u/ChristianGin

Hello,

I have a 2023 Premium and it's my first time driving with a Moonroof as opposed to a "sunroof" which I had on a predecessor vehicle as the latter was a much smaller rectangle above the driver and front Passenger heads only.

When is the ideal weather or situation to drive with an open moon roof? I'm not used to things being this large.

Dave Stewart speaks about this and of course being part of the 1993 Jays team with Rickey.

Do we know if the Oranje will do the Left/right (Links/Rechts) dance song in the Arrowhead parking lot? I see the fan March and all the AM activities which is probably too suicidal to drive up there, I got a ticket for Thursday's game...

Usually I do this at the conclusion of every season, but because I was on vacation for weeks as S17 ended, I finally had time to just relax and think it over.

Consider this an appetizer for the YT crowd as you wait next week for S18 to air.

Here's what I'm looking for and what makes or breaks my grades:

Game design: Good use of a map and the game being interesting. Does it play out as intended? Or are there enough cracks in the design that make it iffy?

Travel/Showcasing: I want to see things that most travellers may not see. Find some interaction on the ground with what's there. Showcase the terrain.

Execution/Content: Sometimes it's gameplay, other times it's just how things play out or how the JetsLag as they say. But also memorable content/notable things happening helps.

Other times it's editing decisions that can help or hurt a season. Vibes matter, guest matters, the more predictable things get, the lower the score.

Surprisingly a high Adam Chase frustration/anger meter results in good content as Hamfrags has mentioned.

Glorified DB meme or meme content doesn't count.

Going from Worst to first;

2🌏: Incomplete

Inspired by a combination of The Amazing Race and Taskmaster, this is too head on in combining both. Way too direct in just branding yourself as something else when it's moving like TAR.

But it's the execution that also made this unwatchable. Dishonest gameplay from Sam and Joseph in Amsterdam took any good vibes away, let alone the game ends with gambling at a casino which is not something to watch when losing happens everyday in casino life. The way Sam is talking sounds like an everyday gambler, where unfortunately I see that too often in betting.

If someone wants a positive note, I'll say it's an accomplishment in distance and the Pastry Mile. Still, the gameplay by Sam was just awful with the taskmaster elements being makeshift/bad faith self interpreting made me feel uninterested.

Go big or go home? Yep stay home with this idea trying to be TAR. It's a first draft.

6 CTF 🎌: D-

This is a bad misuse of a bullet train. Even Adam has said on The Layover how this was a "fail" in retrospect.

Maybe it's my fault that I've been to Japan and already have the Shinkansen map memorized, but it's very boring and predictable how things would play out as a result. Yes you move a distance, but it doesn't take you anywhere unique as there aren't a million Shinkansen options.

Have to question the proper simulations being run, because as fast as a bullet train is physically, it's not light speed.

Going up and down to Sendai for a bottle of Dashi is just a waste of time. They did not do their research on Japan vs other seasons and you can tell by even some of the task design/train behavior/ how cringey it felt.

In production, they could have easily just put a caption that Sam and Scotty had a bottle of Dashi as the flag. Comes across as misinformed.

The only reason this isn't an F is because Scotty was a fun guest as it boosts the content. Loved his personality and how he's having fun in spite of it all.

Interest was out the window as it's a first draft design that felt rushed.

If anyone wants to watch original Jet Lag style games in Japan, lookup 旅バラ

8 🧊☀️: D-

An awful game design that led to predictable gameplay mechanics. Sounds good in theory to have tickets, except when everyone already knows the tasks/tickets ahead of time.

The vibes of this season were dead by E1 just the way Michelle jumped on everything in prep before filming. Already felt it's over.

Talking ahead of the audience in tasks/tickets is just more bad game design, dont feel any spirit of the game happening, let alone we would all go for plane tickets with this setup.

Michelle was just hard to watch this season like a Mary Sue character. Then the Zodiac Zone also just made it icing on the cake with this being a dud, comes across as serious but then tried to get funny when her tone throughout the show isn't.

It's not that I can't take a joke, but she couldn't lighten up at any points in gameplay to make it believable.

Like S6, Adam on the layover has expressed regret calling it "lame" to do tasks at an airport. I agree, making a game about airports or next to airports isn't interesting. Don't think it was designed very well.

15🇪🇺⭐: D

I'd call this season a makeup win for Adam and S7 reaching Borkum but with an actual win at the end zone.

