We're here in Central Park in New York City,
And over the next five days, we're gonna race to see
Which team can claim the most bordering states.
But right now, it's 8 am...
So we gotta go, go, go!
Okay, so the goal of this game
Is to claim states to make the largest territory.
In a few seconds, we're gonna randomly draw six cards.
On each card will be a state.
The first team to visit one of these states
And complete its challenge will claim that state.
Then, a new state will be drawn.
In order to travel to these states,
Teams have a budget of $3,500 for flights and cars,
And they'll get another $1,000 every morning.
At the end of five days, the team with the most states wins.
But there's a catch.
Your states have to be connected
In order for them to count towards your score.
So for example, if I claimed these states,
My score would be two.
If I claimed this state, my score would still be two.
But if I claimed this state, connecting them,
Now my score is four.
In order to win the game,
Not only will you need to get to states
To claim them before your opponents –
You'll also need to figure out how to connect your states
So they can count towards your final score.
There are more rules we'll get to later,
But for now, let's draw our opening states.
Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
We gotta draw the cards.
Oh, card time.
Public board.
Born ready. Let's see.
Illinois. Come on!
Let's go. Amy's hometown.
Where my powers are strongest. Okay, next, ready?
Wisconsin!
Oooh. Okay, well those four!
Nebraska.
Utah!
Tennessee. Ooh, Tennessee's a powerful one.
Tennessee. Okay. It's the only ten I see.
Last one.
Mississippi.
Mississippi, way down south. Okay, that's another cluster.
Is that another— Does Mississippi— Mississippi—
I think down. It's hitting Tennessee.
Well, I'm not gonna tell you guys.
Is this misinformation? Don't tell them.
Couldn't get it now. Okay, let's go!
Let's go!
Let's kick it, buddy.
Let's get the heck out of here. Let's get going.
We gotta go to an airport.
Alright, Amy. Let's go. Hello.
They took off immediately.
They ran away from us.
I'm interested in who you are, why you're here,
And what gives you the right.
That's a good question. I'm Amy.
No, no, no, but not now, not now.
We gotta draw our private card. Right, okay.
Yeah, more interested in the private card.
Yeah, we'll do that later. Are you gonna explain this in VO,
Or do I have to tell them? I don't really know.
We're gonna explain it in VO.
So in addition to the six shared cards,
Each team also has five private cards.
These were randomly drawn from the deck
Before the game started.
But teams don't know what their private cards are.
At the start of each day,
They will get to turn over one of them.
The same rules then apply.
You have to go to the state
And complete its challenge to claim them.
But the thing is, private cards are safely in your hand.
Your opponent can't steal them.
And even better, your opponent has no idea
What your private cards are.
So if played well, private cards can allow you
To make moves that your opponent can't predict,
Connect states they can't connect,
And keep your master plan under wraps
Until it's too late to stop it.
So without further ado, our first private card is...
That one.
Delaware! We could—
Wait, but we wouldn't wanna do that, right?
Oh,, they're right there.
Wait, does that border—
It borders Mississippi? It borders Mississippi.
Okay, then we wanna go to probably Memphis, right?
I think we wanna go to Tennessee.
I think we wanna go to Memphis.
Tennessee is a really good one.
Ben, this is low-key huge.
Having Louisiana is big.
Call me biased,
But I think going to the greatest city in the world
– Chicago, Illinois –
Is a major hub with a billion flights every hour.
Yeah.
That's an hour drive to the border of Wisconsin.
Yeah, but I feel like they're for sure going there, too.
Here, can you take this? Yeah.
I'm gonna check the first flight
We can make to Chicago.
I'm worried that they're g—
They're probably so much more willing to take a risk
Mhm. On a flight than us.
Do you think we can get to LaGuardia for a 9:30 flight?
I think we can.
It's $424.
It's a little pricy, but I think it's worth it.
We actually, Ben, we need to make that flight.
There's not any other good flights. We need to get to LaGuardia.
We have to make this flight. We legit have to.
I mean, there's an 8:30 from JFK.
No chance. Yeah.
There's an 8:50 from LaGuardia. Okay.
That would be— LaGuardia's not so far from here.
Yeah, but that's 55 minutes from now.
By subway, we're 47 minutes.
I don't think we can gamble on an 8:50 flight.
Wait, there's also a 10:15 from LaGuardia.
I might've missed that earlier.
So wait, I think that makes sense, right?
Yeah, do that.
Tram.
Dude, it's gonna be really -ing tight.
Hi. Fancy seeing you here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you think I can just...
No?!
I'm booking a flight to Hawaii.
I know, I know, I know.
Alright, let's find that bus.
Come on, 270.
Oh, no, that's not it.
That's not it. That's not it.
Not a lot of people waiting, Which is not actually a good sign.
It means a bus might have left recently.
I think we should maybe try and find a... Taxi.
Oh, yes.
There she is.
Let's go.
I've never seen a boy more excited to see a bus.
Let's go!
Let's go, Q70 Select Bus Service!
That's the beauty of public transportation, baby.
That's what's happening in Zohran Mamdani's New York City.
Yeaaah! Ohh!
Okay. I think...
We're not out of the woods yet, brother.
I think we might make it.
But that is huge.
We might arrive at the airport With 10 minutes before boarding
Instead of zero minutes before boarding.
Yeah, brother.
Let's go. Let's go!
Oh man, they have the no free samples gates.
Ugh.
Oh... That is the bus.
Okay. Yeah, they must have gotten
On the bus in front of us.
I love starting the game by taking an enormous risk.
Yeah?
Ben, I've just gotten a text
That our flight is boarding.
Excellent.
Just in time for us to arrive. Perfect system.
Let's absolutely cook them, Benjamin.
Here we go.
Alright, it's a little bit of a walk.
Terminal C, this way.
Why couldn't it have dropped us over there?
This is stupid.
I don't know why they put us so far over here.
