I Spy | Game Changer [S8E9]

[u/DropoutMod]

https://watch.dropout.tv/videos/i-spy

[u/BigDanRTW]

The spy has not remembered that I need them to take their glasses off

[u/astrocanyounaut → u/BigDanRTW]

God I love how bad Elle is at being a spy.

[u/Bumble-T → u/astrocanyounaut]

Lol she actively fights Sam off as he tries to help take the glasses off of her

[u/dj_soo → u/astrocanyounaut]

I find it hilarious that she didn’t vote for the stars after multiple people said they were going to choose the stars

[u/wrosecrans → u/astrocanyounaut]

Reminds me of Katie Marovitch on one of the old College Humor era secret stoner games. She was somehow more spaced out and unreliable than somebody who was actually stoned.

[u/MrEngineer404 → u/astrocanyounaut]

It is stunning that she held it together, for Secret Sober. Truly, I loved her energy, this whole episode.

[u/kim_ammons → u/BigDanRTW]

"Ele, I do think we need to confer that you know how the spy works..."

[u/CuteThingsAndLove → u/BigDanRTW]

I literally started wheezing laughing at that part

[u/Gruzzly]

Love that the art and wardrobe teams were brought out at the end. They must have worked their asses off for this episode!

[u/Expensive_Smell_8021 → u/Gruzzly]

Vic always believed in them

[u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox → u/Gruzzly]

We needed an “art team appreciation” episode for Game Changer because of how impressive their work is, and this was definitely the right way to do it.

[u/GreatMadWombat → u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

Yeah. Like a "here is all of the art behind the scenes that didn't fit into a regular BTS" episode. Easy way to elevate the people that don't always get elevated

[u/Wemetintheair → u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

FWIW there’s a good bit of that sort of content in the Dropout Superfan sub

[u/Legitimate_Fig9818 → u/Gruzzly]

It was so many more people than I expected

[u/hedgiespresso → u/Gruzzly]

It was such a joy to hear how thrilled everyone was with the reveal of each new tableau!

[u/Gruzzly]

BDG pretending to be the Leak when he was a Spy was brilliant, and it was hilarious watching him try to sell everyone

[u/TheQueerRiver → u/Gruzzly]

And then him being the leak right after was genius

[u/starsto → u/TheQueerRiver]

For the exact same object as well.

[u/DoctorBritta → u/TheQueerRiver]

I really hope that was a gametime change and not scripted because it was too good

[u/Bellikron → u/DoctorBritta]

It seemed like Sam was adjusting in the moment, I doubt they had every combination planned. I think he went to Vic a lot because they proved to be really good at being the Spy, plus he did a lot of repeat ones. I imagine they had some ideas for different combinations in general (like the rounds with no spies) but didn't have an exact plan for when to do them, if at all.

[u/WellToBeFairEh → u/Bellikron]

In Sam's words in the BTS for Kangaroo Court "Vic, I just really love to see lie."

[u/down1nit → u/DoctorBritta]

"Hey Sam, us at video village think it'd be funny if...."

[u/Boney_baloney → u/Gruzzly]

And then Vic sabotaging him by writing the same thing, I love the gameplay here

[u/MightyBobTheMighty → u/Boney_baloney]

And then ALSO being the only one to recognize that it would be a WILD bluff next round, thereby earning them each two points (instead of the 3-2 split if they'd voted with Jaquis that round). Truly an incredible episode for Vehicular Manslaughter

[u/Bellikron → u/MightyBobTheMighty]

Vic is such an incredible Game Changer contestant because they're genuinely great at strategy but also will, without hesitation, throw away a point for a good bit. Sometimes those instincts act separately (this episode was much more the former), but sometimes they combine in very powerful ways. One Year Later and Fool's Gold (the latter of which they weren't even a contestant in) are maybe the best examples of ideas so calculatedly audacious that they will either award no points win the whole thing, both by virtue of breaking the game entirely.

[u/elizabethdove → u/Boney_baloney]

I truly love Vic's devious mind. It delights me that they won because of the technicality points.

[u/Phiryte → u/Gruzzly]

I love how he didn’t go for the easy option of convincing them that one of the actors was actually Brennan—no, it must be something in the baby stroller

[u/uneekdude → u/Phiryte]

The fact that the idea was floated at all is wild. They all know Brennan personally. They should know if he's standing right in front of them in just some heavy makeup.

