Author Topic: Chain Reaction... (Read 37880 times)

TLEberle · « **Reply #60 on:** August 07, 2006, 03:31:07 AM »

[quote name=\'Peter Sarrett\' post=\'126486\' date=\'Aug 6 2006, 03:49 PM\']
Some thoughts after watching a week's worth of shows:

The host is perfectly adequate. His job is minimal in this game, and he's not obtrusive. I'll take him over Bonaduce any day.[/quote] I really want to like him, I really do. I think that if he was given some actual copy that was written a few minutes before the first show was rolling, he would appear more in charge. If he was saying something like "Our winning team has a chance at $10,000 in the bonus round," as opposed to "a whole lot of cash," I would warm up to him.

Quote

Revealing the last letter of the word is absurd.

Bears repeating.

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My only complaint about the speed chains is the inconsistency of their difficulty. Sometimes they're absurdly simple because there's only one reasonable choice to pair one of the words with. Others are hard for the opposite reason-- too many choices to narrow down in the time allotted.

For what amounts to an in-game bonus round, they ought to be worth more money. Or not there at all. That speed chain is worth exactly the same as each of the five words that were just filled in.

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Forcing players to bet $100 in the last round means that, in practice, teams earn very little in that round. That seems backwards to me. There are gazillions of different options here-- always getting $100 for a correct answer, but being allowed to make an additional, optional wager, for example-- but given the show's overall scoring system, nothing short of a no-limit wager will eliminate the possibility that the outcome of the match will be decided well before the final answer. And frankly, I'm OK with that. I have no problem with the better team being rewarded for being better, and not giving a weaker team the chance to luck into victory at the end.

It's going to create games of attrition, where teams slowly lose money until the one clueful player in the room bets the limit and cashes in. If that doesn't happen, we'll have winning teams finishing on $1,500 or so.

I realize that it's beating on a dead horse, but if the game were played to a set goal ($3,000, say), and having the stakes increase each round, you could fix that. Of course, you'd have to have straddling games, and we just can't have that, of course. (Yeah, I know, increasing payouts is one of my pet peeves, but if you realize that the $100-per-link chain is basically a warm-up, it's not so egregious.)

clemon79 · « **Reply #61 on:** August 07, 2006, 09:29:19 AM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'126520\' date=\'Aug 7 2006, 12:31 AM\']
If he was saying something like "Our winning team has a chance at $10,000 in the bonus round," as opposed to "a whole lot of cash," I would warm up to him.
[/quote]
The problem, however, is that with the completely-unwieldy double / triple payout system in the endgame, he doesn't know how much the players have a chance at, and therefore can't say that. It's obviously budgetary, as doubling / tripling a couple-three grand is easier on the pocketbook than paying off five or ten grand.

FlashStash · « **Reply #62 on:** August 10, 2006, 01:55:35 PM »

I thought for sure they'd be some commentary on here about the...

GAME
COCK
SU RE

chain from last night

FS

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #63 on:** August 10, 2006, 01:57:55 PM »

[quote name=\'FlashStash\' post=\'126916\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 01:55 PM\']
GAME
COCK
SU
[/quote]
...and remember, you have to give us the exact word, not a form of the word.

cmjb13 · « **Reply #64 on:** August 10, 2006, 02:22:39 PM »

During last night's bonus round, they got buzzed on forming a question for the word BANANA SPLIT.

I couldn't figure out why. I know she didn't say 2 words in a row.

Illegal clue of some sort?

FlashStash · « **Reply #65 on:** August 10, 2006, 02:32:21 PM »

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'126922\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 02:22 PM\']
During last night's bonus round, they got buzzed on forming a question for the word BANANA SPLIT.

I couldn't figure out why. I know she didn't say 2 words in a row.

Illegal clue of some sort?
[/quote]

Here's what I think happened, because I had the same question and replayed it on the Tivo...

Before she said her word, she made an "uhhh" sound which could have been "uhhh", or the word "a"...she then gave a word after the "a", so I think she was buzzed for giving 2 words in a row.

FS

Moe Train · « **Reply #66 on:** August 10, 2006, 02:59:22 PM »

I'm SO PUMPED FOR TONIGHT!

Joe Mello · « **Reply #67 on:** August 10, 2006, 04:16:04 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'126525\' date=\'Aug 7 2006, 09:29 AM\']
[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'126520\' date=\'Aug 7 2006, 12:31 AM\']
If he was saying something like "Our winning team has a chance at $10,000 in the bonus round," as opposed to "a whole lot of cash," I would warm up to him.
[/quote]
The problem, however, is that with the completely-unwieldy double / triple payout system in the endgame, he doesn't know how much the players have a chance at, and therefore can't say that. It's obviously budgetary, as doubling / tripling a couple-three grand is easier on the pocketbook than paying off five or ten grand.
[/quote]

It's not that unwieldy if you can do quick math. All you have to do is take the first digit, multiply it by 3, and fill in the rest from there.

I'd rather they do 2x/4x instead of 2x/3x, but that's asthetics (and requires more budget).

clemon79 · « **Reply #68 on:** August 10, 2006, 04:36:38 PM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'126951\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 01:16 PM\']
It's not that unwieldy if you can do quick math.
[/quote]
...which the average American can't do.