Doesn't look busy.
Eh, looks a little busy.
Okay, we gotta put the phone away While we go through security.
Wish us luck.
Let me check where they are.
Ooh, they're in a different terminal.
Oh-ho?
They're in Terminal C.
But is that where the Sapphire Preferred Lounge is?
Because Adam has a sickness.
No, I think it's actually in Terminal B.
Okay, so, they're at the Delta terminal.
Let me check which Delta flights...
This is interesting.
There is a Memphis at 9:30.
It's tight, but...
I think this means they're not going to Chicago.
I pray this means they're not going to Chicago.
It's just— Get out of my house.
It's just very stressful. Yes.
I just don't want to be stressed.
The audience wants us stressed, but the audience—
Well, you're not gonna get it, audience.
Because I've actually never felt more zen
And locked in, in my life. I'm so zen.
There's nowhere more zen than LaGuardia Airport Terminal B.
Amen, brother.
And security looks smooth.
Normal.
We're rock and rolling.
Gate 60-something. Okay.
Sixty-seven.
Made it through— Says it's a 7–9 minute walk.
What the hell? Really?
That's crazy.
Well, maybe let's get a little hustle on.
Ah.
We got through security pretty quick.
Yeah.
The guy in front of me in line was like,
"Excuse me! Excuse me! I have a wife!"
I was like,"I have a wife too,
"and her name is Tennessee,
And I need to go claim her right now!"
Three to five minutes. Yeah, if you're a freaking chump!
If you're a freaking wuss, it's three to five minutes.
Okay.
There it is, Memphis. There it is, baby.
I'm going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee
Thank you.
Thank you, Adam. Thank you.
Yo, let's go!
We're going to Tennessee.
That was nutty, man.
Oh, man.
We've never missed a flight, Ben, and we never will.
And that's a true fact.
Except for the time we went to The wrong airport in Australia,
But that doesn't count.
That was some real-ass Jet Lag.
Let's go.
Okay, so their location finally updated for me.
It was like a 10:15 and a 10:30 to Chicago.
Well, I think that it could matter, because...
Once a challenge is complete,
The team that's completed it
Gets to remove a card from the board.
Okay, so this is the last major rule
We haven't gone over yet.
Once a team completes a challenge and claims the state,
That state is removed from the shared hand
And will be randomly replaced, but there's another step.
Then, the team that completed the challenge
Also gets to remove one additional state.
Now, obviously they're gonna wanna remove
Whatever state is most useful for their opponent.
However, to prevent this from being too powerful,
Their opponent can protect one state,
Which might force the team to eliminate their second choice.
Here's what that means for the teams right now:
If Ben and Adam are able to complete the Tennessee challenge
And claim the state before Amy and I can claim Illinois,
Ben and Adam can destroy the Illinois-Wisconsin pair
We are trying to get.
Obviously, we'll protect Illinois,
But that'll leave Wisconsin vulnerable,
And they'll be able to get rid of it.
On the other hand, if Amy and I claim Illinois first,
We'll be able to destroy Ben and Adam's intended pair
Of Tennessee and Mississippi.
So basically, it's gonna matter a ton
Which team is able to complete their challenge first.
And based on when we're both scheduled to land,
It could be decided by a matter of minutes.
So, like, if we tried to remove Illinois,
They would probably veto it, but then...
We could remove Wisconsin.
Yeah. Which would be...
It would, and that would leave them hanging.
If they are on one of these flights, We should touch down before them.
We should. Theoretically.
Yeah.
Do you think they've figured out that we're on this flight?
Sam surely has, right?
We're here. We're in duty-free.
It seems like they did make a really tight flight
To Memphis, is my current theory. Right.
So they're still themselves.
They're still acting normal and Cutting things super, super close.
Look, I have within me
A lot of interest in taking stupid risks.
However... Not now.
Yeah. And look, we can be delusional all we want,
As long as we support each other.
Yeah.
I think it's already boarding group one, so we can go on.
Airplane time.
We're not together, so we'll collude by text.
We don't get to hang out.
I think we just need to first focus on, like,
How can we get these two states most efficiently,
And while eliminating the risk
That those dastardly boys steal Illinois
From under our noses? Those dastardly boys.
I can't believe they're doing this to us.
Yeah. It's sick and twisted.
You know, they call themselves my friends, and yet they...
Are trying to steal all our states.
Compete in a game against me?
Yeah. Okay. Weird.
We'll see you in Chicago.
Let's check on Sam and Amy here.
They're just going over Detroit.
And we just entered Tennessee.
Surely, surely Chicago, right?
Surely Chicago.
We're about 220 miles out.
They're 240 miles out.
It's like it's legit, like it's pretty tight.
I still think we might end up with...
A little bit of time. 10 minutes on'em.
But I think we want to get a rental car in Memphis.
Yeah, because I mean,
I think the next thing we're Gonna do after we claim Tennessee
Is almost certainly we're gonna wanna try
And drive to Mississippi.
If it's still available. If it's still available.
Okay, well, if we do the version
Called You Click We Pick,
It's $70 total.
But with the car tax, it's $140.
I mean, we are spending money very fast.
We are blazing through our budget.
Look, all we can do...
Land in Tennessee,
Do the challenge as quickly as we can.
Adam, I can see the Bass Pro Shop.
Can you see the Bass Pro...
Pyramid. Pyramid?
Yeah. I love that thing.
It really— It's—
It dwarfs the rest of the city.
Okay. Now let's get on the ground.
Welcome to Memphis.
We did beat them.
Just don't know if it's gonna be by enough.
Okay, while we run to the rental car lot,
We're gonna have Sam read
The Tennessee challenge in voiceover.
Answer hot questions while eating hotter chicken.
Tennessee is famous for its fiery Nashville hot chicken.
Go to any hot chicken restaurant
– it does not have to be in Nashville –
And order the spiciest chicken available.
You must then answer three trivia questions correctly.