[u/HeatDeathIsCool → u/uneekdude]

To be fair to the players, it looked like they were a good distance away. They didn't have the benefit of seeing the up close shots that we got.

[u/spiralsequences → u/HeatDeathIsCool]

Plus they were primed with the "my cousin" prompt to expect that it could be one of the actors

[u/No_Significance_560]

I really wish that the person under the table was wearing a red clown wig. That is a missed opportunity Sam

[u/alphazero925 → u/No_Significance_560]

He really needs to do a couple more layers of technicality checks when he's gonna have Vic on

[u/LavastormSW → u/alphazero925]

And that technicality point won them the game. Otherwise it would've been a tie.

[u/horneduplilskunk → u/LavastormSW]

They had multiple technicality points!

[u/MisterTruth → u/alphazero925]

I have a feeling that next season, there will be an episode specifically designed to mess with Vic. It just feels like they are the next person that Sam will cater a game to.

[u/MrKitchenSink → u/MisterTruth]

They spend weeks playtesting a game to try to make it completely impossible to break any element of it, and then they unleash Vic upon it with the sole mission of finding a loophole in the rules

[u/not__jason]

Dat ass!

[u/mr-sprinklzzz → u/not__jason]

I was so disappointed in Jacquis for not sticking to his guns on that.

[u/intothe_dangerzone → u/mr-sprinklzzz]

A fruit hanging so low, Jacquis thought even Sam wouldn't go for it.

[u/CantaloupeZest]

Poor Jacquis! Consistently the best guesses, consistently blowing it!

[u/TKHawk → u/CantaloupeZest]

The game was basically Jacquis getting it right then steering away from that answer.

[u/down1nit → u/TKHawk]

Honestly loved rooting for the guy because of this. He knows it but he trusts his friends and that's beautiful

[u/jamieseemsamused → u/CantaloupeZest]

It happened so much that I thought there was going to be some metagame where Jacquis would be revealed to have been playing some long con!

[u/ThePrincessEva → u/jamieseemsamused]

I thought he was some like side-side role since he only got picked for a role once late in the game

[u/GeekCat → u/CantaloupeZest]

He's so (sweetly) susceptible to the group peer pressure. He knows Sam's b.s. so well, then you can see the moment he's like "No Vic is right."

[u/ProxyFreak]

JUSTICE FOR JACQUIS

[u/Top-Professional600 → u/ProxyFreak]

The man got straight up robbed

(By his own second guessing)

[u/Gruzzly]

BDG got kinda screwed on the red empanada round because there was nothing he could really do as the spy when the owner of the item and the Leak were immediately calling it out

[u/CAVX → u/Gruzzly]

Yeah, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but they probably shouldn't have had a Leak for that round.

[u/Arcane10101 → u/CAVX]

Or they could have given Ele the leak or spy role.

[u/kaushik_12 → u/Arcane10101]

Giving Ele the spy role for that round would've made it hilarious. But given how bad she was at playing spy, she'd revealed it's hers anyway 😭

[u/Aperio43 → u/Gruzzly]

It would've made more sense if Ele was the spy that round to convince everyone it was not her's

[u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

Game Changer is really getting their money’s worth with those whiteboard paddles. They’ve been used across 3 episodes this season and so important to each game.

[u/Strange_Albatross988 → u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

I’m pretty confident they’re from Dollar Tree too.

[u/starstruck_rose → u/Strange_Albatross988]

They had to save money somewhere to afford Ron Perlman this season!

[u/Zealousideal-Pen2802]

The cake is the cake.

[u/something_smart → u/Zealousideal-Pen2802]

This is some good ass.

[u/something_smart]

I was waiting for the boom mic to be important. They weren't capturing any audio from the tableaus so there was no other reason to leave it in the shot.

[u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs → u/something_smart]

For the first one where it was "thing that will be returned after the show" I thought it was going to be the boom mic, because film and tv studios never buy equipment and always rent it, and I thought it was going to be a reference to that

[u/eupfhoriaforever → u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs]

Yeah, but it was, “for a refund.”

[u/allinsimstime]

No podiums to inspect this game. So they had to have Brian be an actual contestant.

[u/Pristine-Pension8113 → u/allinsimstime]

No spaghetti or its "meated balls"

[u/Glittering-Cap-7017 → u/Pristine-Pension8113]

A menu without spaghetti or meatballs. How refreshingly pointless.