It's just unfortunate how this played out, because the stalling at Laon caused nothing to happen, hence Adam being way more frustrated off camera knowing it won't be content.

Milking this was boring. Still mostly a lack of interaction on the ground too. My biggest issue is playing with the same gameboard. Play tag, but change the board. This is getting old for a 3rd time.

Had the season just ended at the Observatory I would've ranked this higher. The part where Michelle and Adam play without a virtual map was nice and I'm thankful she's more toned down in this season. However, like S8, seeing Michelle with a speedsheet just gives bad vibes, knowing she's ahead of everyone else.

7 🇪🇺: C

Like S15, it's playing the same game on the same board. But the insane ending saved this from being worse. Adam gets the breaks to the end city and I felt he should've won right there.

14 🇰🇷: C

Contrary to some of the dislike this season gets, I don't mind it as much for the reasons they actually did some research/planning compared to S6.

When you look informed, the content is better vs CTF where the latter was like a first idea trying to be run.

They really tried with actual Korean references without being stereotypical about it. Just the pacing is awkward and slow from this game design.

Had there been more interaction on the ground I would've ranked this higher, but the travel element is missing because they're on a train too much.

13: 🇪🇺: C+

The Game design is decent, but there's one element I had issues with: Having Trackers on the entire time. It ruined the suspense and knowledge of everyone knowing where each other is unlike other Claim games and hiding location until they have to say it.

But most of this grade is reflective of Sam's strategy and how Adam completely owned him.

It was boring right from E1 how Sam is talking about what was run in simulations. Straight tunnel vision. Tom Scott was a fun guest personality, but disappointing in strategy as he was a follower for Sam mostly. If Tom put more of plan that Sam could've had advice for, I might have improved this grade. Instead he was just a knowledgeable side trivia guy.

It was great that Amy designed the tasks. Just unfortunate a few things weren't adjusted after the initial postponement. The good outweighs the bad because of the game design.

Also, how do you not carry Euro cash on you? Ridiculous on the execution side. I already had vibes this was over the moment Badam landed in Zurich.

4 🇺🇸 (B4A): B-

A fun, but flawed game for how short it was for having a giant gameboard. Some good and funny moments in there, but someone clearly never ran a simulation/research on what the Grand Canyon is.

Too many states are not on the board for a lack of transit and no I don't want a bunch of planes where it becomes airport heavy either.

This needed to be a longer game than what was there. Several states were off the board because of the inability to get there under the game rules/mechanics.

Plenty of fun moments to enjoy from this one, but it was the execution on Sam's side being stuck in Springfield where we knew it was over much earlier than the tracker ending suggests.

12 🇯🇵: B-

Unlike S6, this felt better informed for what it is. But execution prevented it from being an elite season. Sam's gameplay was awful on both runs let alone Adam forgot to play his cards, but latter created a high Chase meter moment to make up for it.

Ben's time in both Yamadera and Izu-Kogen were fun. There also an unnecessary smug edit decision about Ben's outfit and apologizing to drop the score.

Had the crew gone away from JR trains a little more, I would've rated this even higher. They're not travelling as much as you'd think, too much hugging the Shinkansen.

Sam can pay for a plane seat upgrade and 2 separate hotel rooms (as revealed on the Layover) like it's nothing, so what's bad about an extra ¥500 for a non-JR train? I can count on one hand how many non-JR journeys were taken.

Sam's portion of Kawagoe just left an awful taste in my mouth for the end. As someone who has been to Kawagoe multiple times and knows it's rather tourist friendly, he ruined the travel element of this to not explore the area/market, including a street food experience which would've been a productive snack zone. Could've done that without the move card and I'd call the round productive.

But it's even more insulting he has no strategy to get out in spite of the move card when there were hours to look up something.

He's so mentally checked out that it's bad content, no excuses because he's coming off a rest period. I could let the Amy's puzzle box part in S11 slide because he had a long day. Here, he's waiting for this to just be over, forgetting he has cards with straight up surrender.

I understand Japanese food may not be for Sam as he said on the Layover, but don't show you're so disinterested.

I'm thankful to not be the only viewer who gave this feedback as it was addressed in later seasons. A few smug editing decisions weren't needed.

16 🇬🇧: B

An entertaining season as a whole. Loved how Sam continues to play off personality and vibes which leads to fun decisions.

Really not much at fault with how the first run won the game.

However, there were smug editing decisions that weren't needed. We had a close call if Sam didn't play his cards in Milton Keynes, which would've dropped this grade by a lot.

