YMMV / Jet Lag: The Game

• Accidental Aesop: The German Deutsche Bahn in the Tag Across Europe seasons, in comparison to other European transit services, give the lesson that providing proper care to your train networks is essential for helping people in high-stress situations get to where they need to go.
• Accidental Innuendo:
  • There is a challenge in Series 5 where Toby has to pour water from high up into a cup being held by Sam, who is lying on the ground. It's supposed to resemble a waterfall but, due to how Toby filmed it, it looks incredibly suspect.
  • In Arctic Escape E2, after Michelle paints her nails with the Jet Lag colors.
    Michelle: I'm a little sad because we've been together for several days now, even before filming. And there's something I did that you haven't noticed. ... To my body.
• Broken Base:
  • Ben hiding in a photo booth at the train station to throw off Sam & Adam in Tag EUR It 2. One side points out that Sam and Adam had no issues with it when Ben revealed the strategy just after the game ended, and therefore it must have been fair game. Others argue that there is a written rule against hiding in bathrooms (as the chasers would constantly have to risk accidentally heckling a stranger in there if they ever suspect the hider is taking refuge inside) and feel that that this rule should extend to anywhere else that has a reasonable expectation of privacy such as photo booths, changing rooms, etc. A third group of viewers are fine with Ben doing it this once due to the rules being too vague on the matter, but feel that a revision of the rules is in order for future seasons.
  • Michelle's "Zodiac Zone" segments in Season 8. Some fans thought they were harmless fun, some got annoyed over what they saw as an otherwise intelligent person promoting pseudoscience, and some understood that it wasn't being played seriously or promoted as an alternative to trusted science, but thought the bits still weren't funny.
• Growing the Beard: Season 3, the first Tag Across Europe, is often regarded as this. It's the first season that uses abstract "coins" as the game currency instead of actual money, which opens up more options for transit. It's also the first season where trains are the dominant mode of transportation instead of planes or cars, and features many more direct interactions between the players. Behind the scenes, it's when the players began thinking of Jet Lag as a game more than an endurance challenge.
• Misblamed:
  • A small subset of fans seems to think that because Ben and Adam develop the rules of each game, they're somehow handing themselves the advantages that led to Adam's three-game winning streak. However, not only is there no clear way to win the game, but as of season 8, Sam has won as many times as he's lost, if you count Crime Spree.
  • Some might also point out that as the game designers, Ben and Adam need to figure out the difficulty of a challenge when they add it to the game, which has repeatedly screwed them over in multiple seasons and even cost them season 5.
• Nausea Fuel: In Season 2, Adam throwing up the four donuts that he ate before/while running a 15-minute mile.
• Paranoia Fuel: The warning about brain-eating amoebas at Kerosene Creek in New Zealand.
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • "Badam" for Ben & Adam. Scotty refers to them by this name in Japan E6, and Ben does the same in Arctic Escape E2.
  • "Bam" for Sam & Ben. Sam refers to them in Tag EUR It 2 E2.
• Shocking Moments:
  • Ben & Adam drawing the "change the route that your opponents travel on" curse in New Zealand.
  • The end of Season 9 when the map zooms out to reveal that Sam and Ben were searching in the complete wrong direction and were about 20 miles away from Adam when his timer ticked into first place to secure the win.
• Smurfette Breakout: Michelle Khare may be the best Jet Lag player in the show's history, when taking into account both gameplay skills and entertainment value.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • The sound effect when the text of a challenge is shown on screen has a strong resemblance to the title card theme from Rugrats.
  • In Season 4, the Battle tune is almost exactly the same as the Trainer theme from the Pokémon series.
  • The jingle for unlocking a road in season five bears striking resemblance to the flagpole theme from Super Mario Bros.
• They Wasted A Perfectly Good Premise:
  • The game system of Hide + Seek was an instant smash with viewers, who loved the implementation of the Jet Lag formula to a game as classic as hide & seek. Unfortunately, while logistically understandable, the game had to end after 4 days of play, meaning that it was possible for some players to only get one run across the entire game and that any player lucky enough to get a second run could get an exclusive opportunity to stage a comeback, as seen in the finale where Adam was able to win the entire game with two runs when his first attempt was considerably shorter than Sam and Ben's turns. Considering how a part of the appeal of the "Chase" style seasons is the evolution of tactics and strategys over time it was a real bummer. If the crew ever decide to do the game again, there is a large contingent of fans who hope that every player gets two runs guaranteed, with the added bonus of it being more likely that they'll be able to visit more areas of the country as well.