Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2015 March 9

= March 9 =

Unknown game
Can anyone help identify this game? I would like to make an article about it if one doesn't already exist. I've looked everywhere here and at commons and cannot find it.

Someone I met while travelling found it in a book of "ancient lost games" where it was called "Hu Sing" (not sure if the spelling was that way). The game consists of 30 tiles, each with two faces or ends, like dominoes. It is similar to Chromino (File:Chromino.jpg), but Chromino has three faces and is played very differently.

As you can see by the image, it is played by making patterns where each colour is represented in a line only once before the pattern repeats. In other words, a line may be green-blue-red-green-blue-red-green-blue-red... or red-red-red-red... -- up to 5 colors in a pattern. Another rule is that two rows must become longer when placing a tile.

Scoring goes like.

See also: Commons category

Many thanks for anything you come up with. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 02:05, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

12:01 (1993 film) - where is the real office building located? (film location)
12:01 (1993 film) - where is the real office building located? Does that remarkable building have a special name? Which company has its headquarters there today? You can see the building here at 7:54 min. (german) or here at 4:56 min (english) --Zulu55 (talk) 14:04, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I would guess that it's an office building in or around Los Angeles but I can't verify that. IMDb usually lists filming locations but there aren't any listed for this film.  Dismas |(talk) 15:45, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, I checked that in IMDb before. also asked at Wikivoyage --Zulu55 (talk) 15:56, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
 * What we found out at german Wikipedia in the meantime:


 * Looks similar to File:Thomas Guide headquarters.jpg
 * You can see different parts and angles of the building in this video at 17:31, 37:28, 54:11(!)
 * Chet Holifield Federal Building is similar
 * and (Variety and Daily Variety Television Reviews, 1993-1994) say "Filmed in Los Angeles", so it seems to be quite sure that it is a building that exists/existed in (greater?) LA. --Zulu55 (talk) 20:47, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
 * We solved it and wrote an Article: de:The Oaks (Bürogebäude) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zulu55 (talk • contribs) 13:45, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * That would be this, yes? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:46, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
 * The German article says the building is named "The Oaks", but the English-language Wikipedia seems to know that name as belonging to a shopping mall in the same area, not this office building. The building's owner or prime tenant is apparently Baxter International and it can be seen here in Google Street View imagery. --65.94.51.62 (talk) 16:53, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

I married the girl from the tractor factory
In the early 1990s, a song was sometimes played on 5MMM (South Australian radio station), which told the story of how the singer married the girl from the tractor factory. It was a novelty song, and was sung in a fake Russian accent. Does anyone know who sang this? Thanks! --TrogWoolley (talk) 14:43, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
 * I received an email last night, informing me the song is "Girl From Tractor Factory", released by Nick Gogol in 1985 --TrogWoolley (talk) 08:52, 10 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Congratulations to the sender of that email! I spent some time trying to find this song yesterday, and now (with hindsight) googling "Nick Gogol" "Tractor Factory" gave me exactly 8 hits, one of which is this thread, but another of which is an entry at discogs. Anyway, thanks for posting the answer, I might well have continued searching otherwise! ---Sluzzelin talk  10:08, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Television genres
There is a TV program where groups of people dance, and a number of television personalities judge their dancing style, ranking it with a number, discussing their performance, etc. With those results, the dancers are ranked as the programs are aired, and some dancers get removed from the contest, and finally there is a winner at the end of the season. Which is the television genre of such a program? Is it a game show, or something else? Cambalachero (talk) 20:43, 9 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Here at Wikipedia, and I would agree with this assessment, they are categorized as Talent shows. See Category:Talent shows for more.  Dismas |(talk) 21:23, 9 March 2015 (UTC)


 * They are also frequently categorized as reality shows.  → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 22:16, 9 March 2015 (UTC)