11 🇪🇺: B+

A decent tag season just for being a different gameboard. Props to Sam for going back to another Jet Lag location to end it.

The entertainment was fun and different for seeing more of Italy. What's underrated was the inconsistency of the trains in Italy. It wasnt DB like in delayed, but just enough to throw people off and cause chaos. A very respectful season.

10 🇦🇺: B+

While I don't love gambling, having a game mechanic like this is perfectly fine for what it is. Big issue in game design I have is the lack of teamwork where Adam just takes over some challenges on his own. Let alone a few unreal tasks that would never be played.

From other anti-content moments, it's the editing decisions. The cliff hanging was silly because the trailer already gives away the information that it's fake suspense. Let alone another smug edit with "ride trains" as they're on a $25 airport bus that was terrible off camera as mentioned on the Layover. Real irony to try and force something on the audience.

But this was a great adjustment from both S4 and S8 as a game design.

The ending and some of the mistakes are absolute content monents. How does Sam and Toby get owned by a Carnival game? For someone that makes videos of about logistics, it's probably the most embarrassing/funny content of it all.

5 🇳🇿: A-

This game may not have been close, but it gave us the travel/showcasing of New Zealand things. Road trips are fun, sometimes slower paced to have a journey and see things along the way.

It just amazes me how much research and thought was put into this but not S6? The Okaihau Express remains one of the most iconic things in the show's history. But the unique challenges on the ground and using New Zealand was nicely done.

It still remains a favorite season.

17 🇹🇼 🛤️🚉🚆🚇: A (tied)

Rail Rush put an exclamation point on the travel element as it was perfect to see plenty of tasks showcase the country while also not doing things right next to a train station.

Mr. Downie was a fun guest, but also his filming abilities made the production portion ever better, besides the "matching" editing decisions as a neat pick (opposite of nitpick) to put icing on the cake.

Only thing sad was the last episode and how predictable the whole thing became thanks to the execution by Sam and Michael before the last day. The great travel/showcasing element prevents this grade from dropping. If anything it was nice when they didn't know the challenges in detail for this game much like S13.

1 🇺🇸🔴⚫: A (tied)

Connect 4 is still the best American season just for content alone. Plenty of rememberable moments as I don't measure content in hours or episode numbers. The way Sam deciphers where Badam is going to lead up to being on the same plane remains one of the best shocking moments in the show's history.

If anyone had conspiracies this is staged, just look at Adam's face and the fear in his eyes. He's not an actor. We have yet to see a shock moment like this happened again. Whole thing remains priceless and gets better with age. Especially with S18 having trackers on, we won't have that level of surprise.

What also makes this nice was using the State Capitols to force a different interaction on the ground. Sure there are weird flaws to this season from the tasks being generic, but they did the right thing to reduce the USA gameboard to only 22 states.

Both cliffhangers to the next episode worked out perfectly for content. It's also underrated to watch Adam go busking randomly outside the Utah Capitol before the sun was up.

This season continues to hold up after all these years.

3 🇪🇺: A+

The Original Tag boosted the audience numbers to the max. From execution it was nice everyone got two runs and how it all played out being close. Remains the best tag of the bunch. Let alone it's still funny Adam just didn't use his disguise to the fullest.

Trying to cash in on this gameboard 2 more times isn't cool though.

9 🇨🇭: S

Still my favorite for being a smaller gameboard and different pacing. The small gameboards can be better to move around than just forcing high speed.

But it was the tactics of asking questions that made this feel like a fun open game, not just a rushed tag. Every run had some funny moments too until Adam outsmarted his competition at the end. Plus this inspired the eventual home edition game for all of us to buy and play if we wanted.

Even with the ending looking anticlimactic, it's more about how Adam won this game than who blew it.

The crew keeps talking about loving Switzerland for a gameboard too, I have to agree.

From execution standpoint, the gameplay got better as the season wore on. I remain entertained by this one with Merlischachen, Hospental and Winterthur.

Looking ahead on the next couple seasons:

18 🇺🇸 : How will the execution be on Sam's side? Does he get sidetracked or make fair decisions? Badam always has the advantage to run more simulations. If anything I fear the crew knows the tasks before the audience does.

19🇯🇵 南 - 北: Will they hug the shinkansen line until Hakodate? I hope there's plenty of ground interactions and not just next to Shinkansen stations. Funny enough I was in Japan as this season was filming.