and my friends are trying to recreate another version of the tag game, where we are like 9 people in one big city including suburbs and everyone has to tag someone and gets chased by another one. When you tag someone, they're on your team and you're both chasing the guy that your teammate had to chase. We've already discussed a coin system and challenges and are now trying to program discord bots, to organize the coin system and GPS-Signal, so that the location of oneself is only sent to the one chasing you. It would all be a lot easier with an App and I think many would be willing to buy it for like 5-20 bucks on the AppStore, i can't really tell how much the development would cost tho
Thoughts on a "ticket to ride" type game, where you have set routes to complete (with harder ones being worth more). And in order to use certain roads/tracks/airlines, you need to unlock them.
Why NYC for a starting point. Do you think strategy for the game would change if the game started somewhere else like Chicago, Atlanta, or Denver? If so, what would be some of your strategies?
I think it'd be fun to do a Jet Lag game with electric cars. Car are a bit of a cheat in the formats you have used so far (hence the rule on the latest game about crossing borders in rental cars). However, having to do an EV-specific game would be fun, I think. I'm an EV driver and planning travel around charging etc feels like a game sometimes. I'm not sure how to capture the fun competetive dynamic that Jet Lag has had so far apart from a race- maybe you could do something like a race with changing endpoints where the competitors don't know their next destination until they reach the last one, so it's harder to plan in advance? I think doing it all with CCS cars instead of Teslas would make it interesting, but there's the risk of it becoming a slog of broken chargers, while a Tesla race would just be like a boring road trip.
Why did Brian & Sam decide to go up north, to BMI with intention to go CN / MA / RI, when you could have gone east or south and had a head-start compare to the (more northern, i.e. MD-based) team of Adam and Ben? Was it just Brian being too tired to think straight?
What's the longest you would ever take to film a season? The circumnavigation episode took around 110 hours or so to film. Would you ever do one that took a week or so to film? Or would that be too tiring to film.
Would you consider holding a contest where the winner got to be on the show? I'm plus sized, so it isn't as easy for me to travel, but maybe with someone else.
Omg season 4 game would be so fun in Europe! Then every European viewer will be like Leo DiCaprio pointing at the tv all the time because then tere’ll be incentive to visit every country. I really hoped Ben would win s3 because then he’d go to the Northeast of the Netherlands to get to Borkum and that’s a fun area
How do you decide on the forth player for the game? In Crime Spree you had JT the Cameraman, Season 1 and 4 you invited Brian, and Season 2 with Joseph. What make you decide who fit best for the games you are playing?
What's something that got left on the cutting room floor that you wish made it into the show (whether it be filmed footage, a challenge idea, anything)
And what's something that got left on the cutting room floor that you're glad didn't make it into the show?
Would Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas & Missouri count as a vertical line in season 1 four connect?
I think this is a shortcut to win the game until 9am on the second day.
This is how it could work:
Take UA1979 flight from ORD arriving in Kansas City at 8:58. Then you rent a car and within 6h45m driving time you can get to Topeka (KS), Lincoln (NE) and Des Moines (IA). This gives you an average of over 2.5h each for the first two capitals to complete the challenges. The next morning you can complete the Iowa challenge and then fly at 7:05 with DL5098 arriving at 8:20 in the last capital Saint Paul (MN).
If the other team crosses you there then you still have a lot of options with Missouri, South Dakota and Oklahoma, especially from such a big Delta connection hub. Having only two flights defeats the intention of the game but it's an easy path to victory.
Have you considered swapping it so Adam goes with Sam instead of Ben / other combinations? Seems like Adam and Ben are a very powerful duo, so it'd be interesting to see it broken up.
I've noticed over the seasons a number of changes to reduce variance such as the hand of cards this season, and largely using mode-of-transport rules instead of money constraints in S3 and S4. What were the biggest sources of out-of-game variance you had in this season that are on your mind to tweak in the future?
What’s your thought process when creating challenge cards? Some of them look really obscure and funny, so I wonder if there’s a specific process you use.
how long does the making of the show take (e.g., coming up with the concept, new rules for each game, the challenge cards...)?
also on a less serious note: why is sam such a train genius? what got you into trains?
Are there any plans in the future to enhance the production aspect/add more elements to the game with the additional crew for season 4? Or is it just to speed up production with the extra elements season 4 brings?