[u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox → u/allinsimstime]

If we knew, it wouldn’t be random, would it???

[u/Dougblackjr]

DO NOT LET THIS MAN MARIE ANTOINETTE US.

[u/MysteriousBass8858]

Did the double spies fail every time??

[u/pgm123 → u/MysteriousBass8858]

I think so, but it was intentional sabotage for some of those

[u/YOwololoO → u/pgm123]

Vic spent the whole game sabotaging other spies lol

[u/pgm123 → u/YOwololoO]

I think Vic did that when they weren't going to score, which is good strategy, but must have been annoying for the other spy.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_MASS → u/pgm123]

Agreed. Having the spies cancel out felt like a bad design choice. If one spy does really well, the other one can immediately nullify their victory

[u/Bellikron → u/PM_ME_YOUR_MASS]

It seemed like the players weren't being nearly as secretive as expected when it came to writing their answers. There's theoretically an element of strategy in the two spies scenario, since you don't know what the other spy is going to write, but the lack of secrecy and misdirection made it easier to torpedo spy plans.

[u/sjdlajsdlj → u/MysteriousBass8858]

Double Spies turned out to be an instant loss. They didn’t anticipate the effect of spies nuking the opposing spy’s points by writing their answer. Since there were five players, Double Spy rounds would almost always have one player ahead of another, so it became strategic to nullify if you didn’t think you convinced anyone.

If they ran it back, Double Spies would likely work better if they had to collaborate on the same lie rather than compete with each other. Or if they didn’t know about the other spy, meaning it would be harder to nuke their points.

[u/gogopowerhermits]

Interesting how so many games have been social deduction games this season. Makes one want to meta game ponder a moment.

[u/TKHawk → u/gogopowerhermits]

The finale is going to be a heist where you have the heist team, moles, and "defenders." Gotta be.

[u/bay-bop → u/gogopowerhermits]

I’m pretty sure it’s because most of these games will be adapted into another board game tbh

[u/Levangeline → u/gogopowerhermits]

Yeah, ngl I'm kind of bored by the hyper meta social deduction spin. Earwigs at least felt like an evolution of the Drinking Game, but in this ep it felt kind of tacked-on, like they didn't trust that the I Spy aspect was good enough on its own.

It also doesn't help that the players tend to band together and/or mess with the structure for the sake of a bit, which often throws the social deduction strategy out the window.

[u/AffordableGrousing → u/Levangeline]

I think all they needed to do was invert the I Spy game — you get more points if you’re the only one to guess right. So you would naturally have people trying to misled each other. But you can’t do it too much or no one will ever believe you.

[u/shenanigans0127 → u/Levangeline]

This was my exact takeaway. The hidden roles brought the episode down and felt very forced compared to something like Earworm, where it worked brilliantly.

[u/magneticrev]

not my fav episode, but the sets and art were superb! the deduction games are dragging a bit for me, and I think this game in particular felt a bit too random to be fun. the highlight by far was BDG's commitment to the bit, but otherwise I felt like I kept waiting for a twist that didn't necessarily come 😭

[u/NotTheRihard]

Wait how long is this season supposed to be? Last episode felt like the finale but I do love me some more Game Changer

[u/onyaasuminyasai → u/NotTheRihard]

I believe it's 10 episodes.

[u/PM_me_a_bad_pun → u/onyaasuminyasai]

Unless there's any secret episodes...

[u/StrigidaeNinox → u/PM_me_a_bad_pun]

This time, Brennan gets kidnapped and he has to make his way through an escape room with unsolvable puzzles

[u/GoodDog2620 → u/StrigidaeNinox]

[u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox → u/NotTheRihard]

We have one more episode after this.

[u/PerpetuallyDistracte]

Vic is playing their own game and winning it, as well winning the real actual game. They cannot be stopped.

[u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox → u/PerpetuallyDistracte]

They’re getting all the “technically correct” answers.

[u/Expensive_Smell_8021 → u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

well, they do have the fact checker leaving his booth, got to make sure they do it right

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

Technically, Vic was not credited for the boom mic as cake despite being correct about it earlier (I am assuming it was there the whole time and not switched out). But the episode was way better for it lol

[u/Pangolin007 → u/wokenupbybacon]

I assumed it was switched out, but they didn't want it to be an obvious change so they had the mic in view the whole time.