You may answer as many questions as you wish,
But you must take a big bite of hot chicken
Before each answer.
So, hot chicken.
Hot chicken, baby.
Let's do it.
Seems like it's a little bit of a walk, Ben.
Yeah, well... Unfortunately.
About a half a mile. You know?
That seems like... A stupid way to design an airport.
Okay. I just checked the tracker.
They're already leaving the airport.
We're still taxiing.
We're on, like, one of those mega long Chicago O'Hare taxis.
I think we're getting close,
But they're getting a big lead.
If they capture that state before us,
They can remove Wisconsin from the board,
Which prevents us from getting this combo.
That would really suck.
That would give them an early headstart.
But, you know,
Nothing I can do right now.
We're not even moving.
We are still walking to the rental cars.
It looks like they're still taxiing at least.
Okay, good, good.
How're you doing? Hi! Hey, good.
I checked in online.
So I just need to bring my ID and my card.
Can you follow me? Thank you.
You can look at anything on this right side that you like.
Wow, Adam, you have your pick of the bunch.
That was nice and...
Well, I mean, I was gonna say it was quick.
I don't know. I mean, it was a very long walk.
But then when we got here, we just got the car.
How does this car work?
Okay, that's crazy.
And whoa my god.
Okay, here we go.
We're on our way to Hattie B's.
I just wanna say for the record
That this is very exciting for me personally.
Hattie B's is an iconic Tennessee restaurant,
And I personally am a big fan of Hattie B's.
Now, it's worth noting
That this is technically Nashville hot chicken,
And we're in Memphis,
But Hattie B's is originally from Nashville,
But they opened a location in Memphis as well.
This man knows his chicken.
I will say that I am scared About how spicy it's going to be.
I think they have a scale where it goes up to
XXX your guts
For this level of spice. Great. Great.
Hopefully, I can just...
Kinda, it's gonna be lock-in time.
Yeah. As it so often is.
I'm taking a look at the map here.
It seems like they are still taxiing.
Best I can tell, they are on the runway.
So we managed to get out of the airport
Before they could get off the plane.
I think... We figured out our move.
Okay.
Assuming we want to stick to our plan,
I already called an Uber. Great.
We haven't explained actually Oh.
Why we're doing what we're doing.
Escape the train.
Illinois is the rail hub of America,
The state where all six Class I railroads meet.
Get on any non-metro train and have one player randomly
One of the five Secret Illinois Passwords.
You may not get off the train
Until the other player has successfully Guessed the selected Password.
At each stop of the train, Including the stop where you board,
The guesser may ask one yes or no question.
If you get off the train for any reason,
You must restart with a new password.
Okay, so here's Amy and my plan.
In order to complete this challenge, We have to get on a train.
Now, there's a metro line That leaves directly from the airport,
But metros don't count for this challenge.
And unfortunately, the commuter Rail station right outside the airport
Doesn't have any trains for over an hour.
So because we're so desperate to complete this challenge
Before Ben and Adam completes their challenge,
We're gonna take an Uber to A different commuter rail station
That has a train leaving very soon,
Which will allow us to start The challenge as quickly as possible.
It should be said that what we're trying to do here
Is get on a train, a commuter rail,
That runs... Not along the same track,
But parallel to the Blue Line.
Yeah. Which does go to O'Hare.
Okay, I've...
I think I've timed it for the Furthest close stop we can make.
Prospect?
I think it's Cumberland.
LX63— Okay. Oh.
Hey, for Sam?
Hey, how's it going?
Okay.
So, Cumberland, inbound,
Union Pacific Northwest
In 22 minutes? Yep.
I am gonna guess they're at...
Hattie's... Hot Chicken. Minute—
Oh yeah. Hattie B's Hot Chicken.
I fear, barring huge backup or something like that,
They're gonna get their first attempt done
Before we get going.
Ha-D-B's!
Welcome to Ha-D-B's!
Oh, it's cute.
Let's get in there, and let's get you the hottest chicken
That they will allow you to have.
How do I put this in park?
Oh?
Uh-oh.
That...
I do not love this line.
That is a real...
That's... That's legit.
Well...
Hopefully it moves fast.
Not so far, it doesn't!
That's where the Chicago Dogs play.
Impact Field. What do the Dogs play?
The Chicago Dogs play baseball,
And they're'dogs' in the hot dog sense.
And their mascot is Squeeze.
I feel like I've heard of Chicago's Baseball team, and it's not that.
The Chicago Dogs play in an independent league.
They have so many mascots.
So, they landed almost an hour ago.
Yeah. And nothing yet.
We sort of thought that they would have the challenge done
By the time we even got to start.
Yeah. And so...
The difference between us Getting it in a couple of questions
Versus having to really ride it out is huge.
Well, think about your question sequencing.
Yes. I have— I've— I sat on the plane.
I took lots of notes. I have lots of ideas.
I'm gonna use the first question
To see if I can make sort of a word bank for us,
And then I'm— think second question I'm gonna try to
Maybe split it roughly in half, and then...
Depending what we're seeing out of them,
Maybe third question a Hail Mary,
And then if that doesn't work, I'll go back to, like,
Actually treating this normally.
I think another thing
That potentially you the audience should know:
If we get this in fewer, Not only is there the speed benefit,
But we have a better chance to make it up to Wisconsin.
It would be huge.
Which would be massive. Yeah.
I don't remember exactly when they got to the chicken place,
But it's been a minute. Yeah.
Maybe they're having some issues?
Yeah.
I think to many, the most Illinois thing would be
The 1990 Chicago Bulls or Michael Jordan.
And I think for the sake of this list, it would be Jordan
And not, like, Pippen or someone else.
So I think something with that is quite likely,
But I also, like,
Challenge is about Illinois,
And I would imagine there was some temptation
From the list writer
To do something that was not Chicago-specific,
Which puts me more in a Lincoln state of mind.
