Ask the Slot Expert: On !mpossible game show, worst equals best

A few months ago, a new row appeared on my Amazon Prime home page. The heading on the row is "On now." I had been watching some British game shows on Amazon, so I wasn't surprised that many of the tiles were for British programs.

Clicking on one of the tiles in this row is like going back in time, back before video on demand, DVRs, and even VCRs. The tile connects you with a channel broadcasting the appropriate program(s). You can't choose which episode you want to see. You can't pause a program, rewind, or fast forward. All you can do is watch what is on and ensure that you're back from the bathroom before the two-minute commercial break ends. Welcome to 1975!

My favorite program in the bunch is a game show called !mpossible (Impossible). !mpossible adds a new dimension to a multiple-choice question. One answer is right, one answer is wrong, and one answer is impossible.

For example, contestants might be asked:

Which casino game is played with dice?
A) Craps, B) Roulette, C) Baseball

Craps, A, is the right answer, Roulette, B, is the wrong answer, and Baseball, C, is the impossible answer. Baseball is not a casino game.

In one phase of the game, contestants face a 3x3 grid of answers to a question. Five of the nine answers are impossible, three are wrong, and one is right. After hearing the first half of the question, he contestant gets five tries to find the five impossible answers. Each impossible entry the contestant finds adds 100 pounds to the prize pool.

This phase begins by showing the contestant the answer grid.

Then the first half of the question is revealed.

Now the contestant has five tries to identify the five impossible answers based on the first half of the question. When the contestant identifies an impossible answer, it is replaced by an exclamation mark in the grid. When the contestant picks a possible answer, it temporarily disappears from the grid until it re-appears when the second half of the question is revealed.

Most contestants find a mix of impossible and possible answers. A few contestants know the subject matter and correctly identify the five impossible answers. That's the best a contestant can do, a perfect grid for this part of the game.

Once, a contestant did the worst a contestant can do. This contestant found only one impossible answer. The other four answers the contestant chose were possible.

After the contestant has made five attempts at finding an impossible answer, the second half of the question is revealed. The contestant then has to give the right answer to the entire quesiton.

Here's what the grid looks like if the player found all five impossible answers, a perfect grid.

And here's what the grid might look like after an epic fail.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to determine why the contestant is no worse off with an epic fail than with a perfect grid when the second half of the question is revealed and the contestant has to choose the right answer?

I learned some nicknames for cards from a question on !mpossible. You probably already know the One-Eyed Jacks and the Suicide Kings. But do you know...

• Which card is the Devil's Bedpost?
• Which card is the Curse of Scotland?

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