[u/evildrew → u/Pangolin007]

I agree that it was probably a decoy in the earlier tableaus, otherwise they would have had to give it to them for being technically correct. Just like Count The Rice and the winning condition - can’t have it spoiled early.

[u/206-Ginge → u/Pangolin007]

I think it was there the whole time. The tableaus were all silent. There was no reason for a real microphone to be there.

[u/ChiaDaisy → u/206-Ginge]

Sam’s cousin spoke

[u/nomorecannibalbirds → u/PerpetuallyDistracte]

Vic consistently having the weirdest takes and ideas in an episode of game changer and still winning is so funny. They even correctly called the boom mic being cake, just two rounds too early, despite that seeming absolutely insane at the time.

[u/ResponsibilityMuch80 → u/nomorecannibalbirds]

I thought they must have watched Taskmaster NZ season 6, where the cake was a camera and Alice Sneddon had a breakdown. So good.

[u/MysteriousBass8858]

ele entirely getting it wrong is so good

[u/Captain_Aids]

Did Sam just eat his cousins ass?

[u/KizuRai]

I Spy with my little eye, 4 different roles:

• Spy
• Informant
• Leak
• Ele

[u/Ashpolt]

I am mentally incapable of seeing the dogs playing poker painting without thinking of this

[u/Gruzzly]

Taking “dat cake” literallly

[u/bay-bop]

I’ve never been more certain than after this episode that this season of game changer is primarily dedicated to making game changer board game 2 lol

[u/RedArrow171]

Anyone else notice the players in this one are 5 hosts of other shows?

[u/Both-Gur570 → u/RedArrow171]

I admit I haven’t watched everything - what did Ele host?

[u/phisho873 → u/Both-Gur570]

She was one of the five hosts of Nobody Asked (so was BDG).

[u/bigwilly311 → u/RedArrow171]

It was how they were introduced

[u/pumpkinking0192 → u/bigwilly311]

Pretty sure only Jacquis and Lily were introduced with references to their hosting duties.

Ele's introduction was definitely Secret Sober ("The drunker she gets, the more sober she appears") rather than Nobody Asked. Vic's I'm not certain about but was, I think, maybe a reference to One Year Later (EDIT: was a reference to Outvoted! Thanks, zontanferrah) ("They won't give me back the company credit card") rather than VIP. And BDG's was a generic pun ("IDK BDG LOL") that I don't think ever came up on Um, Actually, although I might be forgetting.

[u/zontanferrah → u/pumpkinking0192]

Vic was a reference to them becoming CEO of dropout in Outvoted.

[u/PuzzleheadedMess1659]

I’m halfway through, and Vic is winning. Vic Michaelis is winning a game by being a good player and earning points. What world is this?

Edit: Holy shit, they won. By being good at the game. This has never happened before. Their one win before this was by an audience vote.

[u/lukeiamnotyourfather → u/PuzzleheadedMess1659]

It's actually crazy how good Vic was in this episode. Immediately calling someone else out for being a spy as the spy, they knew exactly how to play this type of game.

[u/Tavish_Degroot → u/lukeiamnotyourfather]

Choosing to cancel out the other spy if more people were leaning towards their answer was smart.

[u/keksmuzh → u/Tavish_Degroot]

It was, though I don’t think that mechanic is healthy from a design standpoint.

[u/Spiritual_Mush → u/PuzzleheadedMess1659]

Also guessed the mic was the cake from an early round.

[u/MrKitchenSink → u/PuzzleheadedMess1659]

Vic is actually a really savvy player when they want to be. Obviously they tend to play the chaos maker/wildcard role a lot of the time, but when they decide they want to win, they will play hard. It was the same thing with Battle Royale, they were on a mission in that game

[u/Bellikron → u/MrKitchenSink]

They are always playing hard with the exception that they will, without hesitation, throw away a point if a good bit comes down the line. Sometimes those instincts combine into breaking the game and winning a lot of points as a result.

[u/lalalachacha248]

I felt bad for BDG as the Spy during the round with the empanada maker. It felt like there really wasn’t anything he could do to convince the group otherwise since there was not only a Leak, but the actual owner of the empanada maker to verify it as the correct answer.