I'll maybe, before the train gets here, go generate
Which one it's gonna be from the random list.
Okay.
The train is now late. I would like to complain about that.
So I have a list of five,
And I gotta do a random number generator
To decide which one.
Okay, it's one, and one is...
It's Michael Jordan.
She already said Michael Jordan.
This could be big.
Okay.
This ups the stakes.
So Ben, that's what we have to order.
We have to order 'Shut the Cluck Up'.
It's made with ghost peppers.
It has a lot of fire symbols next to it.
There's nothing we can do now but wait.
Are they at the station?
They're at Cumberland. They're at Cumberland Station.
Whoop, whoop.
It's really fuzzy.
That guy was awesome.
Okay, Amy, train is here.
Now we gotta 20 Questions.
Can you do YOLO on the second question?
Because I think this one will narrow—
I think it's a quick— It's quick to the next.
Okay.
I'm gonna list a long list of things.
The yes or no question is:
Is any of the things I've listed the thing?
Okay.
Any Obama; Abraham Lincoln;
Any athlete or coach for a Chicago professional sports team,
Or the team itself;
Any of the following Chicago landmarks:
The Bean, the Sears/Willis Tower, Wrigley Field, the Art Institute,
Museum of Science and Industry, or Navy Pier;
Any Illinois universities such as UIUC, UChicago, or Northwestern;
Any iconic foods and drinks such as Malört, Old Style,
Deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs,
Garret's popcorn, or similar;
Any work of art at the Art Institute;
Any movie or TV show set in Illinois,
Like any John Hughes films or Blues Brothers,
Or any actors, characters, or locations
Strongly associated with any such piece of media or art;
Or anything related to the Pullman Rail Yard
Or Chicago's union history.
That is a very long list.
Yes, but is it any of them?
Yes.
The next stop should be really soon.
They haven't done it yet.
I'm gonna— So my plan is:
Hail Mary guess at the next stop.
And then failing that, narrowing the guess.
Okay, this could be really tight.
I mean, they're still there. And I'm—
I don't know why it's taking them so long.
I don't know. But whatever it is, shout out.
We got field trip mogged.
We got absolutely field trip mogged. We got field trip mogged.
The size of our field trip is so small
Compared to the size of that field trip.
Dude, I gotta be honest, when we were in the car,
Two minutes out, and I was like,'It's done.'
We were saying that to ourselves.
We thought it was, it wasn't Gonna be close at all, you know?
And that wasn't gonna be exciting.
We have nothing to hide from you anymore.
We are simply scared.
We're simply scared.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
Okay, this one is the one that you must eat.
And it came faster than I was expecting.
We have acquired the 'Shut The Cluck Up'.
We do really need to hurry. Getting this freaking milk ready.
'Cause they could kind of get this at any second.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm deciding what to do as the sort of Hail Mary guess.
And... I think ultimately
The amount of rage I'm gonna feel
If it's one of the two things I said on the platform,
Which is something Chicago Bulls-y or Lincoln,
And then my Hail Mary guess is anything else,
That's gonna be— and it was one of those,
It's gonna be overly frustrating for me.
And the Bulls is tricky
Because it could be the Bulls or Michael Jordan.
We have relatively frequent stops, which is good.
Ben, I'm feeling quite frightened.
Okay, let's—
Alright, I have to take a bite first
Before I get the question. Yeah.
And let's— and really get that in there
In that mouth hole.
Get it in there.
How's that tasting? Oh my god. No.
Is it spicy?
Are you— Do you feel— You—
I really can't shut the cluck up though,
'cause you do have to answer trivia.
Are you ready for your first question?
Oh, yeah, it's getting worse, hurry.
In which war did Tennessee earn the moniker
'The Volunteer State'?
The Civil War.
No.
Three US presidents have hailed from Tennessee.
Name one.
I think that Andrew Johnson's from Tennessee.
Correct. Yes!
That was a deep cut.
Okay, ques— You've got one question right.
I just wanna note that I'm really good with spicy food,
And this is nuts. Yeah.
No, I can see that on your face and in your body.
Are you— Okay. Yep.
This is multiple choice.
Tennessee was the state to join the US.
Was it the 14th, 16th, 18th, or 20th?
18th.
Incorrect. It was the 16th.
Well, shoot.
Right. Okay.
Yep. I'm totally.
Yeah, unfortunately it's time for more chicken.
I'm sick to my stomach, by the way.
Okay.
Or that could just be because I had...
Microwave mac & cheese at 11 pm.
Mmh.
Des Plaines
Okay, we're here. In fact,
You might think it's pronounced'de-plan'.
We're about to stop.
Is it Abraham Lincoln?
No.
Okay.
Now, now dear audience,
Here's what I have to say to you.
Spiritually, I really think it's the Bulls.
And I think it's the Bulls or it's Jordan.
I think it's— might be because I'm too locked in,
And I wanna sort of believe in a major way,
And I really, really wanna believe that.
But I don't even know if it'll be the Bulls or Jordan.
Okay, we're moving again.
We've only got, like, three minutes to decide.
Yeah, get that in there.
It's— Is the chicken good at least?
That's good.
Okay.
Without the aid of a map, how many states border Tennessee?
Eight. We looked at that earlier.
We did. Flashback.
Flashback to when we talked about that.
Worth noting, and this is awesome for us:
I think that Tennessee borders more states
Than any other state in the country.
Yeah.
You think— It borders eight states.
That is relevant information for this game.
Let's go! So you got that.
You need to get one more.
Yeah, get it in there. Yeah.
You've been doing great.
You've been really eating this chicken good.
You almost got a whole nugget.
Yeah. It's nourishment.
Think about the— its nourishing qualities
As opposed to its burning qualities.
Okay.
This is multiple choice.
Which popular soda was invented in Tennessee?
Fanta, Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, or Pepsi?
Well, it definitely isn't Coca-Cola.
