Recap Example

Wanna know how my recaps work? Here's an example (don't worry, it's just a practice game I played). The notes I take will be in italics typeface. To start, the highlights will NOT appear on any text on any further recaps.

Our Favorite Game! (America's Game, Premiere Day)
I come up with names and special events for the themes, while the real set is in parentheses.

Tonight's Contestants: J.P. Mackey, Tiffany Moore, and Greg Chan! The first contestants ever! And you'll notice an equal share of two-female and two-male panels, too. (They always talk about two-male panels since it's usually two women...)
The characters mentioned above have their colors due to the podiums on which they stand. And I add ad-libs to emphasize the mood of the game.

Toss-Up 1: Event
S _ _ I N G
M I G R A T I O N
Tiffany gets this celebration started in a SPRING MIGRATION for her first bit of money!
The ANSWER will be indicated in bold typeface.

Toss-Up 2: Thing
F _ _ I L _
_ _ E _
J.P. remembers his FAMILY TREE for first control of the wheel.

Trip on the Wheel: Prince Edward Island, Canada, $5,000!
It says "trip" instead of "prize" since the prize is always a trip.

Jackpot Round: Phrase

J.P.
The above indicates a contestant having their turn.
Gift Tag - 1 T!
There are exclamation points in front of a letter when a prize is being picked up.
$800 - No N. Really?

Tiffany
$300 - 1 S.
$300 (slips past Bankrupt) - No R. WOW.
If there is a near-miss or near-hit, it's indicated in parentheses.

Greg
Wild Card! - No L. All the common letters have been picked.

J.P.
Jackpot! - 1 C. WAY too early to solve for a $6,400 jackpot.
1 E.
$300 (nearly hit 1/2-Car) - 1 D.
$800 - 2 Y's! The only multiple consonants (or multiples, for short).

_ Y / _ D _ _ C E
T _ / Y _ _ / _ S

J.P. gets all the multiples and solves the puzzle for $2,150 and his tag, giving him $3,150 that round! For any future contestant, MY ADVICE TO YOU IS: go for all the multiples!

Jackpot Left Behind: $8,000

J.P.: $5,150 cash and gift tag
The prizes someone has won so far will most likely be mentioned only once (after they're won) or twice (before the Bonus Round) in a recap.
Tiffany: $1,000 Toss-Up money
Greg: $0
At the end of each maingame round, the totals earned so far will be revealed.

Mystery Round: On the map (this is a one-liner)

Tiffany
$400 - No S. Not surprising.

Greg
Free Play! - No T. This is strange.
1/2-Car - No N. Darn.

J.P.
$3,500! - 1 R! NICE!
3 E's!
1 A.
1 I. No vowels left.
$550 - 1 L.
$300 - 1 K. Last letter remaining.

L A K E / E R I E

J.P. reads what's up on the board. He may not be traveling to LAKE ERIE soon, but he does earn another $3,600 in cash!

J.P.: $8,750
Tiffany: $1,000
Greg: $0

Prize Puzzle: Food & drink (a short puzzle...again...)

Greg
$900 - 1 S.
Right-side Bankrupt near the Million Dollar Wedge! Darn it.

J.P.
1/2-Car: 1 T!
Lose a Turn.

Tiffany:
SHE hits Lose a Turn! Oh, man.

Greg
Free Play! - No R.
$800 near the Lose a Turn space... - 1 D.
$900 - No L. He's not having much luck tonight...

J.P.
$600 - 1 P.
2 A's!
2 E's!
The OTHER 1/2-Car! WOW! - 2 M's! He's ready to go for the big-time solve...
Anything really good is indicated in light green.

_ _ M E M A D E
P A S T A

With $1,600 cash, J.P. will taste some delicious HOMEMADE PASTA on his $8,500 trip to ROME, ITALY! And on top of that, he's earned a new car...worth $10,000! He's won $20,100 in that round alone!
A Prize Puzzle trip is indicated in BOLD-ITALIC typeface.

J.P.: $28,850 cash, gift tag, car, and Italy (WHOA, that's a lot!)
Tiffany: $1,000
Greg: STILL $0.
No offense, just mentioning that he's won nothing yet.

Toss-Up 3: Fun & games
A / D I P / I N
T H E / _ O O L

I wish Greg solved this one, but Tiffany saves us from a Toss-Up triple stumper (where NO ONE gets a Toss-Up) [1] by taking A DIP IN THE POOL to quadruple her money!

Round 4: Things

Tiffany
Bankrupt (between $900 and $600)! What is going on?

Greg
$900 - No T. Oh, boy...

J.P.
You guessed it - the exact same Bankrupt Tiffany got. Anyway, it's Final Spin time...
Anything really bad is indicated in dark red.

Consonant value: $1,400. Greg, please just get a bit of money...

Tiffany - No L.
Greg - 1 R.
J.P. - 3 S's!
Tiffany - No I.
Greg - 2 E's!
J.P. - 2 N's! He should know it by now...

_ _ N _ _ S
S N E _ _ E R S

...but he doesn't, so $7,000 may go down the tubes. I can't blame him, though; I didn't know the first word at the time, just like J.P.

Tiffany - 3 A's! Now I know it, and she should get this one...

_ A N _ A S
S N E A _ E R S

...well, the opposite happened. Come on, now.

Greg - 1 C! You BETTER get it...

C A N _ A S
S N E A _ E R S

YOU'RE KIDDING ME!!! HE DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING!!! $1,400 is out and he's DONE FOR.

J.P. - 1 V. And if HE doesn't get it...

C A N V A S
S N E A _ E R S

...but he finally solves the puzzle and buys a pair of CANVAS SNEAKERS for $8,400 and the big win!

J.P.: $37,250
Tiffany: $4,000 Toss-Up money
Greg: The $1,000 consolation he so deserves
The big winner at the end of the Final Spin has his or her name's color replaced to bright green. If there is any consolation-prize victim, the "$1,000 consolation prize" results are indicated in dark red.

Bonus Round
Can J.P. add to his impressive haul of over $37,000? He lands on the C in AMERICA'S.

The category is: What are you doing? How nice, since WAYD? doesn't appear in the Bonus Round very often.

RSTLNE makes it WAY too easy.

_ E E T _ N _ / _
N E _ / _ L _ E N T

J.P. knows it like we all do, avoiding I and G and instead going with MCWA.

M E E T _ N _ / A
N E W / C L _ E N T

He's not MEETING A NEW CLIENT, instead, he's met with...

...wait for it...

...wait for it...

...THE FIRST $100,000 CELEBRATION!!! SPRAY THE CONFETTI!!! He leaves with $137,250, cash and prizes! Great job, J.P.!

Here's the list of mystery prizes he won:
Gift Tag - Horse statue from the Washington, D.C. set
1/2-Car - Sedan

And for the prize he's picking as a result: he'd like to celebrate on the Hawaii location!

I wish you the best, J.P.!

There is also a review of the recap by me in the comments below. The rating for each episode is out of 10. Read my comments!