The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: aaron sica on January 22, 2004, 08:34:39 PM
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A friend who likes game shows asked me a question, and I didn't have an answer..But I know *someone* here will..Quoting my friend now:
Has there EVER EVER EVER in the history of the game....been this situation..............a contestant lands on a square that says "advance two spaces" or "advance three spaces" or "across the board" (something like that), and then after advancing the spaces have the square land on a whammy. Has that ever happened on the board?
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Has there EVER EVER EVER in the history of the game....been this situation..............a contestant lands on a square that says "advance two spaces" or "advance three spaces" or "across the board" (something like that), and then after advancing the spaces have the square land on a whammy. Has that ever happened on the board?
In the early days of the Pick-A-Corner space, the top left space at times had a Whammy, but I believe this was fixed around 1985-ish.
As for the others you have mentioned, Accross the board lead to the $500+, $750+, and $1,000+ space, and only that space.
Go Back 2 spaces lead to the Big Bucks space ($3000+, $4,000+, & $5,000+)
Advance 3 spaces never existed in the original version of PYL.
And I can't pull off the top of my head what Advance 2 spaces lead to, but I'm sure that of the 3 slides in that box, none were a Whammy.
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 08:34 PM\']
Has there EVER EVER EVER in the history of the game....been this situation..............a contestant lands on a square that says "advance two spaces" or "advance three spaces" or "across the board" (something like that), and then after advancing the spaces have the square land on a whammy. Has that ever happened on the board? [/quote]
There never was an "Advance three spaces" square on the board, only "Advance(Go Back) two spaces". None of those directional squares ever led the player to a WHammy, though the top corner square was a Whammy, and continued to be for the first nine months or so of Pick-a-Corner's appearance in round two.
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[quote name=\'whampyl03\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 08:43 PM\']
And I can't pull off the top of my head what Advance 2 spaces lead to, but I'm sure that of the 3 slides in that box, none were a Whammy. [/quote]
round one it would be $500 or $750 or a prize, and in round two it would either be cash($1500 or $2000 most commonly I believe), or a prize.
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I'd love to know what they would have done if someone was stupid enough to pick the whammy in "Pick-A-Corner"......
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[quote name=\'Steve_Bier\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 09:39 PM\'] I'd love to know what they would have done if someone was stupid enough to pick the whammy in "Pick-A-Corner"...... [/quote]
They'd have showed a five or ten second Savage Steve Holland animated short, the player's score would have been reduced to zero, and maybe the board would have been altered to avoid the Whammy choice on Pick-a-Corner sooner than it was.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 07:46 PM\'] [quote name=\'Steve_Bier\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 09:39 PM\'] I'd love to know what they would have done if someone was stupid enough to pick the whammy in "Pick-A-Corner"...... [/quote]
They'd have showed a five or ten second Savage Steve Holland animated short, the player's score would have been reduced to zero, and maybe the board would have been altered to avoid the Whammy choice on Pick-a-Corner sooner than it was. [/quote]
Except, as we've gone over here more than once, there are some game situations where selecting that Whammy could be argued as 100% the correct strategic decision, such as when you are passed a boatload of spins (enough where the probability is that you will Whammy on one of them) and you land on it right away. Could be wiser to take the Whammy now and then convert those Passed spins to Earned...
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 10:54 PM\'] Except, as we've gone over here more than once, there are some game situations where selecting that Whammy could be argued as 100% the correct strategic decision, such as when you are passed a boatload of spins (enough where the probability is that you will Whammy on one of them) and you land on it right away. Could be wiser to take the Whammy now and then convert those Passed spins to Earned... [/quote]
Good example. Picture this scenario:
PLAYER A -- $1500, three whammies, no spins (one passed to you)
PLAYER B -- $4500, two whammies, no spins (four passed to you)
PLAYER C -- $2000, no whammies, six spins earned, five spins passed
Heck, I'd take a Whammy, move the four passed to the earned column, and get ready to pass them all back to Player C the minute I pass him by (likely in two spins). Going seven or eight spins without a Whammy has been done, but it's very unlikely.
