I stopped at Borders a couple of days ago to use the most recent 40% off coupon. My son busied himself in the game section while I browsed CDs, and when I was finished I found him there playing this "20 Questions" handheld electronic game. He was having fun with it, so I thought I'd give it a shot myself. Settling on a band name (no big shocker which one I chose), I started the game. The questions it asked were all over the map -- a few made sense, but many seemed bizarre or irrelevant, and others totally vague (e.g., "are you a classic?"). Around question 18 I was absolutely convinced the thing would never guess my answer, so I chuckled as the questioning wrapped up. Then, after a grandiose pause, the little bugger popped out its response, and my jaw literally dropped. "Are you......Supertramp?"

I turned to my son and said, "Let's get this thing!"

I've tried a few more stumpers, and darned if that computer isn't really, really well-programmed and chock full of music info. Highly recommended.

(Bonus: The list price of the game was $24.99, and it had a 50% off sticker. At checkout, it rang up at a whopping $1, and the cashier congratulated me on getting a really good deal. )

I had a different experience with that game. My sister in law had it and suggested I try it. She said "Think of Paul McCartney or someone". Like I would make it THAT easy.

My choice was Roy Wood. The game never guessed it. It tried to say I was thinking of Robert Palmer and a few others. I've stumped it about 6 or 7 straight times now!

In fairness, it would be pretty easy for any of us here at ICE to stump a music-related game -- we aren't exactly your "average" music fans. I haven't tried to get too obscure with it, but I've still been impressed with the breadth of its data. More impressive to me, though, is how it arrives at a correct answer by asking such loose, tangential questions.

I'm geared toward the average rather than the exceptional.

Jimbo the non-rabbit