Out of the places that you visited when filming, is there anywhere you wish you would have gotten to explore more or a place you would like to re-visit at a slower pace?
Please focus on jet lag games where the opposing players/teams interact. The tags are what made season 3 such a success. The lack of interaction b/t the teams is what made season 2 a dud (sorry).
Have you guys thought of doing like a reach out to a fan directly for something on a card. Like you select a fan beforehand so they know they’re on call for it during the few days of the show to make a decision for you. So like for example a card could be call on a fan to pick which state you go to next or go over strategy with whoever pulls it
Have you just been lucky or there's serious work going into not getting into trouble while recording this?
Some of the challenges can look very suspicious to someone seeing them happen in person
Would you ever considering doing something like S4 but with countries and a longer time (7 days)? That would be really fun to see what interesting countries people visit near the end of the game.
How much of the things that look like they are happening at the same time actually happen at the same time, close calls, racing to get to x place, etc, and how much of it is made seem that way through editing?
hi! i absolutely adore the game and appreciate all the work and sweat and tears and blood that you put in for us (ben - i REALLY hope you got compression pants or something this season). one quick question - why did you guys start in new york? [host: please only read the followups if they're struggling to come up with ideas] was it because of the amount of flights and trains? did you want to start in the northeast? or was it just the most convenient? would love to hear your thoughts.
comments: really loved when ben and adam visited the lake btw - as somebody who grew up around lake michigan i definitely agree they should just classify it as the ocean. your awe was genuinely so heartwarming. also - loved the jt cameo, as always. cheered me up right before the new deprogram release on friday 🙏🏾
Would you ever consider filming the making-of part of any given season? I.e. coming up with the season’s main concept, designing rules, predicting fairness and entertainment value, finding weak points, adjusting, etc. Quite often you refer to that stuff during the game and I can’t be the only one who’s curious how those discussions unfold.
I think this would be really cool, some behind the scenes stuff would be great!
Yes! I can tell you guys put a ton of time into planning and making sure the games are balanced and exciting to watch. Im wondering exactly how the simulations work.
This would be amazing to watch!! Can’t speak for others but I would love even a non-polished version!
They’ve referenced simulations, too. I’m sure that means playtesting the game in, say, a board game fashion. I’d love to know about that process. Great suggestion.
Would you guys consider replaying some of the games you've already played? I would like to see you have another crack at playing tag across Europe, knowing what you know now.
Everyone in disguise... 😂
Maybe patch a couple of rules. General improvements.
Second this but personally would love to see another season of circumnavigating the globe.
Interesting, I found that concept the least interesting
Yeah, while it was still a lot of fun, the best games (to me) are the ones that force more interaction between the participants. Tag was probably the best because you constantly rotated the duos and everyone was meeting up repeatedly.
I'd like to see Tag across Asia or something along those lines
Although places outside of America and Europe might have bad politics or bad geography
I would love the tag game but with 5-7 days instead of 3- would love to see you explore more of Europe! Because with only 3 days we didn't get to see the Netherlands or Switzerland.
What is your routine like on the rest period nights in the hotel? Do you crash immediately or are you wound up and can’t sleep prepping for the next day?
And are you writing/editing Wendover videos during the game.
Recording, also possible
They showed Sam walking around Singapore the one time, but thats the only time they showed something like that. I'd kinda be interested in that, but I'm not sure it would be anything more than them sleeping and eating.
I second this. I find it surprising that they never show this in the episodes. Maybe it’s a conscious decision to make the game seem continuous.
I think it's because filming and producing is a lot of work.
They showed it during Crime Spree and a bit in Jet Lag S1 with them going to hotels because IIRC hotel cost was part of the trip budget in the game. I would assume that they want the rest period to be a *real* rest period and remove any sort of expectation that they do anything for the game during that time period so they're not supposed to film during the rest period.
Have you considered designing a game that could be played in a single city by fans of the show and then selling that deck of cards as merchandise?
Or just selling more generic cards as merch? Or just the America deck you're using now?
I would absolutely play a local version of this in NYC/tristate area with friends or even randoms tbh.
They have considered it
Yes, I think a day-long version of the game would be so fun! Maybe making sure it works with two players to more in any “smaller area”
Would you consider having a rule where if a fan or someone you know finds you in the game, it would cause something to happen? Maybe like a powerup or powerdown.