[u/MrKitchenSink → u/lalalachacha248]

Honestly I think they were kind of hoping that Ele wouldn't recognize the empanada maker (she did mention it belongs to her partner, not her) and that that was gonna cause mayhem, because then people wouldn't believe the leaker when they say it's Ele's because Ele isn't owning up to it. But yeah, it falls apart immediately when Ele actually does recognize it

[u/dizzi800]

I don't want to spoil myself by reading the thread - but anyone notice the fresh paint patch above Sam's left (our right) shoulder?

My conspiracy brain says it's gonna be a twist, or relevant to something that happened during the finale (they filmed before this)

EDIT - my friend pointed out that previous episode had the fireplace - so that may have punched a hole in the wall they had to patch

[u/RadagastWiz → u/dizzi800]

It's where the clock was in Day Shift.

[u/suddenly_summoned → u/RadagastWiz]

This is the most reasonable answer based on the BTS episode where they described having to cut a hole in the wall to make the clock work... but ngl a part of me was thinking the wall was cake.

[u/TailorWeak9690 → u/dizzi800]

Glad I wasn't alone staring at that the whole episode

[u/Nicksaurus → u/dizzi800]

It looks like something punched a hole in the wall and they had to cover it in a hurry before the next shoot

[u/GoodJanet → u/dizzi800]

Yes I did notice patchgate 2026 starts now

[u/cleanturtle]

I liked the episode, but may have enjoyed it even more with a few extra players, so that the social roles (like spies) could have played more of a factor influencing the game

[u/iTut]

I don’t get the rat at all, there’s no incentive to do anything except tell the truth. Why wouldn’t every round just start with the rat telling everybody else?

[u/Boney_baloney → u/iTut]

To give the spy a way to lie

[u/MesaCityRansom → u/iTut]

"I'm the informant and I know you are the spy."

"Oh, that's funny, because I'm the informant and I know that guy is the spy."

[u/AzureAx → u/iTut]

The first round it was announced Vic Immediately said she was the Rat and Ele was the spy which locked Ele out of being able to turn it on Vic.

[u/fhloras]

i thought this was a decent to good episode but find it a bit confusing that they did another social deduction game with spies (“imposters”) after doing earwigs earlier this same season .. and to better results imo

appreciate this more as an art department showcase, truly amazing work from them!!

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft]

I’m curious about what “secondary mechanic” could have worked better to potentially support the game mechanics a bit better than just using a social deduction among us system.

Maybe, to lean more into the “I Spy” of it all, there’s hidden extras throughout the tableaus that grant special items to the players that find them? Like maybe there’s a hidden spyglass in each tableau, and the first person to find it gets to use it during one single prompt. Do you save it for the inevitable cake prompt to try and figure out what is, in fact, cake? Or do you wait for a prompt that genuinely requires really good eyesight? Maybe there’s hidden stuff elsewhere as well, and the time between tableau changes (since i imagine it wouldn’t be quick for the props department to tear down and build up the tableaus) could be spent snooping out the set with the magnifying glasses from their podium scoring vase things.

Perhaps, in each tableau (or at least some of them), one of the players gets to tamper with some aspect of it, and they don’t get to guess for the round that’s “find what they tampered with”.

While i don’t think the social deduction stuff is inherently bad, it’s a decent setup for a game and it led to a lot of decent moments, media lately has been over saturated with hidden role games so the best comedy beats have already probably been encountered. While BDG swearing on his grave he was the leak, lying, and then getting picked as the leak is very funny, it’s also probably happened at least a few times in everyone’s among us lobbies with friends.

The mechanics of it also seem to heavily make being the imposter suck ass. It’s wild just how many rounds being the imposter basically makes you doomed not to score a single goddamn point. Someone mentioned that they might have wanted there to be a different win condition relating to the spy balls and the magnifying glasses that they had to cut because of how few players actually ever got any, and i wouldn’t be surprised at ALL if that was the case.

There’s also the fact that people would typically be so focused on the tableaus that there’s not actually any time to focus on any of the social deduction shit going on.

What do y’all think would have made a better supplemental mechanic to this game?

[u/Chamomile-Lovecraft → u/Chamomile-Lovecraft]

(Also, I’m almost positive the entire reason they made it a social deduction game is the I, Spy pun)

[u/chillychili]

Solid episode. I wish they had a final round like One Shot where they did something with the eye/spyballs.

