Numbers too big for readouts

[JasonA1]

When Stan Newman exceeded $100,000 on The Challengers, at the end of the show and the beginning of the next show where the champion's running total is usually displayed on their scoreboard it was just left blank.

I’m pretty sure that’s not true.

I seem to remember the same thing done for Larson being done in this case.

I'd be willing to bet on William, if only because it's not a proper 6th digit in that spot, so whatever they'd have to do to display a 1 would take some finesse. (The dollar sign is also smaller than the other numbers.) The original Trebek-era displays on Jeopardy! had a 6th digit at the left displaying a 5, with painted lines in between to make it look like a dollar sign. If they ended up doing the same thing on The Challengers, you'd have a strange looking 1 in that spot.

-Jason

[Bryce L.]

The original Trebek-era displays on Jeopardy! had a 6th digit at the left displaying a 5, with painted lines in between to make it look like a dollar sign.

-Jason

So, basically, if someone had pulled a Holzhauer in the pre-LCD-podium years, it would've been a major headache for the scoreboard operator? [AFAIK, totals like his were possible, but extremely unlikely in the pre-doubled era... but still possible]

[Bob Zager]

I just found a video showing my hunch was right, during a playing of "Walk of Fame" on TPIR:

[PYLdude]

When Stan Newman exceeded $100,000 on The Challengers, at the end of the show and the beginning of the next show where the champion's running total is usually displayed on their scoreboard it was just left blank.

I’m pretty sure that’s not true.

I seem to remember the same thing done for Larson being done in this case.

I'd be willing to bet on William, if only because it's not a proper 6th digit in that spot, so whatever they'd have to do to display a 1 would take some finesse. (The dollar sign is also smaller than the other numbers.) The original Trebek-era displays on Jeopardy! had a 6th digit at the left displaying a 5, with painted lines in between to make it look like a dollar sign. If they ended up doing the same thing on The Challengers, you'd have a strange looking 1 in that spot.

-Jason

I seem to remember them doing just that.

I’d need to see the episode(s) in question, or at least the intros. And those don’t seem to be easy to find.

As a matter of fact, much of Stan’s run seems to be unavailable on the Tubes and all I’ve seen is his second win, which has the intro chopped off.

Edit: didn’t someone link to the episode after he hit the Ultimate Challenge awhile back? I’m almost positive someone did but I’ve never been able to find it in searches.

[WilliamPorygon]

When Stan Newman exceeded $100,000 on The Challengers, at the end of the show and the beginning of the next show where the champion's running total is usually displayed on their scoreboard it was just left blank.

I’m pretty sure that’s not true.

I seem to remember the same thing done for Larson being done in this case.

I'd be willing to bet on William, if only because it's not a proper 6th digit in that spot, so whatever they'd have to do to display a 1 would take some finesse. (The dollar sign is also smaller than the other numbers.) The original Trebek-era displays on Jeopardy! had a 6th digit at the left displaying a 5, with painted lines in between to make it look like a dollar sign. If they ended up doing the same thing on The Challengers, you'd have a strange looking 1 in that spot.

-Jason

I seem to remember them doing just that.

I’d need to see the episode(s) in question, or at least the intros. And those don’t seem to be easy to find.

As a matter of fact, much of Stan’s run seems to be unavailable on the Tubes and all I’ve seen is his second win, which has the intro chopped off.

Edit: didn’t someone link to the episode after he hit the Ultimate Challenge awhile back? I’m almost positive someone did but I’ve never been able to find it in searches.

I admit I'm going off of memory from seeing the episode posted somewhere online several years ago, and I tried really hard to find the episode to verify before making my post, but I do distinctly remember the scoreboard being blank and Dick making a comment to the effect of how they needed a bigger scoreboard for him.  But I'm willing to accept I might be misremembering so if I am, mea culpa.

[PYLdude]

When Stan Newman exceeded $100,000 on The Challengers, at the end of the show and the beginning of the next show where the champion's running total is usually displayed on their scoreboard it was just left blank.

I’m pretty sure that’s not true.

I seem to remember the same thing done for Larson being done in this case.

I'd be willing to bet on William, if only because it's not a proper 6th digit in that spot, so whatever they'd have to do to display a 1 would take some finesse. (The dollar sign is also smaller than the other numbers.) The original Trebek-era displays on Jeopardy! had a 6th digit at the left displaying a 5, with painted lines in between to make it look like a dollar sign. If they ended up doing the same thing on The Challengers, you'd have a strange looking 1 in that spot.