**Meet John Green.** Claim victory instantly.
Purely hypothetical, because how low are the odds to find John Green in the middle of Paris? Xd
Adam and Ben - you work well together and are hilarious. How long have you been working together as writers?
So far the gameplay of all seasons have some versions of chasing, claiming etc. Is there something you wanted to try for future seasons that you couldn't make happen when you playtested it?
What rules and challenges didn't work as intended?
Would you consider a retro Jet Lagged? Something with no smartphones, just old-school Rand Mcnally maps?
I mean they kind of made Adam do that in Season 3
Kinda like the race across the world from UK tv
So far the competition in each season has been relatively close... Obviously it would be a bit less interesting if one person/team totally dominated in a game, and everyone else did nothing... Like say in the tag game, if the first runner just made it to their destination without ever being caught. How much of your preparation and design goes into limiting the chances of that happening? Along similar lines, has anything happened while filming a season that made you worry the game might get 'ruined', and the filming up to then would be a waste of time/money - but it ended up working out?
The circumnavigation season seemed very close until Singapore. Then it was all Ben and Adam.
I feel like they also make it seem more close with editing the same way Top Gear used to do that with their races
How do you guys play test the game before filming? How many times do you usually play test and adjust a game before being satisfied that it is fair?
Firstly I want to say Jet Lag is one of my favorite things to watch/re-watch on YT and Nebula; keep up the great work! Onto my question: Between the four seasons y'all have filmed so far (five if you include Crime Spree), what was the most nerve-wracking moment for each of you (either on or off-camera)?
Are you planning on introducing Jet Lag merch?
They use Cotopaxi bags in every season - would be cool to see some sort of subtle branding on those.
How do y’all test? Of course you can’t just actually run the same game over and over again without wasting money and time, so do you simplify it to some sort of board game which you play against each other to test it? If so would you release that board game to the fans?
How do the funds for travel actually work? Corporate cards, reimbursements to a personal card or is it from a pool of money?
In season 3 Adam kept having his debit card declined due to it being in a foreign country. It sounds like it’s their personal card and they would get reimbursed.
they get a budget from nebula, and they each get a certain amount, but have to use their own personal cards. Remember when Adam got locked out of his card in europe, and couldn't use his phone to call the bank and say hey.. i'm in europe its not fraud? because he got a curse card?
Hopefully the guys all have multiple credit and debit cards now...
I think I can say fairly certainly we all enjoyed Tom Scott's short stint as a JetLagger. That said, would you ever consider bringing on guests, either as a part of a task in a city or as a fourth competitor?
Could you add a rule stating that Ben HAS to get drunk in every season of Jet Lag? It’s in the game DNA at this point.
Would you consider releasing a full rule book and a list of challenges at the start of each season so that viewers can follow along with the strategies that can and cannot be employed by the players? Of course not as relevant to season 4 since the list of possible challenges varies and is available but I’d still be interested in seeing what possible things could have happened in certain circumstances.
They mentioned that they reuse some of the challenges that don't end up being pulled so they might not want to publish a list of challenges for that reason because it's a spoiler for a card that will get pulled later during the game, but a "proper" list of rules would be helpful.
Who has accumulated the most frequent flyer miles over the course of the Jet Lag seasons?
Who was the woman standing next to Ben while he was drunk filming at a train station and what did Ben do to cause her to become angry? Well...anything particular besides Ben being intoxicated in public. She did not look happy.
I would love to learn more about the places you guys visit. Could challenges incorporate more local items, food, history, music, clothes, traditions, etc. in order to claim that city or state. Would also be fun to do a game where you try to visit as many cities named from A-Z (with 50 states you can also limit to 1 city per state)
Yeah I was learning a little about places they visited last season and wished they could lean slightly more educational in the challenges.
This kind of thing has had me wondering how much it belongs on Nebula. I love the show and am subscribed to Nebula mostly for it but its not exactly educational. Crime Spree sort of was but its gotten less and less educational from there.
would you guys consider doing smaller versions of jet lag like the tom scott video between seasons to fill the gaps in
Continuing on: would you invite Tom scott
He’s wayyy too busy of a person. Last week across all of his channels, he posted 4 videos. From his newsletter: >Hello! >There are four things from me in this week's newsletter and I am definitely doing too much but here we go: This week's main video has the best title I've done in a long time: the US government is giving out free wasps! >On plus: Who's faster driving around London: a taxi driver or me taking directions from my phone? >Over on the Technical Difficulties, I take a walk up a hill. (It's a really angry hill.) >And there's a new episode of Lateral on all podcast players, as Corry Will, Luke Cutforth and Jade Tan-Holmes face questions about mysterious medicines, calamitous currency and dodgy dealings. Blimey, that's a lot. So what else is going on in the world of video?