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All you have to do is take the first digit, multiply it by 3, and fill in the rest from there.

You and I and probably most people here can do this in a blink, yes. However, the average viewer would most likely have to spend a few seconds figuring out what $2800 tripled is. And the average viewer doesn't want to have to make an effort to figure that out. Which means they have no investment in it, lose interest, and change the channel.

FlashStash · « **Reply #69 on:** August 11, 2006, 11:51:34 AM »

I never would have believed it if you had told me, but it took until the 9th episode until neither team had to be given the last letter in any chain

FS

Moe Train · « **Reply #70 on:** August 13, 2006, 12:50:24 AM »

Hey! I'd like to know if anyone saw my show last Thursday... Everyone was telling me that they loved it. I haven't even seen it myself, but I will soon. Here's a few screenshots that people have sent me.

And one of our HOT opponents...

I'm happy to say that my team was one of the ones that didn't choke in the bonus round! We got 8 words. We should have had the 10, but Dylan jumped in and said, "You just doubled your money!!" It was at that point that I thought that we were all done, and I started to take off my blindfold. I'm not sure if they had shown that part in the show, but it was after that point where we were totally thrown off. By all intents and purposes, we should have won over 6 grand, but instead, we came home with 4200... Which isn't THAT bad.

clemon79 · « **Reply #71 on:** August 13, 2006, 01:07:12 AM »

[quote name=\'Moe Train\' post=\'127207\' date=\'Aug 12 2006, 09:50 PM\']
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b135/ajmette/11111.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b135/ajmette/111.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b135/ajm.../P1010144-1.jpg

And one of our HOT opponents...

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b135/ajmette/11111111.jpg
[/quote]
Fixed your broken links for you. No need for the IMG tag here.

dad1153 · « **Reply #72 on:** August 13, 2006, 01:11:02 AM »

Saw your show Moe. You guys were one of the few teams that has shown real emotion and appeared to be pumped for the game. Dylan threw you off (it was clear even in the edited version GSN aired) and in any other show (like TPIR) a host mistake would have meant either a redo or an automatic win. Oh well, at least it seemed you guys were there to have a good time instead of to win money. Was your friend the one that said he really liked the original 'Chain Reaction'? I am amazed GSN let this in the show because all the promotions for 'Chain Reaction' call it 'the new original show from the creators of WWTBAM.' Oh well, you guys were one of the few teams that hasn't humilliated themselves. And since this is a GSN original you can rest assured GSN will be repeating this episode from now until kingdom come.

Moe Train · « **Reply #73 on:** August 13, 2006, 01:27:34 AM »

Thanks for the fix Chris.

Dad1153, glad you enjoyed the show. We had such a great time doing it. The money was just a side bonus to the great time that we had. Talk about adrenaline! I bet you could tell that we were genuinely pumped up. Man, we didn't catch any breaks in the beginning! They'd get the second letter of the word, and it was pretty obvious what the words were after that.

There were some funny moments, like me blurting out, "LUCKY BALLS" and then saying, "What? You can have lucky balls! I have them!" Also, my buzzer beater to win the game was heartstopping. People said that it looked like a light went on in my head, and I blurted out the answer. Dylan paused for a second to see if the answer was accepted, and there was pure silence. When the word appeared on the screen, we FLIPPED. I even turned to Matt and asked, "Did we just win??" hahaha... That's how much adrenaline was pumping.

From what I've been told, since I haven't seen it yet, the crowd's volume was kind of turned down. It was NOT quiet in that studio at all. I kept appealing to everyone to get them louder and louder... which they answered with deafening noise. It's a shame it didn't translate like that. Apparently, after we won the game, and the credits were rolling, you could see me pumping my fist and waving my hands to get the crowd screaming. What an absolutely amazing feeling. We should have gotten the 10 words though. We blew through the words very quickly in the beginning. A funny coincidence was that we actually practiced "Seinfeld" before we got to the bonus round. Also, "waiter" was one of the answers, and that's what I do for a living!

I can't remember if it was my friend that said he liked the original CR. I think it was the girls that said that. I'd never seen the original version myself...

I wish I could see the episode, but I won't be able to for at least a few days. I wish they at least did a redo, but the clock kept going. Also, there's WAY TOO MUCH time that passes by between the time the blindfolded person (me) gets the answer, and the next word comes up. There's at least a 1 to 3 second pause. (I've timed it on other shows.)

It would be cool to see our show on repeats. I hope that we make it into commercials for the show! From what I've been told, the energy in our show was higher than pretty much any other CR show they've seen.

catnap1972 · « **Reply #74 on:** August 13, 2006, 06:54:08 AM »

[quote name=\'Moe Train\' post=\'127215\' date=\'Aug 13 2006, 01:27 AM\']
Also, there's WAY TOO MUCH time that passes by between the time the blindfolded person (me) gets the answer, and the next word comes up. There's at least a 1 to 3 second pause. (I've timed it on other shows.)
[/quote]

Yep, and I think that's also what cost you guys the triple. Whoever is in the control room (along with the judge) need to be on top of it and not nodding off.