That was invented in Georgia.
Oh, god... Fanta.
Incorrect. It was Mountain Dew.
I'm sorry,
But you are gonna have to eat more of that chicken.
They're still there.
I'm gonna make my decision completely emotionally.
Emotionally, I will not forgive myself
If it is the Bulls or Michael Jordan...
And I got this close to getting it on a Hail Mary,
And then I was a coward.
I won't be able to cope with that.
It looks sinister.
I'm crying. Look at that.
You're not gonna be crying when you get this last question
Before they're able to do this damn challenge.
Okay. Okay.
Tennessee is home to the second Most frequently visited house
In America, behind only the White House.
What is this property's name?
What? House?
Second most frequently visited house.
Elvis'house. Elvis'house. Graceland.
I'm going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee
That is correct.
Okay, let's call them, let's call them ASAP.
Oh, no.
They got it?
They're calling.
We got it. Tennessee is ours.
Sorry, folks.
That's Tennessee in the bag.
Okay, so Tennessee claimed. Here is the next state.
What is it?
Well, that would've been convenient. We were just there.
Oh, what a diva.
Mm-kay.
Well, now we get to eliminate one.
I'd like to eliminate Illinois.
Mm...
That's crazy, 'cause we're in Illinois.
Yeah, I'm gonna probably veto that one.
Yeah, Amy says no.
Okay.
Then we will eliminate Wisconsin.
Big rocks, jerks.
But it has so much cheese.
You wanna find out what's next?
I guess.
What is it?
Michigan!
Michigan?
That could have gone better for us.
Okay, bye. Okay, bye.
Okay, well...
That was not a great draw for us.
That was not a great draw, but we freaking got it,
And we eliminated Wisconsin.
Well done with the chicken.
That deserves a handshake, not a high five.
Okay, well, I wanna eat a little bit of chicken,
And then we gotta get outta here and go to Mississippi.
Yep.
Michigan's not bad.
Really makes me wish we had Wisconsin,
Not to dwell. Yeah.
The border's here. But it's near.
Yeah. And if Wisconsin or Indiana comes up,
Then that could be good for us.
So I just... Just for my own sake...
Is it the Chicago Bulls?
No. Okay.
Now the object is just that we don't wanna have to
Get on another commuter train. Yes.
So I think next one I'm gonna do, is it a person?
Because if the answer is yes, I'm gonna—
There will be sort of a devil in my ear
Telling me it's Michael Jordan.
And if it's no, I at least have information.
Oh my god.
This chicken is so good.
Yeah, the regular chicken.
We can spare a few minutes before we go.
We need to fuel up.
The fries are really good too.
That is insanely good.
And... Kinda spicy.
If that's kinda spicy, I don't know What the hell you were eating.
You want a bite? No. No.
I'm really pissed about Michigan.
Michigan is not a great draw, especially'cause there's
So many drops that would be useful for us with Tennessee.
But they'll come up.
They'll come up.
Alright, I'm just looking into rental cars.
Is it a person?
Is it a person? Mhm.
It is.
If it's Michael Jordan, I'm gonna be really normal about it.
Should we talk about Mississippi?
Sam, please go ahead and read the Mississippi challenge.
Send Rockleberry Finn down the Mississippi.
The Mississippi River famously serves as the setting
For The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
In which two characters go on A journey down the river on a raft.
Go to the Mississippi River and find a rock
That is at least four inches in one dimension.
You are now responsible for getting this rock
At least 30 feet down the Mississippi River.
Build a raft only from natural Materials gathered near the river
And place the rock on top of the raft
Without attaching it to the raft in any way.
Push the raft into the water and have it carry the rock
At least 30 feet without touching it.
Thank you, Sam.
So, I think that this is pretty doable.
I mean, I don't know how long of a drive it is,
But it's really not that bad. Not at all.
And then we can just get on the Mississippi River
Wherever we can find it, and just get it done.
My hope is that we can just continue to
Build out from Tennessee.
Tennessee, as we freaking talked about in trivia,
Borders eight states.
We do also, I mean, again,
We have our private card of Louisiana.
My opinion about the Louisiana card is we should
Do it when we don't have anything else useful to do.
If there's something else we can do
That's helpful, do that first.
We can go to Louisiana last.
The board is about to change a ton.
They're gonna claim Illinois.
That's gonna change the board twice.
We're gonna claim Mississippi.
That's gonna change the board twice again.
So I mean, I just don't think we can plan past Mississippi.
No. Because...
Things are gonna be completely different.
Four of the six cards currently up will no longer be there.
You look so comfortable.
Look, you gotta take comfort where it comes.
Are you comfortable about the fact that...
There's another station, another shot?
And— But is it Michael Jordan?
Yes.
Nicely done.
That was really good.
So let's call'em.
Hello?
Oh, hello.
We're sort of, you know, enthused to tell you
That we've gained ownership of The glorious khanate of Illinois.
I would love to see a new state.
Yeah, what's the new state? Sure, sure.
The new state is— Show it to me first.
Show it to Sam first?
I want it there first.
See, I showed it to you guys first.
Ohhh.
That is...
Really frustrating.
We would like to remove Mississippi, please.
Yeah, we're gonna veto that.
That's gonna be a no from us.
You guys, what a— Hey, yes-and.
Whatever happened to that?
We would like to eliminate New York.
Really?
Yeah.
Great.
No, that's awesome. I love that.
Yeah, yeah. We need a new state.
There's a new state.
Mhm.
Vermont.
Okay, bye!
Okay, we need to check if we can get to Canada today.
'Cause they're far from Canada. We're right near Canada.
It could be huge. It could be absolutely huge.
Canada?
Wendover Productions LLC does not endorse
The concept of Canadian statehood, Nor does it endorse any threat
To Canadian sovereignty or right to self-determination.
Canada is an independent nation With its own cultures and traditions
Distinct from those of the United States.