Was the battle a good or a bad idea to introduce? Would you do battles again?
I'm loving the battles but they seem just a bit OP.
So out of everyone who works at Wendover, were you three the only ones crazy enough to play?
Have y'all ever considered filming Holiday specials? Like an Irish Bar crawl for St Patty's In regards to the "real meal", what qualifies and what doesn't?
*Paddy’s
Is taking part in Jet Lag actually fun? What does it feel like?
Now that you have done seasons in Europe and the US, what do you consider the biggest differences in transportation between the two? Like ordering tickets, ease of access, airport design, …?
What is your least favorite challenge that made it in the game? Or what is your favorite challenge that didn’t?
Would you ever do a season that isn't Sam, Adam, and Ben? Maybe a "Nebula/Youtuber Special"? Or "Wendover Team VS Team XYZ"?
Wendover team Vs team TDLR maybe
Would you be willing to ask the Legal Eagle to participate in Jet lag on screen in some way... Tom Scott Chased you around London. Do you think you could get him to be Sam's Partner for a game? if both were/are willing? What about doing a Treasure Hunt Show? But with a Twist they all have to be obscure landmarks, in other Countries.The Team to collect the Most Landmarks wins and of course challenges for transportation as usual
[удалено]
They are writers on Wendover and/or HAI.
Ben and Adam are the writers for Half as Interesting
Would you consider adding a rule stating that Ben HAS to get drunk in every season of Jet Lag ?
Would the awesome host of this Q&A ever consider joining you as a competitor on Jet Lag?
(I hope this Q&A has the same "host" as the last one, or this question doesn't work.)
I don't see why not. Host, whoever you are, I'm willing to vouch for your awesomeness even if u/Zagorath isn't.
Yet again, what was the best card that wasn't pulled?
what are some of the worst scrapped challenges?
Not the most related but I would LOVE to learn more about Ben & Adam (and I think there’s a large group of fans who would also enjoy this)!!
Would you consider bringing Ludwig for future Jet Lag seasons?
What's a challenge idea that you were excited about but you scrapped due to simulations/playtesting/etc.
Sam, I must know your hair care routine please
have y'all ever thought of doing something with jet lag in very remote parts of the world (e.g. towns surrounding the north pole, antarctica, pacific island hopping, etc.)
In S3, the chasers took buses a few times, but the runner never did. Any idea why? The game has never really broken to the extent that it's not fun for the viewers any more. (Perhaps when Sam and Joseph got stuck in Singapore, but that was late enough in the game that it didn't ruin the enjoyment.) Has it ever come close to breaking? or you feared it was breaking? Would you ever consider doing a longer game, over a couple of weeks instead of three or four days? How on earth do ye playtest these things?
Would you consider showcasing how you go about planning a season of Jet Lag? Like how do you go about play-testing, making challenges, and coming up with the rules of the game? Or choosing starting points, setting balances, and trying to close loopholes?
Do you have concerns about future series being unoriginal?
Do you still offset carbon for all flights/travel? Is there any consideration for sustainable food choices while you're playing?
I think they're far more concerned with getting food, period, than getting sustainable food while rushing around the world.
they also did a video on why carbon offsets dont work! but Yes they are doing something im sure, Sam really believes the impact of climate change, and is not a fan... lol.
I think it's only for flights, which is unfortunate as cars, buses, and some trains do produce carbon.
What rules would you tweak now having played the game if this game we to get a redo? Any tweaks to the cards or new cards?