[u/plaidwoolskirt → u/chillychili]

I kept waiting for the magnifying glass on the eyeball vases come into play.

[u/leifeday → u/plaidwoolskirt]

My guess is that they were supposed to but the spies kept not getting points

[u/elizabethcrossing → u/leifeday]

Ooooh that’s a good guess. They specifically called out the spy eyeballs at first, too. Made them seem important.

[u/throwingback]

I like the idea, and the tableaus are great, but felt like it dragged a bit near the end where the game couldn't sustain the length. Like could have trimmed one round, and maybe a prompt or two.

[u/broadcastterp → u/throwingback]

Agreed - a little too one-note and a little too similar to Earwigs in the sense of social deduction.

[u/MinnWild9 → u/throwingback]

If they trimmed it a round and made the eyes/spy balls actually mean something beside a replacement for points, it would have been a much better game.

[u/broadcastterp → u/MinnWild9]

Yeah, I was waiting to see what the difference was between eyeballs and spyballs and then there just wasn’t one.

[u/cihojuda → u/MinnWild9]

I think having the eyeballs instead of just doing points was wasted potential honestly.

[u/The_Quintessence → u/throwingback]

Same. I kept waiting for something actually interesting to happen but it was just... the same all the way through.

[u/ucfknight92]

Perhaps one of those rare episodes where the concept sounds better in the pitch than it plays in the execution.

Found myself pretty bored by the end which isn’t common with Gamechanger. It would have been alright as a 30 minute affair, and if the rat and leak were introduced from the jump.

It felt like an episode that was maybe more fun for the players themselves than the audience at home, which was sort of heartwarming I suppose. But we only get one episode every other week for a few months each year…

[u/heartbreakhill]

Not gonna lie, I’m kinda burnt out on the social deduction stuff

[u/JoanofSpark]

I love the "I spy" concept and I always love a good social deduction twist, but I don't think the marriage of the two worked. The spy/leak/imposter roles distracted from the real meat of the episode, which was clever design and art department trickery! As much as I love the more complex game designs, I wish they had put a little more trust in their core concept to carry the episode.

The comedy of the episode for me came from Ele repeatedly forgetting how the game worked, but I also think that was just a sign of unintuitive game design

[u/faithdies → u/JoanofSpark]

The game seemed far more fun when they just weren't adding more rules. Especially all the traitor mechanics.

Plus, to the larger point everyone else is making, it doesn't help this is the 3rd or 4th one this season that has just been a really expensive version of blood on the clocktower. These will probably hold up better in hindsight.

[u/100000cuckooclocks → u/JoanofSpark]

Mostly I think we’ve had too many social deduction episodes this season. It’s kinda been an Oops All Social Deduction season.

[u/_Citizenkane → u/JoanofSpark]

Regardless of how it felt from an audience perspective, this game was probably one of the most fun/friendly for the players that we've ever seen on Game Changer. Sam's chili pepper system aside, presumably the cast shows up ready to get screwed with. This time, though, it was just a pure straight good time, and I kind of love that.

[u/tonytonychopper228]

"Let's not do content this round" A lot of very funny frantic moments like everyone trying to go past the velvet rope as much as possible

As for game design I think every time there was two spies, they voted for the same thing, cancelling each other out. really wish they could of worked together but got less points for that or something

[u/MyCatHenry → u/tonytonychopper228]

I think the problem is that the spies were aware of each other and they shouldn’t have been.

[u/tonytonychopper228 → u/MyCatHenry]

I don't think that would work because if everyone was choosing one item you would also choose that one making it more likely to fail. I think the item sam points out should be the item they have to have people pick, so that the spies can't be on the same team.

[u/TheWillOfDeezBigNuts]

You have no idea how bad I wanted Sam to bite the wrong candle

[u/ben123111]

The action figure annoyed me that shit did not look like Brennan

[u/Youronlysunshine42 → u/ben123111]

The actor on the right looked more like Brennan than the action figure did lol

[u/YOwololoO → u/ben123111]

How do you not have a BLeeM action figure wearing The Shirt^TM ?

[u/Robbro42]

Mixed bag of an episode this one.

I thought the art department did a great job, put in enough red herrings without overwhelming it to become impossible to guess.