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I'm very tempted to point out that, strategy aside, none of that is an exception to Zach's description of what would occur. Just for the bizarro effect, you understand.
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[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Jan 22 2004, 11:32 PM\'] I'm very tempted to point out that, strategy aside, none of that is an exception to Zach's description of what would occur. Just for the bizarro effect, you understand. [/quote]
You're correct, my "except" was more directed at Steve's preassumption that selecting the whammy intentionally in that situation was automatically stupid.
Everything Zach described would in fact happen, with the possible exception of the board being altered sooner.
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Other than Larsen, what was the greatest number of consecutive spins someone went without hitting a Whammy?
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Other than Larsen, what was the greatest number of consecutive spins someone went without hitting a Whammy?
Don't know for sure...but there was at least one time where a contestant was passed 11 spins - and didn't whammy on any of them.
There were also many times where a contestant went through the whole game without hitting a whammy, so you'd have to add their round one and two spins together to get the total. In a few cases there weren't many spins for the whole game, but many times the players would earn 6 or 8 spins each round. Some players won over $30,000 in one day without a whammy. Next to Larson, I think the highest one-day total was in the $30,000 range - I can't ever remember a higher total than that.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 09:28 AM\']
Other than Larsen, what was the greatest number of consecutive spins someone went without hitting a Whammy?
Don't know for sure...but there was at least one time where a contestant was passed 11 spins - and didn't whammy on any of them.
There were also many times where a contestant went through the whole game without hitting a whammy, so you'd have to add their round one and two spins together to get the total. In a few cases there weren't many spins for the whole game, but many times the players would earn 6 or 8 spins each round. Some players won over $30,000 in one day without a whammy. Next to Larson, I think the highest one-day total was in the $30,000 range - I can't ever remember a higher total than that. [/quote]
The highest wins that I've seen were a $33,410 win on May 18, 1984 (just 3 weeks before Larson), and a $33,380 win around Feb.-March 1986 (player took 8 spins in a row with 3 whammies). I've heard rumors of a $35,000 win, but that has yet to be corroborated (however, there are still eps. of PYL that haven't aired since its original run).
Tyshaun
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 06:21 AM\'] Other than Larsen, what was the greatest number of consecutive spins someone went without hitting a Whammy? [/quote]
I remember one episode where the three players hit no Whammies whatsoever. I remember this very distincty because Tomarken went out of his way to make a note of it during the post-mortem, pointing out that the players went "twenty-eight spins without a Whammy."
So, yeah, if you're talking about one single player, it may or may not be there, because, like Tyshawn said, there are numerous occurances of individual players playing whole games without seeing a Whammy. However, if you're asking for the largest consecutive number of Whammyless spins, and you were willing to slap an asterisk on it to indicate it spanned episodes, I'd have to think those 28 would be part of the streak, in addition to whatever final spins on the previous episode and first spins on the next one were also Whammy-free.
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Not to veer the topic of the post, but when will the episodes with our own Randy West air? Which month of '85 shows was he on?
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[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 12:06 PM\'] Not to veer the topic of the post, but when will the episodes with our own Randy West air? Which month of '85 shows was he on? [/quote]
Randy's episodes were during the first 2 weeks of the show. IIRC, he was the first contestant to retire due to winnings. GSN currently does not have those episodes in their possession, and they have not aired since their original run in 1983.
Tyshaun
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You know, I never DID stop to think that there would have been an intellegent reason to take the whammy---but now I see that there is! Thanks!!! :)
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[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 10:50 AM\']
The highest wins that I've seen were a $33,410 win on May 18, 1984 (just 3 weeks before Larson), and a $33,380 win around Feb.-March 1986 (player took 8 spins in a row with 3 whammies). I've heard rumors of a $35,000 win, but that has yet to be corroborated (however, there are still eps. of PYL that haven't aired since its original run).
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Those two $33K wins are the highest one-day non-Larson wins I can recall, but there here was a $35,000 loss to a Whammy late in the run(June 1986 IIRC). The contestant hit Double your $$ with $17,500, and then Whammied. That was I believe the greatest loss to a WHammy
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I've noticed a lot of discussion about taking the "Whammy" during specific occurrences during the game. Very enlightening!