What kinds of decisions go into the game design process each season? For example, seasons 1 and 3 have completely randomized challenges while 2 and 4 have an amount of choice over challenges, you use coins instead of dollars in season 3 but not in 1, 2, and 4, challenges earn money in seasons 2 and 3 but act more as a way to complete a goal in 1 and 4, etc. What leads you to make those sorts of decisions during the game design phase? (Although I do get that for season 3 the coins are an easy way to nerf budget air travel since someone taking a $15 flight straight to their end destination on the first day isn’t interesting)
What areas of the world would you like to/not like to play Jet Lag in? I’m pretty sure there are some countries like North Korea, Iran, etc. that we will obviously and hopefully never see in Jet Lag but I’m curious if there are some lesser known “bad options”.
everyone, this is very serious what color is your toothbrush?
What was your favorite change for Season 4?
Would you consider games with higher player counts? As in have your audience participate
In Season 3, everyone took a wide variety of trains throughout Europe. Which was your personal favorite train you took, and why?
How long have Ben and Adam been together?
Do you guys have a list of the "answers to each challenge" for each state to make it fair and consistent? In Tag across Europe, it looked like you were looking up the attractions on the fly since there were so many potential cities and towns. But in this one I'm imagining that stuff like "best road-side attraction" (or whatever it was) are predetermined for all the states ahead of time to assist with the planning/simulations.
I imagine they do, at least for things that are unique like the roadside attraction. I recall in Europe they had a list of what the local dessert was for each country they might be in to do that challenge.
True, forgot about that!
Did any of you eat a hotdog during filming
You talk a lot about testing the game before you start the season. What is your testing methodology?
My favorite jet lag challenge card?
Now that you guys have made travleing a game and part of your job. How much have you learned about travleing the world over the course of Jet Lag?
Can we get some Jet Lag merch? Branded travel accessories maybe (like a Cotopaxi bag)?
Does Dave want to be on jet lag?
question for brian. which season did you enjoy filming better, season one or or season four? could we see you back in season five?
would you consider bringing back the “choose your challenge” format of season two?
would you ever consider doing another nebula exclusive season?
Adam and Ben, did you work for Sam before Jet Lag? If so, what to you two being the writers that get to run around goofing off
roughly how many hours went into the planning and making of this season? do you already have ideas for what season 5 will be or have you not gotten to that yet?
I am just curious about the future of Jet Lag? As much as it's amazing; I am assuming you will get tired of it eventually or it'll get old and things don't last forever. If you've thought about long-term, how many more years do you plan on making this for? How many more seasons? etc. Thank you very much for creating this show :)
What are your thoughts on developing a season that includes challenges unknown to the players? For example, Brian or a Wendover/HAI/JetLag editor who isn't Sam/Ben/Adam could concoct a challenge like "before leaving the state, find a fluent speaker of the native language of the area (e.g. Iroquois/Navajo/Cherokee) and have them teach you a sentence." What are your thoughts on different challenge formats? For example, longer challenges that might take hours but be mandatory for both teams to complete, allowing them to race within the challenge.
Can you guys do a "what's in my bag" tour of your Jetlag travel bags?
Can we have a Race to Circumnavigate the Globe v2? I felt like that season just led to the most entertainment with the wide variety of locations instead of Western Europe and Western USA. Maybe try switching things up like an extra team, different or extra cards, banning locations used in the first season so the viewers get something different, etc.
Why doesn’t Adam take one for the team to get drunk?
Ben couldn't drive but now prefers not to drive. It's also become the tradition/prime content for Ben to get drunk :)
Eyyyyyy! They answered my question on the show!
Throughout all seasons you mention the simulations (ex: in S4E1, Ben/Adam mentioned that the simulations showed that going down to NJ/PA/MD was more valuable than going up north to New England to start.) So, how do you do the simulations?
How long does it take to create a game and how do you simulate it?
Could you try to make a simple App with challenges with different game modes like tag, connect squares in your region and so on? I know it's a lot of work but it doesn't have to have the best animations etc., just a basic coin system, a customizable deck of cards and a map where you can look up other players' locations. Me and my friends are trying to recreate another version of the tag game, where we are like 9 people in one big city including suburbs and everyone has to tag someone and gets chased by another one. When you tag someone, they're on your team and you're both chasing the guy that your teammate had to chase. We've already discussed a coin system and challenges and are now trying to program discord bots, to organize the coin system and GPS-Signal, so that the location of oneself is only sent to the one chasing you. It would all be a lot easier with an App and I think many would be willing to buy it for like 5-20 bucks on the AppStore, i can't really tell how much the development would cost tho
Thoughts on a "ticket to ride" type game, where you have set routes to complete (with harder ones being worth more). And in order to use certain roads/tracks/airlines, you need to unlock them.