And Wendover Productions LLC fully affirms its right
To maintain their culture and identity
Under its own set of laws and government.
Any inadvertent suggestion That Canada is or should be a state
As produced by the mechanics of this game
Should be disregarded
And not posted about on Reddit.
Wendover Productions LLC maintains that the Canada wild card
Is actually cool as hell because it lets you connect states
Like Washington and New York,
Which is actually so crazy if you think about it.
And also, we thought it would be cute
If we ended up going to Canada
During a season that you guys thought
Was just gonna be about the United States,
But then ended up having Canada also.
Peace out. Love y'all.
Canada?
Yeah.
So that's not good.
So I'll just note:
Canada connects Michigan and Vermont.
And a lot of other stuff. So that would be three.
My take is, go to Mississippi now, do it,
And eliminate one of those
That's gonna be easiest for them to mess them up, right?
I think that's what we've gotta do.
Yeah.
Let's go.
Oh my god.
Welcome back to my freaking ride.
It's a Hyundai Sonata. It's pretty slick.
Pretty freaking sweet!
Wait, is this Jefferson—
This is Jefferson Park. Let's get off.
Okay.
But this is— This means we're not doing Michigan.
Well, life is long.
Hey, thanks. Thank you.
I mean, with us being closer, we've gotta go for Canada.
We gotta go for Canada.
We're heading back to O'Hare
In hopes that we're gonna find a functional flight.
Okay. This could be huge, Amy.
If we're able to get this, Canada connects to, like,
So many states in different areas,
More than any US state.
Okay, there's a 2 pm to Ottawa,
But that's gonna be really tight.
Ottawa's also a small airport.
There's a 3:30 to Montreal.
I mean, it puts us pretty close to Vermont.
Yeah, there's a Vancouver,
But I don't think that would make sense.
No, that doesn't.
Okay, they're so expensive.
There is a Detroit.
Detroit...
Oh, right on the border.
Oh, it'd probably be a lot cheaper.
Detroit is a good thought.
There's a 3:09 to Detroit that's a lot cheaper.
But we'd have to cross by land, but I think there's a bus.
I mean, we could get a car, so...
Well, here we go. Okay.
This is, like, the true Jet Lag moment
Where it's like we thought we were going to Wisconsin,
Then for like, five minutes,
We thought we were going to Michigan...
And now we think we're going to Canada.
Okay, but what are they doing?
Let's see if they're driving to Mississippi.
My tummy feels crazy, dude.
Yeah?
I don't think that that's supposed to be
The first thing you eat in a day.
A'Shut The Cluck Up'...
Yeah, I don't think that you're chicken nugget?
Supposed to sort of start the day off
With'Shut The Cluck Up'.
Here we are.
Take a look at that. Mississippi.
Where are they?
My guess would be they can take a train
Into Michigan, can't they?
They may be going back to the airport, in fact.
Going to freaking Canada.
They could be going to—
Or maybe they're just flying to Detroit.
Oh, isn't Detroit, on the border with Canada?
Oh, it is.
Yeah, you can drive straight from Detroit.
And it's weird because you can drive south
From Detroit into Canada.
Starting to look more Mississippi-y.
Yeah, that looks like Mississippi.
Is that the Mississippi River?
No, that's not the Mississippi River.
That's just some other bull-.
Look at that tractor. Zoom in on that tractor, bud.
Okay, sure.
Let them see it. There it is.
That's a tractor. That's a damn tractor right there.
I feel like we were just in the middle of Memphis,
And now we are out here.
Yeah, in a huge way.
I mean, the challenge we've got coming up
Is a little— it's a little literary reference.
A little deep cut literary reference for you guys.
Ugh, I feel good about what I did and didn't ask,
But I am...
I really wish I had a book.
I try to learn one new thing
About my introverted boss every day
While we travel the country together
Okay, welcome to day one of
I try to learn one new thing about My introverted boss every day
While we travel the country together.
Basically, I've worked at this company for three years now,
And sometimes people are like, "Oh, like, what's Sam like?
What's his deal?" And I'm like...
So while we sort of criss-cross the country together,
I am challenging myself
To learn one specific thing about him every day,
And just as a fun little challenge, I'm not allowed to ask him directly.
I have to sort of compel him to tell me.
For day one, we're gonna start pretty simple.
I am hoping to find out the title Of one book he has ever read.
Bonus points if I can find out
What he thought of it. Let's go.
I could give you a book? I don't.
I did not bring a book, but I feel like...
I... Would be...
Wow!
You got it already?
Amy said she needed a book.
Oh my god, this is huge.
What a wonderful— Have you read it yet?
No, I was planning on reading it during this.
But I think it's good.
I think I'll like it because
They're, like, short stories, is my understanding.
Essays. Essays.
And my attention span is roughly the length of a TikTok.
It's easier to consume because it's more like I'm
Scrolling vertical videos. Right.
Okay. They are...
Sick in the head.
They definitely look like they're going to the Mississippi.
It'd be ludicrous if they were going to the Mississippi.
Yeah, but this is great,
'cause this means that we have safe route to Canada.
So it'd be $371 per person. Good bit.
Yeah, but like... I mean, we—
What cheaper flights are we gonna be finding realistically?
Yeah,'cause we 100%— In general in this game?
We 100% wanna go to Canada.
Are we booking?
I think we're booking.
Do it. $740 gone.
Okay. That is booked.
It's a hell of a lot better than the options we had before.
I'm actually kind of worried about this one.
No, I think this one could prove kind of tricky.
But it's undeniably possible.
Well, I think it's, at a minimum, it's Popsicle.
If it's Popsicle, it's possible.
This is the grand Mississippi.
Oh, there's a current.
It's kinda big.
Is that the state flag of Mississippi, do you think?
I think it is, yeah. That's cool.
And there are two people here, seemingly on a date,
And now we're about to join them.
Their date is about to get awesome!
Ugh.
