Marketplace Lottery

I've just devised a new game for me to play while listening to Marketplace, called The Marketplace Lottery. I've talked about Marketplace quite a bit before, and so if you read this blog at all you know that I'm a major fan. It makes money, markets, and entrepreneurship fascinating to the novice. I've created this new game to help me to pay better attention during my bus commute home, and to test my musical dexterity. It would probably work with most other public radio programs too - so don't feel like you can't play if Marketplace isn't your program of choice.

Here's how to play: Between stories they'll play snips of songs. There are roughly 4-5 songs per episode and the songs almost always relate to the story they follow. For example, a story about a gourmet bakery that specializes in cupcakes would be followed by a song by Cake. A story about viral videos is followed by the song "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai. Get it? Sometimes the relationship isn't quite so blatant. One day there was a story about something to do with Sweden, and the song was by Peter Bjorn and John a band from Sweden. Tricky, indeed! (I felt pretty smart when I made that connection, I'll tell you). To up the ante, the song snips don't include lyrics. So you need to know either the title of the song, it's artist, what the song is about, and, as in the case of the Swedes, other relevant facts about the song or artist. It's really quite tough!

You win the Marketplace Lottery if you're able to figure out the relationship between all of the songs and their stories for the entire program.

Prizes include:
1. The knowledge that you are a music and market diva
2. A "Like It" sized strawberry ice cream with brownies mixed in from Cold Stone Creamery
3. A satin sash that says "Marketplace Lotto Queen" and a bouquet of roses to carry as I gracefully descend the bus steps, pausing to blow air kisses to the crowd.

If you play and win - let me know! I'll hand-deliver your satin sash!

What games do you play to spice up your life? (Erin, I know you've got at least one up your sleeve. Little miss "I make faces out of the crazy foot lights on the Metro")