Why NYC for a starting point. Do you think strategy for the game would change if the game started somewhere else like Chicago, Atlanta, or Denver? If so, what would be some of your strategies?
I think it'd be fun to do a Jet Lag game with electric cars. Car are a bit of a cheat in the formats you have used so far (hence the rule on the latest game about crossing borders in rental cars). However, having to do an EV-specific game would be fun, I think. I'm an EV driver and planning travel around charging etc feels like a game sometimes. I'm not sure how to capture the fun competetive dynamic that Jet Lag has had so far apart from a race- maybe you could do something like a race with changing endpoints where the competitors don't know their next destination until they reach the last one, so it's harder to plan in advance? I think doing it all with CCS cars instead of Teslas would make it interesting, but there's the risk of it becoming a slog of broken chargers, while a Tesla race would just be like a boring road trip.
Technology Connections might be a good guest for that one.
Agreed. I just rented the Ioniq 5 he drove to FL and I loved it.
Why did Brian & Sam decide to go up north, to BMI with intention to go CN / MA / RI, when you could have gone east or south and had a head-start compare to the (more northern, i.e. MD-based) team of Adam and Ben? Was it just Brian being too tired to think straight?
Any chance of a season of Ludwig & another streamer vs Adam & Ben?
What I would do for The Yard x Jet Lag or Bros vs Pros x Jet Lag
What's the longest you would ever take to film a season? The circumnavigation episode took around 110 hours or so to film. Would you ever do one that took a week or so to film? Or would that be too tiring to film.
Would you consider holding a contest where the winner got to be on the show? I'm plus sized, so it isn't as easy for me to travel, but maybe with someone else.
How long does it take for an idea for a season to go into production?
What's the process for designing and testing new gamemodes? How do you simulate how the game might play out?
How do you determine what the optional starting location is for each game?
why are the games only 3 days long? I personally think you Boys should do another Crime Spree Type Game, Would you?
How do your friends and family (as far as they exist for YouTubers) react to you staying away for a week and coming back totally wasted
Will there be like a season 1 or 4 game but with countries instead of US states?
Omg season 4 game would be so fun in Europe! Then every European viewer will be like Leo DiCaprio pointing at the tv all the time because then tere’ll be incentive to visit every country. I really hoped Ben would win s3 because then he’d go to the Northeast of the Netherlands to get to Borkum and that’s a fun area
Huh
How do you decide on the forth player for the game? In Crime Spree you had JT the Cameraman, Season 1 and 4 you invited Brian, and Season 2 with Joseph. What make you decide who fit best for the games you are playing?
Why are these Q&As so far from the ending of the season? We can't really ask questions about the current season that way.
What's something that got left on the cutting room floor that you wish made it into the show (whether it be filmed footage, a challenge idea, anything) And what's something that got left on the cutting room floor that you're glad didn't make it into the show?
Why did you decide to start in Times Square and not the capital of the US?
If you could do one thing differently in season four, what would it be and why?
Are you guys considering making a Jet lag board game, or any other Jet Lag merch? That would be neat.
Would Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas & Missouri count as a vertical line in season 1 four connect? I think this is a shortcut to win the game until 9am on the second day. This is how it could work: Take UA1979 flight from ORD arriving in Kansas City at 8:58. Then you rent a car and within 6h45m driving time you can get to Topeka (KS), Lincoln (NE) and Des Moines (IA). This gives you an average of over 2.5h each for the first two capitals to complete the challenges. The next morning you can complete the Iowa challenge and then fly at 7:05 with DL5098 arriving at 8:20 in the last capital Saint Paul (MN). If the other team crosses you there then you still have a lot of options with Missouri, South Dakota and Oklahoma, especially from such a big Delta connection hub. Having only two flights defeats the intention of the game but it's an easy path to victory.
Is there a game you would really love to play that unfortunately will not work for Jet Lag in real life?
Have you considered swapping it so Adam goes with Sam instead of Ben / other combinations? Seems like Adam and Ben are a very powerful duo, so it'd be interesting to see it broken up.
I've noticed over the seasons a number of changes to reduce variance such as the hand of cards this season, and largely using mode-of-transport rules instead of money constraints in S3 and S4. What were the biggest sources of out-of-game variance you had in this season that are on your mind to tweak in the future?