Yeah.
Is that cool? That's kinda cool.
Ben, welcome to the Mississippi River.
Dude, this is sick.
It's like, I guess it's like I've seen a lot of pictures
Of the Mississippi River, but I suppose we can communicate
That it feels really big.
It is enormous.
And it's quite— I'm moved.
I have to say that I'm genuinely feeling
A little bit moved.
Well, we've scared the couple into leaving.
But we were making their date really awesome.
Good bye to that couple.
Alright. Let's start by finding Rockleberry.
Okay.
Okay, surely...
Yeah. Something in here.
Ooh, ooh.
Is that Rockleberry?
Yeah, I think that's Rockleberry, man.
This is exciting.
I never get to take the train into O'Hare.
'Cause it takes four hours from downtown.
Leaves a little bit to be desired In terms of speed, in my opinion.
Yeah, well, sure, but it exists.
Yes.
That is a lot better than not existing.
We don't have to switch to the little LaGuardia bus,
Which I respect.
But... Well, I don't.
Amy, by the way, we haven't done this yet, but:
Who are you? What are you doing here?
And what gives you the right?
Right, okay.
So, who am I?
I'm Amy. Hi.
What am I doing here?
I work at Wendover Productions, and...
And I guess the Obamas and Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres
Were not available, so I got the call.
They said they didn't wanna take a spot from you.
Well, and that's because
The majority of them are very generous people
And one had a scheduling conflict.
What gave me the right?
I kind of operate under the divine right of kings,
Generally speaking. Okay.
Like, I think God sort of just says,'It's you.'
And then, how dare you?
How dare I?
With gumption and a song in my heart.
The army's here.
Our freaking army's here, dude. It's the army.
Sam and Amy -ing sent the army here, man.
They sent the army! Dude.
We need wood.
Here is a big piece of wood.
Yeah. Beautiful. Yep.
Is there anything we can do that's not tying stuff together?
Like, we could probably, like, weave sticks.
We could weave.
Yeah, yeah.
That's what I'm talking about.
Maybe a little— And then you get another stick.
I think this is the same kind of wood.
Whoa. Oh, it's muddy.
Come on.
I would not be good in a survival type scenario.
No, I've never thought you would be.
You know what I mean?
It's like if I can get this right,
Then it holds the whole thing together.
Did it...
No, it's fine. It's fine. I can fix it.
I mean, I think that is, like...
Let's get a good prodding stick.
Yeah, that's a nice long...
I got a prodding stick. Prodder.
Oh!
Oh, Jesus.
Okay, don't step on that.
Okay.
Oh.
Alright, Ben. You good?
Oh,, careful.
Careful.
Careful of the mud.
Whoa, oh!
Oh, no!
You fell. Show what happened.
No, Ben, Ben's...
Ben, just get out of there.
Get out of there. Oh my god.
Alright. We're at the airport.
We're at the airport, literally at the airport.
Can you believe it? Us of all people?
We really have a secret.
I feel good about knocking New York.
I don't even know if they were doing it.
Yeah, I don't think that they realized that it was
Advantageous for them based on just their flight timings.
Okay, Detroit.
I think we've decided it makes sense to get a rental car.
Yes, there were rental cars that Sam was seeing
For kind of turbo cheap.
And while there does seem to be a terminal bus
That spiritually we would like to take...
It seems, though, very time consuming.
It doesn't have super high frequency.
So anyway, we're gonna spend a little money,
Save a little time.
And I don't know if you guys have heard,
But time is money.
Okay.
Alright. Ready?
I'm gonna try to launch it!
Okay, it's going. There it goes.
Can we kinda try to give it a little bit of, like...
Yeah?
It's kinda just floating there.
No, but it's moving.
It's gotta get past here.
Yeah, well, and it can't go back to shore.
Don't go to the shore. Don't go to the shore!
Dude, you are -ed.
It's so slippery.
Ben, it hit shore.
Okay. Well, it got close.
Amy, they've been at the Mississippi River
For... Quite a long time.
I'm genuinely, like, outside of the game hoping
That they didn't drown.
See, I'm telling you, it's slippery.
I mean, they still show on the bank.
Yeah, they show as alive.
Alright, here's the new plan.
I've reconstructed our raft
And I found the longest stick in the world,
And I'm gonna really just push it all the way out.
Oh, this stick... Is quite the stick.
Let's just try launching from here.
Okay. You're gonna have to do it.
I don't trust myself. Yeah, no.
Don't -ing come down here, dude.
You're banned. Yeah.
You're banned from Mud Town.
I am glad to be banned from Mud Town.
You are one of the slipperiest boys we've ever seen.
We have much evidence.
So you just do this one.
I turn and I go, shoot, doop, doop.
I'll be facing forward.
No!
Yeah.
Oh, dear. I didn't even see that.
Okay, that's fine.
Okay.
There she is.
Oh. No.
Rockleberry is dead.
Let me see if I can get the raft back.
Oh, okay. Good hooking at least.
Oh, ah.
Don't lose it.
Trying to hook it.
See, now it really wants to move.
No, ah!
I think it's done.
Well, it continues to float, which is admirable.
Alright. Let's hurry. Let's—
We gotta get another one going.
This challenge looked challenging.
Consequence being we should probably discuss
Maybe what we wanna protect
In case they call while we're on the flight.
While we're on the flight, yeah. I mean, Canada.
Yes.
If that means no Michigan, devastating.
I mean, I think almost certainly no Michigan.
Unless, again, they completely biff this challenge,
And they're still doing it by the time we get there.
Yeah, and they just eventually,
Cut bait and give up. Yeah.
If it seems impossible, how hard does it seem?
I mean, cut to how hard it seems.
Try this.
Look, I'm gonna find another Rockleberry,
'cause we did kill him.
I think I kinda got it.
, I broke the whole - -ing thing.
I'm getting lost, man.
I don't understand. We had it.
