Fruit Stand (Black and White II)
, Black and White II — Quo VadisNew season of The Genius brings several changes.
Producers addressed criticisms from previous season and brought in more "regular people" over celebrities through open casting calls. They are:
- Oh Hyunmin — math student, the youngest player ever on the show (20 years old)
- Choi Yeonseung — oriental doctor
- Kim Yoohyun — poker player
- Kim Kyunghoon — another student
They still have some celebrities:
- Jang Dongmin — comedian
- Kang Yongsuk — lawyer, politician turned TV host
- Ha Yeonjoo — actress
- Kim Junghoon — actor
- Shin Ahyoung — tv announcer
They are joined by "experts":
- Yoo Sujin — financial advisor
- Lee Jongbum — manhwa writer
- Kwon Juri — casino dealer
- and finally, the only returning player — math teacher Nam "The Lion" Hweejong.
The gimmick of this season are Black Garnets — people who go into Deathmatch get their garnets confiscated and the winner gets his garnets back plus 1 black garnet. Winner doesn't get loser's garnets — they're gone. Player can avoid going to deathmatch by giving 3 black garnets and trying their skill at extremely hard "Black Mission". If they win it — they are exempted from Deathmatch and can select their replacement.
First main match of the season is Fruit Stand.
Each player is assigned two fruits to sell. They will be setting their price for these fruits and selling them throughout 4 rounds. Player(s) who ask the lowest price (from 1$ to 5$) win the bid. Number of fruits sold equals to number of people selling the fruit. If 5 apple players bid 5$ they all will sell 1 apple each, but if one player underbids them and asks 4$ he/she takes entire sale, selling 5 apples and getting 20$ alone. If there are several player with the same lowest bid they split fruit earning between each other. So if in previous example there were three people underbidding for 4$ each of them get 20$/3=6,66$.
Each player can use either Change or Secret ability. If player picks Change — they can change one of their fruits to any other fruit.
Final price for all fruit and sellers' earnings are shown after each round. But if someone used their Secret they can obscure the price and earnings for fruit of their choice.
Player(s) who earned the most after 4 rounds win the game and player(s) with least money lose. If there are more than one loser winners select one among them to be elimination candidate and go to Deathmatch. If there is only one winner, they get extra token of life to give to anyone, except elimination candidate. Elimination candidate can then pick Deathmatch opponent among other players who didn't win and don't have token of life.
After getting their fruits people determine their allies and teams. For example Ahyoung and Kyunghoon are identical: they both have strawberry and melon. So are Hweejong and Dongmin (watermelon and apple) and Sujin and Junghoon (watermelon and tangerine).
Loud Dongmin takes all watermelons with him. Four of them are identical "pairs" who are tied together and naturally synergize with each other. Hyunmin is the odd man out with watermelon and grapes.
Yoohyun who has 2 strawberries forms strawberry team with Ahyoung, Kyunghoon and Yeonseung.
Yongsuk leads grapes team with Yeonjoo, Jungbum and technically Hyunmin.
Juri doesn't really belong anywhere with her melon and apple. Strawberries Ahyoung and Kyunghoon ask her to use Change and join their team, and Yoohyun even cooks up a plan how to use her as saboteur to ruin other teams, but she changes her mind and makes her fruit identical to Hweejong's and Dongmins's and goes to watermelon team. This makes watermelons the biggest team with six players. They are also the biggest target because if someone there underbids they will get to sell 6 watermelons while their 5 partners get nothing.
For the first round everyone just goes 5$ for everything, so they all earn the same 10$. This is good but obviously can't go on because someone has to lose.
Grapes and strawberries unite against watermelons. First plan of attack is to use Hyunmin to underbid other watermelons who is the only one with the loose connection to them through grapes. However betraying so many people is dangerous so he asks for guarantee that anti-watermelon league can make him 1st so he asks them to give him one sale of grapes for 4$ for one round while they go 5$ and get nothing. Grapes are not quite ready for that so this falls through.
Watermelons' plan is not engage in price wars and use passive-aggression instead. They use Secrets on strawberries and melons (which they don't have and thus can use Secrets on freely) hoping to breed mistrust in other teams and that they will implode by themselves.
Second round most fruits go for the same 5$, but strawberries, melons and watermelons become secrets. This puts tension on Ahyoung and Kyunghoon who are strawberries AND melons because now they are in complete dark about their earnings.
Yoohyun volunteers to use Change offensively and change one of his strawberries to watermelon. His goal is to underbid all other watermelons which will give them lowest points and send them to deathmatch. Watermelons defend themselves by preemptively lowering their prices themselves to minimum 1$. Yoohyun also needs safety cushion to offset the damage he will be doing to himself so he asks other strawberries to go 5$ while he will go 4$ underbidding them and taking 20$.
Third round ends the same with most fruits going for 5$, except strawberries, melons and watermelons getting obscured again. We know for sure that watermelons went for 1$ though.
In the fourth round shattered watermelon alliance are scrambling to get additional points because watermelons became 1$. Dongmin, Juri and Hweejong ask Yongsuk a favour: he will allow them to undercut his grapes for 4$, if split between them three this will give them additional fractions of points needed to escape last place. Yongsuk is in no danger of losing so he can do it for the promise of favour in the future. Hyunmin however insists on making these three lose and asks Yongsuk to undercut them further for 1$. Yongsuk decides not to burn his bridges and goes with less aggressive option, saving Dongmin, Juri and Hweejong.
However the outcome of the game isn't decided in watermelon vs anti-watermelon struggle. In the last round Kyunghoon betrays Ahyoung and offers 4$ for both of his fruits leaving her with 0 earnings while himself taking the bank.
He becomes sole winner and Ahyoung goes to Deathmatch. She picks Juri who went watermelons instead of strawberries in the beginning.
They are playing Black and White II.
Two opponents are given 99 points in the beginning. Each turn they use some points out of their pool. Player who uses more points wins the round. If player used number with two digits it is shown to their opponent as "white", if it is lower than 10 — it is "black".
Players have indicators showing their remaining points in 20 increments. So when they go lower than 80 one light goes off and so on.
Indicators and colour of the move are shown to opponent so they can make their decision. Players take turns going first.
Player who has the most wins after 9 rounds wins. Player can also secure victory before that if they achieve 5 wins.
Both women play aggressively, using around 20 points for each turn hoping to reach 5 wins early. In the last round Ahyoung has 4 wins but she only has 2 points left. Juri thinking Ahyoung will now use 0 to conserve however few points she has uses 1, but Ahyoung goes "all-in" with 2 and wins Deathmatch with 5 wins.
Juri is the first eliminated player of season 3 and Ahyoung goes further.
Tropes:
- Everyone Has Standards: after what Hweejong been through last season, nobody wants to send Hweejong to Deathmatch in the first game AGAIN. Everyone except rogue-ish Hyunmin that is.
- Power of Trust: Secrets erode the trust in teams it was used on. Players must persuade their fruit partners to trust their teammates, stay loyal and go 5$ and not to be tempted to underbid.
- Right Behind Me: just when Hyunmin is convincing anti-watermelons to pick either Hweejong, Dongmin or Juri for elimination, Hweejong enters the room.
- Traitor Shot: Kyunghoon quietly chuckles when Ahyoung reiterates that she fully trusts him foreshadowing his betrayal in the last round.
- We Used to Be Friends: there is some history behind Junghoon and Dongmin
- Wild Card: Hyunmin, who is tied to both watermelon team and anti-watermelon league.