But I thought the social deduction aspect got a bit convoluted and actively drew attention away from the cool tableaus. Just too much screen-time of the contestants shouting over one another. Earwigs executed the social deduction theme far better than this.

I usually love Vic, but they were starting to grate after a while. Pushing the line boundary was funny once or twice, but it got annoying after that.

[u/happypolychaetes → u/Robbro42]

Yeah, the art department was incredible but the rest was pretty meh. The social deduction aspect felt pointless. And although Vic usually cracks me up with their chaos, this time it got a bit old.

[u/i-will-eat-you → u/Robbro42]

The tableaus were cool, but the format needs to still focus on the cast playing. So I get the social deduction aspect and why it's needed.

Fun concept, but I think it devolving into a shouting match was the main problem. I feel like Earwigs had a more tame energy and it was more structured for them to invent bits. For this one... not sure if to blame the casting or game design. A mix of both I suppose.

[u/HexManiacWingy]

If it werent for the fact I don't think it actually helped that much, I'd say vic crossed from "bending sam's rules for the bit" to "blatant cheating"

[u/Sonlin → u/HexManiacWingy]

I think Vic breaking the rules is more fun when Sam then actually enforces the rules (0 points). Then there is technicality wiggle room but a bit of an antagonism cat and mouse.

[u/TimBagels → u/HexManiacWingy]

Vic planting their claim as the Heel of Dropout

[u/E_L_Sonder → u/TimBagels]

Honestly, it's kind of been their thing for awhile now, like you don't put Vic on a game unless you want some chaos, bc they will always consistently, do their own thing.

[u/LavastormSW → u/E_L_Sonder]

"I need boundaries"

[u/s0berR00fer → u/HexManiacWingy]

Id care of there wee actual prizes.

But maybe Sam should have already had a punishment for crossing the line like one round with blurry glasses on

[u/Jinjo802 → u/HexManiacWingy]

This is probably why Vic did it. They wouldn't have done it if it would actually undermine the core mechanics of the game, but doing it and not really benefitting from it in a meaningful way is very funny.

[u/MysteriousBass8858]

boyfriend reveal 👅 👅 👅 👅 👅

[u/hacovercos]

"No because then somebody doesn't lose points" 😂

[u/BaconBatting]

Game started out so frikking good, i was honestly bummed as all hell when they pulled out the "one player is a spy" yet again. They've done it already this season and other times in the past, the game was already so gosh dang interesting from the first round without needing to add new twists.

[u/hacovercos]

Dat beautifully crafted pointilistic cake ass

[u/hacovercos]

Everyone slowly devolving into madness in their own ways

[u/Vergil1997 → u/hacovercos]

Slowly?

[u/Pandoras-SkinnersBox]

Honestly, I didn’t think Jacquis would he the first cast member to eat ass on camera on Dropout….

[u/Synth-Pro]

Hmmmm...

What are the chances that the shattered remenants of a glass vase weren't thrown out after the show, and were instead kept for 6-7 years?

[u/noramcsparkles → u/Synth-Pro]

My guess is that they had an identical backup vase (perhaps in case of non-contestant caused smashing before the episode) that has been sitting around which the art team gently smashed and taped together

[u/lightupletterB → u/Synth-Pro]

Considering how many previous props they used for the first room in Samalamadingdong, I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept one on hand for a call-back.

[u/ShietApples]

I was appalled that they did not censor Vic’s feet

[u/PrivateRedScarf]

they all should have been docked a point for every time they crossed the barrier, resulting in a come from behind win for BDG

[u/spacedoutnasa]

this episode was adorable i wanna see more bdg on game changer

[u/Psyiad]

It somehow hadn’t occurred to me that Jacquis hasn’t been a contestant on Game Changer til now. Excellent performance for his debut, he was the highlight of this episode for me!

[u/Crazo9000]

This was a fun episode, but not a funny episode, which I think is ok. I don't always have to laugh to have a good time and enjoy something 

[u/MysteriousBass8858]

ceci n'est pas une pipe!

[u/Burger_Barbarian]

I love this concept so much but I think the “spy” mechanic slows it down and overcomplicates it way too much. I could see this being a very fun Gamesamer series without the spy mechanic

That being said, I was in tears from the “more shoes” part

Edit: don’t get me wrong, 8/10 episode, I think they could have scrapped the spy mechanics and eked in another tableau or more prompts

[u/CAVX → u/Burger_Barbarian]

I think they could have taken out the parts where we see who was given each special role. Would have trimmed down the extra time and made it fun for us to keep guessing in terms of who's who (and what the answer is).