I feel like I got— Little did we know we used
The best sticks on the damn beach.
We still need more bark if that rock Is gonna be able to sit on its own.
I mean, yeah, maybe this can serve a dual purpose.
I think we might have done it. I think...
Oh, careful.
I think that's it, Ben. I think we got it.
Okay. Should we try it?
Let's not forget Rockleberry.
Okay.
Now we just gotta get it out there...
Without Rockleberry falling.
Yeah, just be very careful not to tilt it.
Alright.
It's off.
Come on, buddy.
Now we wait.
You know what they call this plane, Amy?
Ooh...
Mr. Jones.
No, they call it the Devil's Chariot.
Oh... What happened?
Well, it's just very, very, compact inside.
Should we go board? Sure.
Let's.
Here, let's set up a shot so that we can do a time lapse.
Alright, Ben, when it passes me, that's it.
Okay. It's getting close.
Bye, Rockleberry!
Good luck to you!
I wonder what it's gonna learn on its journey.
I think that's it, Ben. Look, it passed me.
There we go.
Boom.
Alright, let's call'em.
That's Mississippi claimed.
I only fell over five times.
It only took way longer than it should've.
Ben, they're on a plane.
Can you please draw, Ben?
A little bit of South Dakota.
Okay, how do we feel about that?
I don't think it does too much for us right now.
Now the real question, what do we want to eliminate?
I think we wanna get rid of Canada.
Okay. Let's try and get rid of Canada.
Let's eliminate Canada.
Amy has said no.
She says that's a no?
In that case...
I think it's gotta be Michigan.
Michigan.
I suppose we could also get rid of Vermont,
But I think Michigan is an easier pick. Nah, nah. Michigan.
Good bye, Michigan. And to replace it?
Let's find out.
Johw-jah.
Georgia is one of the eight beautiful states
That borders Tennessee.
Well, then I think we have no choice but to go to Georgia.
'Cause Louisiana is our only other pick,
But that's safe 'cause it's private.
Can we drive to Georgia, or is that not a— Is that a no-go?
I think that's crazy.
Yeah, it's pretty far.
I think we go back to Memphis.
Yeah, I think we fly to Atlanta. And I think we fly to Atlanta.
I am gonna do a quick pants change.
Totally.
Alright.
New pair of pants, new me.
Very exciting.
Let's go back to Memphis.
Can you see what the next flight is to Atlanta?
I mean, it's gotta be the case that there are frequent
Flights from Memphis to Atlanta.
Like, Atlanta's the biggest hub in the South.
And we have to get in before 8 pm Atlanta time.
That's right.
Is that gonna be doable?
Let's see.
No, there's actually only seemingly one flight
To Atlanta left today. It's at seven.
That's it? Yep.
What the hell?
Okay, look at what flights there are out of Memphis at all.
Yeah, I am not really seeing
Great flights for us.
I think that there's just a lot of flights that are,
That must be sold out.
I mean, Google Flights is literally just saying
Drive to Atlanta.
Do we need to drive to Louisiana?
I mean...
I think we need to pull over
Because we're driving away from Louisiana.
So if we're gonna go to Louisiana...
Alright, alright. We gotta...
I didn't knoiw blueberries did water.
No idea.
Okay.
I mean, see if you're seeing the same thing as me.
Jesus.
I'm seeing that literally the only Place we could fly is Philadelphia.
I don't wanna go there.
Memphis Airport really letting us down.
, I wonder if we hadn't taken So - -ing long with Rockleberry
If we could've gotten a flight.
There were four flights from New York to Memphis today.
We have the biggest pyramid in the world.
So now I think we gotta either drive to Atlanta,
We wouldn't get there by the end of the day,
Or drive to Louisiana.
Which would actually...
Now, the trouble with driving to Louisiana
Is if you drive to Louisiana, We're in the middle of nowhere.
Atlanta is five hours 45 minutes,
So we'd have to drive for an extra two hours in the morning.
So I kind of start to think maybe We need to drive to Atlanta.
Do we have any other options?
The thing is if we waited around
Until tomorrow morning,
We would likely still wanna go to Georgia,
And so we would probably take a flight to Georgia
First thing in the morning.
And at that point, what's the point?
It's just so inefficient, man.
Feels crazy.
Okay, I think we should start driving.
I think we're going to Atlanta, dude.
I don't see another option.
For the time being...
I don't know what is better than At least heading towards Atlanta.
Maybe we turn around. Road trip!
Welcome back!
Thank you so much for watching the first episode
Of this new season on Nebula.
Also, we freaking got you!
Gotcha. Canada's involved.
Canada's involved this season.
All of you said there was no way
That Canada would be involved.
I saw all the comments.
They said there's no way that Canada's in there.
They've all been saying this.
We punk'd you. You got punk'd.
We punk'd you. You got tricked.
We tricked your ass. You done got got.
And if you wanna find out more about how we came up
With that sneaky little trick... It was so genius.
You can check out this week's episode
Of The Layover, which is our little aftershow podcast.
Just for you. Just for you.
Just for you. As a Nebula subscriber.
Speaking of just for you, I also recommend,
Especially if you like my partner Amy,
You go check out the show
That she spends a lot more time doing than this.
She's our director of the show Abolish Everything!,
One of the Originals that we, The Wendover team, put together.
It's a comedy debate show where comedians come on
And abolish some societal ill, like...
Varmints.
He abolished varmints and what did you—
I abolished the dentist.
I also abolished children doing plays.
The worst.
It's one of the worst things that can happen.
Don't let them do entertainment.
They suck!
Just not plays.
They can do musicals. No.
But plays— They don't sing good.
No, well, look,
If you wanna know my nuanced takes on this,
Watch Abolish Everything!
Okay, yeah, go watch that.
It's available to you free right here on Nebula
'cause you're already a subscriber.
And it's fun.
Yeah!
Yeah.
Check it out.
Bye.