Recap Example

My recaps will look like this for now. I'll have the videos uploaded in my next blog. Anyway, my highlights and italic typeface indicate notes I took. I will write my recaps in the style of Buy a Vowel Boards, Game Show Kingdom, and Wheel of Fortune Recaps.

Tonight, we're continuing our "California Road Trip" on Day 4 of this week.

Season 3 - California Road Trip (Day 4)

Zach Brown: Professional surfer from Upper Shores, CA (near San Diego)
Tony Garcia: Mechanic going back to school from Houston, TX
Jennifer Terry: Garden store owner from Durham, OR (near Portland)

Toss-Up 1: Show biz
The puzzle type and category are indicated in bold typeface.

R _ _ _
C O _ _ E R T

Zach can travel to a ROCK CONCERT with his first bit of money.
A contestant is always mentioned in their podium color, and a solution is indicated in BOLD TYPEFACE.

Toss-Up 2: Proper name
B _ _ T N E _
S P E A R S

Tony IDs the famous pop star BRITNEY SPEARS to spin first.

Trip on the Wheel: Vancouver Island, Canada, $5,500
The prize on the wheel is always a trip, so it's called the "Trip on the Wheel" instead of the "Featured Prize".

Jackpot Round: Food & drink
The amounts the player lands on will be indicated in their colors! Also, I add ad-libs to indicate some detail in the play, and some nearly-hit and slip-past indications to show close calls.

Tony starts this round off with an $1,800 trio of R's and gets a $1,200 pair of S's. He Free Plays a T for terrible (kinda strange, huh?), but then permanently loses his turn with the I. Jennifer can't capitalize on $900 with the C. Coming to Zach, who lands on that same wedge (but nearly hits the Gift Tag) and collects an N.  He buys three A's and FPs a pair of B's, then purchases a trio of E's before landing on the Jackpot and calling three D's...

_ R E S _
B A _ E D
B R E A D / A N D
R _ _ _ S

...and set off those fireworks - Zach's not sure about the last word, but he does eat up some big FRESH BAKED BREAD AND ROLLS for $2,900 and a $10,700 Jackpot, totaling $13,600 in that round alone!
Anything really good is indicated in light green.

Zach: $14,600
Tony: $2,000 Toss-Up money
Jennifer: 0

Mystery Round: Things
The term "K" or "grand" next to a small dollar amount means "a thousand".

Hoping to catch up to Zach's big lead, Jennifer begins her turn with $1,600 worth of two R's, followed by three S's for the pink 1/2-Car. She later gets a trio of T's worth $900, but calls A for awful. Our big leader lands on the Mystery Wedge next to the Million Dollar Wedge and asks for a trio of N's. He takes a $3K gamble to extend his lead...finds the money...

S T R _ N _ E _
_ N S T R _ _ E N T S

...and plays some STRINGED INSTRUMENTS to keep the 10 grand!

Zach: $24,600
Tony: $2,000
Jennifer: $0

Prize Puzzle: What are you doing?
The term "top dollar" or "big money" refers to the $2,500, $3,500, and $5,000 wedges.

Zach starts this round off in a bad way by hitting Lose a Turn. Tony barely picks up the MDW with an R, but then says S for sorry while on $900. Jennifer then finds a $400 T, a pair of E's, but then Bankrupts near top dollar to lose the $150 remainder. Zach then collects $2,400 worth of three N's, then buys a trio of I's and a pair of A's to clear out the vowels before going for a quick solve...

_ A N _ I N _ / _ I T _
_ I N _ E R E _ _ A

...and with the $1,900 remainder, he'll go DANCING WITH CINDERELLA on his $6,000 trip to ORLANDO, FLORIDA! That's where Walt Disney World is, right? Anyway, he's earned $7,900 that round, putting him over the $30K mark! He wasn't even sure about his guess, but it doesn't matter now.
A Prize Puzzle trip is indicated in bold-italic typeface.

Zach: $32,500 cash and Orlando
Tony: $2,000
Jennifer: STILL $0
Anything really bad is indicated in dark red. And no offense about that "STILL $0" thing, just letting you know they have nothing...

Toss-Up 3: Thing
H _ L T E R
T O _

Whatever the heck this means, Tony has a HALTER TOP for a new total of five grand.

Round 4: Before & after

"Before & after"? In the Final Spin round? Really? Oh, well...

Tony starts off with a $5,000 R, but then buys an A for awful. The scoreless Jennifer gets three $700 S's before we go into Final Spin mode...

...and consonants are worth $1,400 each.

Jennifer - 1 T.
Zach - 1 H.
Tony - 1 E. Wow, the letters spelling THE! But THE isn't in the puzzle.
Jennifer - 1 I. 1 of everything.
Zach - No N.
Tony - 2 O's! The last of the vowels.
Jennifer - 2 C's!

_ I S C / _ O C _ E _
S H O R T S

Yay! Jennifer's finally got something! She can use her only $6,300 to buy some DISC JOCKEY SHORTS. But we all know who the big winner is...

Zach: $32,500
Tony: $5,000 Toss-Up money
Jennifer: $6,300
A bright green score indicates a winner.

Total Maingame Winnings: $43,800

Bonus Round: Food & drink

Zach lands on the R in AMERICA'S.

RSTLNE fill in about half the puzzle:

L E _ _ N / _ E _ _ E R
S _ R _ _ _

Trying to focus on that last word, Zach goes with CPMA...

L E M _ N / P E P P E R
S _ R _ M P

...and he eats up some LEMON PEPPER SHRIMP, so his good focus has earned him another $45K, giving him $77,500 cash and Orlando on the night! You played this very well, Zach!

If you see a comment on the post, that's my little summary of what happened. I also have a rating out of 10 for the episode, the reason for the rating, the prize I picked after the Bonus Round, and the number order the episode was played (1st-6th) in the comment. Highly recommend you read the comments!