-Jason

I seem to remember them doing just that.

I’d need to see the episode(s) in question, or at least the intros. And those don’t seem to be easy to find.

As a matter of fact, much of Stan’s run seems to be unavailable on the Tubes and all I’ve seen is his second win, which has the intro chopped off.

Edit: didn’t someone link to the episode after he hit the Ultimate Challenge awhile back? I’m almost positive someone did but I’ve never been able to find it in searches.

I admit I'm going off of memory from seeing the episode posted somewhere online several years ago, and I tried really hard to find the episode to verify before making my post, but I do distinctly remember the scoreboard being blank and Dick making a comment to the effect of how they needed a bigger scoreboard for him.  But I'm willing to accept I might be misremembering so if I am, mea culpa.

And vice versa. 🙂

Like I said, though, it’d be so much better to have visual proof.

[TLEberle]

So, basically, if someone had pulled a Holzhauer in the pre-LCD-podium years, it would've been a major headache for the scoreboard operator? [AFAIK, totals like his were possible, but extremely unlikely in the pre-doubled era... but still possible]

The closest anybody came is Jack Lechner who managed to equal (or break--I forget) the one-day record at the time by rolling up $27,500 before Final Jeopardy.

/he wagered $15,000 in Final Jeopardy.

[carlisle96]

This is a bit of a stretch, but on the local Duckpins and Dollars in Baltimore, the jackpot readout only had room for a dollar sign and three digits so the host used to place a plastic dollar sign on the board whenever it exceeded $1000

[Neumms]

On Wink's Tic Tac Dough, the lectern for X had an egg crate readout for the contestant's previous winnings. Either they couldn't replace the dollar sign with a number or didn't want to, because they stopped using it after the first six-figure winners.

[PYLdude]

On Wink's Tic Tac Dough, the lectern for X had an egg crate readout for the contestant's previous winnings. Either they couldn't replace the dollar sign with a number or didn't want to, because they stopped using it after the first six-figure winners.

This was just a weird thing. Like, did they not expect there might be a possibility that, with no cap on winnings or matches and a big bonus prize as a caveat for winning five games in a row,  a champion could go on a run that could eclipse $100,000, even if at the pace they went at it they might take a month to do so?

[clemon79]

This was just a weird thing. Like, did they not expect there might be a possibility that, with no cap on winnings or matches and a big bonus prize as a caveat for winning five games in a row,  a champion could go on a run that could eclipse $100,000, even if at the pace they went at it they might take a month to do so?

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."

                       -- Bill Gates

[Mike Tennant]

On Wink's Tic Tac Dough, the lectern for X had an egg crate readout for the contestant's previous winnings. Either they couldn't replace the dollar sign with a number or didn't want to, because they stopped using it after the first six-figure winners.

This was just a weird thing. Like, did they not expect there might be a possibility that, with no cap on winnings or matches and a big bonus prize as a caveat for winning five games in a row,  a champion could go on a run that could eclipse $100,000, even if at the pace they went at it they might take a month to do so?

My guess is those were created for the CBS run, where there was a 5-digit winnings cap, and never changed for the syndie version.

[Neumms]

his was just a weird thing. Like, did they not expect there might be a possibility that, with no cap on winnings or matches and a big bonus prize as a caveat for winning five games in a row,  a champion could go on a run that could eclipse $100,000, even if at the pace they went at it they might take a month to do so?

Right? Especially since they gave the returning champ the tremendous advantage of going first.

[PYLdude]

On Wink's Tic Tac Dough, the lectern for X had an egg crate readout for the contestant's previous winnings. Either they couldn't replace the dollar sign with a number or didn't want to, because they stopped using it after the first six-figure winners.

This was just a weird thing. Like, did they not expect there might be a possibility that, with no cap on winnings or matches and a big bonus prize as a caveat for winning five games in a row,  a champion could go on a run that could eclipse $100,000, even if at the pace they went at it they might take a month to do so?

My guess is those were created for the CBS run, where there was a 5-digit winnings cap, and never changed for the syndie version.

I’ll buy that. Because it’s plausible.

[TLEberle]

I don’t think they were anticipating the monster pots that we saw in the second and third season because the Secret Category was a later addition. Sure, a champion might win ten games by brute force, but not a slugfest where the pot balloons to $26,000.