Mind Mint: Too much of a good thing.

Every weeknight, at dinner, our family used to play Jeopardy using the Amazon Echo (aka “Alexa,” the Echo’s voice-activated digital assistant). Alexa gave us six clues, we’d provide the “question” for each, then learn how we ranked against others who played that day.

For several months, Jeopardy was a quirky ritual that we looked forward to as a family. Then, in October, Amazon doubled the number of questions from six to twelve. We were thrilled! Twice as much of something we loved! 

But the very first night we played the longer version, we knew it was a mistake. By question nine we’d had enough. We gave it another try the following evening and again found it to be too long. We haven’t played since.

Jeopardy on Alexa is a new-fangled example of an old lesson: it is possible to have too much of a good thing. When in doubt, leave your audience wanting more.