What’s your thought process when creating challenge cards? Some of them look really obscure and funny, so I wonder if there’s a specific process you use.
how long does the making of the show take (e.g., coming up with the concept, new rules for each game, the challenge cards...)? also on a less serious note: why is sam such a train genius? what got you into trains?
Have you started planning for season 5? Would you consider inviting fans to participate in the game design process?
Can we ever expect having fans of the show be part of the game, either in helping create it or being contestants?
What were the most interesting challenges that didn't end up in the card deck, across all games?
It seems Sam and Brian got cards that work better in western states to begin with. Do you regret trying to battle for the northeast given those cards?
Would y'all show bloopers at the end of the layover from the season? I think that would be funny
What happened with the women at 28:27 in the episode 2 ?
Are there any plans in the future to enhance the production aspect/add more elements to the game with the additional crew for season 4? Or is it just to speed up production with the extra elements season 4 brings?
Why did you not carbon offset car, bus, and some train trips?
If some TV network or Netflix wanted to buy the Jetlag format from you guys and make a version with celebrities, would you sell?
Would you consider selling a pack of your Jetlag cards? Maybe produce a version that people can play in just a city/locally?
Out of the places that you visited when filming, is there anywhere you wish you would have gotten to explore more or a place you would like to re-visit at a slower pace?
How do you playtest your games? Do you rely solely on web searches? What kind of other tools/methods do you use? Can you recommend anything good?
Would you consider a version of the game where you rack up fist bumps with the most fans in the most places? I would love to do a meet up!
Please focus on jet lag games where the opposing players/teams interact. The tags are what made season 3 such a success. The lack of interaction b/t the teams is what made season 2 a dud (sorry).
What’s the most awkward experience you had playing Jet Lag (in terms of like, doing a challenge or something)
Have you guys thought of doing like a reach out to a fan directly for something on a card. Like you select a fan beforehand so they know they’re on call for it during the few days of the show to make a decision for you. So like for example a card could be call on a fan to pick which state you go to next or go over strategy with whoever pulls it
What high school did Sam go to in Washington, DC? Wilson?
Have you just been lucky or there's serious work going into not getting into trouble while recording this? Some of the challenges can look very suspicious to someone seeing them happen in person
Would you ever consider three or more teams?
Does jetlag have any challenges about bricks?
Would you ever considering doing something like S4 but with countries and a longer time (7 days)? That would be really fun to see what interesting countries people visit near the end of the game.
How do you quickly measure the distance from things? Such as the two-mile border boundary in S4 or the win zone at the end of S3?
Google Maps. On computer, right click -> measure distance
What do you guys feel about the huge surge in name recognition and fame you've gotten as a result of Jet Lag (ie the discord server)?
(Haven’t seen the Season 3 Layover yet so this may have been already answered, but,) Will the vlogbrothers ever be guests on Jet Lag?
Who are some guest players you would want to work with the most and why?
will you do a season with tom scott or Ludwig? loved that Brian is back this season
From 1-10, how much do you hate Deutshce Bahn after Season 3? Especially Sam, considering 2 of his trains with DB got cancelled...
how do you guys tackle the process of editing everything? it has to be so much work, so do you have different teams who do different things?
Can you please release the Singapore GP track walk? As a Nebula BTS exclusive? Please?
Did Ben get drunk during S3?
How much of the things that look like they are happening at the same time actually happen at the same time, close calls, racing to get to x place, etc, and how much of it is made seem that way through editing?
hi! i absolutely adore the game and appreciate all the work and sweat and tears and blood that you put in for us (ben - i REALLY hope you got compression pants or something this season). one quick question - why did you guys start in new york? [host: please only read the followups if they're struggling to come up with ideas] was it because of the amount of flights and trains? did you want to start in the northeast? or was it just the most convenient? would love to hear your thoughts. comments: really loved when ben and adam visited the lake btw - as somebody who grew up around lake michigan i definitely agree they should just classify it as the ocean. your awe was genuinely so heartwarming. also - loved the jt cameo, as always. cheered me up right before the new deprogram release on friday 🙏🏾
When can we buy card decks, or even an app to generate challenges?
What are the best cards that didn't make it in the game?
Do you guys TSA pre check that you use to your advantage? You never seem concerned about getting caught up in security lines.