Honestly, though, even if that was the right strategy to do at the right time, could you imagine anybody EVER taking a "Whammy?" With a crowd screaming to pick money or a prize, the pressure might convince the contestant to take the safe way out. Plus, I think, if this were to ever happen, there may have been a safeguard in place to prevent the player from doing that (much like the safeguard to prevent a player on TPIR from taking 2 spins during the SS after the first two have gone over); does anybody know if there was?
I do remember, however, a contestant who really WANTED to hit a whammy because he didn't have much money and a load of passed spins. He hit money for the first three spins and had a disgruntled look on his face every time, and was the only contestant to genuinely express joy when hitting his whammy after his fourth passed spin. I can't remember if he won the game or not (I do know he passed all of his spins after that point), but I remember it was on one of the episodes GSN showed from mid-84 (His name was Dave, IIRC). Does anybody remember if he won via his "strategy" or not?
One interesting question, though: Could you imagine Peter's reaction if somebody selected the "Whammy" on a "Pick a Corner" space? I'm sure he'd ask twice to make sure that it was what the contestant wanted to do, but I'm sure his reaction would be priceless! :)
Anthony
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No, I think maybe at first he'd be caught off-guard, but once he goes into his "those passed spins are going over to the earned colomn" spiel, he'll realize the strategy behind it.
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[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 07:04 PM\'] No, I think maybe at first he'd be caught off-guard, but once he goes into his "those passed spins are going over to the earned colomn" spiel, he'll realize the strategy behind it. [/quote]
I have to agree. In fact I would bet that the staffers probably entertained this possibility long before any of us did, and he would most likely point out the strategic move and a comment like "Will it pay off? We'll have to see...."
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 06:44 PM\'] [quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Jan 23 2004, 10:50 AM\']
The highest wins that I've seen were a $33,410 win on May 18, 1984 (just 3 weeks before Larson), and a $33,380 win around Feb.-March 1986 (player took 8 spins in a row with 3 whammies). I've heard rumors of a $35,000 win, but that has yet to be corroborated (however, there are still eps. of PYL that haven't aired since its original run).
[/quote]
Those two $33K wins are the highest one-day non-Larson wins I can recall, but there here was a $35,000 loss to a Whammy late in the run(June 1986 IIRC). The contestant hit Double your $$ with $17,500, and then Whammied. That was I believe the greatest loss to a WHammy [/quote]
So, would that make Cathy's $31,408 loss (And many PYL fans have nightmares about that fateful day, including me!) the second biggest loss in PYL history?
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[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Jan 25 2004, 11:47 PM\']
Those two $33K wins are the highest one-day non-Larson wins I can recall, but there here was a $35,000 loss to a Whammy late in the run(June 1986 IIRC). The contestant hit Double your $$ with $17,500, and then Whammied. That was I believe the greatest loss to a WHammy [/QUOTE]
So, would that make Cathy's $31,408 loss (And many PYL fans have nightmares about that fateful day, including me!) the second biggest loss in PYL history? [/quote]
IIRC Cathy's loss is in second place. I believe Robert's $30,518 loss on the last spin of the game in a 1986 episode would be third(that loss also caused the greatest fall in PYL history, as Peter fell to the ground in shock)
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However, if you're asking for the largest consecutive number of Whammyless spins, and you were willing to slap an asterisk on it to indicate it spanned episodes, I'd have to think those 28 would be part of the streak, in addition to whatever final spins on the previous episode and first spins on the next one were also Whammy-free.
That happened on the Dec 19, 1983 broadcast. There was one other show without a whammy that GSN has run.
The streak in 1983 actually got to over 40 spins - the entire first round of the next show didn't have any whammies either. Peter even mentioned at the beginning of the second round "we have spun over 40 times this week without hitting a whammy". That show hasn't been seen since it was run on USA in 1993. A whammy was hit in the second round of that show.
I can just imagine what the control booth was thinking going whammy-less for so long - "someone please hit a whammy - we've got these new Christmas whammies we want to run this week and we can't run them..."!!