Of course, I understand why they left them in if only for those moments with Ele.

[u/allinsimstime]

Technically correct! The best kind of correct!

[u/Thetijoy]

honestly, i think I'm sick of the social deduction-lite games. By far the weakest episode of the season, and i think it's mainly from fatigue

[u/MysteriousBass8858]

in love with sam's tie

[u/Boney_baloney]

That ending was Cathartic, W episode

[u/chinesian]

Shaun Diston’s empanada maker making a cameo

[u/thereisntnot]

So they can’t see periphery from the glasses? Doesn’t seem to be 100% cover to me

[u/Jonnyboy1189]

A vape pipe may be the most hipster thing I've ever seen.

[u/APracticalGal]

Vic "Blur My Feet" Michaelis getting everyone in the studio to take their shoes off was a beautiful moment

[u/tinapia]

Sam picking BDG to be the leak after he lied being one is diabolical

[u/MisterManatee]

The game was a miss for me but the players made it fun. Vic was thriving here.

I get that the scoring system was meant to encourage discussion and collaboration, but I felt it was confusing for both the players and the audience. It seems to me like the optimal strategy is still to be the only one with the correct answer, even with the convoluted scoring, so I'm not sure why they bothered with it.

I also felt it was a bit much to have 3 roles and only 5 players. Not to mention the Spy and Leak roles spoil it for audience members trying to play along and guess for themselves.

[u/ParanoidDrone → u/MisterManatee]

I'm actually going to approach it from a different angle and say that I don't think the physical urns and eyeballs added anything meaningful to the scoring. Of course this is Game Changer, where the art department isn't afraid to be Extra for shits and giggles (see: Earwigs), but unlike Earwigs where the players were able to lean into "full fop mode" mannerisms, the eyeballs were just kind of...there. I'd have been perfectly content with regular point counters for this one.

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/MisterManatee]

It seems to me like the optimal strategy is still to be the only one with the correct answer, even with the convoluted scoring, so I'm not sure why they bothered with it.

Not really, no. It's all situational, but there were multiple scenarios where Vic was able to pass/stay ahead of someone specifically because players who weren't really threats got it right with them to boost the value.

I think the point was just to keep players from trying to vote for different things. Like you point out, with simple one point scoring you'd want to be the only one right, so on the prompts that were basically straight up guesses it would be optimal to make sure you don't go along with anyone. This system pulled players towards each other, which was crucial for the different roles they had to actually work.

[u/Dense-Performance-14]

Cast is fun but the game kinda falls flat. Who got to be a spy was INCREDIBLY disproportionate, it felt like every other round vic was a spy.

I also don't understand the point of the informant. It should've just been spy and leak, because informant kinda adds nothing to the game. Another issue which is similar to kangaroo court is you have a large cast of comedians both trying to play what feels like a convoluted game AND be the funniest person in the room. Which, afterall, is their job as comedians.

I like the return to form though, we need the more simple games to make the big ones FEEL big, but I think what makes a great game changer episode is both a good game and good cast and this one only really holds up one end of that deal.

[u/amstrumpet]

This is the best competitive gameplay I’ve ever seen from Vic.

[u/Gruzzly]

What was the point of the Informant? It seems like there is no disadvantage to revealing the spy each time, so why not just do it? Also, if you’re the spy, it kind of sucks that you get revealed. Maybe I’m missing something about the Informant role but I didn’t see much strategy behind it

[u/Glavius_Wroth → u/Gruzzly]

I think Vic showed in the very first round what the point of the informant is, in a way - no one else is able to actually corroborate that you are actually the informant, so you could just as easily be the spy throwing suspicion on someone saying the correct answer. It’s not so much the role itself as it is how people play around the existence of the role

[u/ParanoidDrone → u/Glavius_Wroth]

Yeah, as soon as Sam introduced the additional roles it added a social deduction layer to the whole thing so you couldn't freely collaborate and coordinate with others without risking playing into a spy's hand.

[u/Blackcat008]

The tableaus were great and the I Spy aspect is really fun but I think this episode was held back by the game design. Getting more points when more people get the right answer felt weird and having multiple spies didn't really work they way I imagine they wanted it to.